Insurance is jacking me

[BadAznMan]

I'm still a relative newbie to this site, but I'm hoping for a good amount of input to my problem so here goes...

In the end of June I had finally put in an H22 into my four door civic, it was a complete sleeper because I hadn't done anything to the exterior, even when you look inside, only way you can tell something was done to it was because there was no center armrest due to the H22 shift linkage being there instead. I had spent a little over 8k on the whole changeover, ran a 15.4 @ 97mph @ mile high sea level mishifting into 5th instead of 3rd on ghetto racing slicks (bald tires). Easily took down WS6's and other muscle cars. And then the shit hit the fan. On halloween, some lady t-bones my car and insurance has determined it to be a total loss. I faxed them all the receipts for all the work I've done and they offer me 3300 for the entire thing. They said my car was worth 2200 before they put in the rest of the motorwork. Of course I'm not gonna just sit there and take it up the butt, but I'm wondering if anyone's experienced this type of thing and how they went about getting their money. Any constructive input would help greatly.

Thanks in advance,
Rick

 

[Slo86GT]

I fyou weren't paying more to insurance to cover the extra's you put into it, you're on your ass.

Buy the car back from insurance for $500 or so, and pull the engine and make your money back that way. It's the only way you'll get anything abck out of having that motor in your car.

Insurance will come at you saying something to the effect:
"If you weren't paying for more insuance on that bigger, higher performance motor, we could drop you and give you nothing at all for fraudulantly having your vehicle covered as a 100 or 125 horsepower car i the first place"

You gotta pay to play, and you got caught in the middle of it.

 

[posol]

take the check.
buy it back.
part it out.

buy a bmw

 

[JDMilan]

yeah a njce e46 M3 huh....



Looks like it can work in your advantage, my buddy bought another friends car back after it was stolen. Car was a black EK with b16 and turbo, bought it back for 3k from insurance, the front end needed work and the intercooler was fucked, other than that we parted every god damn piece and got 8k for all parts...hahaha

 

[ahedau]

As a claims adjuster I'll say "thanks" for you taking it up the arse. If it'll make you feel better, I love you and I still respect you, too.

Customizations add value to the vehicle to only one person --- the owner.

They already gave you $1000 more than the ACV (actual cash value), say "thank you" and ask what they'll deduct to retain the salvage. Depending on your state, unless your a licensed salv/auto rebuilder, you may not be able to.

If you can, quit whining. The side impact shouldn't have dmg'd the engine. Use the T/L proceeds to buy a shell and install the engine in it.

You should come out ahead..

 

[BigJ]

That's too bad. I've heard of getting payed over for engines and stuff but not under.

 

[Guy]

same thing happened to me. some guy tries to cut me off on the freeway, loses control and kicked up a ton of big rocks and did some nasty damage to the front end of my integra (90 with a fresh b16 swap, cams, header, new radiator etc). Even though it was totally this guys fault and i had over 3.5k in recepts they only gave me the car (+salvage title) and a check for 2600. After more arguing (they tried to act like was the person that caused the wreck until i re-faxed them a copy of the police report) i finally got 400 more. So i ended up getting a crx, swapping the brakes from my teg and the b16.
As unfair as it is im not sure that anything can be done about it. If you want to contact your states insurence comissioner and the better business bureau, they may be able to help you out.
Hope things work out for you.

 

[Airjockie]

I talked to my insurance lady, and she said the best thing to do...is to get the car appraised prior the accident, and keep getting it appraised on a bi-annual schedual, while keeping your reciepts. It wont help you now, but it will help you in the future, and eveyone else.....

I got my cars fully covered, and have the state of mind that one might get taken in a heartbeat, or plowed into by an old fart with no reflexes to control his 30 ton tank/boat that emmits a smoke cloud like Jame's Bond. I have yet to appaise any of my cars, becouse not a single one is done to the level that they would actually be worth anything....

the Z...Paint chips, and mostly stock.
The CRX...blown engine
The Jeep.....to much rust...
The AE86.....ugly as sin....and not done yet.


so as they sit now, if something happened, then I would get what they really are worth...

 

[ahedau]

cliffsnotes:
1) you want to insure your mods, tell your insurance company about them and pay an additional premium
2) The Insurance Commissoner can't help you when the insurance company is not in violation of the Unfair Claims Practices

is to get the car appraised prior the accident, and keep getting it appraised on a bi-annual schedual, while keeping your reciepts.

Not exactly...

In order to collect the appraised value of a car you have to have special policy called a "Stated Amount Policy" In this case you are insuring a vehicle for a certain value that is stated BEFORE a loss ever occurs. This is what collectors have on older cars, '65 'stangs, '56 Chevys, '76 Pintos, etc. These policies require that the vehicle be appraised at regular intervals to ensure the value of the vehicle in the market doesn't change. There are also restrictions as to how/when the vehicle can be driven or used.

"Normal" insurance is written to insure the actual cash value of the vehicle at the time of loss. Actual cash value is what the vehicle is selling for in the open market in your area. Customized vehicles are a unique niche and there is no way to fairly value the vehicle in the open market. You've seen the rice-assed cars on e-bay!! The value of the vehicle is intrinsic to the owner and too often the value is actually decreased by the modifications.

Read your insurance contract under the Physical Damages section. Under "Limit of Insurance" I'll bet you'll find an exclusion that reads "...coverage is limited to customizations, finishings & furnishings installed on the vehicle by the manufacturer or authorized dealer and including in the selling price.."

All your mods, be it stereo or graphics, engine swaps or body kits do not add value to the vehicle. For that matter, neither do new tires, recent tune ups, or any other maintenance done prior to the loss of the vehicle

If you want to contact your states insurence comissioner and the better business bureau, they may be able to help you out.

not at all...

The Insurance Commisioner would say, "They're right, you're wrong." in a nicer way. The BBB does absolutely nothing other than collect the number of complaints and keep that info on file.

 

[BadAznMan]

I live in a state where the fault rule applies. If you are talking about me getting a check from my insurance, that's not correct. It's the other person's insurance who's taking fault. So in theory, wouldn't my claim fall under the stated amount policy?

 

[hcivic.com]

sue for personal injury and pain and suffer/ pers loss

 

[ahedau]

I live in a state where the fault rule applies

unless you're in Michigan, everyone does

So in theory, wouldn't my claim fall under the stated amount policy?

No. You can't get a stated amount policy from the adverse carrier. The adverse only owes what the vehicle was worth when the loss occurred. Your engine swap was taken into consideration when they up'ed their offer by a $1000. That's a tremendous amount to increase an offer over the documented cash value.

I have pissed off many a claimnant and insured b/c I didn't consider the cost of their stereos/amps/speaker boxes/body kits/etc even when they had reciepts. I've been sued due to it and had DOI complaints filed. Every claim is unique. On some we settled for more than I was willing to pay but never has the claimant or insured been reimbursed for what thought was the full value of their claim based on their "appraised" value.

Like I said earlier. Settle for the the amount offered less the salvage. Buy a shell (car with no engine/tranny/etc) and take off the bits from your car you want to keep then sell what's left to a junkyard. You'll get about $50 but the hunk of metal will be gone.

Good luck

sue for personal injury and pain and suffer/ pers loss

if you are not injured, you cannot make a claim for personal loss...well, you can claim anything but your claim will not be considered. In order to file a claim for personal loss there has to be medical records & treatment. Starting to treat this long after the loss, especially considering the company knows you aren't happy with the property damage process, will net you nothing.

When injuries are mentioned immediately but there is no treatment, you can sometimnes get a few hundred dollars. We called it "nuisance money"