I live in the state of Missouri. My wife was rear-ended by a semi while sitting still in a highway construction zone. The truck driver was at fault in his words and the State Patrol report.
His insurance company had an audit group go over the estimate for repairs and negotiated a repair price. We told his insurance company that we did not want the auto-body shop to the repairs because the vehicle is a new model and there appeared to be substantial damage to the rear AWD system and damage to the motor. We felt our best bet would be to get an estimate done by the cars manufacturer. The auto-body shop did not include any mechanical repairs on their estimate.
We took the car at our own expense to the nearest Nissan dealer. Upon doing so, the semi driver’s insurance company said they had received an updated version of the estimate from their audit group and the car had been totaled.
Our car, 2005 Nissan Murano SL AWD, has a blue book and NADA retail value of $24-27,000. The insurance company is saying that by Missouri State law they are required to only pay us 70% ($16,000) of the retail value and the Gap Insurance we have, will pay the rest. The Gap Insurance person is saying "no, this is not true; we pay the difference between retail value and your pay-off".
If we go by the semi driver’s insurance company, we will be close to $10K out of pocket, even with the Gap insurance. If we go by what our Gap Insurance person and our own insurance company says, we'll be made whole and the truck driver’s insurance company is responsible for the retail value of our car.
Which do we believe?
Also, my wife has sustained injury to her neck and spinal area. How do we continue to have the truck drivers insurance pay these medical bills in the future as problems develop? Do we ask for a total settlement?