My Terrible Car Luck Continues
3/21/13, 08:21 AM
#41
Cobra R Member
3/21/13, 11:15 AM
#43
Mach 1 Member
One thing to consider... Assuming the insurance company totals the car, you can probably buy back the car from the insurance company VERY cheap. I bought my totaled SHO back for $200. They will just deduct the buy back price from your proceeds. You can then fix the car or sell it to someone ( to fix or part out ) and make some money in the process. You stand to get more $ out of it than you will have to pay to buy it. Heck - the motor alone has to be worth $1000.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
3/21/13, 11:42 AM
#44
Legacy TMS Member
Thread Starter
One thing to consider... Assuming the insurance company totals the car, you can probably buy back the car from the insurance company VERY cheap. I bought my totaled SHO back for $200. They will just deduct the buy back price from your proceeds. You can then fix the car or sell it to someone ( to fix or part out ) and make some money in the process. You stand to get more $ out of it than you will have to pay to buy it. Heck - the motor alone has to be worth $1000.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
3/21/13, 03:37 PM
#45
Mach 1 Member
I was shocked also at how cheap it was to buy back. The car had a great motor - 4 good tires - perfect interior - nice paint - no rust - new clutch. I sold it to a buddy for $200 and he has since run it in seven 100-lap enduro races. 
3/23/13, 08:41 PM
#46
I Have No Life
It's not a Mustang incident, but you guys won't believe this one.
So I picked up my car last Friday, 2/22 around 5 PM from my dealer and then went back downtown to meet up with my wife, who drove her 2000 Accord to work separately that day. We watched the KU Big XII tournament game and then headed home, with me about 5 minutes ahead of her.
Well, as she headed up Hwy. 169 northbound out of KC downtown in the right lane, some idiot in a 2000 Olds Intrigue came flying up behind her doing about 90 (35 over the limit), swerved around her, came up on another car in the left lane and swerved back to the right to go around my wife's car. He clipped the front end of her car, ran her off the road and spun himself out...then drove off.
We had two functioning cars for all of 3.5 hours...
So, she called 911 and then me and as we're sitting on the side of the highway with the Police, Fire Department and tow truck guys, the police get a call from the Riverside police (next town over to the Northwest), asking if they were looking for a guy in a black four-door because he'd just gone flying through their jurisdiction, ditched his car and tried to hide under a bridge.
After her car got towed away, we went with the cops to the scene where they had the guy in the back of the squad car and had my wife ID the car that hit her. Guy blew JUST under the limit but couldn't remember hitting anything. Somehow, he was actually insured with a reputable insurance company (American Family)
So...she has to be a witness at this idiot's court appearance and this was the result with her car:
Yes, she's having a little fun hugging her car of the past 8 years goodbye. The damage doesn't look like much but the condenser, tie rods, front fender and front bumper all needed replacing, plus likely some other things that pushed it beyond the value of a 13 year old car with 160,000 miles on it. They are giving us $3,700 for it, which is more than I thought we'd get, but it still sucks. Try finding as good a car for the same amount of money - it's next to impossible, so we're going to end up buying something for 10-12K and this accident not of our fault will end up costing us 8K. Ugh.
So I picked up my car last Friday, 2/22 around 5 PM from my dealer and then went back downtown to meet up with my wife, who drove her 2000 Accord to work separately that day. We watched the KU Big XII tournament game and then headed home, with me about 5 minutes ahead of her.
Well, as she headed up Hwy. 169 northbound out of KC downtown in the right lane, some idiot in a 2000 Olds Intrigue came flying up behind her doing about 90 (35 over the limit), swerved around her, came up on another car in the left lane and swerved back to the right to go around my wife's car. He clipped the front end of her car, ran her off the road and spun himself out...then drove off.
We had two functioning cars for all of 3.5 hours...So, she called 911 and then me and as we're sitting on the side of the highway with the Police, Fire Department and tow truck guys, the police get a call from the Riverside police (next town over to the Northwest), asking if they were looking for a guy in a black four-door because he'd just gone flying through their jurisdiction, ditched his car and tried to hide under a bridge.
After her car got towed away, we went with the cops to the scene where they had the guy in the back of the squad car and had my wife ID the car that hit her. Guy blew JUST under the limit but couldn't remember hitting anything. Somehow, he was actually insured with a reputable insurance company (American Family)
So...she has to be a witness at this idiot's court appearance and this was the result with her car:
Yes, she's having a little fun hugging her car of the past 8 years goodbye. The damage doesn't look like much but the condenser, tie rods, front fender and front bumper all needed replacing, plus likely some other things that pushed it beyond the value of a 13 year old car with 160,000 miles on it. They are giving us $3,700 for it, which is more than I thought we'd get, but it still sucks. Try finding as good a car for the same amount of money - it's next to impossible, so we're going to end up buying something for 10-12K and this accident not of our fault will end up costing us 8K. Ugh.
