Moderators:
I've seen a lot of people post about their cars getting wrecked on this board and it may not be a tech question, but I see this a fitting place to put it in a what-if sense. Feel free to shut it down if it gets out of hand for some odd reason.


So, my question is pretty obvious... I was looking at the kelly blue book online and just wanted to see the value of my car for kicks and was disheartened to find it listed at about $1200.

Now, I was under the impression that insurance companies used these figures to help settle claims. I have put about $2100 into this car so far and $1200 would not cut it if I wrecked.

If anybody knows who has totalled their car or someone in the insurance business... how much would I likely get if my car (sig)were totalled?

BTW I'm at 150k mi. now

 

They start with the book value, deduct for milage, pre-existing dents, rust and any other type of damage. Basically, they're going to hand you a big porking.

 

I use Progressive. With them, you can insure custom or added on parts too.:rockon:

:hail:IROC-Z
:hail:Progressive

 

In my case, I met with their appraiser. He had looked at the car, given an estimate, and asked me if that was acceptable. I showed him a list of new parts/modifications, etc and gave him copies of my reciepts. That was enough to get him to change his estimate to one I was happy with.

 

Its all based on the cars condition... Book values accurately represent the thirdgens we all see driving around town with parts falling off, etc. They have a guide with collector values for cars that they'll use if you convince them you show the car, or are an enthusiast. Also in the right situation bitching can't hurt.

When my 83 got totalled I gave the guy pics of the car from before the accident when I had perfect lighting, it was freshly washed, and with a nice background. I ended up getting more than what I paid for the car, and about three times the current book value.

When my 85 S10 got totalled they low balled me so I bitched that they were giving me less than I owed on the loan. They ended up paying quite a bit more to cover the loan.

 

Also, you'll get a lot further if you're the victim in the accident dealing with the insurance company of the at fault driver, then you will fighting with your own insurance coverage.

 

Take it to your local official Camaro Club or Trans Am Club and get them to do an appraisal. They'll appraise it as a collector's car and you'll have this information in hand when the insurance guy wants to give you that "porker.".....They should go by your car's appraised value and not blue book.

 

Insurance companies......let me paint you a picture...... ( 0 )......... Now let's just say the first parenthesis is your left a$$ cheek and the last parenthesis is your right. And that big hole in the middle............. is where you just got reamed.

 

when my 81 camaro was wrecked, the insurance lady said somthing along the lines of "we found three similar cars in the classified ads and we took the average price of the three." Needless to say, i got screwed

 

Although Kelly Blue Book is a well know valuator, most bankers and insurance companies that we deal with in the Southwest use the NADA guidelines for determining value. For example, not counting mileage add/deduct the value for you car shows up in NADA as $1950.00.

These values are for an average car. It is up to you to prove your car is above average which can be done with pictures and receipts as mentioned above.

Insurance companies are designed to low ball you but that doesn't mean they can get away with it unless you allow it..... but they will try.

The other idea is to get a classic car insurance policy. They are not expensive and many are available for cars other than antique. That way you can insure your car for "stated value".