Driver's Education
Club Racing
Member List
RSS
Help
11-03-2009, 05:31 AM
Chapter two, the appraisal results
All week long I had been mulling over the potential outcomes. Do I want the car to be fixable? Should I buy back the car if it is totaled? I had insured the car for $16,500 plus safety gear. My thinking was, that’s about the number it would take to get back into a comparable low mileage 951 that was finally pretty well sorted out, at least until 3:30PM, October 17th.
Four days after the appraiser’s visit, I rec’d the anticipated call from the insurance co. The appraiser had indicated the car was a total loss, ouch. The paperwork included a very detailed repair estimate that totaled $22,300. The value given by the appraiser was $13,500, i.e. Actual Cash Value or ACV. According to the adjuster, the limit of coverage is the lesser of declared value or ACV. I re-read the policy and this was in fact the case. I had been feeling pretty smug all week so naturally, I was disappointed by this development. In effect, I had slightly over-insured the car for that weekend. It would not have changed the premium, but probably did give me a false sense of security. Lesson here: read the fine print and know the approximate ACV of your vehicle before you insure. This way, a) no surprises, and b) you’ll know how much time you’ll need to strip the go fast goodies from your car before filing a claim.
There was almost no detail surrounding the $13,500 value. This value did not come from your typical NADA or KBB guide. The appriaser quoted the car as “Unlisted�? which IIRC means there was not enough information from these traditional sources to value the car. As a result, dealer quotes and the appraisers judgement were used in coming up with the value. This saved my bacon. To those of you familiar with 951’s, they can be found all day long with 100k+ miles for $7,500 to $10,000. The issue is these have often been beat to death, have very limited paperwork history and/ or have had their motors juiced to within an inch of their life. I had made a point of noting this to the appraiser as well as commenting on the recent top end rebuild and safety gear I had installed. This, plus the relatively low mileage of my car, may have paid off somewhat in $13,500 figure.
To come, my final chapter, the settlement.
All week long I had been mulling over the potential outcomes. Do I want the car to be fixable? Should I buy back the car if it is totaled? I had insured the car for $16,500 plus safety gear. My thinking was, that’s about the number it would take to get back into a comparable low mileage 951 that was finally pretty well sorted out, at least until 3:30PM, October 17th.
Four days after the appraiser’s visit, I rec’d the anticipated call from the insurance co. The appraiser had indicated the car was a total loss, ouch. The paperwork included a very detailed repair estimate that totaled $22,300. The value given by the appraiser was $13,500, i.e. Actual Cash Value or ACV. According to the adjuster, the limit of coverage is the lesser of declared value or ACV. I re-read the policy and this was in fact the case. I had been feeling pretty smug all week so naturally, I was disappointed by this development. In effect, I had slightly over-insured the car for that weekend. It would not have changed the premium, but probably did give me a false sense of security. Lesson here: read the fine print and know the approximate ACV of your vehicle before you insure. This way, a) no surprises, and b) you’ll know how much time you’ll need to strip the go fast goodies from your car before filing a claim.
There was almost no detail surrounding the $13,500 value. This value did not come from your typical NADA or KBB guide. The appriaser quoted the car as “Unlisted�? which IIRC means there was not enough information from these traditional sources to value the car. As a result, dealer quotes and the appraisers judgement were used in coming up with the value. This saved my bacon. To those of you familiar with 951’s, they can be found all day long with 100k+ miles for $7,500 to $10,000. The issue is these have often been beat to death, have very limited paperwork history and/ or have had their motors juiced to within an inch of their life. I had made a point of noting this to the appraiser as well as commenting on the recent top end rebuild and safety gear I had installed. This, plus the relatively low mileage of my car, may have paid off somewhat in $13,500 figure.
To come, my final chapter, the settlement.
--------------
Chris Barone
2008 Cayman S
1986 951 Black
1986 911 Coupe
1986 951 Guards Red, what else. RIP 10/17/2009
1996 911 Coupe
Chris Barone
2008 Cayman S
1986 951 Black
1986 911 Coupe
1986 951 Guards Red, what else. RIP 10/17/2009
1996 911 Coupe