When a car is damaged from a car wreck, there are really only two ways of handling things. The first way is when the car can be repaired and the insurance company owes you a rental car the whole time the vehicle is at the body shop, and they owe the cost of repairing the vehicle. When you get the car back from the body shop, the repairs are guaranteed by the shop, and you may have a diminished value claim if you can show the vehicle is worth less because it was in a car accident.
Note: This page is part of a series. You may want to read the previous pages to enable you to follow along:
- How to get your car repaired after a wreck
- Leave the car or tow it after a wreck?
- Seek medical treatment after a wreck
- Getting your medical bills paid
- You need a copy of your police report
The second way is if the car is a total loss, they owe you fair market value, i.e., what the car was worth the day of the wreck, and a rental car for a short time period. Those two ways are how most car wreck claims are handled but in my case involving the Camry, things went wrong.
