I need to find a fair market value for a 1984 Volvo 240 Wagon. The insurance company wants to give me $800.00. But I have put at least $3000.00 dollars into the car. Can anyone direct me to some better kept cars that may have higher values. This car looks like a 20 year old car, but with the work I've done to it, it should be worth more than the $800.00 they telling me.
Thank you,

Call the insurance company's bluff. Tell em "fine, just find and buy me a car in the same condition as the one YOUR client wrecked on me". I did this once in negotiations with an insurance company that was trying to lowball me...funny how fast they came across with a reasonable offer. One other thing, Small claims court awards aren't worth the paper the judgement is written on. YOU gotta do all the collection effort, at least in Mass.



Dan

You couldn't buy anything that runs under it's own power in this area for $800. They're just trying to lowball you. they expect you to haggle on it (although, they hope that you won't ) Push for high book value. If you have receipts for recent work done. wave those around too.
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-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '92 Ford F350 diesel dually

Robert,

"You couldn't buy anything that runs under it's own power in this area for $800."

Where do you live? There are plenty of running mid 80's Volvos here in Northern California that are for sale in the $1,000.00 range.

I'm in Arkansas. I haven't bought a vehicle of any kind in this state for over 15 years, everybody thinks their junk is pure gold. I always go to either Texas, Oklahoma or Tennesee ( or further )to buy things, I won't even waste my time looking around here ( well, I broke my own rule when I was looking for a truck last year, first one I looked at the guy wanted almost 4 grand for a clapped out17 year old truck where nothing worked that belonged in a boneyard...advertised as "in great shape everything works"...then I headed out of state).
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-------Robert, '93 940t, '90 240 wagon, '84 240 diesel (she's sick) , '80 245 diesel, '86 740 GLE turbo diesel, '92 Ford F350 diesel dually

Like many things, this depends on your local market. But I would be surprised if you were able to sell an '84 in "excellent" condition, with average mileage (220-250K), for more than $1,000.00 to a private buyer. A used car lot would probably give you about what the insurance company is offering, possibly a couple hundred less.

If you spent $3000 in repairs, why are you willing to give the car up for a check? It would probably be cheaper to have the damage repaired at your expense, with your own salvage yard parts. Leave the insurance co. out of the picture.

I'm not very mechanically inclined.
The $800.00 I would be getting from the Insurance would not get me much. Furthermore the car would be considered salvaged. As I understand it, if I were to get in anothere accident whether my fault or not, I would not get anything. So at this point it has to be about the check. I wanted to fix the car up for my son, but not with a salvage title.
And it's the principle of the thing. I did nothing. I spent money so I can feel comfortable driving my car. And now because somebody falls asleep at the wheel I should be out money? It doesn't seem right. I hope the law thinks the same thing.

The insurance company will base the "settlement" on the value of a replacement vehicle in your area. Replacement vehicle meaning the same year, same trim level, and same approximate mileage. Out here on the west coast (Northern California) there are many running mid 80's Volvos for sale in the $1,000-$1,500 range. Most have around 200k miles.

Do not mean to rain on your parae, but if you can get the insurance co. to give you more than $1500 for a car that old, I would be very surprised. Unfortunately, they will not take the cost of maintenance/repairs/resotration into consideration unless you have a collectible or "rare" car.

The problem is you haven't caught the culprit. The responsible party is at large. You and YOUR insurance company entered into a contract to "cover" this eventuality, but essentially on their terms unless you had the foresight to modify the agreement on valuation. (No one does) Just the fact you kept comprehensive coverage on your 84 brick shows inattention to that detail.

It hurts like hell, all those premiums you paid and you expect to be made whole on that basis. But in reality, most of your premiums protected you against your own liability, and very little was paid toward collision and comprehensive, because of their estimate of the risk (value of your car). I could be wrong, maybe you paid $200 a month for this!

Now if the hit and run driver was caught, you'd have a law leg to stand on, and any fight with HIS insurance company would likely have more leverage, but most likely HE didn't have any coverage anyhow. Then it would be back to you and your company, who, by the way, might just raise your rates to well beyond replacement cost for a fine looking and running 84 Volvo.

I'm not criticizing base on a superior position. I and many of us RWD frequenters are in exactly the same leaky boat. Pursue it if you can afford to switch insurance after the fiasco.

