On March 12th, my beautiful BMW 128i was totaled. I had the car almost a year to the day before it was taken away. Everyone involved walked away fine, no one was cited because it couldn't be determined who was at fault and the witnesses were no help. This was my first time ever filing an insurance claim and I was preparing myself for disaster. I have Allstate for auto and home insurance and I bought into their "accident forgiveness" and lower deductible for every year I wasn't in an accident so I was about to see how much of a gimmick it was/wasn't. Since the BMW was only a year old and was a custom order, it took them a little longer then normal to determine what to do.
As you can see nothing remains of the front of the car and the body took such an impact that it bent the roof in 6 spots and cracked the trunk lid. The first time I talked to the adjuster after he saw the damage, it sounded like they may try to repair it. For a few days I was very nervous wondering if I was going to have to remain making a $610 payment on a car that no one would ever want to buy. I finally got the call from a very nice guy who talked me through all the damage and how he was going to consider it a total loss. I felt relieved that I got out of the $610 payment (that was starting to be a burden after a year) but then I braced myself for what he was about to tell me, which is how much we're they going to value the car at.
I still owed 27K on it and from all the blue book sites, the car was being valued at only 32K and that was for a certified pre owned one. I was in disbelief that they we're giving me 36K for it!!!! That is over Kelly Blue Book by a few thousand! From everything I've found on the web, I couldn't find any stories that had a "beyond expectations" result.
After almost a month, I finally received a check for the remainder of $9,200 that will go towards a dawn payment on a new car (the car in choice is now a 2010 Camaro). My insurance also included a rental car for 30 days so I wasn't without a ride.
I did go back to get a pair of Oakleys out of the BMW that I had forgotten, but oddly enough they weren't there, along with some extra money that was taken, only pennies were left. I tried to add this to the claim but anything in the car goes under home owners insurance and since I had a $500 deductible on that, the Oakleys were a total loss.
So moral of the story, Allstate is more then fair with accidents and it's well worth the money for their add-on packages (I'm a gold member) and if you're ever in an accident, make sure you take EVERYTHING before it gets towed away because it's unlikely it will still be in the car when you return to see it.
