Best way to fight an insurance company

[Sagaris]

$2,945 is disgraceful! a 325i at 91K is worth $6-7k. i have a list of over 50 e30s being sold on CL since Jan and only cars that need maintenance and are over 180k are below 3k. Take nothing less than 6000 from them.

$6-7k gets you a car 10 years newer with better safety, reliability, and performance with the same mileage. I would be happy to get $3k from insurance for a 325i.

[nando]

yes, but it won't be an E30.

try to find a clean, well maintained, umolested 325i for $3k.

[lylefk]

Hey look in general section right now, there's a similar car w reconstructed title for $6800 in Vancouver. Show them that one for sure

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[evandael]

$6-7k gets you a car 10 years newer with better safety, reliability, and performance with the same mileage. I would be happy to get $3k from insurance for a 325i.

that's not the point. the point is that E30's (like any enthusiast car) have a valuation well above 'book value' and insurance companies need to consider other appraisal methods when worse comes to worse.

receipts, receipts, receipts, plus an appraisal, examples of similar cars, and heavy documentation and an open discussion with your insurance agent (pre-accident) or adjuster (post-accident) are the best ways to protect yourself from getting the shaft.

after all, if they aren't gonna pay up, what good are they for? fuck, i hate insurance companies.

[Vtec?lol]

I fucking hate insurance!

[ClausE30]

I just finnished my settlement with an insurance company. What I've learned is never let the insurance company push you around.
Their offer was extremely low on my 88 325ix. I came back at them with other examples and information that supported a higher claim, and I won.

Their estimate was like $3000 something, not including the price I had to pay for buying the car back

I ended up getting $4100+the car and $375 for transportation during the time without a car. After 3 weeks they finally gave me a rental car for awhile as I looked for a replacement e30.

[Cliche Guevara]

Hey look in general section right now, there's a similar car w reconstructed title for $6800 in Vancouver. Show them that one for sure

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Already saw that one. I appreciate you keeping an eye out for me, though. I sent my adjuster an email Friday asking when I could expect to hear back and didn't get a response until today after I called her and left a message today. I should get my new offer from her Monday.

[BlackbirdM3]

Just out of curiosity, what insurance company are you dealing with? I HOPE its not AAA. AAA as a company needs to be taken out and Impossible people to deal with. As with all insurance companies, they are out to spend the least amount of $ that they possibly can. There are not there to fix your car when someone takes you out, they are there to screw you and make you like it.

Will

[Cliche Guevara]

Allstate. My experience with my agent has been great over the years, we'll see how it goes with this, though.

[matthugie]

I ended up going the independent appraiser route when my M3 was totaled. His value was still low of where I wanted it (and was worth), but was told that the third party appraisal was the last step, and there wasn't really anywhere to go from there. Remember, the insurance company gets paid on not paying you, so if you can take the valuation out of their hands you'll be better off.

[leothedrummer]

Everytime I see one of these threads pop up, I can't help but think to myself that sometimes people aren't shopping around for their insurance properly. And by that, I don't mean best price, but best service. As people who care for our cars more than most people are capable of imagining, skimping out on insurance is the last thing we should be doing. Aiming for the cheapest price possible is for those who treat their car as an appliance. I highly recommend that everybody here looks into companies that specialize in policies for motoring enthusiasts. Sure, you'll end up paying a bit more, but it'll be worth it in the end.

Best of luck on this matter, OP.

[Threehz]

Sorry to hear about your car man, but lots of good advice in the thread. These threads definitely give me a scare. I know a lot of people have mentioned cars for sale, but the more important aspect is what cars have sold for, and recently.

Good luck, hope we hear good news soon.

[Cliche Guevara]

Everytime I see one of these threads pop up, I can't help but think to myself that sometimes people aren't shopping around for their insurance properly. And by that, I don't mean best price, but best service. As people who care for our cars more than most people are capable of imagining, skimping out on insurance is the last thing we should be doing. Aiming for the cheapest price possible is for those who treat their car as an appliance. I highly recommend that everybody here looks into companies that specialize in policies for motoring enthusiasts. Sure, you'll end up paying a bit more, but it'll be worth it in the end.

Best of luck on this matter, OP.

Definitely not just going the cheapest rout. Like I said earlier, I have Allstate and I've been very satisfied with the service we've gotten from our agent. Whether I'm satisfied with how this plays is still to be seen..

Here's some pics of the car.

This side hit the tree that ultimately brought me to a stop:


I'm in the green jacket and that's my dad there. I had it towed out to my parents' house.

[leothedrummer]

Definitely not just going the cheapest rout. Like I said earlier, I have Allstate and I've been very satisfied with the service we've gotten from our agent. Whether I'm satisfied with how this plays is still to be seen..

Wasn't necessarily directed at you man. I'm not familiar with the American insurance companies, so I don't know where they sit in the grand scheme of things. However I do know that for every car I've wanted to, I've been able to have a pre-determined agreed value set on the car, that the insurance company will pay out, no questions asked. If I want that value increased, all I do is ask. Now of course, insurance might not work that way over there, but the point is, I would never leave the value of my car up to some random guy to determine at the point in time at which I make a claim.

[nebulous123]

I really didn't want to post because it going to sound like I am taking the side of the insurance company.

That being said, all those upgrades you made to the car may bring up the value to the car but without them you don't have a complete car. What does that mean? You are singling out specific items being worth more than the stock parts it replaces, right? Like the rims, you can't have a complete car without rims, no matter how expensive they are they are apart of the car not separate. Putting $3k rims on a $1k car doesn't make it worth $4k.

All those upgrades are built into the car and don't really recover any value. Lets say you just rebuilt the motor and spent $2k doing it. You don't just get a boost in value because you performed maintenance on the car.

Again nothing against you OP, that sucks what happened and the valuation they gave you seems on par with what the run-of-the-mill 89 e30 would go for. But don't expect them to give you an "enthusiast price" for the car. Thats a whole different market.

Maybe work out a deal with the company and ask for that price they gave you plus keep the car. You have a low milage motor, all the accessories you installed and you can go pick up a new car and swap it all over. Just a thought.

Good luck.