Seriously, glad your wife is ok. What is up with these idiot drivers.
3/24/13, 06:03 AM
#47
GT Member
Join Date: November 18, 2011
Location: Philadelphia, PA
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Dude I'm supposed to move to Mizzou in like a year for work...wtf. Your stories are scaring me about drivers there haha. Seriously, glad to hear you and your wife are ok. There are some real sh*tty drivers out there. It's like a mine field everyday.
3/24/13, 10:10 AM
#48
Legacy TMS Member
Thread Starter
Ha - yeah I don't know what it is about drivers here. I survived 3 years driving in Wisconsin and 4 in Lawrence, KS for college with no problems but move to KC and all these wrecks happen!
3/25/13, 10:43 AM
#49
Legacy TMS Member
Thread Starter
Ha. Funny you should say that - we're actually coming up to West Des Moines on Friday night to pick up my wife's new car - 2008 Mazda3s Grand Touring hatchback. 5-speed, heated seats, Xenons, rain-sensing wipers, etc. along with a separate set of rims/Blizzaks. Best part of all? Only 35K miles. She's excited and so am I, though I'm a bit nervous about buying another blue Mazda, considering my history with them (2 for 2 on being totaled!).
3/25/13, 04:06 PM
#50
I Have No Life
Ha. Funny you should say that - we're actually coming up to West Des Moines on Friday night to pick up my wife's new car - 2008 Mazda3s Grand Touring hatchback. 5-speed, heated seats, Xenons, rain-sensing wipers, etc. along with a separate set of rims/Blizzaks. Best part of all? Only 35K miles. She's excited and so am I, though I'm a bit nervous about buying another blue Mazda, considering my history with them (2 for 2 on being totaled!).
4/8/13, 09:42 AM
#51
Legacy TMS Member
Thread Starter
Resoution + Diminished Value Claim
I've kind of split my posts about this between this thread and another one that BKstyles started after a similar incident. So I decided to summarize everything here so it's useful for somebody else later:
Soon after the accident with Lucy, I started looking into a diminished value claim - diminished value being the amount of money your car will never be worth again, even if the repairs are perfect like mine ended up being. Because mine has had minor unibody repair, Ford dealers will almost universally send it right to the auction if I trade it in to them, plus the accident will show up on CarFax from here on.
Diminished value is this weird gray area in the world of insurance. Every insurance company has policy on it but they don't publicly state anything about it on the web or anywhere else. Diminished value claims have been awarded in court in 46 states, so the case law is on your side but there are few, if any, laws/statutes about it so you may have to fight.
I found two places that specialize in these types of claims - Autoloss.com and CollisionClaims.com, and I went with Autoloss.com for mine.
I sent them my repair order and some info, and they called and talked me through the process. They prepared documentation and a letter to go the person that hit me's insurance company. The documentation included current cars similar to mine for sale in my area and their prices, plus research they've done with Ford dealers that shows those dealers won't even sell a car that's had repairs as extensive as mine did (esp. with the minor unibody repair mine needed) and it can't be Ford-certified either.
Their estimate is that my car has lost 35% of its value, or $8,404. I was told their clients typically get 80-90% of the amount requested. Once it was ready, it was my responsibility to follow up with the insurance company, get their offer and consult Autoloss if I had questions.
Their fee is $275 and it's refundable if you don't get paid. You're paying for their experience in these cases and the research they have to back it up.
There are some reviews online with people complaining about being ripped off by this company and I wouldn't go so far as to say I was ripped off, though I wouldn't hire them again in the future. More on that later...
Once I'd submitted the paperwork Autoloss.com gave me, I started communicating directly with the other insurance company. After giving them two days to review, I called and talked to the person assigned to my case, who immediately told me he'd found some faults with the paperwork from Autoloss and thought their $8,404 number was way too high. However, he told me their independent evaluator in my area would be in contact to come out and inspect my car. That consisted of closely examining the repairs to my car, as this was done after repairs were completed, and taking a variety of photos. No driving or even starting the engine.
A couple days later, the insurance company called and told me the value of my car, in their opinion, was about $26,750 (higher than Autoloss or KBB/NADA/Edmunds says). Their evaluator felt that the diminished value on it was $3,153, or about 12% of the value. This company's policy was to not pay more than the evaluator's judgement, so they offered me that amount. They would not show me the evaluator's report until the paperwork was completed.
