I am pretty certain that my car will be considered totaled when the adjuster looks at it tomorrow. A friend who works for another insurance company told me to look on the web for replacement cost (include any necessary shipping) before accepting the value they offer me.

Question 1) What value would you place on a 91 Z28 L98 car that came with the Level 2 option package.

Question 2) If you know of any comparable cars currently for sale (I would consider 91 or 92 years to both fit) post a link to that ad. I may need the references.

Question 3) Has anyone had any recent dealings with settling with AIG. If yes, how did it go?

Thanks.
Steve

 

It won't matter what's on the web for replacement costs. When it comes down to cars that are that old the insurance adjuster will search the area local to you for cars with as close to the same options that are on your car and offer you the "average" of the costs.

Trust me on this, when my mom's MR2 was hit and they decided to total it they said that the car was only worth about 1800 bucks, didn't matter that she had just had the complete A/C system fixed (700 bucks) or that the car looked like it just rolled off the showroom floor.

You'll probably get what KBB or NADA shows (maybe a bit more) but don't hold your breath for full replacement costs.

I mean my '86 bird was hit in 2000 in the back and even though it didn't wrinkle the quarter panels or the uni-body, it was still totalled out and they gave me 1900 for it (minus the 300 bucks to buy it back) and fixed it for like 500 bucks for a set of tail lights, the mounting for them, bumper cover and hatch pulldown (got them from a you-pull yard very cheap).

If you were hit by someone and their insurance company is sending out an adjuster, you will hardly have any say so on what you can get out of the car (unless you take them to court), or have like every receipt of things you have done to the car, then they may take that into consideration.

Good Luck

 

if your car is totaled can you always buy it back from them? if so whats the normal price ~500?

 

That is why I get my cars appraised by a good apraiser, you will pay $50-$100 for it, But my car which to replace is about 18,000 invested, would not pull more than $2500 If I were lucky. But because of the appraisal, it will bring more if its ever wrecked.

Neat thing was since my car was 11,000 new, and that is where my current appraisal is ( I need to have it redone) I would get 11,000

John

 

Mint, 0-few miles, etc could be worth whatever the seller wanted.
Mint, with 50,000 miles could be worth $8-9,000 in the right market.
lightly tattered with between 75,000-120,000 would drop down to about $5,000
Trashed with lots of miles, minor issues, etc would drop down to sub-$2,000 prices.

 

Well, the car is totaled. I was stopped in a line of traffic and hit in the rear by a 2001 Jeep Cherokee. Despite the fact that I saw him coming (in my inside mirror) and tried to lock up the brakes, the impact was hard enough to push me into the a 2004 Tahoe that was in front of me.

The car has 66,7xx miles and has a really nice red interior. The body was clean and straight but the paint was fading and I would have painted it sometime next year. Mechanically, the car was a G92 optioned hardtop with nearly every option except leather and the power antenna. It ran very well.

I am expecting them to offer ~5K. I am hoping that I can buy it back for around 500. I would not try to repair the car as it will need time on a frame machine, both rear quarters would have to be replaced, rear hatch glass exploded, one of the fog lights was broken, radiator support is pushed back a couple of inches, and both front fenders have some minor bending from the rad support being damaged. It probably needs a lot of pieces in front of the rad support as well as the front body valance. The body was bent enough that both doors hit the rear quarters.

Thanks for the information. I hope that they do go to the web for replacement value as mos cars with miles in my range sell for around 6k with a few going as high as 8k.

Steve

 

I disagree with the statement that you have no say in the insurance payout.

I had a car fire many years ago and the ins. company wanted to total the car and offer me book value. I showed them receipts of recent repairs done to the car, receipts for new tires and receipts for some mods I did to the car. They increased the value to a level that I was happy with. It was also more than book value for the car.
I believe that we do have a say since we are the ones paying the insurance company to insure our stuff. Most people just don't realize that. If you don't like the offer, make a counter offer. If they can get away with paying less, they will.

 

Scott hit on something... RECEIPTS!!! get them, save them, file them away for your cars, and if it ever happens that you need them then your not SOL.

John

 

Wow... this is making me think.

I just bought and am beginning to *restore* a '91 FIrebird Convertible. The body is straight, the engine is strong but the "book" value is rediculously low. I think I saw that it was $3800 or some crap. It doesn't matter that this is 1 of 450 (maybe) and a car that you really can't replace. Plus, after the new tires, new suspension, tires, brakes, tune-up and later a paint job I will have spent over 6K on the car before I start modding for HP/performance.

I'm sure that if it were in an accident, I would get screwed by State Farm. I suppose the only options I have now is get the car appraised after the paint job and save all receipts.

Good thread.

 

Just an FYI...I had State Farm at the time. I have always had great luck with them. I currently have Allstate because SF wasn't writing new policies in FL when I moved 2 years ago.

 

Definite good idea, and make sure your insurance company knows of the value of the appraisal and takes that into account, you might have to pay more on the insurance, but in the end it might be worth it. especially in your case cadillac, I some some of the pics you posted and I wouldn't want to loose that car if I had it, not to mention it again, replacing it would be something else entirely. KBB isn't taking into effect the rarity and how sought after even now that car is.

 

That's why I had this at the end of the sentence

you will hardly have any say so on what you can get out of the car (unless you take them to court), or have like every receipt of things you have done to the car, then they may take that into consideration.

But, your claim was through your insurance company, not someone who hit you or was their fault, the other parties insurance more than likely will not care if you have every receipt for every little thing fixed on the car, as I stated my mom had the receipt where she had the A/C fixed on the car with a brand new compressor and they could have cared less about that or that the car looked like it rolled right off the showroom. The majority of insurance companies when paying out to someone else doesn't care about apprasial values either (alot of the time) and will only give book value on the car and that's it. To them, a 15 year old car is a 15 year old car.

 

I have State Farm. The guy who hit me has AIG. If I go through State Farm, my deductable applies. By going through AIG, there will be no deductable.

If the offer is ridiculously low, I will go see a lawyer.

Steve

 

If their offer is ridiculously low and you can't get them to budge, contact your agent and have them fight for you. That's what they do. I had to do this once also. Someone hit my car and totalled it. They only wanted to pay book value. I had to pay my deductible because I went to my agent. My insurance paid and then sued the other company for the full charges. I got my deductible back when the suit was finalized.

Another company can't tell you that they won't pay what the car is worth. It was their customer that was at fault so they will have to pay the real damages.

 

Well AIG has decied that my L98 91z is worth 3200.

Steve

 

And how does that strike you?

I say it sucks.

C

 

According to the KBB and NADA (which is what insurance companies go by) the private party for this car is 3400 bucks.