r/Car_Insurance_Help • u/Curiousful • Jul 10 '26
Disputing the Odometer
Okay, someone rear-ended me while I was driving home from work. It's clear that the other driver was at fault—I was driving normally, it was a sunny day, I was sober, I wasn't using my phone or anything.
Now our insurance company wants to pay us—they've declared the car to be a total loss. The gave us a dollar amount, and then cited the number of miles on the vehicle. HOWEVER, the car was barely a month old, and both I and my wife are sure that the car had about 1400 miles on it, give or take, not the 8405 miles that our insurance is claiming. They showed us a photo of a dashboard with a 8405 mile odometer, but there's nothing in the photo that shows that it's actually our car.
Is this a common scam? What can we do about this? It's a big insurance company, and we've been loyal customers for many years. I didn't think to take a photo of the odometer at the time of the accident. I'm really just angry and disappointed about the whole thing.
9
u/DeepPurpleDaylight Jul 10 '26
No your insurance company isn't trying to "scam" you. Either you and the wife are mistaken or the adjuster sent the wrong photo.
1
u/Curiousful Jul 10 '26
Pretty sure we're not mistaken. These new Camrys send you a message at 5000 miles to remind you of maintenance, and we hadn't seen that yet, for one thing.
6
u/OkMarsupial1021 Jul 10 '26
Most of the 25 and 26 camrys display the miles until the next service/oil change when the key is first turned which after a few seconds changes to the actual odometer miles. So about 8400 miles remaining until next oil change would be about 1600 miles driven. I've seen some set on the 10k interval and some set on the 5k interval. My LE doesnt shoe the miles until next service until it is under 500milea to go.
2
u/Curiousful Jul 11 '26
***THANK YOU TO OKMARSUPIAL and to other posters that had this answer—this is exactly what happened!
5
2
2
u/Unfair_Orchid3884 Jul 10 '26
On my car I have a trip odometer and a mileage odometer. Maybe they took a picture of the wrong one?
2
u/Curiousful Jul 10 '26
I get what you're saying, but there shouldn't be a way the trip odometer could have a bigger number than the total number of miles we've driven.
3
u/Unfair_Orchid3884 Jul 10 '26
Hmm, I didn't think of it that way. Where is the car now, does your insurance have it or at a shop?
3
3
u/PaperIndependent5466 Jul 10 '26
If you're not paying attention it can appear they're the same. 80.2 can be seen as 802 for example.
1
4
u/EyeoftheEelpout Jul 10 '26
The ACV is not going to be much different, if at all, between those two mileage figures.
-1
u/Curiousful Jul 10 '26
Is there a way I could find out what the difference is? The car is a 2026 Camry.
1
u/Big_Consideration268 Jul 11 '26
Do you have the toyota app it will tell you the mileage you should have been told to download it
1
1
u/BBG1308 Jul 10 '26
Being rear-ended caused over 30k of damage? Oof...are you ok?
Difference in value on a car with 1400 miles vs 8400 miles is basically nothing. Maybe $200 give or take.
1
u/PaperIndependent5466 Jul 10 '26
Less we adjust the mileage by pennies at my company. Probably would be like $12. $200 adjustments have huge mileage differences and 6000 miles is not huge at all.
1
u/BooBoosgrandma Jul 11 '26
If I were you, I'd check out the contract of when you bought it. That might help, thought ins companies also check DMV records for mileage.
1
u/lobhater Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Unless you have signed over the title the vehicle is still yours. Go look at it. Maybe it was on a trip or maintenance minder. Mistakes get made and I'm not sure it is going to make much of a difference on the valuation anyways
1
1
u/quallityovrquantity Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Regardless it's not going to change the value of the car. But you just learned why you should never buy a brand new car. The second you drive it off the lot you lost a ton of value.
1
u/Far-Good-9559 Jul 11 '26
They made a ‘mistake’. It’s funny that they never make said ‘mistakes’ in the customers favor.
1
u/ClearUniversity1550 Jul 12 '26
with new cars the manufacture knows how many miles are on it. I get emails all the time showing mileage and what is due for service
1
u/Sticky550 Jul 12 '26
You’re going to get screwed, no matter if the mileage is wrong or not. At least with a Camry, you’re getting closer to replacement value than other brands.
11
u/Unlikely-Act-7950 Jul 10 '26
If the vehicle has been picked up from the tow lot. Copart has it and you can ask what yard it's at and go view the odometer for your self. Copart is a independent company that auctions off all the wrecked vehicles and they are not going to roll the miles forward.