wrote:
On Tue, 05 Mar 2013 14:15:49 -0600, Vic Smith
wrote:
On Tue, 05 Mar 2013 13:18:57 -0500, wrote:
On Tue, 5 Mar 2013 11:05:23 -0500, "David L. Martel"
wrote:
dadi,
I think that HB hasn't done his homework. As you point out his
guesstimate of the value of his vehicle seems very inaccurate. This leads me
to wonder if his guesstimate of repair cost is also off.
Posting for advice while spouting meaningless figures will lead to bad
advice. He needs to get the "blue book" value. There are web-sites that do
this. He needs to get some repair estimates. There are repair shops that
will gladly do this.
Dave M.
His estimate of the value MAY be pretty close. It may be a badly
clapped out and beaten to death POS that really is NOT worth fixing,
and he's hoping to come out ahead. Just the hassle of having to buy a
"new" vehicle, to some people, is worth $500 or more - so the clapped
out POS could be worth more to him than the truck is really worth.
Not terribly likely scenario, but quite possible.
Happens all the time. I had a '67 Skylark, knew it up and down, and
it was the best tracking car I ever had. Body wasn't perfect, big
deal, that's why I got it for $500. Drove it a couple years. Kid hit
it while it was in front a house we were partying in on New Year's
Eve. Had to chase him to his house because he took off. His dad took
care of the insurance. I got book, $600. Wasn't happy about that at
all. Paid $1400 for a '74 Dart, cheapest decent car I could find
quick, but it wasn't half the car as the Buick.
Had a real nice 1981 Corolla wagon.Catalytic converter overheated and
burned the floor mat, console/shifter, and corner of the passenger's
seat. The Insurance company wanted to write it off and give me $2000.
I said nope, but give me the car and $2000 and we'll call it square.
After a couple of hours they said "ok" and gave me a cheque. I paid
about $300 for used shifter/console and used carpet (right side only -
the left side of the one in the wreckers was damaged) and I put the
rest into the "car replacement fund" and drove the corolla another 3
years.
Mother-in-law had a little Mustang coupe - california car with a baked
paint job. Her son had bent the rear fender, and they had not gotten
around to having the insurance repair it when the wiring harness for
the air conditioning (california installed aftermarket) went up in
smoke - found out it was because the second cooling fan motor had
shorted - and the insurance company wanted to write it off because
they didn't want to get caught having to replace a whole wiring
harness. They said the car was in rough condition - bad paint and body
damage, so they were only going to give her $1500 for it.
I told them they were already on the hook for the body repairs, and it
was otherwize in good shape with low mileage etc - I said I thought
the car was worth $3200 to replace, and a paint job was under $1000,
so the car should be worth $2200. They offered $2200 and the car - I
drove it home from Windsor to Waterloo, rewired the AC, replaced the
fan motor, fixed the bent rear quarter and repainted it and had over
$300 left over when it was finished.
In 1980 I was driving a 66 lay-down Rambler. An Ambassador 990. I was a
broke college grad and about to move out of town for a job. To me, the car
was priceless.
A few weeks before i was leaving town, a repair shop was doing some work on
the front end, broke a part and couldn't find a replacement that was in any
better shape. One day I stopped by to get an update and they told me the
car had been stolen. When I reminded them that it wasn't drivable, they
just shrugged and said "Yeah, it's pretty strange."
Two days later the police called and told me the car was about a mile from
the shop and that the front end was all smashed up. I could be wrong, but
it looked to me like someone had backed a tow truck into it. I even checked
the repair shop's truck to see if it had green paint on it. No such luck. I
had my suspicions but I couldn't prove anything.
Anyway, the Ins Co deemed it totaled and gave me $600. They could care less
what I thought the car was worth or what my situation was. What was I going
to do with $600 and no car? I ended up putting the money towards a rental,
drove to my new town and rode a bicycle for a few months while I saved up
for another car.