help! insurance claims and "totalled out" settlement

I think you can get a NADA value online, but as I recall it's an avg selling price of a nice car.


I only have a Old Cars price guide from june 08. That shows your car to be a condition 4. $3820 value on the highest model 51 2dr. I suppose you can prove the newer mods added a lot of value??

They may fight your estimate of value because your car needed paint interior etc. So, I'd try to get as many actual sales prices that you can find on the net, ebay etc...then "add" your modification values?

 

Adjusters are not your friend. I went around with Farmers and Citizens a few years back.
Michigan is a No Fault state. My wife had a DUI driver make a sudden left in front of her.
His fault, MSP was right on the scene, coincidence or was he being followed?

Anyway, I needed to file Mini-Tort (deductible reimbursement) against Farmers.
The adjuster wanted a policy number, the state accident reports do not have policy numbers on them. I told the adjuster this, he insisted that I call the policy holder and get his policy number. Yeah, right! State DUI is .08, he blew .17, open container in car, a loaded rifle in the back, told the Trooper he was going hunting. Yeah, can you say felony, no way for anyone to carry a loaded rifle in his car here. I know a little about the gun laws, actually quite a little.

I told the adjuster "No F***** way was I calling this guy, this was up to him". Let me see, DUI, possible firearm felony charge, weekend in the county jail, and you want me to call him?

Well, after a bit testy banter, and the adjuster telling me that it would take about 6 weeks to investigate and process, he said that he was going to get a copy of the police report from the local MSP post. I told him to do what you have to, but remember my wife and daughter were both in the car, air bags went off, an ER trip, they both had loss of work for a couple of days, and you never know what else could happen.

Got a call back from Mr. Wonderful Adjuster about a half hour later. Very short and to the point "The check will be in your mailbox by the end of the week."

Guess he got educated once he saw the report. To the second part of the same incident:

Citizens lost four cars and a house policy over a $21.00 battery betterment on a 15 month old '03 car, this was in June of '04. We originally argued about the floor shifter damage, spilled pop into it. He said that they did not cover negligence. I asked him if he had seen the french fries and the Burger King wrappers blown around the inside of the car. And presented him with a receipt dated that day about 10 minutes before the crash that was in the cupholder, also pop stained.

He had to get his little shot in with the betterment, even though the O.E. warranty covered that battery for 36/36000. Told him to do what he had to do, but check his policy screen in the next day, that should be enough time to update it and we would no longer be on it.

I hung up, called my agent and had a new policy written on a different company in one hour.

 

I've had this problem twice before. Once with my '65 Fury and again with my Riviera.

My Fury really was totalled, we had a dispute about its value. After I presented the adjuster a lengthy list of prices from Hemmings (this was pre-internet) we averaged out the prices and came up with an acceptable figure.

With my Riv, I hit a deer and damaged the grille, hood, and driver's side front fender. The first girl I dealt with didn't know a classic car from a used car and wanted to total it. I raised hell and got a different adjuster who was a Mustang collector, he knew what he was dealing with and let me go to Chopped and Diced, a local specialty shop. Everything worked out after that.

I went to law school in Austin and I know a damn good attorney there. PM me if you decide you need help, but try to settle it without one, first.

 

Tell them you want a "buy back" price if they total, maybe they will give you a nice pile of money and you can keep the car. Most times you will have the option of taking less money and keeping the car.

 

this is the same reason why i left Allstate. i had some one hit my 51 chevy. they came out looked it over. it had primer spots and a spot i was working on that had surface rust. they wanted to give me $1200 and totaled it out. well my car had a lot more work done on it. bagged,floor, truck,v8and ect.. stuff not seen on the out side. when the adjuster called and told me what they wanted to do. i told them to look at how much they are going to have to pay me for totaling it out.i had a agreed value of 20k. they said i need to show proof. well i walked in and got out my paper work and started to read off my bills. they changed there step and wanted to call me back. i said no and said. ill take the 20k and ill also by the car back. they guy was stuttering and hung up on me. i went and got 3 quotes. went to 3 expensive body shops. highest quote was for $5000 and the lowest was for $3700.
some time you have to play hard ball with these**** holes. tell them your going to take you car to get 3 quotes and have them pay up.

 

I have to agree with what Flamed34 said in post 26 and what F&J said in post 32. You need to do your homework. Most likely "their" shop isn't going to want to work on the car and put an estimate that will total the car.
I'm sorry but that*****py looking primer job with the "Patina" that you are highly proud of is going to be a real detriment to the appraised value of the car. It looks just like another 500.00 daily driver beater to most non old car people.
We have how many rod or custom shops in the Austin area that could probably give either or both accurate estimates on the pre crash value of the car and the cost of repairs to bring it back to pre crash condition? I'm talking about shops that belong to HAMB members or where members work.

