DerbyDad03 wrote:
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.
My case was a bit different as I more or less set the value of the car.
It was (is) a 1973 Fiat 124 Spyder, bought new in Honolulu. I live in
Florida now and in 2000 the wife and I were driving down the middle lane of
a divided highway when a guy pulls out to cross the road. Fine and good but
he stopped in the middle of my lane. I couldn't change lanes, cars in both,
so I did what I had to do...I hit him.
I had been doing about 50, managed to slow to maybe 30 and veered a bit to
the left so I would hit ahead of the driver door where I was aimed. It bent
in his wheel well, pull it out and he was good. However, the Fiat front end
was pretty shot.
I don't recall what State Farm wanted to give me - they wanted to total it -
but it wasn't enough so I found a duplicate car on eBay listed at $4500 for
"buy it now". That's what they gave me: $4500. Plus the car. I bought a
California car for $900, shipped it to Florida for $600. The CA car was a
1974 - a year newer - and the engine and transmission were less than great
but the body was excellent and were the same as mine except for the bumper
and I had a spare of that.
We drove both cars to a body shop and they took the front clip - radiator,
both fenders, hood, gril, etc. - from the CA car and put them on mine.
Charged $3,000. That shot the $4500 insurance money exactly.
The parts car is sitting "out back" under some oak trees, busily rotting
away. My Fiat is sittng in the garage. It needs an alignment but other
than that it is pristine. I drove it home from the body shop but not since.
Why? Because the body shop tool a year - a YEAR! - to do their thing and in
the interim we had purchased another car. We really have no need for two
cars and I really should sell it (they sell now for $5500 - $18,000, mine is
maybe a 9-10K car) but I keep it for auld lang syne...that was the car of my
best days and we have been through a lot...I've driven it on unguarded
gravel roads in mountains with sheer cliffs...down stream beds...all over
Mexico; I've suffered through multiple damages caused to it over may years
by inept mechanics; I drove it every day for 27 years. I kinda miss it.
--
dadiOH
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