Request for Advice - Totalled '91 200 20V TQ

[Bernie Benz]

Hi Mike,

Ah, such expertise! Hope that I never need it.

We hit -6F yesterday morning in N. Nevada. Too cold and windy to ski.

Regards, Bernie

> From: "Mike Miller" <mikemilr at blackfoot.net>
> Date: Sun, 14 Jan 2007 15:01:13 -0700
> To: "Michael Palatas" <mpalat at gmail.com>, <200q20v at audifans.com>
> Subject: Re: Request for Advice - Totalled '91 200 20V TQ
> 
> Unfortunately I have totaled two 91 200q's. The biggest issue has been to
> establish a mutually agreeable value. I have no idea who you are insured
> through but it seems to me that the industry standard is to total a vehicle
> when damage excedes 70% of the vehicle worth.
> 
> The first one I totaled was stock and pretty pristine with 150k on the clock -
> I got $6k for that one in June 2003. It took quite a bit of fighting the
> insurance company with me sending in 5 comparables that I copied from Audifans
> that had a favorable asking price. Their initial offer was about 4700. Damage
> to the vehilce was in excess of $13k so there was no question of it being a
> total.
> 
> The 2nd one (June 2005) I totaled was in decent shape with a lot of new parts
> and had less than 300 miles on $2700 worth of repairs. It had aftermarket
> wheels/new tires, $1k aftermarket stereo, Euros and 208k on the clock. Initial
> damage quote was ~$2700 and the ins valued the car at $3200 so they wanted to
> total it. We fought for close to 3 months over the vehicle value, during which
> time they upped their estimate to $3800 as I recall, which still left it
> totaled. They finally paid for an appraiser to come to the house and appraise
> the car - which came in at slightly over $5k so now the  car wasn't a total.
> They ins had already paid  $250 to get the car towed to my house to avoid
> storage charges and it would seem obvious it would take at least that much to
> get it back to a body shop for repairs. They balked at paying more than $150
> for towing charges to get it to the shop. After a particularily nasty
> arguement, the adjuster gave me the options of 1) paying the additional towing
> out of pocket or 2) totalling the car and buying the salvage for ~$450 which
> left them paying me a settlement amount of $4500 with me keeping the salvage.
> I took option 2 which made no sense to me as the insurance co. would have paid
> out less than an additional $3k to have the car towed and fixed. Both my
> totals are front end and I have both of them sitting here for parts while I am
> currently enjoying my 3rd 200q.
> 
> My advice if you want to continue to drive a 91 200q is to buy the salvage and
> transfer parts as needed. If not, buy the salvage and try to find a lister who
> would want it for parts. You could always be nice and allow a lister to buy it
> for whatever the ins. co. wants f or it ;-)
> 
> mike
> nothing like -20F, dry roads and a chipped 91 200q :-)
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Michael Palatas
> Can anyone give me some advice, preferably some BTDT.  TIA
> 
> Mike in Burbank, CA
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