[Surprise]

I had sent an accident met Indigo LS with the front right hand side post, two sides of front doors & front bumper got completely damaged to the workshop. In parallel I had worked with the Insurance agent (TATA AIG) to make the papers ready.

I met the Insurance agent this morning to check the status of the same. He told me that estimation was given for Rs.3.5 Lakhs

I was really shocked on hearing this amount, as the new car itself will cost around Rs.5L. He added since 50% only will be refunded for plastic parts, we need to spare around Rs.30000/- & the rest will be from the Insurance company. The repair time frame will be approximately take 2 months time to get it completed.

He gave me an alternative to come out these headaches. Requested us to sell the vehicle to some salvage picker in, as it is condition, which may be around Rs.2.5 Lakhs & get Rs.1.5L from the Insurance company and close the policy. By this way we are getting Rs.4 L.

I asked him how much will the salvage vendor minimize in doing the repairs on his own ( though he puts the junk to get it back to the shape) & never got a proper answer.

Its a eight month old TATA INDIGO LS done less than 10000 kms.

I had seen an completely damaged HONDA CITY met with a accident got repaired for 1.4 L by TVS Sundaram. When told this to the agent, he said that Honda does not replace shell and will get it repaired as they do not hold stock of shells. But in this case the TATA workshop is going to change the complete shell of the car.

I thought, I can get the vehicle repaired and sell it out ( may be a LAKH cheaper). But if the alternative option told by the agent works out, Could I goahead and do that?

Just share your views on this

[Revvhead]

Dude, any chance of Pics
what are a quoting sounds really Dodgy
Is there any engine work??
My friend rolled his indicar 20 times (No, im not joking)
It was almost totalled like
and he spent around 2L to fix it up
and this where the roof and chassis had to be straightened.

So how bad is the damage,
Coz you have said both sides of the car are damages. What abt the front of the car
And mechanicals, engine etc??

At first look the estimate is crazy

[tsk1979]

Well if some salvage dealer is ready to pick the car for 2.5 lacs and the 1.5 lac for AIG is sure then 4L seems a good deal for a 8 month old indigo.
The other option you have is this.
Get the car repaired. Spend 30000. The after repair cost of the indigo will be probably <4L.
So you get around 3.5 for the car.

If they are changing the whole shell, the resale need not be very bad.? IMHO the first option seems a load of BS from the insurance company since they do not want to pay out 3.5L. I doubt any scrap dealer will give you 2.5 for a fully wrecked car. Did you enquire about scrap dealers?

[Steeroid]

Surprise

What was the damage to you and other occupants, if any? It sounds like the car is a write-off!

[Revvhead]

beacuse this sounds just too wrong there may be something very fish here-

sometimes some of the assesors & agents are in cahoots with the garage
So what they do is inflate the bill, The insurance company pays the amount
and these guys take off with half (of whatever percentage)
and you get a sub-standard job
If in doubt, contact this guys superiors and check with them


Or,

he makes you sell the car at a lower Value to someone he knows Obviously
they fix it up cheap, sell it and pocket the profit.

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by Revvhead

beacuse this sounds just too wrong there may be something very fish here-

sometimes some of the assesors & agents are in cahoots with the garage
So what they do is inflate the bill, The insurance company pays the amount

I have seen even a reputed hospital next to my office doing this. They doubled my friends bill once they came to know that the insurance guy is going to pay for it...

[iceman91]

well been through this..if it is a total loss. the vehicle is less than a year old. you have the following options:

1. as the dealer said sell it outside close the policy and forget it

2. if you are booking another tata indigo...then claim total loss, i.e. the insured value. you should get the factory price of the vehicle and on the next booking you can transfer the LTT.
this way you get more money and less out of your pocket.

[ThE_DoN]

I'm always against driving a fully re-built vehicle.. there is no absolute guarantee of the smooth functioning of the car an also its stability and security.. Mind you, you will never get the feel of the 8month old car..

My advice to you is haggle some more with the insurance guys and try getting 4.25 to 4.50 lacs..

Though personally i wouldn't mind settling for 4 lacs in the end..

[lamborghini]

If you want to Keep an Indigo or buy another one then apply for claim and spend 30K out of your pocket or if you want another car then close the deal with the Insurance company for 4L.
Though please remember the car will not be the same after the incident.
It happened to my brothers Santro once around the same age and the estimate came to 2.5L and he got it done by the insurance company but the car has never been the same again with the interiors plastics not fitting properly and recently his radiator burst and has been having some problem or another.

[nishant_kingpin]

Indigo repair for 3.5L seems like someone sent the car rolling down a 100 meter gorge.

If the Insurance guy is playing fiddle then he can clean between 70K to 1L out of the deal. So there is scope for negociation. You may end up with 4.25 in your pocket and decide to go for a new car adding 30K your money reaches 4.55 and with a lil extra you get a showroom car. You may want to get a different car too. That depends on you. Most times after such incidents, I have seen people get loyal to the car that saved them.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by Revvhead

What abt the front of the car
And mechanicals, engine etc??

The front portion is not damaged.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

I doubt any scrap dealer will give you 2.5 for a fully wrecked car. Did you enquire about scrap dealers?

I too have this doubt. It was the Insurance agent who promised me to arrange for a vendor to pick the car at that price. One problem I have with selling with the salavage vendors is that they don't change the car to their name. Just they will get the empty papers signed from us. If the car was misused, I fear whether we will land up in problem as the registered owner of the car as per the records will be of company

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Surprise

What was the damage to you and other occupants, if any? It sounds like the car is a write-off!

