recovering gap

[scott thomas]

You're still reading every other word. The
headlights and electronics were stolen. They
didn't break down. Acura TL headlights are very
hot on the chop market. The bumper was broken
off to gain access inside. That's where the
newer bumper and repaint came from. They damaged
the fenders. New fenders and paint. Very
obviously, this was a job encouraged by body
shops because the theives took great car to not
do damage other than body work. They were very
gentle with the connecters, unplugging them,
instead of cutting. The cops support the theory
100%. In addition, her mother was the local
police doctor, so the detectives actually came
down, did the crime scene investigation and
lifted one fingerprint. they caught the guy a
couple of weeks later. A body shop technician.
This shop was responsible for the theft of the
headlights of about 50 cars in the area.
---- Begin Original Message ----

From: George Selby <gselby4x4 at earthlink.net>
Sent: Fri, 09 Aug 2002 20:02:20 -0400
To: "scott thomas" <scott at dreamtheater.zzn.com>
CC: quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Re: recovering gap


At 10:31 PM 8/8/02, you wrote:
>Now, where did you get the $4500 figure for the
>nav from?
>Next, my point is can I legally reclaim the
>amount of the gap from the other driver or
>insurer through legal means? The

Sorry, got saw the $4200 for the headlight
repair, and that figure stuck in
my mind.  Still, however much it was, it
shouldn't have broken down after 3
years, IMHO. I have aftermarket electronics 10-
15 years old (amps and head
units) that work fine.

Now as to the 'gap,' you are legally entitled to
recover the amount of your
loss.  You loss is the PRESENT fair market
value, or basically, what it
would cost you to buy a car just like the one
you lost.  However, you feel
you had a car with a bunch of new
parts.  (Everyone always feels their car
is worth more than retail for some reason or
another.) While this it true,
it didn't really affect the market value of the
car, because the KBB Blue
Book value is based on a car in perfect working
and cosmetic condition.  So
if the wreck had occurred before the stuff was
repaired then you would have
gotten even less money.  Say the NAV system
didn't work.  You couldn't
claim it as an option, since it wasn't
functioning in your car (although if
you didn't mention it didn't work it would
probably slide.) The headlight
repair is probably a better example.  If the car
had been totalled before
the headlight repair was done (say on the way to
the repair shop in the
daylight, you would have been paid $4200 less
than Fair Market Value, to
deduct for damage already on the vehicle.)

The 'relative' guilt of the other person doesn't
really matter.  If they
had done everything they could to avoid the
wreck, but still hit you, and
it was their fault, then you would get the same
amount of money.


George Selby
83 Audi Coupe GT
gselby4x4 at earthlink.net



---- End Original Message ----



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