was no subject, is insurance stuff

[auditude at cox.net]

Hi Chander,

I believe the values are how much you would get if you were to trade it in or sell it to private party.  At least the values that you look up when you check the "blue book" value for the car.

The private party sale prices are higher, because they are the end user.  The "trade-in" or dealer sale price is lower because they mark it up to make a profit when they sell to the end user.

Maybe that's what it is?  I don't understand why you would find a retail value that would be higher, that doesn't fit my understand of the two prices.

Ken

Chander Balakrishnan balakrishnan3 at comcast.net wrote:
<<
About 4 weeks ago, my 1989 200 quattro sedan was rear ended by a big bad SUV
at a traffic light.  The rear left fender is badly damaged, as is the tail
gate, etc etc.  The other guy did not have insurance (he had a certificate
that he showed to the police officer who wrote the report, but we later
learned that the certificate was phony).  So my insurance company is going
to pay and recover from the other party.
My insurance  company has estimated the value of the car at $ 3150 excluding
the upgrades.  They used the Kelley blue book as the basis, and estimated
the value as a private party, and described the condition of the car as
excellent.
While this seems like a reasonable basis for estimating the value, should
they be using the retail values for estimating instead of private party ?
After all, if I wanted to buy a car, would I not be looking at retail ?  The
Kelley retail values are higher than the private party estimates by quite a
bit - $ 4550.
I would appreciate if listers could share their experience with me as to how
their insurance companies have dealt with them.  I have 4 cars insured thru
my company plus home, plus life insurance plus college savings fund.  I do
quite a bit of business with my company and right now I feel very upset,
that they would use the private party database instead of retail.
I had purchased the car from Scott Mockry, with several upgrades and new
items.  Just about everything that could have worn out was replaced by
Scott, and in addition he had upgraded the rear brakes to V8, installed
Eibach springs and Koni shocks, plus of course his ecu upgrade.
The repair estimate using used parts is $ 4500.  I am trying my best to save
this car.  I do not believe I can buy a replacement for $ 3150 that is
anywhere close to the car I got from Scott.
TIA
Chander