Autoloss told me this was ridiculous, that I should demand to see the report and threaten to file a claim with my state insurance department. So I called my state insurance department and found out that there is no law/statute requiring them to show me anything or pay diminished values at all. At this point, I was about done asking Autoloss for help, as they don't seem to know enough of the intricacies to do much anymore. Having gone into this hoping for 4K, I decided to settle for the $3,153 and be done with it, as I'm at 6 weeks of dealing with it all at this point. Maybe I could have gotten more if I'd hired a real attorney, but those costs may have just eaten up the increased value anyway. So I settled.
Summary
AutoLoss.com
Pros
Soon after the accident with Lucy, I started looking into a diminished value claim - diminished value being the amount of money your car will never be worth again, even if the repairs are perfect like mine ended up being. Because mine has had minor unibody repair, Ford dealers will almost universally send it right to the auction if I trade it in to them, plus the accident will show up on CarFax from here on.
Diminished value is this weird gray area in the world of insurance. Every insurance company has policy on it but they don't publicly state anything about it on the web or anywhere else. Diminished value claims have been awarded in court in 46 states, so the case law is on your side but there are few, if any, laws/statutes about it so you may have to fight.
I found two places that specialize in these types of claims - Autoloss.com and CollisionClaims.com, and I went with Autoloss.com for mine.
I sent them my repair order and some info, and they called and talked me through the process. They prepared documentation and a letter to go the person that hit me's insurance company. The documentation included current cars similar to mine for sale in my area and their prices, plus research they've done with Ford dealers that shows those dealers won't even sell a car that's had repairs as extensive as mine did (esp. with the minor unibody repair mine needed) and it can't be Ford-certified either.
Their estimate is that my car has lost 35% of its value, or $8,404. I was told their clients typically get 80-90% of the amount requested. Once it was ready, it was my responsibility to follow up with the insurance company, get their offer and consult Autoloss if I had questions.
Their fee is $275 and it's refundable if you don't get paid. You're paying for their experience in these cases and the research they have to back it up.
There are some reviews online with people complaining about being ripped off by this company and I wouldn't go so far as to say I was ripped off, though I wouldn't hire them again in the future. More on that later...
Once I'd submitted the paperwork Autoloss.com gave me, I started communicating directly with the other insurance company. After giving them two days to review, I called and talked to the person assigned to my case, who immediately told me he'd found some faults with the paperwork from Autoloss and thought their $8,404 number was way too high. However, he told me their independent evaluator in my area would be in contact to come out and inspect my car. That consisted of closely examining the repairs to my car, as this was done after repairs were completed, and taking a variety of photos. No driving or even starting the engine.
A couple days later, the insurance company called and told me the value of my car, in their opinion, was about $26,750 (higher than Autoloss or KBB/NADA/Edmunds says). Their evaluator felt that the diminished value on it was $3,153, or about 12% of the value. This company's policy was to not pay more than the evaluator's judgement, so they offered me that amount. They would not show me the evaluator's report until the paperwork was completed.
Autoloss told me this was ridiculous, that I should demand to see the report and threaten to file a claim with my state insurance department. So I called my state insurance department and found out that there is no law/statute requiring them to show me anything or pay diminished values at all. At this point, I was about done asking Autoloss for help, as they don't seem to know enough of the intricacies to do much anymore. Having gone into this hoping for 4K, I decided to settle for the $3,153 and be done with it, as I'm at 6 weeks of dealing with it all at this point. Maybe I could have gotten more if I'd hired a real attorney, but those costs may have just eaten up the increased value anyway. So I settled.
Summary
AutoLoss.com
Pros
- Lots of official sounding looking paperwork along with decent research into the values and a lot of statements/quotes from car dealers to back their opinions.
- Gives you a good place to start with the other insurance company
- Showed I was serious about the claim and maybe that helped get me an offer that I could live with (no way to validate this though)
- Refundable $275 cost
- Fairly unresponsive - emails and calls don't get returned for 1-2 days.
- Paperwork was filled with spelling errors, grammar errors, etc. that I corrected before sending
- Their advice in the negotiation process doesn't seem to be rooted in a lot of concrete examples/facts.
- After claiming to have submitted the paperwork, I called the insurance company, who'd never received anything. Autoloss could not tell me where they'd sent the paperwork, so at that point, I handled it all myself directly.
- Determine the pre-loss value of the car using Kelly Blue Book, NADA and Edmund's True Market Value.
- Find 4-5 similar cars in your area for sale to give additional value.
