Insurance. Getting fair value for your car

[Beastolizer]

Long story short, I was involved in an accident 2 weeks ago and my car is most likely totaled. I KBB'ed it and it said my car was worth about $1.5k which is a few grand off what it probably really is worth. I'm young and inexperienced with being involved in an accident and dealing with insurance so bear with me.

What are the best ways/methods to make sure you get a good and fair value from the insurance company for your car? I understand I'm almost assuredly not going to get what the car is actually worth, just somewhere in the ballpark.

I have started listing mods done to the car and writing out the overall condition and other general facts (mileage, etc.) Along with that, I've been printing out similar cars to mine (91 318iS) to have some good comparative cars so the insurance company can see what other 318iS's in similar condition are going for.

The part that blows most about all this is the time and emotional loss of this particular car. I've grown attached and have found a love/hobby with the e30 community. If only that counted for something

Thanks!
-Parker

[Earendil]

This totally sucks, and just happened to me last summer right after the E30 picnic. The damage to my car was mostly cosmetic, but on a car this old the cost to repair was more then the car was deemed worth, and it was totaled.

But there is *some* good news, which is also bad. My Insurance company (Geico) hired an independent company to assess the value of the car. Part of that assessment was finding other similar cars that were sold in my area. They did NOT use KBB, which raised the value on my car. They also did not take previous damage or broken things into account. My paint was shit, but they didn't care. All that was quite good. They even paid me the cost in sales tax to purchase a new vehicle of similar value, no minor thing here in Washington state :)

But that is also the bad news. They were exacting. They had a list of vehicles in my area that were sold, and that list was produced by a third party. I did not feel there was any real room to argue the value of the car by showing additional examples. They did not take into account how *bad* a shape the car was in. They counted up all the stock "options" on the car and that was that. If I wanted to get nit-picky with them, they could have gotten nit-picky with me.

Additionally, and I don't know about your insurance company, but mine clearly states when I signed up that they are insuring a stock car, and that if I added anything aftermarket to the car that I'd want to claim later that I tell them about it. My car *was* stock, so this didn't matter to me. I had put brand new tires on their literally 3 days before. I told my agent that and they said that tires were considered maintenance, and not part of the claim. They did give me an additional one or two hundred "please be happy with us" chunk of change. I forget what they called it officially, but that's what it amounted to in my mind :)

I felt I was well taken care of. I didn't end up with what the car was worth, but I also didn't feel like I got @#$%ed in the %$#. A major difference for me might have been that the person that hit me was uninsured and at fault. So my insurance company was the one paying out, and I had only been a customer for a month. It was I suppose in their best interest to keep me around instead of jumping ship right then and there.

Best of luck to you. Question everything. Get as much info as you can. It can't hurt. But I wouldn't hope for miracles in situations like this.

[Earendil]

Also, might you buy the car back?

FYI, in the insurance company deems the car totaled, they will hand you money for what the car is worth, and take the car. It's like a forced buy. If you want to keep the wrecked car you have to turn around and buy it from the insurance company, which is kind of shit. I understand the reasoning for it, but I still don't think it's fair.

For example, this is what the raised pathfinder did to my car when it pulled out infront of me.





The total for repair was like three grand. But the buyback was $500 or something. Worth it in parts alone, yes, but it leaves one with less money if they choose to try and repair it themselves.

[Beastolizer]

Thanks for the in depth response! Much appreciated!

[Earendil]

No problem. If you have any other questions about the process feel free to ask and I'll see if I can remember :)

Also, be sure and post back here what your experience was to help the next guy!

[Beastolizer]

No problem. If you have any other questions about the process feel free to ask and I'll see if I can remember :)

Also, be sure and post back here what your experience was to help the next guy!

I will do that for sure

[Cabriolet]

you should get a value of 5-6k for your car. if its a clean 318is. to start i bet they offer you less than 2k. but as many here have, higher 3rd party appraiser. Luke knows a guy up there.

[Beastolizer]

you should get a value of 5-6k for your car. if its a clean 318is. to start i bet they offer you less than 2k. but as many here have, higher 3rd party appraiser. Luke knows a guy up there.

Yeah Luke has already contacted me about him

[LivingLegend06]

When my 318is got totaled out the tried to determine value by looking at "similar" cars for sale locally. All they could come up with was E36s and 4dr E30 318i cars. I then provided my own list of 318is's for sale and ended up getting around another $1500 out of them. (offer went from $2000 to $3500). I bought the car back for $300 and recovered all the money I had spent in mods by parting it out.

[graveshaker]

I always get "classic insurance" on my rides older than 1989. So long as you're over 25, have more than one car you can get classic insurance. It's dirt cheap and you "state the value". Mine is usually under $400 for the entire year, stated value @ $10,000.
AAA use Hagerty as a rider on my older cars. I'm guaranteed the stated value if the unthinkable should accure. I pay the $400 for the year and done.

[bpmack16]

the best way to insure a old car I found is to use American Collectors ins. I know not all e30's are collectors but they will still insure you. You tell them what the car is worth and send them pics of it. You cant drag the car or auto x it. They all so want you to use the car under a designated mileage. I don't drive the car in the winter so that is not an issue plus you can tell them how many miles you want to stay under. I insured my car for $120 for the year and that included theft, and full coverage.

[antil33t]

This reminds me, I must do something about my insurance valuation.

Mine's insured for 2,000nzd.

that buys you... NOTHING.

[Ian Bowers]

Have your receipts for the parts/mods you've installed, and hire an appraiser. State farm recognizes my car to be worth 8k, they hired their own appraiser to come look at the car.

[Beastolizer]

Have your receipts for the parts/mods you've installed, and hire an appraiser. State farm recognizes my car to be worth 8k, they hired their own appraiser to come look at the car.

This is most likely the road I'm going to have to take I'm starting to think

[kstier]

I had hagerty on two previous cars...one a birkin (lotus seven replica) and the other was a Austin Healey. Couldn't have been more different as far as cars go but they were both insured with 5000 mile of allowed use per year for less than $200/year. Depending on how much you plan on using it this is a viable and cheap option but there are restrictions. It is nice though to name the agreed value yourself.