RE: Insurance claim problems. Advice needed!

["Aaron Ness" <Aaron@makuta.com>]

I used to be with State Farm until I bought a house and saved all kinds of
money on homeowners' insurance through a different company, so I switched my
cars as well to get a discount.  Anyway, when I asked about carrying full
coverage on my Bug a couple years back, they told me if it was destroyed
they would give me money based on the selling price of other Bugs of similar
age *in this area*.  This was a big question for me because I know how
incredibly dirt-cheap Bugs are in California, etc., compared to the midwest.
They also told me that the cars they based the value on would be in similar
condition to mine.  Based on that, they don't have the option of just
looking through the classifieds to find the cheapest car they run across.  I
would definitely raise hell with your agent about it, since you're paying
him/her not only for insurance, but for service.

Aaron
'84 Scirocco - Woo-hoo!
'70 Bug - hibernating
'87 Nissan truck - Soon to be for sale

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Majordomo [mailto:majord@neubayern.net]On Behalf Of
> Elias Glavinas
> Sent: Thursday, September 23, 1999 1:44 AM
> Cc: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> Subject: Insurance claim problems. Advice needed!
>
>
>
> Ok, I just got a letter from State Farm, and the amount they
> are giving me
> for my totaled 85 is in my opinion not enough.
>
> Story:
> 19th of June, I am rear-ended horribly. Rear is thrashed/bent
> up until the
> middle of the rear tires. Hatch is bent, glass is broken.
> Clearly a ton of
> work is needed to fix the car (weld new rear clip, possibly
> from the back
> seats and backwards, not an easy task).
>
> State Farm rents me a car (which I am still driving).
>
> I insist that someone knowledgable takes a look at the engine bay to
> realize that the car is in unbelievable shape mechanically
> and should be
> treated as such. A guy does look at it and agrees that I am right.
> Promises me he will do his best so that I will get something in the
> 2000-2500 range. The way state farm works is that they enlist an
> "independent" company to appraise the car's value.
> Supposdeldy they look
> at identical cars sold around the area recently.
>
> About two months pass. I call up the guy again, he returns my
> phone call
> in a week, and tells me that all the info coming back from
> the appraisers
> shows ads from local papers, with my type of car selling for about
> $1000-$1500. I knew the paper ads by heart at that point and
> I express my
> surprise to him, as to why the appraiser chooses to list only the
> sub-$1500 8V's, and not the $1800-2500 8Vs (there were about
> 4-5 in the
> same paper). He goes "yeah, let me feed them that information".
>
> Another 3 weeks pass. Today I got this letter saying that the
> fair value
> for the car is $1550 and that the appraisers were given the
> info about the
> 1800-2500 range 8V's for sale, but did not change their mind.
>
> I am basically screwed because they will probably ask me for
> $400 or so if
> I want to keep the car (there are some great parts in there,
> including a
> 55,000 mile 4k tranny and a 2.25" stainless steel TT
> exhaust). Not a good
> deal for me.
>
> My questions are:
>
> **What can I do at this point? Obviously these guys would love it if I
> just accepted what they give, but they must be expecting a fight also.
>
> **What is a good federal/state resource to turn to as far as
> my rights are
> concerned?
>
> **I am pretty suspicious that the fact that they paid $1500
> in rental fees
> (due to their incompetence in processing this quickly) played
> a big role
> in their decision not to give me more money. Is there any way
> I can use
> that huge delay to my advantage?
>
> **If I balk at their offer is there any law that says that I *have* to
> make up my mind within such and such time?
>
> **Please feed me with any comments you might have.
>
>
> thanks,
>
> Elias
>
>
>
>
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