Insurance Claims

[Aptyp]

So i got a question to those have crashed their e30 before:

How to get the most out of insurance company? Please help, Allstate is screwing me up, they are offering me different amounts every time I call.

They went from 1660 to 2100 to 4300, and I already sent in $6000 worth of receipts.

HELP.

[ethree]

6k in receipts for what? I'd probably take the $4300 and run like hell.

[TwoJ's]

First of all, when you're talking to them do you say things like, "I got a question" and fragments like "How to get the most out of insurance company"? If so, they probably think you are either a stupid kid, or a stupid adult. Try speaking english.

Secondly, what do you have $6000 in receipts for? Upgrades? Maintenance? Neither of those will really help with the value of your car in their eyes. For an average e30, you should be happy to get $4300 like ethree said.

[Aptyp]

That's not the point.

I have gone for 3.5 weeks talking to them. Originally, they sent out an adjuster and at 7AM checked out the car without talking to me or any one else (talked to neighbor) and left. Offered $1660 because the paint wasn't shiny.

I faxed all the receipts that I gathered for the past few years (kept ALL of them in a folder in the glove box) and got no response until I called back a few times. Then the guy said that it's all nice and neat, and that he has an 85 325e, and all the nice things, and that the car is worth 2100.

I thought about it and faxed a letter of options they could take (like buying me another car and doing service and upgrades themselves). That was met with the phone call with $4300 offer.

Every time I push they move up, and I just wanted to know how far have others pushed and how they did it. If you guys are impressed with 4300, than obviously i am doing something right.

This is not even going into the injury claim (that they tried to fuck me over on by trying to have me sign stuff 2 days after the accident) and the fact that it took them 2 full business weeks to tell me that they have accepted the liability on the claim and left me without a rental. Seriously, at this point, I am willing to do every damn thing to get my way.

Oh yeah, when they finally accepted the liability, it was under a different claim number. So the adjuster and total loss unit were working with different claim numbers, and couldn't communicate with each other. One said he's waiting waiting for liability acceptance, other said, she was waiting to be told that the car in fact was totaled.

If you don't think that this has been an uphill battle, and that I am being childish, then what are the suggestions?

I'll take the fist suggestion being take money and run, any more?

[TwoJ's]

Eh, I didn't mean to be so abrasive. It's hard to say what you should get for your car when we don't know anything about it. But regardless of your receipts and history, insurance companies don't necessarily care about that. What they will see is '89 325is with imperfect paint and X number of miles. This is of course a generalization, but it holds true most of the time. I don't know the extent of what you've done to your car. But it seems to me that $4300 is a good price for an e30 that's not extremely nice.

My suggestion would be to take the money for the car. I do have an experience with an injury claim, and I know what you mean about them trying to get you to sign as soon as possible. I had some neck injury after being rear ended and I felt like I was being harassed by some lady at the person's insurance company. Tell them that you will be going to the doctor, and you will do what he/she advises and that you will not release liability from them until it has been completely resolved.

This is what I did, I went to the doctor and it was decided that I should get x-ray'd to double check and I was given some pain medication. It turned out just to be very sore, and the insurance company paid for everything. Now, a friend of mine was rear ended once while she was stopped and the guy was going 45. She had pretty bad back injuries, and she was offered a lump sum of $10,000 to release liability from them. She took it and ended up regretting it. Her medical bills ended up covering most of the settlement.

Now, after typing out this short novel, I obviously don't know what your injury is like. But I would advise you to make it clear to them that you will not be had.

[Aptyp]

So any one? I've seen plenty of wrecked cars on the forum.

[der affe]

insurance companies are about as 2 faced as an industry can be!

stick to your guns with the receipts, they are feeling the water to see how bad they can fuck you. as for your receipts upgrades make a difference, maintenance however will not make a big difference. maintenance receipts just show that you maintained the car and can help your argument, but will not increase the value to them.
when you feel like you have gotten all you can out of them, take it!
make sure that when you sign off on the car that you tell them you are signing off for the car only! don't let them try to get you to sign off on the med until you are SURE.....you are OK.

now some questions:
do you have full coverage?
if so an option is having them go after the person who hit yous insurance. this will save you some stress of dealing with the waffleswaffleswaffleswafflesS

were you on private property?
this can make it a hassle, hope not

i do body work for a living and have to deal with them all the time, it is frustrating and i feel for you.

when i was rear ended in my jetta, i finally ended up telling the adjuster "that if there wasn't a fucking check waiting for me tomarrow, i am going to put your fucking teeth in the back of your god dam throat!"
i showed up the next day, there was a check and he was at lunch...imagine that???????

[Aptyp]

I wish I could put the guys teeth into the back of his throat.

This was on a public road, and I only have liability insurance. Today I have asked for a written offer, so I can inspect it. When I called and asked how they do their appraisals (CCC, KBB, NADA, ACD, etc) the adjuster guy had no idea what I was talking about, which further pissed me off. He mailed me the offer today, expecting it tomorrow.

OH, and after sending papers to have me sign off on medical stuff, they had the address wrong in the total loss claim, so the guy had to fetch the paper and redo the address. Stupid shit.

Also, my father called today and talked to the guy. This kinda took me by surprise, but whatever my dad said, made the guy extremely polite, and he called me 5 times at least to varify that he had correct fax number, and when it failed first 2 times, and that he's mailing the copy along with fax. I only wish I knew what happened in that conversation.

[der affe]

don't sign off on the medical until you get the car settled. even if you are fine. you kind of have them by the balls with out signing off on the medical. do not give them a definitive answer on your condition, they tape record the conversations (they will tell you that they are), so don't say you are feeling OK.

you can always throw in an "well my lawyer said i should do". this will either make them play ball or clam up and wait for the lawyer. play this card only as a last resort.

[Jean]

Take the 4300, buy the car back from them if you can.

[der affe]

the bad thing about this^^^^is alot of the insurance companies are no longer giving you the buy back option (state farm for sure), because of fraud and scams. if they total your car it may go directly to auction with out you having a chance to buy it back

[kishg]

keep calling.. the # will go up.. doubt you will get 6k though.

[nando]

contest their estimation of value, and spend $100 on a professional appraisal
- but you'd better hope they end up thinking your car is worth what you want out of it. they could come in less.

however for me, the original estimate was something like $2500, and realistically that was way, way too low. a professional appraiser hired by me and another hired by the insurance company ended up coming to an agreement of $7100. that was $100 well spent. I had something like $25k in receipts at the time.

[nando]

btw the insurance companies do NOT use KBB or anything like that for their appraisals. Unless you contest it, they use their own software database, which works great for vanilla cars like toyota camries anf ford tauruses, but something older like a mint 325is from 1988 is going to end up undervalued compared to the market. a professional appraiser will value your car off recent sales.

[Aptyp]

See, that's what I'm having a problem with. Are they estimating how much cars would cost, or how much cars do cost. Because I am having very hard time tracking down another 325eS within 200 miles. So I am contesting their appraisal, but I am very much interested for them to pay for the car, bring it to me, and install all my shit on it. They can swallow the expenses and I won't get a dime, but I'll have a car that I had and was happy with.

And, yes, I want another eS, I really love 86-87 line up, and 87 iS are just as rare these days.