My mother was rear-ended in her car at a stop light on Wednesday. She was in her 04 Taurus that has around 390,000 miles. The other person admitted fault to their insurance company however the insurance company stated that they are only obligated to compensate her for the blue book value of the vehicle which I was told is around $250 due to age and mileage. The car ran and drove great, she is still making the 100 mile daily trip after the wreck with the trunk lid tied down. The back bumper skin is destroyed and it got into the internal structure because the truck lid won't latch and she stated that some of the screws in the trunk lid hinges are torn out.
What would your thoughts be in this situation? I told her to start working her way up the chain in the insurance company to hopefully get a better offer. She even told them that she's fine with just fixing it good enough that the trunk lid closes and doesn't leak but they declined to even consider it. I feel like the other person's insurance is responsible for either a repair of the damage caused by their customer or some sort of fair compensation to replace it with something similar. She doesn't want a new car just this one repaired where the trunk works or some form of compensation to replace it with something similar.
What would your thoughts be in this situation? I told her to start working her way up the chain in the insurance company to hopefully get a better offer. She even told them that she's fine with just fixing it good enough that the trunk lid closes and doesn't leak but they declined to even consider it. I feel like the other person's insurance is responsible for either a repair of the damage caused by their customer or some sort of fair compensation to replace it with something similar. She doesn't want a new car just this one repaired where the trunk works or some form of compensation to replace it with something similar.