My 1980 242 GT was plowed into by a young girl who claims to have "fallen asleep" at the wheel. I know that when her insurance company estimates the damage they are going to declare the car a "total" and offer us some paltry settlement. I like this car and we have about $5K invested in it, it is not a concours winner but it is a nice car. Do any of you folks have any experience in dealing with insurance companies to make sure they repair the damage caused by their customer or compensate us well enough to get the car repaired? Does it do any good to claim the car is somewhat rare? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Steve O'Bryan
Chico CA.

My mother was T-boned in her pristine 1993 240, 120,000 miles, hit from the front fender, driver's door, pushed across 2 lanes into a guard rail. Other driver's insurance company stated it was mom's fault, refused discussion, closed the file and hung up. Mom decided to go to small claims court against the other driver, talked to an attorney friend, represented herself, judge awarded her settlement.
Mom is 75... anything is possible.
Good pluck.

Here's a repost of my experience. Hope it helps.

Insurance Settlements: My experiences were in Oregon with my daughter's 86 244, 130K, top-notch condition. A guy rear ended the car with his F150. The cost of the repairs exceeded the book value and true value of the car.

Here's what we learned:

-You don't have to take the first offer they make.
If they total the car, like they did ours, you can still negotiate a settlement price.

-If the car is not drivable, have them get you a rental car immediately.

-If they total a good Volvo, don't let them have the car. It might be better to take the price the junkyard was going to pay them from the settlement price, and keep the car. The junkyard was going to pay $450 for our great Volvo. We subtracted that amount from the settlement price and took the car home and some money too. Then we fixed put the car into safe drivable condition. My daughter still drives it today and has the money in the bank. It's ugly now, but that's the route she chose. To really fix it right would cost more than the car is worth.

-Try to get the highest settlement price. The insurance company reps are trained to get the lowest settlement price possible. They do this stuff everyday. You have to prove or document the value of your particular car. Ours had been pictured in Rolling Magazine recently so I wrote a really good sincere letter and included a copy of the picture from Rolling. The letter and picture convinced them of the true value of the car. I was able to convince them that they should just pay us the money we thought it was worth and let us keep the car to boot so we'd have it as a parts car. It was worth it to them to get clear of the situation and they settled.

-Don't yell, scream, threaten or lie. Just take your time thinking about their settlement offer and systematically go about proving that your car, in pre-accident condition was worth the amount you are asking. Or try to prove to the insurance company that the repair, to truly bring the car back to pre-accident condition, will cost such and such amount of money if done by the shop of your choice.

-Sometimes our cars really aren't worth what we think they are, and we just get screwed.

--
Thanks everyone for all the help, Doug C. 81 242 Brick Off Blocks, turbo bars and wheels, M46; 86 244, B230, 150k , auto; 81 242 Turbo, intercooled, M46, 122k.

See post titled: somebody hit my car -insurance related question 𖑀]󞩯]
from June 22, 2005.

Push the Claims Dept at your insurnace company HARD to get you a decent settlement. Move quickly because deals are cut between the two insurance companies involved within a few days if there is no personal injury. jp

Most of the seemingly sound advice I've read is based on the premise your claim is with the driver and owner, not their chosen insurance adjuster. I would wonder if that would extend to refusing to deal directly with their insurer, insisting you be made whole by the driver and owner. This, however, is not my personal advice, as I am not in any way qualified to offer that. It is just what makes sense to me.

Turning things to the coulda-woulda-shoulda light of Monday morning, I wonder if agreed-value collision replacement and uninsured motorist coverage is affordable by most of us who value the effort we've made to preserve, if not restore these cars. I also heard some sensible advice on this subject, where the insurer would not be the same as your liability insurer, thus avoiding the claims-history conflict of interest. Don't know how that would fit with various state's insurance laws.

Sorry for your loss,
--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

I am no insurance expert, and things vary from state to state... BUT.....

I have dealt with nearly a hundred similar instances as a Fleet Manager (School Bus), we cannot get rentals, they just do not exist. 90% of the time, an accident is the "fault" of the other party. I play TOTAL HARDBALL.

First off, we repair our own units, it's faster and we NEED the vehicle back on the road. I give the "estimator" an option to inspect the vehicle before we work on it. Generally this means they have until 4pm on the day of the accident, or the following (if it occurs late in the day). Haha, not much time. A: "I NEED to look at it before you tear it apart".

I say, OK, you have until 4pm.

A: "No, no! I cannot get there until NEXT Thursday."

Me: Ok, you have a problem, I'll take pictures and save the old parts, see you then.

A: "NO! You cannot fix it UNTIL I look at it!"

Me: Ok, get me a rental! (LoL!!!)

A: "Um, where?"

Me: I don't care, that is YOUR problem.

A: "Ok, go ahead, but take lots of photos, and save the parts."

So, they ARE reasonable, when they HAVE to be. You just need to know YOUR rights.

Generally:
1) You need ONE estimate from a "reputable" shop, but more are better.
2) They do not decide to fix or not (if it's a near total), YOU DO.
3) You are ENTITLED to have the vehicle brought back the the same condition it was in PRIOR to the incident, no better.
4) Unless you have a "agreed value" policy, if you have $5000 in a $1500 vehicle, you are out of luck even with THEIR insurance company. If you have a "rider" for aftermarket accessories, you are entitled to that money as well.
5) You are ENTITLED to FAIR MARKET VALUE if the vehicle IS totaled. The question becomes what is FMV? eBay, the BrickBorad etc are legimate sources to determine this from the SELLING price of similar vehicles (age, mileage,condition).
--
JohnG 1989 245 MT @ 225,000

In the future, don't get collision insurance and stick the money that you save into a bank account. Use the money in the account for collision repairs if needed.


Unless you have a new car that isn't paid for, collision insurance is a racket that benefits no one but the thieves running the insurance companies.


-b.

This reply is right on. Could not agree more.

Many years ago after win some/lose some with the insurance racketeers and much aggravation, I began self-insuring for collision. So far the "collision" pot has over $15,000 in it and over the years has only paid out about $800 for damage not paid by the other guys/gals insurance company.