[s-cars] insurane claim on paint jobe - They want to charge me depreciaiton of 25%

[Douglas Landaeta]

Chris,

The $3200 paint job estimate seems quite low.  I don't have much experience,
but the paint itself could be the first $400, and the labor of 'actually
removing' trim parts and lamps and mouldings, and door handles rather than
taping them up should be a lot x labor rate.  I do recall a lister doing a
paint job last year for about $6K (That sounds like doing it right!) ...
again, no experience, just opinions - Beware of a bargain paint job, you'll
regret it forever and then selling the car will, of course, raise questions.
As long as I'm rambling on, I'd get as much as possible from the insurance
company, The 'depreciation' on the finish is observable, the paint was 'not'
cloudy, chalky, or scratched, worn, or pitted before the unfortunate
incident, then I'd really scour about for a high caliber re-paint - even
throwing more money at it.. but then again.. it is a contagious sickness.
Help me please!

Doug L
94 S4


-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-admin at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-admin at audifans.com]On Behalf Of chris chambers
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2003 9:46 AM
To: stefan13 at att.net; Scar
Subject: [s-cars] insurane claim on paint jobe - They want to charge me
depreciaiton of 25%


Stefan, and everyone else!

Yeah our wedding is on September 5th, 2 weeks away and my car isn't in
the body shop yet.

Some type of caustic material got "sprayed" or "dumped" on my car as I
drove under a bridge on 131 (a highway) bear Detroit. The paint is in
terrible shape, bubbles, pealing paint, lifted clear coat, etc. It is
going to require a complete repaint.

I am currently working with the insurance company to try and work it
out. As of last night I was informed that they would be charging me for
25% depreciation, meaning they plan on deducting 25% of the estimate
because they believe my car (being 10 years old) will be in better
shape after the work then before.

What this means is that the current estimate is in the $3,200 range;
25% depreciation is $800 and I have a $250 deductible, so they would
only pay $2,150 towards the repair.

Quite obviously I am not happy with this development, I have no
documentation that indicates I would be charged any depreciation, just
a $250 deductible. Supposedly they sent me a policy book after I
purchased insurance that describes this on p14.

Being a Financial Advisor, I would have read theat booklet from cover
to cover, and I would have kept it.In fact I am a financial advisor
with the company that issued the Auto insurance. My position is that I
never received the booklet, and that the car if improved upon shouldn't
be more than 10% depreciation. As we know these cars are normally
meticuliously maintained, I had a couple small rock chips but other
than that it was a great finish on the car.

You now know more than the list...I'll copy this to the list to see if
anybody has had a similiar experience.

Thanks
Chris


--- stefan13 at att.net wrote:
> Hi Chris - I was on vacation last week and missed the thread on the
> paint of
> your car. Care to update me?
>
> Stefan


=====
93 Audi S4 silver, 93 Audi S4 black, 85 VW Scirocco 2.0 not stock :-)
73 Porsche 914 2.0 (67,000 original miles, stock), 67 GMC Long Step pickup
95% complete frame off restoration, 86 VW Scirocco Wolfsburg

"If things seem really under control, you're not going fast enough.  -
Mario Andretti"

"It's not how much you make, but how much you don't spend!"

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