[Vwdiesel] Car totaled

[Bud]

I don't think you want to tell them you want to buy it back, they'll
definitely low ball you.  The reason why they won't give a price is, it's
based on a percentage of what they'll pay you on the claim.  The higher the
claim payout the higher the buyback price.

If you have your car in one of their storage yards or one they pointed you
to take it, like the collision place they contract with, the insurance
company doesn't pay them a per day storage fee.  In this way, they can keep
stalling you on your claim.

In California, you're allowed to pick your own place to have the car stored
and repaired, the insurance company has to pay the storage rate for that
yard or collision center.  In this way it forces the insurance company to
stop dickering around.  I found out a lot about the insurance companies
when an underage girl rear ended me in my wife's BMW and I wound up in the
back seat.

I didn't like the repair the collision center was going to perform
(straighten the uni-body and weld the cracks and then do the body work).
So I went to a local German collision joint.  He basically told me to
lawyer up (which I didn't do) because they'll treat you like you're a
criminal and he gave me the tidbit on storage and a load of other things.

I was able to drive the car from the collision place(boy they were pissed,
I wanted my car and for them not to hold it) to the Germans.  He looked at
it and told me he'd total the car it was useless fixing it.  I asked him if
he wanted to make some bucks for storage fees and he told me sure, so I
left it there.  I called the insurance company and the secretary told me
the agent  handling my claim was out but would pass the info that I changed
collision places.

To make an even longer story short, after several weeks of the insurance
company stalling, the agent looked at the note in the folder and he started
screaming into the phone when he realized the clock was ticking on the
storage fees  :)

I finally had to deal with his boss because he kept telling me what they
weren't paying for.  When I told the boss what I was owed like rental car
fees, fuel in the tank, prorated registration the boss finally gave me my
price.  Went in, got the check and had to sign an affidavit saying I wasn't
drunk or on drugs at the time of their underage clients fault of the
collision.  Can you imagine!

I wound up taking the money and buying my 1985 1.6L Golf.  The German told
me to take the money at the time and told me to buy an early year VW and
pocket the rest.

That's my 2-1/2 cents.

As a PS, while the car was in the German yard, he told me to take
everything out of the car that I wanted that shouldn't go to the insurance
company.  They're only negotiating the stock vehicle, not anything custom
or personal.

Bud


On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 3:06 PM, Travis . <tgott at hotmail.com> wrote:

> I went to start the car Monday morning. It was just as cold as the
> previous Monday morning. I work night shift so it was cold (-25, I have
> started as cold as -35 in montana). I tried it twice. It turned over but
> not fast enough to start. I went back inside to call my wife. Then someone
> offered to help jump me. Then my boss came in and said my car was running.
> This all took around 10 minutes. I ran outside and saw what appeared as
> white smoke or steam. Opened the hood and flames came out. Ran back inside
> and came back out (which took around a minute) with a Hologen extinguisher,
> opened the hood and put it out.
>
> Thinking the fuze block on top of the battery heated and started up.
> Pictures here
> http://s1203.photobucket.com/user/coalminer16/library/?sort=3&page=3
>
> I have $500 deductible through Statefarm. They said car is worth $8298.50
> minus my $500 is what I would get paid. I told them some of the things I
> did to the car (tinted windows, hitch - which they only gave $50 for, new
> tires - which need to be less then 1 month old I found out, etc). So
> basically they aren't giving me anything extra for adds on there  so I may
> be ripping things out. They said if I wanted I could find comparable
> vehicles but they had to be an 04 Golf within 500 miles and comparable
> miles. Well-there is only one that fits the bill that I can find, one more
> if you go outside the milage range at $9000 for a car with about 100K miles
> and $12000 for the other that is closer but has less options (and honestly
> I think is pretty high) both through craigslist. I can't find any others
> out there that match.
>
> My car is a 2004 Golf GLS with cold weather package. Never mind my own
> adds.
>
> They won't give me a price of buy back until I agree on a price of what it
> is worth. Only people telling my not to buy the car back is my extended
> family as they worry about working on electrical items. I do to but I know
> with a clean rust free body, working engine and tranny someone would have
> to buy it if I didn't mess with it even.
>
> What would it be worth in it's current state if I did buy it back to
> resell. I likely will attempt fixing though but I want to make sure I can
> justify buying it and having it sit there while fixing as I am out a car
> that can drive well now until the rabbits can come back out when the salt
> comes off the roads.
>
> Any other tips/thoughts. I really can't complain about the price they are
> offering for the car. I do know they took car of my father on his
> motorcycle accident pretty good. but when he asked to buy it back (rebuild
> engine and added 6th gear in the tranny) the price was so high it wasn't
> worth it-the rest of the bike was junk.
>
> Travis
>
> _______________________________________________
> Vwdiesel mailing list
> Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
>