by justdiana » Mon Mar 02, 2009 09:19 pm
I recently totalled my '05 F350 (black ice, but still considered my fault since there was visible frost on the vegetation :( ). Allied Insurance used CCC to determine the total loss of my vehicle. I have read on this site in several places that CCC low balls their estimates - and they have the resources to do so. They valued my truck at 21,002. Blue Book (still missing some additional options) values it at 25,845. I checked their report over very carefully, and I checked the selling prices online. I even had a 3 way call with Allied and CCC to try and figure out what some of the adjustments were.
I live in an extremely rural area in Northeastern California. There is only one car dealership in the entire county. Their comparison vehicles are all in urban areas and most of them are at least 500 miles from my location. It seems to me that a 1 ton pickup would carry more value in a rural community.
I have found that it is extremely difficult for me to find comparison vehicles (and none in my area). It is also seemingly impossible to find the exact same truck as mine (CCC made enormous deductions and additions to the comparables)
Also, how would you go about arguing how much they added/deducted from the comparable for certain options? For example my truck was a SuperCab. They deducted $1,900 from a comparable that was a Crew Cab. KBB shows a allowance of 1,550 for this difference.
Are there any companies that do the same thing for consumers that CCC does for the insurance company? It seems that somewone could make a killing by providing this kind of information to the consumer!
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
I live in an extremely rural area in Northeastern California. There is only one car dealership in the entire county. Their comparison vehicles are all in urban areas and most of them are at least 500 miles from my location. It seems to me that a 1 ton pickup would carry more value in a rural community.
I have found that it is extremely difficult for me to find comparison vehicles (and none in my area). It is also seemingly impossible to find the exact same truck as mine (CCC made enormous deductions and additions to the comparables)
Also, how would you go about arguing how much they added/deducted from the comparable for certain options? For example my truck was a SuperCab. They deducted $1,900 from a comparable that was a Crew Cab. KBB shows a allowance of 1,550 for this difference.
Are there any companies that do the same thing for consumers that CCC does for the insurance company? It seems that somewone could make a killing by providing this kind of information to the consumer!
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 03:55 am Post Subject:
Diana, I am going to defer to the claims experts on the board (again, claims is NOT my expertise), but I think it is absolutely appropriate to expect the claim payment to be adjusted based on the economic environment.
Your argument is probably valid about the rates, too, since there is that element of total losses that goes into the mix. However, companies cannot make adjustments to the rates (in the SHORT term) because of economic factors. By state law, once the rating formulas are established and filed and approved by the state, the company is required to follow those formulas. They are not allowed to apply judgement to individual rates, lowering your rates because of economic factors but not adjusting anyone else's rates.
In the LONG term, the economic environment goes into the rates automatically, because each time the company makes an adjustment to the rates, it uses its average claim payments. If the economic environment affects that average, then the company's updated rates will reflect it. These cycles are long enough, however, that the actuaries have trouble with it. When claim costs begin to decline, the actuaries don't recognize it until next year. Finally they begin to take it into account, usually just about the time that claim costs start going up again. It has been said that pricing is a matter of taking yesterday's data to make decisions today for policies that we will sell tomorrow to cover claims that will occur next year. Again, however, this is done on an overall high level, and not on the values of individual vehicles.
That being said, the actuaries TRY to take the economic environment into account; they just aren't very good at it until they can see the trend in their past data. Last year the New York DOI "suggested" that the actuaries factor in lower average mileage, since they had some data suggesting that people were driving less when gas went up to over $4.00/gallon. Several companies revised their rate filings, got them approved, and implemented them. Immediately after that, gas prices began to fall, and people began to drive more again. Oops!
Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 04:25 pm Post Subject:
CCC is more of a local value.
I know that this is generally true, but I am in such a rural area that they did not find any comparables in my entire county. I am in the Northeast corner of California, and the closest comparable was in Sacramento. I don't think that they have given me a fair "local" value.
Also, nobody has answered my original question. Are there companies available to the general public to which I can pay a fee to do a comparison vehicle report on my behalf?
Posted: Thu Mar 05, 2009 04:52 pm Post Subject:
Allied can ask CCC to perform a manual search and review of your truck.
Is this different than what was already done? A "manager" went over the numbers, but could not satisfactorily explain a lot of the adjustments to me or my insurance adjuster....she was just as baffled as me.[/quote]
Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 06:44 pm Post Subject:
Sorry, I forgot to log in for that last "guest" post.
So nobody else has any advice besides Tcope and Christy P? I could still use some more advice on getting my own comparable vehicles quote. It has been 6 weeks since the accident, and I am still in limbo with the Allied.
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