Insurance totals 20yr old cars (Help dealing with total loss adjuster)

[IridiumCore]

Don't get me wrong I'm not saying anything bad about CB's. Please be aware though that because of their age insurance may total them immediately.

I was recently offered $499.73 for my CB by Nationwide. They are not on your side if your not the policy holder. I ended up getting a little more.
This is my farewell thread http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=189573

JDM H22A
2.25" exhaust
Short intake
Skunk2 shocks/struts front coil overs and rear springs
Prelude front seats
19.5" Motegi FF7's I think got'em from a friend
Black housed headlights
smoked tails
battery relocated (trunk)
Blue HID's
swapped rear discs.
Strut bars Front/ rear upper & lower
Chipped and socketted P28 ECU
Shift light @ 6800 rpm
rev limit # 7200 rpm
Govener removed

Good amount of time, $, and blood, yes my car cut me a few times loosening bolts and such.

Receipts for all your work and parts help (I didn't have any)
First they low balled me. Don't accept at this point hold out be firm. A lawyer helps but I didn't use mine for this.
It took me two weeks to get an offer that I could work with. Don't get to irate, maintain politeness and professionalism.
1. Call the total loss adjuster everyday maybe even 2-3 times a day expressing the first low offer is not fair and you do not except it
2. Keep calling
3. Get a copy of the report they used in evaluating your car. It compares it to others to get the average cash value.
4. Look at the cars on the report if possible. I did and they worse than my car in some cases after the accident.
5. Call if they look horrible and let them know "Look at the cars on your report do you see what they are selling for?" Explain again that you need a fair offer.
6. It may not come to this- I got fed up that they weren't trying to see it my way. I told the man; and here is the dialog we had
Me: "Look if have to settle for $499. I'm taking my motor, seats dashboard, suspension, rear discs, and everything else I put the car. You can come pick it on blocks and get an empty shell"
Adjuster: "that would be illegal"
Me:"why I haven't signed it over to you yet; I can't steal from myself"
Adjuster: "I mean we'll have to re-appraise it"
Me: "Well isn't appraisal your job. Give me a fair offer so we don't have to continue this cycle. Do you really want me to call you everyday 2-3 times a day with the exception of weekends because I will until we can agree on a fair amount because I need to replace my vehicle that some kid on cell took from me which inturn inconviences my entire family. Schedule conflicts will eventually lead to job loss.

We ended the call and he called back ten minutes later with an offer over a thousand dollars. Its not close to what I've put in the car but its good enought to get another with a little help from fidelity.

Be firm, and don't settle for the low ball offer. I think they give you the low offer and pocket the rest of the money.

[JDMDriver]

My experience is Insurance companies will low ball no matter the car, yr, make or model.

I had a Prelude that was totalled could really be fixed ( a rear ender so cost of actual panel beating was significant to market value).

They asked me to give them a book value which I did from a reputable source (they normally quote from when insuring the car). Well after paying for the official print out (as reputable valuers often charge for their official quotation) the insurance negotiator turned around and gave me their view. Essentially saying "We don't agree with that valuation" .

I was like "WTF"??!!

In other words they quote valuers when its to their advantage and disagree with it if its not (bunch of low lifes)

I ended up negotiating (a mix of subjective and emotional jousting) higher than what they initally offered to pay but less than the book value or what I was expecting to be paid.

No requests for receipts or work done to the car. Why? Because they said what only matters is the year, make, model, amount travelled, body and paint condition. Accessories or aftermarket stuff are superficial. Depending on the personality of the negotiator all you have done to your CB is worthless (and can be used against you as its no longer original and from their point of view reducing buyer prospects therefore justify their argument for a lower Market value than you claim or stated in a official book value source).

It ended up with the battle of personalities (if they sense you are weak you will not put a fight, unlikely to do some research, will not complain higher etc) & facts (other sources of objective facts to support your claim).

[Accrdwgnguy]

Buy it back and then part it out. Yes they don't pay extra stuff that you put on without receipts, because then they are just taking your word for what the stuff is worth. If you have receipts then they just pay you the replacement value.

[cloudasc]

^^ This is probably your best option. OP the insurence adjuster should have told you the salvage value aka the buy back cost. My cb appraised for 3700, salvage deemed worth 700, I let them total it out, kept the salvage, so they cut me a check for 3k. I got everything repaired for 2.2k, pictures are in my MRT, spent the remainder on an alarm, and a new deck, and a nice meal with the girlfriend at the time (now wife). Had Marie Calendars, while I wired up my deck harness + adapter harness

[IridiumCore]

I'm thinking I'm buying it back. I'll need that money to pay off the fidelity loan I took out for the motor. I do have an listing on CL, selling the motor for a good price plus an f22. I'll get a 98 accord and swap again a little down the road.

[darkfusion42]

Guess I was lucky. When my coupe got rearended it wa flat black sh*tty paint and they gave me $1700 and let me keep the car. Bought my prelude and sold the accord.