I'd think that you could buy damned nice used pieces for that car for under 1000 and it shouldn't take but one day to swap the parts out and be ready to go again unless there is hidden damage that doesn't show in the photos.

Along with the normal sites like Ebay check www.hotrodhotline.com for adds on similar cars and don't forget www.autotrader.com where you should be able to find adds nation wide with a bit of work.
Hell, it looks like you were able to drive the car home so it sure doesn't look totaled.

About 20 years ago I had to miss a woman who pulled out in front of me and stopped in my path and totaled my truck. I wasn't too bright in dealing with her insurance company and ended up taking about a third of what the truck was worth and keeping the salvage. I let their rep get the best of me and didn't hold out for what I should have got. I also took what they offered for the aches and pains of the wreck to my body and should have waited on that as it took a year to recover from the bruised ribs.

 

I had a custom 74 suburban and some guy hit me on the freeway. The truck was Orange,,, how do you not see a 5000 pound pumpkin, anyway his insurance company tried the same thing. They wanted to salvage my truck. I told them that your guy hit me and its your responsibality to repair my truck to the exact same condition it was prior to the accident and if they wanted to fight it I would make a call to the insurance commissioner.. They backed down and I had a check in less than a week.

 

Worst case scenario, you can buy it back with the settlement check they give you. Not sure about Texas, but you may be able to upgrade a salvage/junk****le to a rebuilt****le after you fix it.

 

Okay, i worked for allstate for 8 years and left as a property market manager here in new york. With that said, i still have my independant appraisers license here in new york as well. I am sure that in texas the estimator of record at the shop in order for the shop estimate to be even valid touse for comparison must either have a ia license or a dmv appraisers license also the shop must be dmv registered as a repair shop. Secondly no hand written estimates are considered vaild only computer based extimates using either ccc, adp, mitchell etc. Are valid. What i would do is this to get a baseline value of your auto, look on ebay,cars.com, autabuy, any site and see what comparable cars are selling for in the same shape. Take into consideration miles options and condition. Obviously with an older car like yours even include the similar buick olds and pontiac models as examples. Next i would find out what parts exactly the auto needs for repairs. Make a list and get some part prices from members with shipping. Next thing remeber that a modification that you made to your liking is not necessarialy what the mainstream public likes and it may diminish the value of your car. Next, the insurance companies write at certain labor rates period, the shops all work for this rate no matter what they tell you, allstate may write at 46 per hour statefarm at 50 farmers at 44 geico at 45 travelers at 44 etc, see what your shop estimate is written at if its more then that then there is one main diference. Also see if you can find on ebay or on the internet an old crash guide or even an old audatex sheet, it will have labor times and the only calculations will be for overlap. Also paint materials can be calculated with two methods 1 being a flat labor rat ena dthe other using the mitchell paint guide book.
Hops i didnt confuse you!

 

From what i can see in your photos the car looks to be repairable, i bet the adjuster was just being lazy and didnt want to write an wstimate that he or she would have had to do some research on. You have the choiice to get the car repaired where you want to and its your property. I would ask for a manager to reinspect vehicle once i had all the part prices and an actual cash value with doncumentation (copies of ads) then get a computer based estimate to replace the fender the marker light grille bar grille extension repair valance replace bumper wheel align prep lkq parts and prime(your car is black primer right)from what i can see your talkin like 1.2 to 2.0 hours to replace bumper, 2 hours repair valance, .5 hour to replace grill bar, .5 replace marker light, .3 hour replace grill end, .3 aim headlamps, 3 hours replace fender, 2 hours prep lkq parts, 2.5 hours prime fender and valance 69.99 wheel align, 3 haz waste 5.00 and .2 car cover and then like 40 in paint (primer, sealer) plus the parts.

 

The insurance companies when it involves 3rd party claims according to law have to negotiate the settlement in "good faith" your talking a big gray area with a*****load of different interpitations. Get off your keister and get your documentation and your ducks all in a row. All insurace compaines have repped and unrepped units so it dont matter to them if u do or dont hire an attorney, remember if u use an attorney they charge either by the hour 400 bucks or so or take 33.33333% of your settlement. See if there is a hamber that is in your area thats an adjuster and licensed and bonded maybe they can do the computer estimate for you.

