--- julian Williams <hipjulian@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> why dosent the car insurance industry
> want to insure old cars
Insurance is risk management. The newer the vehcle, the
fewer the variables in estimating repair costs due to
available parts prices and recent track record of what
others cost to fix on average.
It has been my experience that the industry will almost
universally attempt to total your old car when it comes
times to settle if there is much body work involved.
Normally settlement is for several thousand dollars, as it
is difficult for them to distinguish the value of your car.
While List members value their cars highly, most of the
general public just views them as old cars, and are willing
to settle low, hence the Insurers offering low.
How much will it cost to repair a smashed 1971 "old car"?
-Unknown and varies by rarity. A cadillac or Chevvy might
be easy, but you still have to go to a junk yard to get the
parts (will your body man do that?).
What about an Imperial? Where would you get parts if you
were not part of the list? Car gets totaled when the
industry can't handle it. Given the choice between a 5
year old Honda and your car, the body shop is going to go
for the job that can be done with parts that can be ordered
and estimated accurately with out risking taking a loss and
tying up too much time and shop space.
Lastly: If you get offered settlement on your totaled
Imperial and are going to cash out, make certain to ask how
the claims adjuster is arriving at the figure they are
offering. I was offered a random $2,500 for a 1971 car
that I had. I showed them a bunch of ads for the same car
in Hemmings along with my photos and receipts for all of
the parts that I had bought, successfully arguing that I
had a cream-puff car equal to the top-dollar car in the 12
ads. It was not an Imp, hence the high number of ads, but
you get the idea.
They just needed the information to make an argument to
their adjuster boss. I got $8,500 (!), and that's cheap
compared to many of the cars that these guys total out on a
daily basis. This means that I was actually under the
average payout for totaled vehicles, and this also made
some sort of sense to the adjuster, who sensed that I had a
personal stake in the car, while he didn't. (plus I went
in there at 4:30 pm on a Friday on purpose and talked and
stalled)
=====
Kenyon Wills
6o LeBaron - America's Most Carefully Built Car
73 LeBaron - Long Low & Luxurious
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