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Can't fight city hall

R

rrlund

Well-known Member
Or the insurance company. I guess we'll have to take a settlement on the car we bought three weeks ago,that got smashed two weeks ago. The insurance company said flat out they won't pay to fix it. They offered $7891 last week for a car we just paid $8250 plus tax for. Monday they came up to $8389 and said that's it,that's all we can do,take it or leave it.

Kim finally got somebody to answer the phone at the title division of the Secretary of State's Office. They advised we take the money and go shopping. They said it was up to the insurance company whether we got a salvage title or not,but as far as what we'd get if it got smashed again,she said it didn't matter if the title was green,orange or pink. The insurance company would enter it in a database as having been a total loss and all we'd get next time would be salvage price. I already know what that is because they offered to sell it back to us last week if we took the $7891,and that was $1069. So if it got smashed again,we'd get $1069.

We're both burned out on all this. We're taking a check and going shopping. We can't take this anymore. Time to write a check and roll the dice.
 
Yep , insurance sucks . You insure because you have an investment to protect , but when you buy the insurance they don't bother to tell you that no matter what the item is worth to you , if there is a claim , what they think it is worth is what counts. I hope that you can find another car that has been well cared for , shame to have lost this one this way.
 
Randy I have never dealt with an insurance company that did not leave me feeling violated whenever there was a claim. They sure like premiums better than paying out claims.

I am sorry you lost a good car but the companies go by averages. So it really does not make much difference if it is in mint condition your going to get the average plus maybe a little if your adjusted is feeling charitable.

I have several older pickups that I have kept in good shape or rebuilt them to be in good shape. If I just carried regular insurance on them the company would just total them when ever anything happened. So I have stated amount insurance on them. It is higher but I can at least replace them with some thing close to what they are in quality and condition.
 
I told the wife the smart thing to do would be to take the money and buy 3 cheap high mile ones,put PL PD on them,drive one til it drops then transfer the plates.
 
Believe it or not, we've got 6 cars or trucks in the driveway - through a variety of circumstances. My kids are in college or about to go in a couple of years. My Wife and I agree that on one hand it stinks to drive cars with 100k, two cars at 150k, 250k and two at 275K, we ain't buyin' nothing car related (tractors and farm equipment fall into another category... 😎). One by one, the plan is to drive them until a motor or tranny gives out and thin the heard down.

What I've learned from all this is three fold. Presently, if we take a long trip, we rent a car. When done - someone else gets to pay for the car, insurance, taxes, etc. Second - at some point down the road we'll buy a nice car, maybe new, for my Wife. Finally, I've done a goodly bit of travel over the years for work and watched these new cars/trucks get more complicated. Heck, even a key isn't a key anymore. I'm of the mind, for me, I'm going to buy and run long term older vehicles that I can work-on as well as the local mechanic. I want something that $4 can buy a non-chipped ignition key. We use to look for the hiding place for the oil filter when front wheel drive cars came out. Now we look for the engine. I want no part of those cars. I'd like to find a nice low mileage, rust free - regular cab, long bed, 4x4 International..... 🙂😎👍

Bill
 
Anyone who thinks that their car is special and worth more when it comes to trade or and insurance company better think again. They go by the NADA or KBB. Says right in those "
this vehicle, this year model with these options are worth X amount. For lower than average miles add this and higher than average miles subtract that. That is a simple answer, it's a little more complicated than that but that's basically it. The company may offer a little more but that isn't really going to be that much. Sorry that you expected to get more but that's how it works. Now in another state you may have gotten more. I'm not familiar with insurance law in your state.

Rick
 
Well at least no one can blame this one on the feds. Insurance is a state reg. If you don't like it, call Lansing....oh....you did that already.
 
at some point down the road we'll buy a nice car

We had just got to that point. Her 2002 Sport Trac that she bought new had over 301,000 miles on it. We sold some timber and I told her we'd spend the money on something nicer for her to drive. For several years now we've been renting from Enterprise when we took a trip,but I was just at the point where I wanted to be able to get in our own car and head for Kentucky or Tennessee without makin a big production out of it. When I called the adjuster,I had 8 comps for that year,make and model with that kind of mileage. They were anywhere from $9995 to $11,995. They said no,we had to use their four comps and they wouldn't tell me where they got them. It's over. I plan to have something by this weekend,then we'll just forget about it.
 
