Colorado general chat...

[blefevre]

I'm thinking about switching insurance from Nationwide to State Farm because they do stated value auto insurance. Unlike Hagerty I can combine all of my vehicles / homeowners and pay monthly instead of yearly in advance.

My car. 2002 M Coupe, 44,000 miles. #498 out of 690 built.

It looks they are willing to do it as long as I provide research to support my stated value of $31,500.

Does anyone have experience with State Farm? What are your opinions? Customer service? As anyone filed a stated value claim or even regular claim with them?

State farm has a huge reputation, at least in Iowa, of refusing coverage and dropping coverage after filing a claim on a house. This comes from a lot of experience with friends families. However, they have always been good to my parents. They have been very expensive though. They will drop your coverage if you file a house claim within a year, that is a given.

They are good at stated value claims though. Although I never talked to someone that needed to file a claim. My friend with the perfect 535i has it valued around $8,000 or so. It is supposed to be "no questions asked" if it gets totaled...it is worth $8,000 to state farm. He never had to file a claim though.

[blefevre]

I should add that the same friend filed an auto claim when a rock tore the front subframe off of their Mercedes. It went over very well and state farm was very persistent with the Mercedes dealer and was able to keep the car from being totaled when it clearly was.

[Cloudbase]

Are you saying that the Merc not being totaled was a bad thing or a good thing? My friend with a stated value M Coupe recommended Allstate.

[blefevre]

Are you saying that the Merc not being totaled was a bad thing or a good thing? My friend with a stated value M Coupe recommended Allstate.

They didn't want it to be totaled so state farm worked with Mercedes to get the repairs covered. All 14k + in repairs on a 05ish C230 hatch, lol. It was almost dead even with what the "value" of the car was, but they worked it out in their favor.

[Roland H]

State Farm is HORRIBLE. They'll cover a claim, and then drop you for it. Or find some other way to drop you.

Kellie just went through this with her Subaru, ended up going through Jake Graham @ (719) 598-7273 after three other companies turned her down. Jake's apparently an enthusiast as well.

[downforce22]

Well i am contemplating two things right now and need suggestions.

First I am talking about my 1986 325iX. The good news is I got it running stock, but there are a couple set backs.

1. The car will not go into gear when running. I can find gears when off though and I bled the slave of some black brake fluid but it did not improve.

2. The car is smoking profusely and based on the hole in the exhaust I know it is burning lots of oil. So much that it is even dripping black dirty oil out of the exhaust. The pistons were replaced so that explains why.

I have never rebuilt a motor but would not expect new rings to smoke this much. The top end has been seated and has new seals and the timing is spot on. That leaves the rings. I found a write up to remove the whole clutch on the iX which is a pita but will be my last option to get it going. Otherwise I could drop the subframe to get at the engine and clutch at the same time.

My question is more of an advice type of thing. I am working in a single car garage with basic tools and jack stands. Which method would you use to get to the clutch? I am guessing something is wrong with the linkage or clutch assembly (throw out bearing, clutch fork, etc) because I bled the hydraulic system and there appears to be no signs of leaks. My second question is about the rings. What is common on a new engine? I am positive the rings have not seated as they have not had a load on them and are blowing by lots of oil.

Should I replace the rings while I have the clutch out and just make sure its a bulletproof engine and double check all of the work of the PO while I am in there or get the clutch figured out, running and try to seat the rings after a few hundred miles. I have not run the thing much more than about 10 minutes because of the smoke in my garage (or BBQ whatever you want to call it.)

Any other suggestions?

Car in question:

[Roland H]

the car will need new rings.

[Bimmerman325i]

Alex, I've had great luck with Amica. I've had to put two claims in and my rates did not go up, they didn't try to drop me, instead they sent an appraiser and a check within a week and let me get the car fixed to my standards wherever I wanted.

Great company, but I don't know if they do stated values.

[Roland H]

Also, be aware that "stated value" and "agreed value" are not always the same. Make sure to read the policy with a magnifying glass.

[A Sucked Orange]

It looks and sounds like you're going to have to tear the whole engine apart, possibly the driveline I just got done doing all that.

I might pull the head to see what sort of a disaster the cylinder walls are in first, to discern whether or not you want to procede. At this point you might just want to get it in to gear to test the VC.

Is the little spring clip that holds the lever/fork still there on the side of the transmission?

The easiest way to get at the clutch, engine, etc is to drop it all as one on to some dollies, hoist the front of the car up, and roll it all out.

[Cloudbase]

Thanks for heads up guys. I vaguely remember something about State Farm not paying claims after Katrina. That was the basis of my caution with them. I could do Hagerty too, but you have to pay upfront and I don't have that ki of cash lying around.

Roland, what company is Jake through? My buddy had good luck with Allstate from the hail storm. They didn't drop him or give any grief about his claim.

[blefevre]

Thanks for heads up guys. I vaguely remember something about State Farm not paying claims after Katrina. That was the basis of my caution with them. I could do Hagerty too, but you have to pay upfront and I don't have that ki of cash lying around.

Roland, what company is Jake through? My buddy had good luck with Allstate from the hail storm. They didn't drop him or give any grief about his claim.

I would never pick State Farm to cover a home. In Iowa we had a hail storm (grapefruit size hail) that destroyed most of the town. State Farm denied coverage to over 80% of the town. Nearly everyone had State Farm because there was no other claims office in the entire city.

[A Sucked Orange]

Cloudbase that little plane looks like fun! Who produced it?

[Roland H]

Roland, what company is Jake through? My buddy had good luck with Allstate from the hail storm. They didn't drop him or give any grief about his claim.

I know he sells Farmers, but I'm thinking he might sell other stuff too like my current agent does.

He (Jake) is in the Springs though...

[Cloudbase]

Park Zone P-51D. Picked it up for $60 on Craig's and flew the hell out of it until one too many flights at the dog park finally grounded it. $70 more on a new airframe and she's back in business! Here was flying it on the top of a ten story building in Arizona.

Click on the image to load the vid.