Insurance Company Woes

[KatoKato]

I need some help for a friend...

She has a 97'? Nissan 240SX with 180,000 kms on it.

She has had it since new and it is in excellent condition.

She recently ordered a new Infinity G36? and was in the market to sell. She had offers in the $4000 - $7000 range.

Here's her problem - she got into an accident with it last week (not her fault) and the cost to fix is $5000, red book value is NIL, and insurance company is only going to give her $500 for it!!!!

Does anyone know what her options are in order to fight for more money?

Thanks for your help,
Kato

[cstreit]

Persistence. It IS her insurance company so I'd suggest talking to the agent and giving them the options of a) spending the $5000 to fix it or b) giving her a slightly lesser amount to total it.

In fact perhaps she can get a few higher estimates if she shops around to negotiate.

[Hugh R]

go to kbb.com

They say its worth more than $500, more like $5K depending on condition, mileage, options.

[KatoKato]

Originally Posted by cstreit

Persistence. It IS her insurance company so I'd suggest talking to the agent and giving them the options of a) spending the $5000 to fix it or b) giving her a slightly lesser amount to total it.

In fact perhaps she can get a few higher estimates if she shops around to negotiate.

She called the agent and the agent basically said this wasn't her problem and she would have to deal with the insurance company directly.

Re: estimates. What type of dealers should she approach for quotes on the estimated value and how much is typically charged for this service?

Thanks,
Kato

[KatoKato]

Originally Posted by Hugh R

go to kbb.com

They say its worth more than $500, more like $5K depending on condition, mileage, options.

Thanks for the tip. This will come in handy.

[Dave L]

Originally Posted by KatoKato

She recently ordered a new Infinity G36? and was in the market to sell. She had offers in the $4000 - $7000 range.


Kato

who made her these offers? was the car listed for sale or is this what the dealer offered as a trade in. If something is in writing I would send it to them

[Joeaksa]

Also go to www.ebay.ca and get some ideas of what they are selling for in that conditon. Then take it to the insurance agent (if they are higher) and give them the option of paying out or you are calling a lawyer.

[Dixie]

Also go to www.ebay.ca and get some ideas of what they are selling for in that conditon. Then take it to the insurance agent (if they are higher) and give them the option of paying out or you are calling a lawyer.

And here lies another dilemma. Lawyers will not be interested unless she has verifiable injuries. They figure 40% of $5,000 isn't worth their time.

[Christien]

I deal with this all the time at work. The broker it's right - it's not their problem, it's the insurance company's. Even if the broker wanted to help, there's not really anything they can do except harass the ins. co.

First, call the ins. co. with the policy number, find out who's dealing with the case, and get them to fax you the appraisal report. (if you don't have a fax machine, pm me for my fax #, have them fax it to me, and I'll scan and email it to you.) They always have someone (internal) examine the car and come up with a value based on other similar cars, usually through the Auto Trader. The appraisal report should have a list of similar cars for sale that they found, and the offered value will be the low end of that.

Second, once you've got that report, do the same research and come up with your own. 99% of the time you'll come up with higher values. Don't bother with ebay, they won't take that as useful information. You want local auto trader and local classified ads only, because prices differ from region to region (eg. BB values S. Ontario cars at 3% higher than other places).

Third, if you want, pm me the VIN and I'll get you a full black book report, adjusted for mileage, including wholesale and retail values. These values are usually on the low side. It's better to go with the VIN to make sure you've got the exact model, but in short, a 97 240SX with 180K wholesales for $1200-$3000 based on condition. Industry standard to determine retail is 140-150% of wholesale, which would bring it to $1700-$4500. BB retail values are $2325-$4850, so that actually pretty close.

Fourth, call the ins. co. rep with all this information and threaten to get lawyers involved if they don't offer more. If you can make a good case and show proper research, they may increase the offer (this has happened to me, but rarely). They may demand an appraisal report from a licensed appraiser - be prepared to go that route ($150-$200). You may need to get a lawyer involved, too, but often just a signed letter on the firm's letterhead will get it done, and that shouldn't cost too much.

Insurance companies expect to lowball and meet little resistance, because they can, and because lawyers are expensive. Make that work in your favour - if you an make them believe you've got a solid case, it's cheaper for them to pay you out than pay their own lawyers.

Hope this helps!

Chris

[avi8torny]

State Farm pays Retail Value + Tax.

[Billbo]

Insurance companies have attorneys on the payroll, they don't hire on a case by case basis, it really does not accomplish much to threaten them with hiring one for yourself. Best route is to document sale (not asking) prices of a like vehicle in your area.

[KatoKato]

Originally Posted by Dave L

who made her these offers? was the car listed for sale or is this what the dealer offered as a trade in. If something is in writing I would send it to them

These were offers from interested parties. Apparently these cars are sought after and people will pay a decent amount for them.

[KatoKato]

Thank you Christien. I appreciate your offer to help and if it comes to a head I'll contact you with details. We're going to wait and see for now.

Have been gathering data from kbb.com, ebay, autotrader etc.

Cheers,
Kato

[KatoKato]

Just a quick update.

Only just a few calls back and forth between the insurance company and my friend they offered $5700 as a settlement.

Now that's a happy ending!

Cheers,
Kato

[bell]

glad it worked out

[sammyg2]

The last time I had a disagreement with an insurance company I called the office of my congressman and explained the situation.
One of his staff called the insurance company, and not the peon i was dealing with. Someone much higher up.
That same day the peon called me back and agreed to pretty much whatever i asked for.

Seems the insurance companies don't like to piss off congressmen.