I've been run into twice on the road, ironically, both times while in a medium/heavy truck. Both times, empty, thankfully.

The first time was a rusty F600, with a new engine in it. An idiot never saw the stop sign, and I T-boned him on the blind intersection. There sat my new engine and radiator askew, as the both frame members pointed off to the left. The adjuster must have been highly paid by the insurance company, because he didn't think my truck was worth much. The good 14' box w/hoist, new engine, didn't impress him at all. I think I got $1500 and I kept the truck. The best part was my attorney put in a loss of income claim and they paid it! It took a while to work myself out of that hole, but I did. Bought a light cab and chassis and proceeded to build one truck out of two.

The second time a senior citizen failed to negotiate a gentle curve, side swiped my IH 2050A, and knocked my rear axle far enough back on one side that the drive shaft came apart. This time the adjuster was totally different. He had owned trucks. He kept looking at my nice EBY aluminum box, and saying "this truck is worth fixing". He priced parts/repairs at local shops. I did the work, and was able to use some things I already had (tires/rims/etc.) I actually made money this time!
 
It also sounds like your Secretary of State office is about like the one here in Indiana, I tried for 3 days back in 2004 to phone ours and finally gave up. I have tractors under a personal article policy, like JD Seller, I probably pay a little more but the amount is what I insure them for. I have wandered if I would only carry PL& PD on vehicles and drop the collision, comp. and the uninsured or underinsured part of the policies how it would compare with the price I pay for the tractors for $1000 of value. With the personal article policy it doesn't matter how it damaged, fire,theft,flood.ect. I damaged fender on new tractor and stopped in and ask agent what my deductible was and he said zero! Told me to go to JD and get estimate, less than 2 weeks all fixed and paid for.
 
You know...I hate to deal with a bloated unresponsive federal bureaucracy, when I can wrestle with a bloated unresponsive bureaucracy just miles away.
 
The repair estimate on this one was less than $35 more than what they finally settled for,but no matter how much I argued and told them how exceptional the car was and how bad I wanted to keep it,the answer was no. H3ll,for that matter I would have paid the difference out of my pocket,but it ain't happening.
 
I have had several dealings with several state of Indiana departments over the last couple of years including the secretary of state's office and all I can say someone always answered the phones and everyone was very friendly and courteous.
 
I saw a International 3/4 ton 4WD with 12,000 miles on it sell at Chesterfield VA at an auction about 3 months ago.It was automatic and had factory air California truck
bought $14,000.
 
I had a 73 Buick that I got hit twice by women drivers got more each time from their insurance companies than I paid for the car,then the car started over heating in the Summer so I drove it to work for two Winters.Loved that old car had a great radio.
 
If they are offering $8389 and you paid $8250, you should be happy. Go shopping and enjoy it. Fixing the old one could have been a huge can of worms, and like you said you owned it a week- you couldn't be that attached in 7 days, right?

Fixing the old one could have been a huge can of worms, and you could have had more issues down the road that wouldn't be covered.

Remember, you still have your wife, with no scratches or dents. It could have been worse!!!
 
I am a little lost here. Maybe I missed a previous post with more info? I have only lived in Michigan for a few years and learned about the insurance here pretty quick. Highest rates in the USA which was kind of a surprise. Also near no liabilty if you crash into somebody else and ruin their car. $1000 is the most you can be liable. But your own vehicle and your own insurance? I have 8 vehicles insured with Progressive. I only cover two for loss. With either I have choice of being covered by a value determined by the insurance company, or a pre-agreed to value. What did you do for your insurance? If my value was not pre-agreed to, I would not expect what I paid for the vehicle to have much to do with what they say it is worth.
 