- Go to CarMax and have them put together a sale offer in writing, hopefully with separate pre and post-accident options.
- I would have liked to do this with my dealer, but they refused to put anything in writing, as they deal with the insurance companies constantly and did not want to get into a spat with them.
- Put together a formal letter with the background information included and send it to the correct claims office for the insurance company. In the letter, I'd request a diminished value claim of 25-30%, for an accident as serious as mine (7K in repairs).
- Get everything in writing and negotiate as best you can.
4/8/13, 11:41 AM
#53
Legacy TMS Member
Thread Starter
4/8/13, 10:12 PM
#55
Legacy TMS Member
Thread Starter
4/9/13, 10:12 AM
#56
Bullitt Member
I lived in Illinois and Missouri prior to moving here to Indiana. I can honestly say that in my opinion, Missouri drivers are BY FAR, the worst drivers....
Last edited by MADSCOTSMAN; 4/9/13 at 10:17 AM.
4/9/13, 10:36 AM
#57
Tasca Super Boss 429 Member
4/9/13, 01:18 PM
#58
Shelby GT500 Member
Have either of you driven through South Carolina? I beg to differ on the bad driver rankings. Holy wow. Just to prove my point my insurance premiums went up over $50 a month just by moving there. I didn't have a choice so I just had to deal with it. When I got there I found out why.
Your information is really helpful. I'm glad that someone put this out there. I had heard of this before but never knew anyone who had it done. Glad you got your car back in good repair.
Your information is really helpful. I'm glad that someone put this out there. I had heard of this before but never knew anyone who had it done. Glad you got your car back in good repair.
4/10/13, 11:42 AM
#59
Member
Join Date: March 26, 2013
Posts: 23
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Received 0 Likes
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I've kind of split my posts about this between this thread and another one that BKstyles started after a similar incident. So I decided to summarize everything here so it's useful for somebody else later:
Soon after the accident with Lucy, I started looking into a diminished value claim - diminished value being the amount of money your car will never be worth again, even if the repairs are perfect like mine ended up being. Because mine has had minor unibody repair, Ford dealers will almost universally send it right to the auction if I trade it in to them, plus the accident will show up on CarFax from here on.
Diminished value is this weird gray area in the world of insurance. Every insurance company has policy on it but they don't publicly state anything about it on the web or anywhere else. Diminished value claims have been awarded in court in 46 states, so the case law is on your side but there are few, if any, laws/statutes about it so you may have to fight.
I found two places that specialize in these types of claims - Autoloss.com and CollisionClaims.com, and I went with Autoloss.com for mine.
I sent them my repair order and some info, and they called and talked me through the process. They prepared documentation and a letter to go the person that hit me's insurance company. The documentation included current cars similar to mine for sale in my area and their prices, plus research they've done with Ford dealers that shows those dealers won't even sell a car that's had repairs as extensive as mine did (esp. with the minor unibody repair mine needed) and it can't be Ford-certified either.
Their estimate is that my car has lost 35% of its value, or $8,404. I was told their clients typically get 80-90% of the amount requested. Once it was ready, it was my responsibility to follow up with the insurance company, get their offer and consult Autoloss if I had questions.
Their fee is $275 and it's refundable if you don't get paid. You're paying for their experience in these cases and the research they have to back it up.
There are some reviews online with people complaining about being ripped off by this company and I wouldn't go so far as to say I was ripped off, though I wouldn't hire them again in the future. More on that later...
Once I'd submitted the paperwork Autoloss.com gave me, I started communicating directly with the other insurance company. After giving them two days to review, I called and talked to the person assigned to my case, who immediately told me he'd found some faults with the paperwork from Autoloss and thought their $8,404 number was way too high. However, he told me their independent evaluator in my area would be in contact to come out and inspect my car. That consisted of closely examining the repairs to my car, as this was done after repairs were completed, and taking a variety of photos. No driving or even starting the engine.
A couple days later, the insurance company called and told me the value of my car, in their opinion, was about $26,750 (higher than Autoloss or KBB/NADA/Edmunds says). Their evaluator felt that the diminished value on it was $3,153, or about 12% of the value. This company's policy was to not pay more than the evaluator's judgement, so they offered me that amount. They would not show me the evaluator's report until the paperwork was completed.
Autoloss told me this was ridiculous, that I should demand to see the report and threaten to file a claim with my state insurance department. So I called my state insurance department and found out that there is no law/statute requiring them to show me anything or pay diminished values at all. At this point, I was about done asking Autoloss for help, as they don't seem to know enough of the intricacies to do much anymore. Having gone into this hoping for 4K, I decided to settle for the $3,153 and be done with it, as I'm at 6 weeks of dealing with it all at this point. Maybe I could have gotten more if I'd hired a real attorney, but those costs may have just eaten up the increased value anyway. So I settled.
