How I made gamby sad and P71 happy.

Spinout007 wrote:

ignorant wrote:

Sonic wrote: Yup, that will be totalled as that dent in the quarter panel means that the right frame rail is all buggered, but can be pulled out 95% once you or someone else buys it back to make a race car. If you need any guidance on dealing with the insurance companies, I handle both the property damage and bodily injury sides, and used to work in CT so am familiar with their rules, I'd be happy to help.

Thanks.. It's not going to be too bad dealing with the insuracnce company as the lady and I have the same company. ohh well... I was going to sell it in CT as a rust free southern car, which it is.. but.. just not straight anymore. :-)

Actually both of you having the same insurance agent is going to be a pain in the butt, (opps there I go again) It's one of the reasons we got screwed on the deal with our old 300Z, that and my wife (GF at the time) just didn't want to argue with them anymore and took the 1500$ payment when the car booked out to about 8k. "Insurance agent = THERE'S NO WAY I'M GIVING YOU THAT MUCH FOR THAT OLD OF A CAR" I said lawyer right then an there, but the missus caved.

yeah.. I've documented everything, the car books at $3k or so and comparable cars in the area have asking prices all the way to $6k. I'm on my companies big discount plan so hopefully they treat me OK... We'll see.. I already got a call from the "pain and suffering lady"....

Yea, you have some leeway with the total loss figure, give them a bunch of comparables at the higher prices, those are hard to refute.

I'd argue that having you both insured with the same company will be easier overall, but not by much.

I'm curious what the BI rep (Pain and suffering lady) said to you, as that's what I do now, curious what the others say.

Which InsCo is it? Farm? Good Hands? Lizard? Umbrella? They all act a bit differently

Sonic wrote: Yea, you have some leeway with the total loss figure, give them a bunch of comparables at the higher prices, those are hard to refute. I'd argue that having you both insured with the same company will be easier overall, but not by much. I'm curious what the BI rep (Pain and suffering lady) said to you, as that's what I do now, curious what the others say. Which InsCo is it? Farm? Good Hands? Lizard? Umbrella? They all act a bit differently

Well the adjuster came out and did a "thoughough" eval of the car in the pouring rain and said its totally fixable. He estimates $1800 to fix and from what I've heard they are willing to do it.

Now, I haven't got any comparable estimates. Infact, I wasn't able to be home when this guy came. He kept asking me on the phone if I had an estimates done already, like he wanted to see them so he knew his was right.. So... I'm sketched out. This guy has 2 hours on a frame machine, some work to smooth out the fender and a new bumper on the quote. He told me he got under the car and found nothing damaged. ugh.

I got snoopy.

Also.. I never spoke with the BI lady. She spoke to my wife and then proceeded to send mountains of paperwork to me in the mail. I've been documenting all of my pain in a running email to myself, copying my wife and my work address. I also have the doctors documentation.

I'll have a few painkillers for you. It's been awhile since my bad wreck, and my neck will still bother me on occasion.

Good Luck!

If the car is repaired and has a autocheck/cafax black mark against it... Can I get diminished value out of them?

Answered my own question,

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0011.htm

Yes I can!

I'm surprised at the 2 hours of frame time, but on the other hand, I can't see the damage either. If the car gets to the shop and it takes more, that is fine, they will go back out and do a supplement to make up the difference. Hard to tell really until you tear it down and really get in there.

It may not have been a BI lady if that's all she did, she may be the Medpay lady, looking to pay your med bills from your policy.

Diminished value...yea. Don't count on it. I've never seen it paid, nor spoken to anyone who has. A claim for it would involve waiting until the car is sold, and then trying to come up with some proof of what actualized loss there was on the sale due to the fact it was in an accident. If the shop does a good job with the repair, it should be very difficult to see it was fixed.

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/rpt/2007-R-0011.htm said: Connecticut case law establishes the responsibility of the negligent party to pay for a vehicle's diminished value and therefore permits third-party claims (Littlejohn v. Elionsky, 130 Conn. 541, 36 A. 2d 52 (1944)). As stated in Littlejohn, the measure of recovery for vehicle damage, if the vehicle is not a total loss, is the vehicle's reasonable market value before the accident minus its reasonable market value after the accident, plus interest from the date of loss. Further, if repairs will substantially restore the vehicle to its former condition, the cost of such repairs will typically furnish proper proof of the loss. However, a vehicle may be badly damaged and be repaired so as to put it in a sound or good state, yet be worth much less than before the accident (Littlejohn at 53).

I won't go throwing 66 years of legal precedent in their face in the beginning, but It pays to be informed.

Shame on me for not getting estimates before the adjuster came.

What happens if the seat is broken, and he didn't mark down for the repair of it...

You need to let him know about the seat. My money is that once tear down begins there will be a relatively large supplement.

I am a property adjuster. I like to see other peoples estimates so I can make sure I see the same damage they do and our prices are in line. Often times I get contractors estimates that say something to the effect of "Fix damage - $5,000". My estimates break down by line item everything that requires repair and the quanity of what needs to be repaired.

Bring it to a couple body shops and ask for detailed estimates. You should then have a leg to stand on regarding damage and prices.

The whole issue with diminished value is how do you determine how much value it lost? Insurance Cos thrive on paperwork and documentation. IF you want to know what a fender costs or the NADA of the Civic, but how do you determine how much less the car is worth? They aren't going to pay for a theoretical loss of value, it has to be value that you have actualized. This is the issue.

About the only time I can see it working is if someone hits a brand new, on the lot, expensive car. There will be a clear paperwork record of what the car "should" have sold for, and what it did end up selling for. I have a dealer who was one of my insured who is pursuing the other carrier for this now, the damaged car was a 2010 M-B S550 with 6 miles on it, still in dealer inventory unsold, over $10k in damage.

Well, I'm glad you're OK.

That said--DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!!!!

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a decent EK with working AC for a price that is REMOTELY reasonable?! I'm going nuts over here trying to find one and now yours departs the Earth. Phuket.

(Love the thread title, BTW)

Heal up, my friend. I similar hit inflicted $5400 of damage to my 99 Si back when it was a year old.

gamby wrote: Well, I'm glad you're OK. That said--DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!!!! Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a decent EK with working AC for a price that is REMOTELY reasonable?! I'm going nuts over here trying to find one and now yours departs the Earth. Phuket. (Love the thread title, BTW) Heal up, my friend. I similar hit inflicted $5400 of damage to my 99 Si back when it was a year old.

well.. If they fix it..

car should be fixed in a few days.