(quoted from post at 18:01:31 08/30/17) Monday they came up to $8389 and said that's it,that's all we can do,take it or leave it.
.
Click to expand...

Paid 8250, got 8389, sounds like you fought city hall and won.

Just because you paid a bunch of money for a car doesn't make the car worth that much.
 
Take the money and look for an estate auction with a newer low mileage car in it. A lot of times they can be 10 years old with only 20k miles on them, and don't get overbid because they are a bit older, yet still have most of their mileage left in them. Good luck.....
 
If the insurance company will pay just over 95 percent of dealer price for your car, I'd say you did very well on that deal. Take it and look for another car that hasn't been wrecked.
 
Until you add in the 6% sales tax,the fact that he was asking $9000 but came down for me because we're friends,and the fact that I can't touch anything like it for mileage and condition for less than 10-12.
 
Life lessons.

If we'd known then what we know now, we would have had that '96 Suburban covered for a set amount. That was a truly sharp and amazing rig!

All in all, sounds like you made out pretty darn good. After all, I've never heard of sales tax being considered as part of the value of something.
 
I am sorry but you can not complain when you get more from insurance than you paid for the car, that is not what insurance is for. If it was people would buy cars and total them for the money.

Joe
 
I agree with those who say you made out ok. We can't expect to go through life without s**t happening and taking a financial hit every now and then. Granted, you lost a few hundred bucks out of pocket but like someone said, your wife is ok. I've had a couple of cars totaled by insurance and didn't get made 100% whole. Didn't lose a minute of sleep over it though.
 
You paid $8250 for the car, and they're writing you a check for $8389. 8389 is greater than 8250. Looks like you won to me.

If you were expecting to get tax, title, license fees back, you need to read your policy.

If you paid $8250 for the car and were expecting to get $9999 to $11999 back, that's called insurance fraud.

Most people don't read or understand their insurance policy. They just ASSUME it's a certain way, and when the time comes for a claim, they get a big surprise. If you want full replacement value insurance you have to buy full replacement value insurance. If you want agreed-upon value insurance, you have to buy agreed-upon value insurance. Both of those cost more than "regular" insurance, which is what you had on this vehicle.

The fact that you got MORE out of them than you paid for the vehicle, YOU SHOULD BE KISSING THEIR FEET, not trying to whiz in their Cheerios.
 
The thing is, it should not matter what Randy paid for the car, it should matter what the car is worth. He got a deal from a friend, Insurance companies all stink.
They Never want to pay what is fair, in fact, had he paid what the car is worth, he would have lost a few thousand on the deal. The whole insurance industry is a scam, cars, homes, health, etc... the only one getting rich is the insurance company.
 
Insurance companies go by Book value,so the answer is before you buy a vehicle you need to look up the book value they'll pay if its totaled,if you can live with the payout fine if not don't buy the vehicle if you don't want to take a chance.My wife's 1997 Toyota Corolla with 270,000 miles is a great little car runs and operates like a champ but if it gets totaled
she might get $500 if she is lucky. Its worth far more to us than that but that's the way it goes especially with vehicles over 3 or 4 years old.
 
I agree. Look up book value and start from there. What he paid has little to do with what the insurance company legally owes. If he got hosed on the purchase price that's not the insurance company's problem. If he got the BIL deal on the car that's none of their business either.



I have one car that if it was totaled I would make out like a bandit - my wife has driven her van for two years and its book value has finally come down to what I paid for it. But I would lose out on my car. I bought a 2002 Taurus two years ago with only 35K miles on it - I knew the owner and I knew it was in perfect shape. I overpaid because of the mileage and condition but today it has 90K on it without dollar spent at a shop on it. The book on it is probably $1800 at best but I couldn't replace it with a car I would trust like I trust it for twice that.
 
NADA and KBB are written by dealers for dealers - not consumers.


Neither adds enough value for low mileage and neither deducts enough for high mileage. I've never seen an exceptionally low mileage car priced by dealer to match either book - even though they write them.
 