[IridiumCore]

Guess I was lucky. When my coupe got rearended it wa flat black sh*tty paint and they gave me $1700 and let me keep the car. Bought my prelude and sold the accord.

see you got a good adjuster. Mine is a well I won't flame him he has a job to do. I know I've been a hard ass on my job with the cutomers but mine do stupid stuff like our policy says we don't change names so register in the name that on your ID. They register with nick names and maiden names not on the ID and get mad we can't refund them the day before or the day of the test.

[xkjnboix]

it also depends on your insurance company. "cut rate policies" will give you a hard time. i have USAA and they are awesome. ( 55$/mo for FULL COVERAGE on my cb7 )

Literally two years ago an suv gave my rear 1/4 pannel a love tap and the adjuster said repairs of <80% total value of the car would be totaled. i asked the adjuster NOT to total my car by all means, and got a check for $2300 for repairs ( honda is literally 2 blocks from my house )
so to be below the 80% mark my car would have to be AT THE VERY LEAST 2900$ Keep in mind thats the LEAST possible value.

i would look for a different insurance company and loose the cut rate one. you get what you pay for =P

[RyanD]

am i missing something? wouldent it be like $200 just to go to a junk yard and replace all that stuff? sure the paint might be wrong but at least its not a $3K thing

[bobbycos]

don't get hit by a yellow cab

their adjusters total nearly every car hit if its 5 y.o. or older

and they refuse to negotiate about any upgrades

lastly if they total out you car they take it to a j/y for disposal without the possibility of you buying it back

the insurance laws here in NY dealing with yellow cabs are set to their advantage

[xkjnboix]

don't get hit by a yellow cab

their adjusters total nearly every car hit if its 5 y.o. or older

and they refuse to negotiate about any upgrades

lastly if they total out you car they take it to a j/y for disposal without the possibility of you buying it back

the insurance laws here in NY dealing with yellow cabs are set to their advantage

thats when u just keep your car and hire a kick ass lawyer.

[Kamatari+]

it also depends on your insurance company. "cut rate policies" will give you a hard time. i have USAA and they are awesome. ( 55$/mo for FULL COVERAGE on my cb7 )

USAA is awesome, I pay $52 full coverage for my CB7

[bobbycos]

thats when u just keep your car and hire a kick ass lawyer.

exactly what i had to do


btw, i found out the cab company owner is a part owner of the insurance company AND he owns a few used car lots

hmmmmmm

[slammed91cb7]

got rear ended in one of my old cbs they totaled it,said it was only worth 500 dollars because it had a salvaged title.i got a check for 3,000 dollars for the car had a few car seats that they had to replace and pain and suffering. thought they were gonna keep the car since they payed me for it but a couple weeks later i get a call from a auction saying are you gonna be home tommorow because were gonna bring your car to your house. so i ended up getting the money and the car back. pulled the motor and put it in my other cb which had a blown headgasket and sold the rest for scrap. and my current cb that i have now i got rearended in it about 3 0r 4 months ago wasnt bad at all scraped the paint on the bumper and a little other damage they said they was gonna have to total it because it had 224,000 miles and a little rust. so i got a check for 1700 plus they let me keep the car didnt ask for the title to stamp salvage on it or anything. i got allstate btw with just liabilty on it they said theres no use to having full coverage on such an old car.

[Honda_Lady]

don't get hit by a yellow cab

their adjusters total nearly every car hit if its 5 y.o. or older

and they refuse to negotiate about any upgrades

lastly if they total out you car they take it to a j/y for disposal without the possibility of you buying it back

the insurance laws here in NY dealing with yellow cabs are set to their advantage

DUDE WTF?!? yea they definitely have that set to their advantage. i would sue the shit out of that company if one of them crazy fucks rear ended me!

got rear ended in one of my old cbs they totaled it,said it was only worth 500 dollars because it had a salvaged title.i got a check for 3,000 dollars for the car had a few car seats that they had to replace and pain and suffering. thought they were gonna keep the car since they payed me for it but a couple weeks later i get a call from a auction saying are you gonna be home tommorow because were gonna bring your car to your house. so i ended up getting the money and the car back. pulled the motor and put it in my other cb which had a blown headgasket and sold the rest for scrap. and my current cb that i have now i got rearended in it about 3 0r 4 months ago wasnt bad at all scraped the paint on the bumper and a little other damage they said they was gonna have to total it because it had 224,000 miles and a little rust. so i got a check for 1700 plus they let me keep the car didnt ask for the title to stamp salvage on it or anything. i got allstate btw with just liabilty on it they said theres no use to having full coverage on such an old car.

damn dude, i was rear ended in September and had more miles on my car then that and they didn't total it. it was only just a little scrape on the paint. non of her paint was on my car, she just rubbed paint off of mine. no major damage to the bumper, i took the bumper off myself to check it (after the adjuster looked and got their pics)