Edmunds.com | Inside Line | Auto Observer Your Account | Help | Directory
You are here:
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
Smart Shopper Questions About Auto Insurance & Accidents
3921 messages, Last post on May 17, 2008 at 4:12 AM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
|
After watching the ping pong game of insults going back and forth between satire and everybody else, the smart lawyer knows when to sit out an argument he can't win...so, rather than having to defend my attitude (and you know how rude I can get if I think I am beating my head against a wall), it was more fun to sit back back and watch... To quote a famous song: "You have to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run"...I ran... As far as totalling the car (breaking my own rule and jumping in where I am probably not wanted), I always thought it was up to the insurance company to set their own limit, usually between 75-85% of the value of the car... Sentimentality has zero value, and fair market value will be set by a number of factors, KBB and NADA just being a few of them... Not that I would take the side of the insurance company, but when you come right down to it, it is a wonder that our cars maintain any value at all, so we are lucky that we get as much as we do... For comparison, buy a diamond for $1000 and see if you can get over $250 for it when you sell it...buy $1000 worth of furniture and see if you can get $100 for it a year later...buy a $500 pair of cowboy boots and see if anyone offers you $50 for it a year later... Yet we all (me, too) expect that our cars should magically depreciate only 5-10% per year because we think that they are worth at 3 years almost what it was worth new... It simply does not pay to repair something if the cost of repair is close to the value of the vehicle, it is easier to just total it and junk it...insurance companies process thousands of claims daily, and to expect them to see your car as a crown jewel is ridiculous...if it is listed in a database somewhere, they will determne its value from that...after all, IT'S ONLY A CAR, IT ISN'T YOUR FIRST BORN CHILD, but many take it personally because some adjuster tells them that their car was hardly worth what a boat anchor is worth, but so many of us have our egos wrapped up in them with custom wheels, chrome, when all they are is a piece of depreciating metal... Years ago, ins companies used to try and find you a "similar" car...so if you had a 72 Impala with a 350, 4 door, power seats and A/C with AM/FM radio, they used to scour the countryside for a similar car... But when they found one, it only had a 2 barrel carb, you had a 4 barrel...theirs had no power seats, but everything else matched, so it was unacceptable...theirs had 35000 miles but yours only had 20000 miles...theirs needed a brake job, but your brakes were in good shape...they finally realized that they could spend months searching for a similar car, and nobody was ever happy... So, they defaulted to the most logical solution, esp as the auto population grew and more and more wrecks occurred daily...the simple answer was to total the car, pay you what it was worth, and close the file...the fact that your grandfather gave you that car for your 16th birthday really adds nothing to its value, but I have had clients that actually tell me they expect more because the car meant so much to them, as it came from Grandpa...I don't know whether to laugh or cry, as these people need a reality check...to actually think that someone will pay you an extra $500 or $1000 as tho Grandpa added any value to the car is absurd... Sadly, they let those people vote, when they should be institutionalized...
|
|
|
|
|
Replying to: marsha7 (May 08, 2008 7:49 pm) Some of this is the way cars are pitched by ads and especially salespeople as being "investments." This is especially try for the chic models where they can play to the ego as well. As we all know, investments don't go down, or at least don't go down much; therefore the loss in value per year should be minimal in the owner's mind. This plays into the "wunderkar" approach in thinking as to value.
|
|
|
Replying to: imidazol97 (May 09, 2008 5:32 am) -mike |
|
|
I try to make is that the value of a used car is so variable, despite all of these "authorities" that list various values for retail, trade-in, etc... The most "scientific" system was for real estate, with appraisers determining value by using "comparables", and they are the "science" by which a lender will loan money, because an outside authority said it was worth what they said it was worth... Well, throw that out the window...condos that were built for $50K just a few years ago, were flipped and flipped again, suddenly "worth" $350K...Katrina hits, and they can't sell those condos for $100K, but numerous banks loaned $300K because some appraiser said they were worth it... Builders here cannot sell their $400K new homes, so, they are NOT worth $400K as the market is the true determiner of value... So, if real estate is that variable and tenous, how can anyone expect a used car to be valuable, when they depreciate like rocks, except for a famous few, but almost all cars probably do not have the value we want to think they do...so, when it is totalled, it is easy to see why insurance companies and policyholders are severely at odds, because even KBB, NADA, and Edmunds are based on wishin,' hopin, and prayin"... |
|
|
Replying to: satire (May 07, 2008 10:45 pm) I think it would have helped making your case on that web page were you to give a little background as to what led you to the point where things start. Because it starts with you already angry you don't come off well on it. Just editorial advice. I certainly sympathize and, believe me, siding with an insurance company doesn't come easy for me. Bob/marsha explains it well. I hate agreeing with him but sometime it is inevitable. Take the settlement and go buy that car that Shifty is pointing you to. Maybe we could get cars insured by Farmers some sort of identifying device so we know not to run green lights around them.
|
|
|
"I hate agreeing with him but sometime it is inevitable." I am flattered...no, HUMBLED...    Sometimes even the blind pig can stumble on an acorn, so maybe that is my function in life... 
|
|
|
Replying to: marsha7 (May 09, 2008 7:26 pm)
|
|
|
|
|
Replying to: satire (May 07, 2008 10:35 pm) When some fool knocked down my mailbox and dug up my lawn years ago I dealt with Nationwide. I called them up and told the claims person that I could either have the repairs done by a professional carpenter and landscaper OR I could fix it myself for $100. The adjuster was both friendly and smart (knew my way would save them money). She said to take a few pictures and send them to her so she could verify the damage. I did and a week later a got my check. Easy peasy.
|
|
|
Replying to: oldfarmer50 (May 10, 2008 4:42 pm) That's pretty much how things went here in Florida when we got hammered with several back to back storms in 2004. I knew people that got hit hard and did all the work themselves: cut down and remove trees that were hit, fixed fences and their roofs, all the while getting paid somewhat close to the going rate for a professional to do the job. |
|
|
Replying to: satire (May 06, 2008 11:12 am) |
|
You are here:
Forums
Smart Shopper Questions About Auto Insurance & Accidents
New? Join Now!
Forum Tools
Search Forums
Browse by Vehicle
Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
Today's Chats