Golly this hits a nerve with me .i can only add....Insurance Companies charge X Amount for full coverage on a NEW vehicle ,if you total the vehicle brand spankin new , you get nearly full price for a new replacement vehicle , . //Now ,assuming that dont happen ,.and you drive the car 200,000miles over 7 yrs . The Full coverage premium price never changes or even reduced dramatically .. but that 7 yr old car if totaled is worth just a small percentage of a new one ..
 
They're supposed to make you whole if the car is worth $9,000 they're supposed to pay you $9,000, and depending on how your policy reads they may be on the hook for sales tax and tag fees. What your recourse is I'm not sure, I suppose there is the ability to sue them, but once you hire the lawyer the cost will outweigh any benefit. Get your comps and document what you looked at and what was available and you might be able to deduct some of your loss at tax time. The other issue you may find is the storm down Texas way just destroyed a bunch of cars and that might put a blip on used car prices far the next few months, document that. It might be time to change insurance companies but they're all pretty much the same and play the same game so don't expect to improve your position much on that one. If you do have strong comps and documentation after you find a new car and got a replacement company lined up file a complaint with the state insurance commission, this does two things 1 the insurance company will have to answer it, if nothing else they may have to take time out of their busy day screwing over policy holders to explain to the state they're not screwing over policy holders. 2- the state keeps records and if they get too many complaints about one company or adjuster they may actually get off their overpaid unionized backsides and do something. While you're at it write your state assemblyman and State senator and complain about the No Fault law, if enough folks complain about the insurance companies taking advantage of policy holders they may change the law or put pressure on the insurance commission to take action or threaten to change the law and have the insurance companies act decent for a while to try to stop it.
 
(quoted from post at 01:59:05 08/31/17) The repair estimate on this one was less than $35 more than what they finally settled for,but no matter how much I argued and told them how exceptional the car was and how bad I wanted to keep it,the answer was no. H3ll,for that matter I would have paid the difference out of my pocket,but it ain't happening.
Click to expand...

Everyone thinks their stuff is great and irreplaceable and worth a load of dollars. Guess what, it ain't! Try to find agreed value coverage on the next one and you'll get that amount. Be prepared to pay for it.
 
(quoted from post at 15:59:28 08/31/17) Golly this hits a nerve with me .i can only add....Insurance Companies charge X Amount for full coverage on a NEW vehicle ,if you total the vehicle brand spankin new , you get nearly full price for a new replacement vehicle , . //Now ,assuming that dont happen ,.and you drive the car 200,000miles over 7 yrs . The Full coverage premium price never changes or even reduced dramatically .. but that 7 yr old car if totaled is worth just a small percentage of a new one ..
Click to expand...

What about inflation over those 7 years?. Do you think it gets cheaper to fix just because it's older? Your example doesn't account for any economic changes and is therefore way off the mark. You are apparently not educated to comment on insurance pricing and the myriad of things that go into it.
 
(quoted from post at 07:31:14 08/31/17) Until you add in the 6% sales tax,the fact that he was asking $9000 but came down for me because we're friends,and the fact that I can't touch anything like it for mileage and condition for less than 10-12.
Click to expand...

You did well.

I guess I do not see anything relevant about the tax or asking price. You can never recover taxes, and should not expect to. Asking price may as well have been 6 figures for all it matters.
 
Check under the seat for rusted springs. If none, great. Lots and Lots of vehicles will find their way all over the USA and who knows where else for disposition. Buyer beware, especially if the price seems "too good to be true".
 
My wife totaled her car a few years back. Played the game like you. We found the price they offered seemed low so did some investigating. Long story short, they left options off the car, I say purposefully they say not, when they came up with their price. After getting the options right, and showing some comparable cars on autotrader, we got the price up from around 4500 to 6k. It's a fight. They're out to save as much as possible, and you want all you can get.
 

I have for the most part been happy with my insurance companies. I paid around $1600 to Allstate over ten years for my snowmobile coverage, and they paid out around $20,000. Three years ago though they declined to cover me any more.
 
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