Insurance woes

[passat TS]

Chander,

Another option is follow what Ben is saying regarding the value and settle
for the highest possible money. Then offer to buy the car back. The
insurance co. will be receiving next to nothing when they sell your damaged
car, so most are willing to negociate.

The key is to never tell the buying back intention to the adjuster until you
settle for a final value.

You might have the money to fix a car that seems to be in good condition, or
the worst case you can part it out recoup the buying back money and look for
a car.

Good luck and I hope that you can save the car,

Carlos.


>[From: "Chander Balakrishnan" <balakrishnan3 at comcast.net>
>To: "Quattro List" <quattro at audifans.com>
>Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 15:04:29 -0500
>Subject:  (no subject)
>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]

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