The company that crashed into our car now wants to buy it

submitted by Iconian from self.AskSaidIt

A few months ago a Fed Ex van crashed into our car. Initially they seemed very friendly and cooperative. But after a month they hadn't done anything, so we ended up getting government involvement, and a few weeks later Fed Ex paid for some initial repairs, just to get the car driving again.

Then we got an estimate to get the body damage fixed, and at this Fed Ex claimed that the car is totaled and doesn't want to pay for further repairs (we haven't gotten the body work done yet). Based on all of our research, I believe the car is not totaled, but they're trying to get out of paying for it.

Now, they say that they want to buy the car and give us $20,000, which is maybe $2,000 short of what it was worth just prior to the crash--but considering that we were thinking about selling it, maybe it's worth it.

I'm putting out there because I'm not sure what to make of this situation. Why do they seem so ready to buy the car, but not make the repairs? The documentation they've sent us has been so full of jargon that I haven't understood a lot of it. So I'm here in hopes that maybe someone out there understands more about this sort of stuff than we do . . . is this some sort of weird thing where we'll have to pay a bunch of unexpected tax? Is there some legal loophole we're not aware of that they're trying to jump through? I'm pretty bothered by the whole thing at this point, and am really not sure if I should trust them on this.

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[–]ID10T 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

You could ask a bunch of retards on this site but why not talk to a lawyer. Pretty much all accident lawyers give free consultations. I can tell you that they want to buy your car and have you sign papers to make sure this is totally done and there's no risk of you suing them at a later date. $2000 is nothing to FedEx. If you want $2000 more just ask for it. Tell them you'll be happy to sign everything for your full value of the car prior to the accident. I guarantee you they will take it.

[–]Smalls 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Great advice, and to add on to it, just mention what you are looking for and if they try to counter, just tell them you're thinking of turning it over to your attorney to handle the rest of the way. If they ask who your attorney is, tell them it doesn't matter at this point since you're trying to get this resoled amicably without them. A few thousand to you is cheaper than getting their attorney involved with the extra fees for such a small payout.

[–]LarrySwinger2 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My initial thought was to ask for more than 22000 and accept the counter.

[–]HiddenFox 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

What I find confusing is that you are dealing with FedEx and not an insurance company that would cover FedEx....

u/ID10T is giving sound advice, seek a lawyer. Asking $2k more is not a big ask. You should definitely purpose it.

It would help too if you had justification for asking $22k. Look online for similar vehicles in your make with year, condition and mileage. If those vehicles are selling for around $22k then you have something to lean on with your request.

[–]GuyWhite 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Many large companies are self insured for vehicle accidents. They put up money with a bonding company for the state’s minimum insurance but pay claims out of pocket.

Don’t forget to include sales taxes in your calculations. Insurance companies have to include sales taxes in their calculations.

Also, just merely suggesting to Fed Ex that you are seeking legal advice will probably make Fed Ex more amenable to your demands.

[–]x0x7 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

I would take it. But not before trying to get the extra 2k.

The reasoning for taking it. A car even if fully repaired will always have significantly less value. Not only is it more likely to need other repairs in the future that didn't get covered like suspension issues that come down the road from bad rear alignment and things like that that never get perfectly fixed. But more importantly it will always be on the car's carfax.

Being short $2k is better than getting all repairs and being short $2 K in resell value. You will always have to give a discount against its current condition for the sake of that accident. So if they restore the condition they haven't restored the value. Unless it is a huge hastle to get a new car right now I wouldn't keep that car if they are offering only $2k under the before crash value.

Now is it honest for you to get $2k less? Hell no. That's why you should make an effort to get it.

It also depends on how long you plan to keep it. If you wanted to keep it till near its death then you aren't losing $2 or $3k like I said. You're going to end up giving someone a 10%-15% discount in the future. If you were naturally going to sell it when it's naturally worth 2,000 then that's 200-300 dollars for having been in an accident.

They've purposely priced that to be a difficult decision and on edge if you should take it or not. I say take it because it's at least a known adverse outcome. If you keep it there is always a gamble you end up with some expensive repairs that will never get covered years down the road. "oh, the accident formed a stress line in the radiator and it cracked before expected, three years after the accident" How are you going to get that covered? And that on top of the lost resell value.

Axils, radiators, drive systems, wheels, suspension elements. They all got a little bent. And now they are rubbing up against each other a little different than designed and wearing a little faster, from this or that asymmetry. You are never going to show that increased wear was directly caused by the accident.

[–]IMissPorn 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My take would be that they just wanna make really sure they're done. You may well be a very reasonable person, but they don't know that. They don't know you won't run up some kind of ridiculous bill getting the car detailed back to mint condition or whatever. But if they buy it, they know it's over.

But, I'm not a lawyer nor even able to claim any real experience with that kind of situation, so I can't rule out the possibility it's some kind of sneaky legal play you'd regret accepting.