Chris, as others have said I'm also sorry for your loss. You have received
alot of good advice from several people. I'll add my 2 cents from the stand
point of working for an insurance company in Claims - please no flames it
pays for my kids college and keeps food on the table. Just got back from
out of town travel all week or I would have responded earlier.
One thing you NEED to do is have as much proof of value as you can. Books
are good but they are just a guess at what the actual value of a vehicle is.
There are several publications MG Driver, club news, etc that list MG's for
sale. Gather the ones that appear to be the closest to what you had and
then list the things you had that this vehicle doesn't - lower mileage, A/C,
new parts. You can then list individually you feel these differences to the
car actually for sale are worth and come up with a value. If the adjuster
doesn't agree with your values for the different options then you can
negotiate the prices if need be.
Remember the adjuster has several claims like yours and he needs to get them
paid and closed off his desk as more are on the way. If you do your foot
work and have the proof of values you will speed up the process. My
experience with State Farm is that they are very different from one part of
the country to the other. They have regional claims offices and they each
work somewhat different in how hard they negotiate the claims.
As for the salvage - I agree with the people who advised that each state is
different. Some states require a salvage title when the damages reach a
certain % of the vehicles agreed market value. However, some states don't
require salvage titles if the vehicle is left with the insured but others
do. The adjuster should know the state law on this and if there is anyway
you can retain the car without a salvage title. Ask that up front. When
negotiating for the buy back DO NOT deal with them in terms of a % of the
market value of the undamaged car. Talk in terms of DOLLARS. List the
major salvagable body parts - sounds like one door to me and probably some
drive train. Tell him what you feel these items would be worth if sold by a
salvor and cut that in half as that is all the salvor would pay for the
parts - ie This door would sell for $100 so the salvage buyer would pay you
$50 for it and 4 wheels and tires would sell for $100 so the salvage buyer
would give you $50. Thats a salvage value of $100. Hopefully you get my
jest and don't be afraid to use the lowest "fair" values for salvage parts
and only comment on the major panels - ignore interior, electrical as having
no salvage value when you are trying to buy back the car.
Hopefully this gives you some insite. I can't give you specific advice but
if you contact me direct I'll do my best to provide what help I can
Denny
-----Original Message-----
From: Christopher W. Reichle <creichle@yahoo.com>
To: MG List <mgs@autox.team.net>
Date: Wednesday, August 23, 2000 12:45 PM
Subject: My 80 B possibly totalled ins. Qs
>It looks like I may have lost my 80 B in an accident with a Toyota today...
>
>To keep this short, I was in the right lane about two car lengths back from
>the Toyota in the left lane. The 80 year old driver in the toyota decided
to
>make a sharp right across my lane into a parking lot. I tried to stop but I
>cought his right bumper with my front left fender. His car rode up over my
>rubber bumber ripping off the top if the bumper and crushing in the hood
and
>left fender badly, my driver door now sticks. He spun around and came to a
>stop now facing out of the parking lot towards my car which had stopped
>straight in my lane. I hear a bit of clicking from his car and motion to
him
>to shut off the car but he was confused. Seconds later the car starts
>rolling towards me, I'm yelling for him to stop and he hits the gas and
>T-boned me on the passenger side door completely caving it in. Yes, he was
>found at fault but this does not bring my car back from the dead.
>
>I have made many improvements to the car that have cost me thousands
>incuding installing A/C, an overdrive, and suspension mods. I'm affraid
that
>the insurance company (both are state farm) is going to total the car, give
>me a tiny check, and haul away all of my custom work and parts. I have
>another B shell that I would ideally like to take what ever money I can get
>for the damage to the 80 B and put it towards fixing up another non-running
>B I have, so that I may again have a working B and preserve the work I have
>done thus far.
>
>Does anyone have any exprience with ins. adjusters regarding gettting a
>reasonable value for my car? We all know that to the untrained eye this
>might look like a tired old car but there's gold in them thar wheels. Any
>advice would be appreciated.
>
>I proposed to my wife in this car and, yes... I cried.
>
>Chris Riechle
>
>
>
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>
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