I agree with most of what Kenyon said. However, a lot of this depends
on the type of insurance you have for your car. If you are like most
people, and carry only regular insurance, the insurance company will not
care what you consider "legitimate value." They will only pay you what
they consider to be "fair market value."
That is, unless you have stated value, or agreed value insurance on your
car, which says that they will pay you whatever value is stated on the
front of the policy, or whatever you & the company have agreed upon in
advance.
I once had a collector car that was worth, at the time I was rear-ended,
about $10,000. By "worth" I mean I could have sold it for that easily,
and in fact had turned down cash offers close to that. But I was young
& stupid (as opposed to old & stupid, which is what I am now) and I
carried only regular insurance on the car.
When I got hit guess what the insurance company (Allstate) offered me?
$500.
Okay, after I hit the roof & told them there was no way I was going to
settle for that I got a call from a guy at Allstate whose sole job was,
in my opinion, to intimdate people like me into accepting the offer I
had been given. He was very gruff, very forceful, and very definitive.
He made it sound as if that was all I was going to get and that was
that, and there was no point arguing.
We went back & forth for several weeks. At the end of this period of
time I went to my mailbox and opened a letter from Allstate and guess
what was in there? A check for $2000. I believe there was also a
letter inside that I was supposed to sign and send back.
Guess what I did? Yup, I sent it back. Then I called them & cussed
them out. They were quite surprised that I would cuss them out over a
$2000 check, but I did it on purpose. I always believe in sewing
confusion in the enemy's mind. :)
Anyway, long story short (too late), it took me 6 months to get a
settlement that I thought was fair. At one point there was absolutely
no communication between me and the Allstate guy for 3 months. 3 months
of silence! It was a ridiculous game. They got the bodyshop on their
side & started working me over . . . there are so many tricks to this
trade. The guy even threatened to get physical with me when we finally
met. I mean, it was amazing. Point is, you have to be willing to hold
out & stick up for what you believe.
I hope you don't run into this kind of conflict. That incident happened
to me about 15 years ago. Since then, I have never had anything I owned
insured with Allstate and never will as long as I live. In case you
missed it, that's spelled A-L-L-S-T-A-T-E. Of course, some folks may
have had a wonderful experience with them, but not me. And every car I
have owned since then has been insured by State Farm, or Hagerty. I
have had one claim with State Farm. It was handled quickly,
professionally, and completely satisfactorily.
Like Kenyon said, get a Hemmings, get an Old Cars Price Guide, get the
Sunday classifieds, and start building your case as a lawyer would to
establish fair market value. Be prepared to fight for the right
bumpers, parts, etc. Their first offer will be low, not necessarily
because they are evil people, but because it is their job to save their
company money. Many folks will take low offer to avoid the hassle, and
they count on that.
And if you can, get a LUMP SUM payment where YOU pay the bodyshop. You
do not want the bodyshop working for them. In that scenario the
bodyshop guys become your enemy, because they want the money.
It is a game, unfortunately. Be prepared to negotiate & win. Good
luck!
Mark
kenyon wills wrote:
> Is there anything
> > that I should do/know
> > about when the Cox Company's insurance people contact me.
>
> Go get yourself a Hemmings Motor News at the newsstand. If
> there are other 1956's for sale there, they will probably
> be top-dollar. This is a great resource to take (assuming
> that there are cars listed there) to the claims adjuster to
> help establish legitimate value. Start looking for other
> cars that sellers are asking top dollar for and take those
> too.
>
> Take your photo album and be ready to turn on the
> waterworks, so to speak, about the importance that this car
> has for you and how they need to put it right. If you
> inherited it from special relatives or there is special
> historical info, this makes a binding argument against
> replacement. A buddy had a truck that his deceased father
> had willed him. It was all that he had to remember dad by.
> The adjuster didn't even try to argue about Scott's
> motives for asking for extensive repairs.
>
> The adjuster is used to dealing with new cars, not old.
> They may throw out a low dollar figure due to ignorance,
> but most are just doing their job. Give them the tools to
> justify thier payout to you and to raise the amount of
> money it will take to make your car a total loss. A low
> value car will get totalled sooner and be less likely to be
> worth an investment of additional repair dollars.
>
> Also, remember that the claims adjuster is there to
> negotiate on behalf of the insured, and they will attempt
> to simultaneously try to keep their payout in the best
> interests of the insurance company while protecting
> themselves from being defraded individually as an adjuster
> by claimants.
>
> You can always consider court. Suing the insured is the
> last thing that the insurance company wants, as it is what
> they are paid to protect their insured from.
>
> I had a neighbor back into a vehicle of mine and refuse to
> give insurance co. info to me. I took them to small claims
> court, won a judgement that I was in the right but not a
> dollar figure, and the judge forced the guy to give me his
> info. When I went into the Ins agency, I told them what I
> wanted, why it would cost so much (rare parts = $$) and he
> offered 50% of what I claimed. I told him that I'd just
> have to go back to court to have my judgement enforced, and
> they paid me what I asked. Remember that you own half of
> the agreement about what is fair, and a denial of your
> claim is not the final step, even if they say it is. This
> is negotiation, and no does not always mean that. It is
> important to know when NO really is that, though!
>
> Insurance people have time on their side and act as if
> their answer is the only one. Act like yours is the only
> one and you'll come out ahead, as long as you're civil and
> leave emotion out. They do this every day. Give them
> reason to concede. Don't give them reason to hold out by
> being a jerk, ever.
>
> One more thing: go have your claim processed at 4pm or the
> last possible appt on a Friday (due to your "work
> schedule"). Tyr to get a walk-in instead of an appt where
> they are organized ahead of time. Take your time and
> stretch out the interview. Having the agent wanting to go
> home for a weekend can lubricate your claims process in
> your favor, and they might just force it through to get rid
> of you. Politely demand settlement that day, if possible.
>
> You have more power than they'll let onto. Go get em!
>
> =====
> Kenyon Wills
> 6o LeBaron - America's Most Carefully Built Car
> 73 LeBaron - Long Low & Luxurious
>
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