Insurance heads-up!!

[Mike Arman]

Here's an unpleasant heads-up for those of us who drive older cars . . .

Wife crashed her 1991 M*zda 323 two weeks ago - real hard. She'll be OK,
out of work until January, banged up, pissed off, broken rib, kneecap,
maybe ankle (can't tell yet!), and completely black and blue all over. You
can see where the belt and harness were at impact.

She bought the car new in 1991, we put a new engine into it in August -
$1,800 total - $300 for engine, balance was for everything else, sensors,
hoses, this one was done right - plan was to keep the car to 300,000 miles
- and it would have made it . . . car ran like new, even looked OK (no rust).


Similar cars (not as nice and with original engines) are going for $1,500
to $2,000 in the local shopper rags, and we figured that this one ought to
be worth $2,500 or so after all the work and parts went in.

Insurance called today - ACV (actual cash value) of this vehicle, new
engine taken into account, is all of $640, plus tax. $100 deductable gives
a net check of $540. (She doesn't know yet - oh man is she EVER going to be
mad . . . )


"It's twelve years old and has almost 200,000 miles on it!"


I asked how much *I* could buy it back for - answer $32.58.




That should give us some idea of how much we might be looking at if someone
crashes into our beloved Audis "1986 Audi 5000, ACV is $250, less
deductable, we're paying you $150 for your car (or what's left of it).
Turbo? Qwattrow? Whatzat?"


Crashing sucks.

Big time.


Best Regards,

Mike Arman