 

First of all your insurance company is not your friend,what kind of deductible do you have? The car is a long way from being totaled,If you deductible is more than half the amount to fix it ,fix it yourself but if you want to fight the insurance company just tell them you are going to get the news media involved,they change their tune real quick,and remember,in the end,your rates are going to go up and in Florida you can be with a insurance company for 20 years,have one accident and they drop you like a bad habit.when you do get the matter resolved,get your insurance on your classic car from a company that specializes in classic cars,cost you about $300 to $400 a year.Keep on the insurance companies**** because you have been put in the cost file now not their ever growing profit file.

 

What the hell is this saying?

Paragraphs, punctuation, spelling.

I ran out of breath before I got to the end.

 

I have never dealt with an insurance adjuster that hasn't tried to bully me into taking some lowball***** as a settlement. I even had one try to bully me with "It's state law." I asked him to put that in writing. Instant backpedal. Never forget that their job is to push/prod/bully you into settling for as little as possible.

I had one tell me once that Chinese made parts are often better quality than OEM. I laughed and said that Ford parts were good enough when I bought the car, and that's what he'd be buying.

 

Go to the appointment, let them write the repair estimate, you might be suprised. Be respectful, treat them and the insurance guy like you want to be treated. See what happens, if it is not fair, then get excited. Be realistic in your expectations.

As far as preferred shops, they do not necessarily give reduced rates, some do some don't. In an effort to cut costs most insurance companies have preferred shops write estimates on driveable cars for them, at no cost, because it gets cars into the shop, if they end up getting 25% of the cars they write, thats more business for the shop. saves the insurance company money, do not have to have as many adjusters.. If the car owner is in a rent car---don't forget they owe you a rental while your car is in the shop--- then their preferred shops stay on your repairs and don't push it back in the corner because the insurance company wants you out of the rent car as soon as possible.

If that were my car I would LOVE to get an insurance check for repairs, you can make good money off the parts and labor, if they figure used parts they add markup. If you can fix it yourself YOU can make money off this. I hit a deer with my '34 7 months ago, I have American Collector, a Jalopy Journal sponsor. They wrote a $10,600.00 estimate. Very fair estimate. Labor rates are high, I made enough to buy 4 steel fenders to replace the fiberglass and still got paid for my labor.

Don't try to buck the system, I'm an old*****er and through the years I've learned to go with the flow, if it turns into a problem THEN I do what I gotta do and get un-nice. Again, I can't emphasize this enough, being respecttful to people goes a long way toward getting you what you want and again, be realistic in your expectations.

People think insurance companies shake in their boots when you mention LAWYER!! *********!! They don't. Usually if an insurance adjuster has a problem with someone it is much easier for him/her to deal with an attorney than it is to deal with an individual. If you get a lawyer to represent you for your property damage claim YOU have to pay the lawyer, the insurance company does not owe your attorney fees. If you are injured, and get an attorney, the lawyer gets paid out of the settlement, YOUR SETTLEMENT, YOUR MONEY. There's a time and place to retain an attorney, usually a simple property damage claim is not worth the expense.

You do have the right to have your car repaired anywhere you want but that does not mean that the insurance company has to pay what they charge. Most shops are happy to work off an insurance estimate, it gets work into their shop, if they missed something or the shop does not agree with something, it is reinspected and a supplemental estimate is written.

Usually the preferred shops do very good work. If it is repairable, and you don't want to repair it yourself or have a friend to repair it, let them. They are not backstreet cut rate shade tree operations.

Allstate does have the reputation of being pretty*****ty to deal with, most attorneys I know that handle personal injury claims against Allstate say they don't waste a lot of time, just go ahead and file suit.

Unless this is your daily driver, collector car insurance is cheap. It is usually easier to deal with your own insurance company, you get a better shake because you pay their salary.

Also, if they want to total the car, work out something with them to not total it, you have to jump through hoops in Texas if they give you a salvage****le. You have to go thru inspection etc, cannot register the car with a salvage****le, once you get it back to a regular****le the****le is branded from then on. Normally a car that has a rebuilt****le sells for about 25 to 30% less than one that is not branded "rebuilt".

 

Unless you have an attorney that works for beer Eddie!

 

And not all adjusters are out to get you. I had a senile old man (true, my dad had fired him months before ) that claimed I hit im in what was really a close call, his fault. The cop was helpfull and my State Farm adjuster backed me up 100% (there was no damage to my truck)

 

thanks bellm, i shall proceed with your advice in mind. i appreciate it. if the estimate i receive this afternoon is disaggreable then i'll work on a more aggressive approach. in spite of allstate having such a negative reputation i should probably wait for them to mess with me first. i should in all fairness post the resulting estimate either way later this afternoon. thanks all.

