[V8] re: Tis the season.....

[Roger M. Woodbury]

There are a couple of things that people need to know about insurance 
companies and the adjustment process.

First of all, ALL cars are JUST cars to the insurance company.  Generally, 
unless the car is on the insurance company's no-no list, all cars are 
acceptable, assuming the driver's record and financial circumstances are 
stable.  At time of loss, ALL cars are JUST cars, and ALL Audi's are treated 
equally:  old Audis are OLD Audis, period, and if it is only one of 27 for 
that year (such as a '94 V8) it is JUST an OLD Audi, and the rarity makes no 
difference in its valuation.

Insurance companies do not use the same NADA or Kelly Blue Book that the 
average person has available.  Their data is MUCH more detailed and from a 
whole lot of different sources. They rely on what sometimes is referred to 
as "The Black Book", which is a more detailed reference for automobiles. 
What we get at the book store or on line is useful information, but an 
insurance company's data is going to be much stricter and probably more 
realistic, just as a dealer's wholesale figure is much different from the 
NADA Guide or the KBB values.

An insurance company is going to try to merely make whole the loss.  The car 
might have been worth a lot to the insured, but the actual cash value of the 
car is probably much different.  Sometimes insurance adjustment people have 
a true "hard on" for difficulty.  I had a very hard time getting a cash 
settlement for my BMW motorcycle which I totalled.  The bike was repairable, 
but the adjuster for USAA (a contract adjuster, and not a USAA employee) 
thought he was a Private Investigator like Magnum.  He tried to bully the 
motorcycle shop into straightening the rear suspension frame and calling it 
good, despite the fact that the factory manual said that the part was NOT 
repairable and straightening it would weaken the entire frame and make the 
bike unstable.  I finally got hold of the Northeast REgion claims supervisor 
and asked them if they wanted me to ride a bike that was documented as being 
improperly repaired, and would they welcome the liability from that 
exposure, since it would have been caused directly by their employee.  In 
the end, they paid me for the bike and totalled it.  But the fact was that 
had I not spent about twenty years in the commercial insurance business I 
might not have had the same result.

And another thing that is very important to remember:  coverage is NOT 
determined by the funny tv ads, the insurance agent selling a policy, or 
wishful thinking.  Coverage is actually determined AFTER the loss by the 
claims department.  For any of you hotshots who are rallying, club racing, 
autocrossing, gymkhana-ing, or going on those "wink-wink" so called, 
"drivers ed" weekends, if you prang your ride you will probably find that 
your insurance company won't cover the loss and then they will cancel your 
coverage.

Roger