insurance company hell with 4kq

[DGraber460 at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/18/2005 1:43:49 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,  
kneale at coslink.net writes:

My  father's 88-year-old widow recently ran her '96 taurus into someone  who
drove out a driveway in front of her.  The car's a total
mostly  because both airbags deployed.  Auto Owners said $3900.  But  I
pointed out the car had  only 21K miles and every option except SHO  heads
because my dad needed leather seats in order to get out of the car,  and
Ford in '96 would only provide leather if you got the highest trim  package.
Anyway, we got another grand out of them.  The thing that  sold the
increase was I suggested the insurance company find her a  comparable car.
In other words, a low-mileage Taurus with leather.   According to Ford's
on-line used car finder, there is no low-mileage Taurus  with leather on any
of its  dealer used car lots in a three-state  area.


At 03:26 PM 6/18/2005 -0400, Kent McLean wrote:
>Nathan  Ray wrote:
> > So when I take it to the body shop for an estimate  they tell
> > me that the car is a total loss because it has $2700+  in
> > damages and there is no way it's worth that  much.
>
>I haven't had the misfortune, but the value the  insurance
>company places on the car is based on "average"  condition.
>
>Show them the stack of repair bills, go to  Autotrader and
>Audifans Marketplace and provide them a list of cars  and
>prices of above average cars -- ones in the same  condition
>as yours.
>
>Don't accept their first offer. Say,  "No." If they don't
>come back with a better offer, let them know you  are willing
>to take their client to court (it may help if you know  a
>lawyer who will put it in writing). Let them find you a
>car in  comparable condition, to make you whole.
>
>Be ready a) with a  figure that you consider acceptable and
>that is also reasonable, b) to  buy back the car to have it
>repaired, c) to buy a similar car to which  you can transfer
>your good parts, and/or d) take the money and upgrade  to an
>80/90/200/S  car.

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The idea that the insurance company is responsible to put you  into a similar 
car to yours is not correct. They are only required to give you  "fair market 
value" for your car. Whether or not one is available and at what  price is 
only helpful in establishing that "value". You can "tell" them to get  you 
another one, but you might as well tell them to give you a million dollars.  
Neither will happen.
I have been going through this with my own company since my URQ was totaled  
in March, and we are _still_ negotiating. I supplied them with copies of  all 
the URQs for sale in the US and Canada, and which ones changed hands and for  
what prices. They just summarily denied that all the ads were the same  
condition as my car and irrelevant. We are now having independent  appraisals done, 
and will negotiate from there.
 
Dennis
Denver