The culprit called the police to report the crime. Kudos and my respect for him. Increasing the policy to cover this eventuality has been on my mind since I started putting money into the car. I guess I was waiting to get it painted. So depending on what happens I may look into "valuation".
I have sent some comp's I got off the internet that are in the $1900.00 range and some numbers from NADA. I have also sent a demand letter to the culprit asking for loss of use and the remainder of what his insurance won't cover.
We'll see what happens.

Besides keeping the pressure on the culprit's insurance company, keep the pressure on the culprit too. If he's smart, we'll call his insurance company and pressure them to give you a WHOLE settlement including loss of use for a reasonable number of days.
PS: I hate to call this guy a "culprit" since it has a negative conotation and he was decent enough to notify the cops. jp

If it was a bad accident where your car is written off, hold your neck and claim you had serious whiplash, they'll give you a cheque for like 10,000 just to shut up about it. You gotta sell it real well though.
--
'89 240 All original, custom exhaust, KnN, custom guages, 260,000kms

uh...unfortunately it was parked in front of my home! :(
But thanks for the idea.
What price would you sell yours?

i've seen 89 sedans like mine with lower kilometers go from 3000-5000 canadian here in british columbia. Man that sucks someone smashed your car while it was parked! I really feel for yah.

I'm not gonna sell mine, i've got some plans, and when im done i'll give it to my nephew or it if its still kickin around maybe my son if i have one (im only 19, dont plan to get married or nothin anytime soon)
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'89 240 All original, custom exhaust, KnN, custom guages, 260,000kms

Keep after them. Assuming the accident wasn't your fault, they have to pay. They should be glad you weren't driving an AMG Mercedes.

As a comparison, my friend is selling one on consignment at his used Volvo dealership. Almost perfect 1984 242DL, 87K miles, $2300. It's about as nice as they ever get. It's for sale at Eurocars Plus in Connecticut. www.eurocarsplus.com. (Car is not shown on the web site but is available with a phone call.)

For a high miles, "average" one, maybe half that?

Good luck with them.
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Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: 92 244-M47-207K ::: 90 745GL-M47-268K ::: 88 245DL-AW70-230K ::: 88 244 SOLD! 87 244 SOLD! Still looking for a bright red or black 244 with sunroof...

Thanks for the reply.
As I replied to the earlier post, my car was parked. It's not the prettiest thing, but I put good money on the mechanicals. My intention was to give it to my son that is just driving. Nice big metal box to learn in. The other person is liable, but his insurance wants to give me $800.00 salvage credit. I'll be losing quite a bit there. So I have to fight the person in small claims. But I need to get a FMV for the car. Not a lot of 1984 Volvos for sale.

Try the NADA web site: http://www2.nadaguides.com/default.aspx?LI=1-22-1-5013-0-0-0&l=1&w=22&p=1&f=5014&c=14&m=1216&d=1088&y=1984&vi=88368&z=37040&da=-1

The above is for a 1984 244 DL. Values are: Low Retail $1,125 Ave Retail $1,925 High retail $2,400

Good luck against the insurance gaint. jp

Thanks for the good luck.
I don't think I'm going to get very far with State Farm, so I'm going to have to go directly after the gent that decided to hit my parked car. I just want to load up with some decent quotes to take to court.
Thanks for the site. I did find it and I have my print out.
If anyone knows of a 1984 Volvo Station Wagon in good running condition (high miles) in So. California, please let me know.
Thanks all!!

My daughter smashed the front end when a guy turned in front of her. After a lot of back and forth with the insurance adjustor and his superviosr, I got $2,500 for my 83 244GL plus $600 for loss of use. I paid the insurnace company $50 salvage value and kept the vehicile. I repaired the front end damage myself with $200 worth of junk yard parts and put a $250 Maco paint job on it and my daughter is still driving it one year later. I argued mine was a one owner vehicle in excellent mechanical condition with a 2 year old paint job. I sent the adjustor two for sale ads from E-bay of mint condition 240's in the $3K to $5K price range. The adjustor supervisor finally used the NADA price as the primary price guide to arrive at a settlement.jp

ahhh...I was hoping to hear something like this.
I did get two ads and the NADA guide index to send to the Insurance company. I hope I have the same luck. I couldn't find anything on Ebay.
Thanks for the info. Let's see what happens.