[V8] Truck totalled: fair market value replacement?

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Well, as I wrote before, my GMC 2500 4X4 is totaled.  I spoke with the guy
who owns the mechanical shop in Hancock where I was plowing when the truck
caught fire as well as my own mechanic. The consensus is that I might have
torn a transmission line, or the transmission might have puked some fluid
back up the filler pipe which would have caught fire on the hot exhaust
manifold.  Apparently it happens, and I suppose I had worked the truck
enough to get the transmission fluid hot enough to do that.  Whatever the
case, when the fire department arrived (FOUR huge engines!), the truck cab
was totally involved, and only the truck bed and tail gate are salvageable.

 

Now on to the insurance claim fun part.  Luckily I had comprehensive fire
and theft on the truck and I might not have had that because the purchase
price was such that I initially questioned whether I wanted to protect the
truck at all. Then one morning about six months after buying the truck, I
found a large, dead fir tree across the driveway about ten feet in front of
the nose of the truck, blown down in the windstorm the night before. That
was 2 ½ years ago, and I put comprehensive insurance on the truck at that
point:  $250 deductible.  Premium for that was $21 every six months.

 

So, the evaluation process has begun. First the truck carcass will be hauled
to an impound yard. That yard is 200 miles away, which seems foolish, but
that is the way the insurance company works.  Once there the loss will be
appraised, and then the total loss committee will come up with a fair market
value for the truck and plow. Then make me an offer of settlement.  

 

Now, here’s the sticky part.   The NADA book value shows the truck’s retail,
or fair market value to be around $7900.00.  The Boss plow was probably
worth $1500, maybe.  

 

BUT there are no 1997 GMC ¾ ton Sierras anywhere in New England that I can
find, and no Chevy Silverados of the same ilk that are true comparables.
Maybe there aren’t any at all. I can make it all so terribly complicated
because I have a copy of the original build sheet from the GMC dealer.  So
fair market value for my truck will be fair market value for MY truck, and
much shy of that, means a negotiation of some strength.  

 

The night of the fire I was looking on eBay and lo and behold, there was
this Chevy Silverado that might almost have been the mate to my GMC, if a
white truck could be a match.  The history of the truck was about the same
also. The truck had only been used to pull a travel trailer (5th wheel) in
the winter, and the original miles were less than 30,000, which makes it
really a lot younger in miles than my 96,000 mile GMC.  Five minutes after
seeing this auction, with nine days to go, the truck just diappeared!  I
figured someone called up and made an offer the dealer couldn’t refuse.  

 

Then yesterday, I decided to call the dealer in Oregon and find out how much
he got for the truck. That would give me the upper limit for a comparable
truck to my toasted GMC.  Turns out the dealer decided to keep the truck and
drive it himself because it was so nice.  But he said, he would sell it,
asking $10,900.  

 

So, there’s my upper limit and my fair market value range:  somewhere
between $7500 and $11,000

 

Meanwhile, the insurance company wants me to fax copies of all my service
records and the build sheet for their files.  

 

Stay tuned:  this will be a nightmare for everyone involved.  The question
that must be addressed here is when is an old vehicle an “old” vehicle, and
when and how does condition and maintenance interfere with the “normal” way
insurance companies dispatch total losses.  I think I know the answer, and
now I get to test all my theories.

 

Roger