Summary
AutoLoss.com
Pros
Soon after the accident with Lucy, I started looking into a diminished value claim - diminished value being the amount of money your car will never be worth again, even if the repairs are perfect like mine ended up being. Because mine has had minor unibody repair, Ford dealers will almost universally send it right to the auction if I trade it in to them, plus the accident will show up on CarFax from here on.
Diminished value is this weird gray area in the world of insurance. Every insurance company has policy on it but they don't publicly state anything about it on the web or anywhere else. Diminished value claims have been awarded in court in 46 states, so the case law is on your side but there are few, if any, laws/statutes about it so you may have to fight.
I found two places that specialize in these types of claims - Autoloss.com and CollisionClaims.com, and I went with Autoloss.com for mine.
I sent them my repair order and some info, and they called and talked me through the process. They prepared documentation and a letter to go the person that hit me's insurance company. The documentation included current cars similar to mine for sale in my area and their prices, plus research they've done with Ford dealers that shows those dealers won't even sell a car that's had repairs as extensive as mine did (esp. with the minor unibody repair mine needed) and it can't be Ford-certified either.
Their estimate is that my car has lost 35% of its value, or $8,404. I was told their clients typically get 80-90% of the amount requested. Once it was ready, it was my responsibility to follow up with the insurance company, get their offer and consult Autoloss if I had questions.
Their fee is $275 and it's refundable if you don't get paid. You're paying for their experience in these cases and the research they have to back it up.
There are some reviews online with people complaining about being ripped off by this company and I wouldn't go so far as to say I was ripped off, though I wouldn't hire them again in the future. More on that later...
Once I'd submitted the paperwork Autoloss.com gave me, I started communicating directly with the other insurance company. After giving them two days to review, I called and talked to the person assigned to my case, who immediately told me he'd found some faults with the paperwork from Autoloss and thought their $8,404 number was way too high. However, he told me their independent evaluator in my area would be in contact to come out and inspect my car. That consisted of closely examining the repairs to my car, as this was done after repairs were completed, and taking a variety of photos. No driving or even starting the engine.
A couple days later, the insurance company called and told me the value of my car, in their opinion, was about $26,750 (higher than Autoloss or KBB/NADA/Edmunds says). Their evaluator felt that the diminished value on it was $3,153, or about 12% of the value. This company's policy was to not pay more than the evaluator's judgement, so they offered me that amount. They would not show me the evaluator's report until the paperwork was completed.
Autoloss told me this was ridiculous, that I should demand to see the report and threaten to file a claim with my state insurance department. So I called my state insurance department and found out that there is no law/statute requiring them to show me anything or pay diminished values at all. At this point, I was about done asking Autoloss for help, as they don't seem to know enough of the intricacies to do much anymore. Having gone into this hoping for 4K, I decided to settle for the $3,153 and be done with it, as I'm at 6 weeks of dealing with it all at this point. Maybe I could have gotten more if I'd hired a real attorney, but those costs may have just eaten up the increased value anyway. So I settled.
Summary
AutoLoss.com
Pros
- Lots of official sounding looking paperwork along with decent research into the values and a lot of statements/quotes from car dealers to back their opinions.
- Gives you a good place to start with the other insurance company
- Showed I was serious about the claim and maybe that helped get me an offer that I could live with (no way to validate this though)
- Refundable $275 cost
- Fairly unresponsive - emails and calls don't get returned for 1-2 days.
- Paperwork was filled with spelling errors, grammar errors, etc. that I corrected before sending
- Their advice in the negotiation process doesn't seem to be rooted in a lot of concrete examples/facts.
- After claiming to have submitted the paperwork, I called the insurance company, who'd never received anything. Autoloss could not tell me where they'd sent the paperwork, so at that point, I handled it all myself directly.
- Determine the pre-loss value of the car using Kelly Blue Book, NADA and Edmund's True Market Value.
- Find 4-5 similar cars in your area for sale to give additional value.
- Go to CarMax and have them put together a sale offer in writing, hopefully with separate pre and post-accident options.
- I would have liked to do this with my dealer, but they refused to put anything in writing, as they deal with the insurance companies constantly and did not want to get into a spat with them.
- Put together a formal letter with the background information included and send it to the correct claims office for the insurance company. In the letter, I'd request a diminished value claim of 25-30%, for an accident as serious as mine (7K in repairs).
- Get everything in writing and negotiate as best you can.
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