[DeTomaso] NPC: 1995 McLaren Burns to the Ground

Thu Jun 4 10:51:16 EDT 2009

Mike's point about he difference between a "stated value" policy and an
"agreed value " policy was a good one and a very valuable one to anyone who
is unsure as to  what kind of coverage you have. I was ultimately successful
in collecting around  99% of my "stated value" policy. being in the car
business at the time of the loss I just kept producing more and more
"evidence" to support my claim. Things like letters of estimated value from
sellers of comparable cars, Every receipt I ever had   ( it is a good point
to remember to keep EVERYTHING that documents any expenditure INCLUDING your
personal man hours. Also ads from publications like "Dupont registry" In
some states you  have to be particularly careful. Like New York , they have
a convoluted formula based on the availability of "similar cars"  within 100
miles of your home. When my Moms 1995 Toyota Avalon with only 40K miles  (
in 2007) was wrecked they tried to pay her $2000.00. The cited cars a year
older with 150 K miles as "comparable" I again fought tooth and nail and
used all my resources to dispute their valuation and wound up getting $5000
and getting to keep the car which I then sold for $1000. New York is not a
state that is friendly to the consumer side of auto insurance claims. For
one they don't allow payment for " diminished value" which is ridiculous. If
you have a perfect car (any car, but especially a collectible car) and it is
wrecked and repaired there is no way it will not suffer a reduction in value
( and insurance is supposed to protect you from financial loss) . I
successfully sued and collected $10,000 in diminished value  in Virginia.
When my NSX was hit by some guy in a jeep wrangler, the damage was not very
significant ( right front fender and the bumper was pulled away from the car
.) He hit it from the right side moving in almost the same direction so it
more tore parts off of the car then crushed it so there was no frame damage.
But since it was an aluminum car and I would not accept a repair with any
bondo it had to be shipped to Richmond where they had one of only six  (
nation wide ) repair facilities certified to repair the NSX so the repair
bill was quite high relative to the damage.Especially now with
the prevalence of car fax type service's a car with a history of damage is
not only worth considerably less it's history  can stop some people from
even considering purchasing it and some banks won''t finance a car with
history. Even a history of "recovered theft" If your car is stolen and taken
for a joy ride and recovered with no damage at all , if it takes the police
more then 30 days to recover it the insurance company has to pay off the
claim . The stolen and recovered undamaged car is now branded with a Salvage
title ( a veritable "kiss of death" for  a car's value)  It can offer a
terrific opportunity to someone who wants to buy a car cheap if they plan to
keep it forever! Just don't plan on selling it.Boyd P.S. I now have an
"agreed " upon valuation on my Pantera from American Home  a subsidiary of
GEICO

On Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 11:46 PM, Kirby Schrader <kirby.schrader at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> Based on my own personal experience, my stated value insurance paid what my
> stated value was in the policy.
>
> It depends VERY much on your agent. Got a crappy agent, you'll have
> something similar to what's described below.
> Got a good agent? Then you get the stated value.
>
> Kirby
>
>
>
> On 3 Jun 2009, at 9:14 PM, mikeldrew at aol.com wrote:
>
>
>> In a message dated 6/3/09 19 08 40, boyd411 at gmail.com writes:
>>
>>
>>  Hving had a similar expierience with a 911 Porsche ( for allot less
>>> money) With a "stated value insurance policy " the insurance company will
>>> let
>>> you insure your car for just about any amount that seems reasonable and
>>> not
>>> requiere you to prove  the cars valur\e until you have a claim. But when
>>> that day comes they don't really care what your policy says you have to
>>> prove
>>> what your car is worth .
>>>
>>>
>> ...and that's why you don't get a stated value policy.   It's a scam
>> designed to allow the insurance companies to just take more money from you
>> based
>> on your increased valuation of your own car; they are in no way compelled
>> to
>> pay out the amount that you are stating in the event of a claim.
>>
>> What you want is an AGREED value policy.   There's no question what's
>> going
>> on there.   You and the insurance agree (hence the name!) in advance what
>> the maximum payout will be.   In the event of a total loss, you get that
>> amount, no questions asked, no haggling.   In the event that the car will
>> be
>> repaired, they will pay up to that agreed amount and no more.   If the
>> damage
>> exceeds the amount that you agreed to, they will either pay you the agreed
>> value and total the car, at which point you can purchase the wreck back as
>> salvage, OR they will agree to pay some lesser amount and let you keep the
>> car
>> without a salvage title, with the understanding that any repair costs
>> above
>> and beyond what they have paid you are your responsibility.
>>
>> Several people on this forum have benefited from having agreed value
>> policies, and several others have suffered greatly from stated value
>> policies....
>>
>> Mike
>>
>>
>> **************
>> Shop Inspiron, Studio and XPS Laptops at Dell.com
>> (
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