[200q20v] Final update on my wrecked 91 200 20v
Keith Maddock
Keith.Maddock at trw.com
Thu Jan 25 09:49:18 EST 2001
Audi Listers and Friends,
Many thanks for all the advice and information I've received from you guys over the last 2 months as I've been dealing with my insurance company on my wrecked 91 200 20v. (The one that got hit by the falling carport). I finally settled with them, accepting their 4th offer, which ended up being a payout of 9700. I was able to keep the salvage vehicle for 15% of the vehicle valuation. (more details on it's destiny in next email)
They tried to use a ADP/Autosource valuation, claiming it was based on three actual LOCAL sales. I had them fax me a copy, which showed that it was based on some "average value" (source untraceable), an internet ad, and a newspaper ad. The internet ad was for a lister's car that never actually sold, and the newspaper ad didn't even contain the vehicle mileage. I basically got them to throw that out...
2nd.. I got them to accept that there was no such thing as a "Local Market" for the car. Unfortunately, the my policy states that they cover it for the "Local Market Value". However, we found no actual sales in the local market... I submitted 6 actual nationwide sales, many of which showed that the person bought the car a large distance from their home.
Their 2nd offer was based on a NADA book value with a generic deduction for mileage ($1600). I turned it down.. I pointed out to him that the ADP valuation had only subtracted $575 for the mileage... He then offered the NADA top value minus the ADP mileage adjustment.. Still not enough.
Finally, I got him to throw out the mileage adjustment all together by submitting my significant recent service records showing that the vehicle was in top top notch shape.
In the end.. the lessons I learned are:
1) Make sure you understand completely their basis for the valuation. There's a lot of assumptions made in these that you can dispute.
2) Documentation of vehicles for sale holds little worth , at least for my insurance company. When I provided documentation of ACTUAL sales.. they started to listen.
3) They have the leeway to play with the numbers as long as you can provide them the documentation to backup your claims about the condition of the vehicle.
4) At my insurance company (AIG) they seem to be judged by how quickly they settle the claim more than the actual amount. Once the case had been open for a while, it was clear they wanted to close the case.. They became more receptive to being "creative" on the valuation the longer we went on.
**********************************************
Keith Maddock, TRW Automotive
Controls Engineering, Traction Control
Livonia, MI
(734) 266 - 3971
keith.maddock at trw.com
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<DIV>Audi Listers and Friends,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Many thanks for all the advice and information I've received from you guys
over the last 2 months as I've been dealing with my insurance company on my
wrecked 91 200 20v. (The one that got hit by the falling carport). I
finally settled with them, accepting their 4th offer, which ended up being a
payout of 9700. I was able to keep the salvage vehicle for 15% of the
vehicle valuation. (more details on it's destiny in next email)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>They tried to use a ADP/Autosource valuation, claiming it was based on
three actual LOCAL sales. I had them fax me a copy, which showed that it
was based on some "average value" (source untraceable), an internet ad, and a
newspaper ad. The internet ad was for a lister's car that never actually
sold, and the newspaper ad didn't even contain the vehicle mileage. I
basically got them to throw that out...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>2nd.. I got them to accept that there was no such thing as a "Local Market"
for the car. Unfortunately, the my policy states that they cover it for
the "Local Market Value". However, we found no actual sales in the local
market... I submitted 6 actual nationwide sales, many of which showed that
the person bought the car a large distance from their home.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Their 2nd offer was based on a NADA book value with a generic deduction for
mileage ($1600). I turned it down.. I pointed out to him that the ADP
valuation had only subtracted $575 for the mileage... He then offered the
NADA top value minus the ADP mileage adjustment.. Still not enough. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Finally, I got him to throw out the mileage adjustment all together by
submitting my significant recent service records showing that the vehicle was in
top top notch shape.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>In the end.. the lessons I learned are:<BR>1) Make sure you understand
completely their basis for the valuation. There's a lot of assumptions
made in these that you can dispute.<BR>2) Documentation of vehicles for sale
holds little worth , at least for my insurance company. When I provided
documentation of ACTUAL sales.. they started to listen.<BR>3) They have the
leeway to play with the numbers as long as you can provide them the
documentation to backup your claims about the condition of the vehicle.<BR>4) At
my insurance company (AIG) they seem to be judged by how quickly they settle the
claim more than the actual amount. Once the case had been open for a
while, it was clear they wanted to close the case.. They became more receptive
to being "creative" on the valuation the longer we went on. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>**********************************************<BR>Keith Maddock, TRW
Automotive<BR>Controls Engineering, Traction Control <BR>Livonia, MI<BR>(734)
266 - 3971<BR><A
href="mailto:keith.maddock at trw.com">keith.maddock at trw.com</A></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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