 

I agree with Bellm. No need to be a hardass unless nothing else works. Remember, you are the only one that has an emotional attachment to your car.

 

FWIW, I don't know about Texas, but in NY if they total your car and you buy it back, the****le never actually changes hands (ins. co doesn't want to pay the $50 NY hits you for one now), so there's no way to brand it salvage. It may come up in a Carfax report, but those don't go prior to 1981.

one $500 parts car could supply everything to repair that car, a fender, grille and whatever else, and the paint to match should be dirt cheap for primer. I'd say you're best off fighting them to pay up on an average of three high estimates, then doing most of the work yourself. The other thing you can do with a parts car is have something to compare to to be sure the entire front clip isn't pushed over at the front.

 

Trent I will bring you another case of Shiner Bock if I can make the drags this year, that was a damn good meal I got for the beer I brought 2 years ago.

Insurance companies in Texas have to get salvage****les on totals, don't think there is a cutoff year. Best bet is to try to work out an agreed price for you to repair it yourself if they want to total it, no supplements, no rental.

 

No drags for me this year Eddie. Bonneville is the only thing I am shooting for.

 

Hey slick I not a english major excuse me all to*****, what I ,m am saying is this guy is in charge of his own destiny. deal with it I seen 15 different ideas some good some not so smart, the hell with the ins., co. now if he had a value apprasial on the god dam thing he would be fine but most poeple dont take the time or money to cover the car properly they are to busy on the***** that dont count, till you have a problem if you dont understand that well........your part of the problem not the solution... and no I,M NOT A ENGLISH MAJOR I SPENT 40YRS in the auto industry and help putting on the biggest car show in the world!!!

 

That looks like an easy repair. Everything on the front end of a Chevy is bolt on. Grille and fender will be around $800 if you shop right.

If the insurance company totals it, its no problem if it gets a salvage****le. In Texas you can rebuild the vehicle and just have to take it through a more thorough inspection to make sure its safe. The state will then issue a rebuilt****le on it. I did a camaro convertible (1991 model) this way and drove it for 5 years afterwards.

 

Id call around out to california for another grill and bumper. Gets some estimates on parts and show them. Get them to pay for the parts and take the cash. Dont let them scrap that car. That looks like an easy bolt on fix. Guess its time for a new insurance company after you get it worked out.

 

You can use a lawyer or an arbitrator but you will pay a lot of money for them, Id do my own homework like the Insurance writer guy said, if you become intelligent they are going to want to get you out of there, the smarter you get the more they are going to pay. You really cant start grabbing your neck and**** and pretend to be in pain, and if you are in pain or legitimately do have an injury youve got to go to the hospital, dont do a fakey, itll get you in trouble.

 

Any adjuster that works for the company of the person who hit you is. If you're not a customer of their company, they ARE out to screw you.

I do agree with the sentiment of being polite and repectful as long as possible (hopefully all the way through). I also believe in not trying to make this a lottery ticket. Make them pay to get the car fixed to the way it was before. If you do the work yourself (I sure would) make sure they pay you for your time. But don't get greedy or ridiculous.

 

I also say-- try to find the parts with prices, since that is one area the
adjusters are not usually versed in. You might present the parts from 2 or 3 sources to show a variety of costs. Then present an estimate for your labor at a lesser rate than local big body shops. I don't know what their current rates are - probably at least $75 per hour. If you show the fellow you can fix the car for less, he's more likely to want to pay that and not go the "total" route. Once you get their check, that will be the end of it......so figure as accurately as you can. Just my 2 cents. Be courteous and businesslike - it might do the trick.

"I know these old cars are a bit difficult to deal with, so in order to hopefully bring this to a mutually satisfactory conclusion, I've produced my own estimate which is less than the major shops. I'd really like to keep the car since I've invested a lot of time and energy in it, over the "X" years I've had it." Or something along that line........

 

This guy may be able to help with a prior to loss appraisal. He's in League City but a call couldn't hurt.
http://www.autoappraisalnetwork.com/local/Houston.html

I found these guys using Google maps, they may be able to help with a prior to loss appraisal. They are in Austin.
http://www.austin-autoappraisers.com/
http://www.texashas.com/

 

Looks like a fairly easy fix to me, why would it be totalled? I****ume it's still driveable at this point? Unless you have bent suspension I wouldn't think it would be totalled, even then it still wouldn't even be close in my opinion. Get your money from them how ever you can, find some used parts, rattle can your new fender flat black and put it all back together! And don't be afraid to at least talk to a lawyer, most times the initial consult is free and the only way they'll take a case is if they're going to win, since thats how they get paid.