A number of things may be wrong with your vehicle after an accident. If your insurance provider gives the vehicle a total loss appraisal — meaning fixing the vehicle costs more than replacing it — then you need to handle this situation carefully. Here are several important things you need to do.

Find Out if Your Offer Is Fair

The first thing you need to do after receiving a total loss appraisal is find out if the offer from your insurance provider is fair. It needs to be in order for you to maximize the insurance that you pay for every month. There are a couple of ways you can assess the fairness of your offer.

Either you can research your vehicle's value before it was involved in the accident or you can hire an independent company to perform this assessment. Either way, you need to understand what the insurance provider's offer means in order to take the right steps going forward.

Have Another Appraisal Performed if the Offer Isn't Fair

If you find out that your total loss appraisal isn't fair according to the market value of your vehicle, then you need to have another appraisal performed. You can then make sure the next offer is fair and then move on with your life after receiving compensation.

You just want to make sure you hire a skilled appraisal company that will perform an extensive and unbiased inspection of the vehicle after it was hit. This inspection will show the true worth of your vehicle.

Hire an Attorney if Necessary

If you believe your insurance provider isn't complying with your right to receive fair compensation after your vehicle gets totaled in a covered event, then you should take the opportunity to hire an attorney who specializes in these types of cases.

They can threaten legal action if the provider doesn't give you fair compensation. They'll show the true value of the vehicle that needs to be replaced, and then show what your insurance provider is obligated to comply with. Ideally, this threat will get your insurance provider to respond favorably. If not, your attorney can help you take them to court.

If you're involved in a serious accident that totals your vehicle, you need to have a total loss appraisal performed. As long as you do the right things during and after this appraisal, you can move on without suffering great financial loss. For more information on total loss appraisal, contact a professional near you.