I was not there in the car. It was my closest friend who is no more.

Originally Posted by nishant_kingpin

I have seen people get loyal to the car that saved them.

Not in this case. We want to sell it off.

[Surprise]

Just spoke with the salvage vendors and found 2.25 Lakhs to be the highest bid. The insurance agent has promisied to arrange for Rs.1.5L on booking complete loss and closing the policy. Hence this way it will fetch Rs.3.75 Lakhs

On road price of Tata Indigo LS is Rs.5.2 L. Checked the used car market on the prices for Tata Indigo LS. Based on the discussions, my approximate price for a clean 8 months old, 8000 kms done, TATA INDIGO with fitted power windows and central locking would cost Rs.4 Lakhs maximum ( end user price and not dealer price). Correct me, if Iam wrong here

For an accident car, it will fetch only Rs.3.25 L-3.5L ( our dealers are smart enough to find out).

If I choose to the repair the car and sell it, I need to spare around Rs.30K and sell it for 3.25 L-3.5L. On top of it, this will take 2 months time

The first option seems to be a better one & almost decided for it.

I had indicated this to the service station & they said on clearence of their bill, we can remove the vehicle from their workshop.

The cost for generating estimate is Rs.5000/- & they charge Rs.250/- per day for vehicle storage charges. This total comes to Rs.11000/-

First place, do workstations charge for this & is this the market rates?

Pls let me know your feedbacks on this

[Rtech]

OK, let me see if I got this clear in my head.

The car is damaged, but not so bad to be considered a write off. You say it would cost about Rs.30,000 to get fixed, so it can't be in that bad a condition.

However, it seem's you would rather get rid of the car as it obviously has bad memories for all concerned.

The insurance agent has told you that he will state that the car is a write off in his report, and then get you a price of 2.25 from a dealer, plus 1.5 fromt he insurance company. The garage is asking Rs.5000 to prepare the estimate.

This sounds to me like insurance fraud. This is a common thing, where the surveyors and garage's get their share of the cut. However, this could land you in serious trouble. The garage has no right asking for Rs.5,000 to prepare an estimate. They would only do this if you want a fake estimate which show's the repair amount as extremely high, which would fool the insurance company into thinking that the car is a write off.

This way, the dealer buying your car makes money by buying it cheap, carrying out the work for cheap and then selling it at a big profit. The surveyor/insurance agent gets his cut from the garage as well as the dealer. The garage gets their money (Rs.5,000!!) plus they may even repair it for the dealer, earning some more.

The insurance agent may now tell you that you are assuraed 1.5 lakhs, but ask him to give that in writing and see what he says. The person who will take the fall for this would be the customer i.e. you. Insurance fraud is a serious offence with huge fines and even jail time, so I suggest you check everything out clearly, and call the company as well and ask them to send another surveyor. Infact, just tell your agent that you are going to do this and judge his reaction. You will know right there if what he is doing is right or wrong.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by Rtech

You say it would cost about Rs.30,000 to get fixed, so it can't be in that bad a condition.

The total estimate is Rs.3L from the Service station ( reduced from 3.5 L). The Rs.30k is the amount that I need to pay out from the pocket for the depriciated insurance amount for plastic parts and others. If you go through the first post in this thread by me, hope you can get it clear.

Originally Posted by Rtech

The garage is asking Rs.5000 to prepare the estimate.

Already I got the estimate from the service station. They say that charges for generating the estimate is Rs.5000/- on top of Rs.250/- per day for keeping the vehicle in their storage yard ( 22 days)

Originally Posted by Rtech

The insurance agent may now tell you that you are assuraed 1.5 lakhs, but ask him to give that in writing and see what he says.

He says that we need to fill a claim form and the amount will be settled in a day or two. This guy is authorized surveyor appointed by TATA AIG.

Please let me know, if I had clarified you or not

[Rtech]

Originally Posted by Surprise

The total estimate is Rs.3L from the Service station ( reduced from 3.5 L). The Rs.30k is the amount that I need to pay out from the pocket for the depriciated insurance amount for plastic parts and others. If you go through the first post in this thread by me, hope you can get it clear.

yea, i read that. But 3.5 lakh damage on an Indigo is way too much, especially when you say the front end is not damaged!

Originally Posted by Surprise

Already I got the estimate from the service station. They say that charges for generating the estimate is Rs.5000/- on top of Rs.250/- per day for keeping the vehicle in their storage yard ( 22 days)

No garage (that I know off or have dealt with) charges for an estimate. Why should they charge Rs.5,000 to prepare an etimate?

The storing charges, yes, they would be applicable if the garage does not carry out any work.

Originally Posted by Surprise

He says that we need to fill a claim form and the amount will be settled in a day or two. This guy is authorized surveyor appointed by TATA AIG.

Please let me know, if I had clarified you or not

I'm sure he is appointed by TATA. However what I'm saying is to get another surveyor down from TATA to double check.

I just pointed out one scenario you should look out for. Obviously you would be in a better position to judge, but it doesn't hurt to look at things from a different angle. If it appears like a clean deal to you, then go ahead, as it makes more sense to get rid of the car for the figures you have given above.

I went through a similar thing when we had the accident with the Corolla a couple of months ago. First guy gives a bogus quote of 3 lakhs plus. 2nd guy was more realistic at 1.8 lakhs.