Totaled Vehicle and Property Damage Claims in West Covina, CA Valuation Rules, Repairs and Salvage

What the regulation requires the offer to contain

California claims regulations state that where a total loss is settled on the basis of actual cash value or replacement with a comparable automobile, the insurer must pay the actual cost of a comparable automobile including all applicable taxes, license fees and other transfer fees, less any deductible, with license fees prorated. A comparable automobile is defined by attributes: the same make and model, the same or newer model year, similar body style, similar options and mileage, and availability for retail purchase by the general public in the local market area. The regulation also requires that the comparable vehicles used be identified with sufficient particularity, including vehicle identification, stock or license plate number, and that they have been available within 90 calendar days of the settlement offer.

Deductions have to be shown, not asserted

The same regulation requires that any adjustments to the value of a comparable vehicle be discernible, measurable, itemized and specified as to dollar amount, and that they be appropriate in dollar amount. It prohibits a deduction for condition unless the vehicle's condition was below average for its model year. Practically, a claimant who receives a valuation report showing unexplained downward adjustments for mileage or condition is entitled to see the arithmetic. The document to request is the full valuation report with each comparable identified, rather than the summary letter stating a single figure.

Repairs, shops and parts

Where a vehicle is repairable, the regulation prohibits an insurer from requiring repairs at a specific shop, and from suggesting a different shop after the claimant has chosen one, except as permitted by statute. It also prohibits requiring a claimant to travel an unreasonable distance or wait an unreasonable time for an inspection, estimate or repair. If a partial loss is settled on the insurer's written estimate, the insurer must supply a copy, and where the claimant obtains a higher written estimate the insurer must pay the difference, name at least one shop that will do the work for its figure, or reasonably adjust the claimant's shop estimate and identify each specific adjustment. Non-original-equipment crash parts may be required only if they are at least equal to original parts in kind, quality, safety, fit and performance, with the insurer paying for necessary modifications and warranting the parts.

Title and salvage paperwork

Vehicle Code section 11515 governs what happens to the title once a vehicle is settled as a total loss, requiring the insurer or owner to make a report to the Department of Motor Vehicles and to forward the certificate of ownership or a salvage certificate application. Owner retention of a salvage vehicle is possible and changes the title status, which in turn affects future resale and insurability. Where an owner keeps the vehicle, the salvage value is deducted from the settlement, and that deduction should be stated as a figure rather than folded into a net offer.

Different deadlines than the injury claim

Property damage is not governed by the two-year injury deadline. Code of Civil Procedure section 338 sets three years for an action for taking, detaining or injuring goods or chattels, which covers vehicle damage. Small property claims also have inexpensive forums: section 116.221 allows a small claims action by a natural person for up to twelve thousand five hundred dollars, and section 85 defines a limited civil case as one where the amount in controversy does not exceed thirty-five thousand dollars. For a disputed total loss valuation of a few thousand dollars, the forum question is often more useful than the argument.

The local complication of storage and towing

Vehicles from freeway collisions are towed to storage yards where daily fees accrue, and a delay in identifying the yard can consume much of the vehicle's value before an inspection happens. Where a collision occurred on Interstate 10 through the city, the responding agency is the Highway Patrol's Baldwin Park Area office, and the report identifies the tow operator. Photographing the vehicle before it is released for salvage also preserves evidence for the injury claim, since damage patterns are the physical record of the impact and disappear when the car does.

If a valuation is the dispute

The useful documents are the insurer's full valuation report with comparables identified, the repair estimate or total loss declaration, registration and loan payoff information, photographs from before the collision if any exist, and the tow and storage invoices. Claim-handling regulations run on calendar days and correspondence in writing is what makes them enforceable. This page describes California regulations and statutes generally and is not legal advice about any claim. A specific property damage question can be raised with the attorney who advertises on this site.