RE: IML: American Clueless Insurance

["Rob McCall" <Rob_Mopar@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Several years ago the paint on my '68 Barracuda was damaged.  I called my
collector insurance company, and they sent a collectible vehicle appraiser
out.  He was quite knowledgeable, and quoted repainting the entire side of
the car.  The insurance company wrote a check and all was good.  It was a
very pleasant experience.

That paint job evolved into taking the entire car apart, a color change,
fixing hidden rust, etc. and wound up costing 4x the quote to fix the paint
damage, but that's a different story.

I don't run my older cars through a car wash.  The late models get the
brushless treatment from time to time.  My Barracuda gets washed using the
water from the basement dehumidifier.  Our well water will leave spots.

Rob McCall
'67 LeBaron (Might get fresh paint in the Spring)
'68 Barracuda

-----Original Message-----
From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of roger crabtree
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2004 5:40 PM
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: IML: American Clueless Insurance

Dear Clueless Insurance,  
I hate to tell you this but these insurance companies
are far from clueless.  Last year my 55 imperial
substained damage from a car wash (paint).  I have yet
to date had satisfaction from them.  The first thing
they did was hire a independent insurance appraiser to
look at my car.  He sent them an appraisal of the
value of the car.  He also sent them an appraisal of
the the repaint.  I have been to 10 body shops in town
and they all want double the amount he appraised it
for.  Then to top it off he said the paint was at 50%
of it's life and cut the award in half.  So don't ever
think the insurance company is clueless.  They played
the same game with me.  The only money payed so far is
to the independent agent.  I'm sure he is happy. 
Myself, I am stuck with damage to my car and trying to
finagle a law suite that will cost as much the repair.
 Montana is a state that the insurance companies have
by the throat.  When you mention fairness and
insurance in the same sentence, it usually means that
someone has been hosed.
RC Billings, Montanaaaaaa

 --- Eric <gearhead@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: 
> Rodger,
> If you supply the insurance company with a recent
> list of '63 LeBaron ads 
> going back a few months showing asking prices from
> Hemmings, Auto Trader, 
> ebay, etc, this will help the insurance adjuster to
> put a dollar figure on 
> the vehicle, otherwise Clueless is only going to
> look at it as any other 
> vehicle that is no longer listed in their computer
> program which is akin to 
> the Kelly Blue Book. Also, supplying copies of
> repair and replacement parts 
> receipts will also show an invested amount you have
> in the vehicle. These 
> things will show that there is a collector value in
> the car and that it's 
> not a $500 '84 Chevrolet Citation type of total
> write off. This is the 
> typical way a higher value is established with
> insurance companies. They 
> will likely take a percentage of the average of the
> asking prices you supply 
> and then if the damage is less than 80% (the usual
> percentage of vehicle 
> value that they use to claim 'total loss') of that
> value, they shouldn't 
> have reason to call it a total loss and will pay
> something near the full 
> damage amount.
> You would want to go out and get the standard '3
> estimates' from quality 
> body shops for the repair. Having quotes for the
> parts you need from the 
> various suppliers you can get bumpers/etc from will
> help the body shops 
> figure a damage amount. Submit the estimate that
> would be under the 80% 
> vehicle value average from the asking price averages
> that you give to 
> Clueless. This will give the adjuster a base figure
> to work with for the 
> amount you expect to be paid.
> 
> Clueless needs to have their hand held through this
> process. The more foot 
> work you do, the faster they can close out the case
> and move on to something 
> more in tune with Clueless's professional abilities
> of looking up values in 
> a Blue Book (which they don't use, they have an
> industry value computer 
> program that makes it even more simple for
> Clueless), and ultimately their 
> coffee break.
> 
> Eric
> Portland, Oregon
>
********************************************************
> From: FltSgt@xxxxxxx
> Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 23:37:50 EST
> Subject: IML: '63 Le Baron vs American Family
> Insurance
> Reply-To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hola
> 
> On Monday morning the kid up the street who has been
> one of the fastest
> vehicles on the street failed to slow down after it
> had snowed.  Due to the 
> speed
> he lost control of the '89 Jeep and from 55 paces
> away he started a hard 
> slide
> into our '63 Le Baron, backwards.  When I asked what
> happened ( duhhh ) he
> stated that he was only going  10, maybe 15 mph.  (
> At such a slow speed 
> this was
> able to knock the Le Baron over six feet backward
> into the neighbors parked
> '78 F150 long bed.  The 'Le Baron-F 150 package then
> went another foot 
> before
> stopping. )
> 
> Yesterday ( 30 Nov '04 ) when the American Family
> Insurance rep called it 
> was
> in her second paragraph that she used the words of
> "just total the car out".
> When I told her that was not going to happen, she
> then said they would send
> out a person to "take a look at the damage".
> 
> Today this guy calls and didn't have a clue of what
> it was that he was to
> come and look at.  But he did use the same " total
> it out phrase". ( It must 
> be a
> cheap way for the insurance company to get out of
> paying for speedy up the
> street. )  After some time clueless calls back and
> wants to know which 
> engine
> did I have in the car.  " ... a 413, which was the
> only engine for the car" 
> I
> replied.  Clueless then said, " ... and how many
> cylinders does this engine 
> have
> ?"  I started to laugh but since I was in the
> mountains the cell phone went
> dead.
> 
> After a couple of minutes clueless calls back and
> wants to know why the door
> panels are off.  I had to let him know that I had
> taken them off for restro
> reasons.  This time he wanted to know if there was a
> place for parts for the
> car.  I told him about the Neb and Calif
> connections.  Then clueless asked 
> for
> their numbers.  He said that he would get back to me
> when he found out the 
> value
> of a '63 Le Baron.
> 
> I'm so glad that I went in the house and took
> pictures while the skid marks
> were fresh on the snow.
> 
> I told the local NAPA what had happened and they
> called my Gla Blue Le Baron
> "...a cream puff".  I liked that.  They also said
> they would gladly print 
> out
> every item that I have purchased whenever I thought
> the car needed that 
> part.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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=====
RC Billings, Montanaaaaaa 

http://www.imperialclub.com/temp/1955/RogerCrabtree/ 


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