Insurance Claims

I just got rear ended the other day and I'll probably have to deal with the other driver's Insurance Company, Geico. I've heard a lot of mixed things about how this works, so I was hoping I could get some other people's advice. I took the car to three body shops, and they all told me it was totaled, but it drives fine and would pass inspection (it's an old car). Can the Insurance company force me to total the car? If I refuse to sell it to them for fair market value, will I be stuck with no compensation? If they pay to fix it, will they write me a check or send the money directly to the body shop? If anyone has had a similar experience and wants to let me know how it worked in their situation, please do so. Thanks

You should be talking to YOUR insurance company, not theirs. File the claim with your company, your company will pay you, then they will contact the other person's insurance to get paid.

Insurance will pay to get your vehicle back to the condition it was before the accident, or pay you for the replacement value (find classified ads of cars similar to yours in your area- print the ads and show them to the insurance company if they try to lowball you.)

Sorry for the delayed reply, just looked on here....but the way it works, is that if you car is totalled and you want to keep it, the other ins co will give you a smaller amount (since they can't sell the car for salvage) then they would if you gave it up to them. Probably by now your claim is finished though....

BTW, I work in insurance and drive an old car, I'm waiting for somebody to run a key down the side and total it. :)