Insurance heads up

[Andrew Buc]

** Reply to message from "David Glubrecht" <daveglu at hotmail.com> on Sun, 15 Dec
2002 20:10:08 +0000

> For ACV we started with NADA

On some cars, I expect the ACV is nada! (Hint: It helps if you know Spanish!)

> Most all of these age and wear, rebuilding the
> motor does not restore the car.  In almost all cases it is still an old car
> with many miles.

In 1991 I was selling my '68 Saab 96 V4, which had had an engine overhaul ~6K
miles earlier. However, the body and interior weren't the greatest. I'd read
somewhere that resale value of a car is determined more by appearance than
mechanical condition, and my experience was bearing this out. I wound up parting
the car out. I got a reasonable amount of money, and in hindsight, I should have
gone this route in the first place.

> The biggest lesson I can offer and one that I learned later than most is
> perspective.  You could have a kid with a disabilitating disease

Some years ago I suffered a big financial loss. In my view, there was someone
to blame, but a lawyer told me I had no legal case, however much of a moral case
I might have. I was NOT a happy camper. Around this time I made the
acquaintaince of a man who'd fled Hungary in 1956. As he and his family were
picking their way towards the Austrian border on foot in cold weather, they
found a basket containing a frozen baby. That's my perspective story for the day.