by saronian » Mon Mar 17, 2008 01:35 am
Hello -
My name is Scott and I'm trying to help my Mother with an insurance claim. She has a pristine 1979 Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC, which was in an accident. It was not her fault, and she has witnesses that support her. Although she is 80+ years old, thankfully she was not injured, other than a bruised knee.
However the car suffered substantial front-end damage and was called a total loss by her insurance. She bought the car new, it has 86,000 miles, and is in excellent condition. Her insurance company originally offered $4,500 and when she protested they offered $7,879.67. So she asked me if I would check to see what the real value of the car is.
It's tricky since there are so few of these on the used car market. The NADA price is between $13,000 average and $17,900 high. The Gold Book of Classic Cars says $12,000 average and $16,000 excellent.
The few used cars I found online were mostly in fair shape and selling for $6-7K. A couple in excellent condition were asking $12-19K but had only 30-50K miles.
The insurance company says they do not use pricing guides, but pay according to the information they receive from CCC Information Services. They took their price, looked around for any used models they could find, and adjusted for mileage. The price they offered is firm and our only alternative is to exercise the Independent Adjuster clause in the insurance contract.
I don't think of the car as collectable, but would like to get $10K or $11K which is only slightly more than the almost 8K offered. I would appreciate any guidance or suggestions on how to proceed. Of if this is most likely a fair offer.
Thanks in advance.
My name is Scott and I'm trying to help my Mother with an insurance claim. She has a pristine 1979 Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC, which was in an accident. It was not her fault, and she has witnesses that support her. Although she is 80+ years old, thankfully she was not injured, other than a bruised knee.
However the car suffered substantial front-end damage and was called a total loss by her insurance. She bought the car new, it has 86,000 miles, and is in excellent condition. Her insurance company originally offered $4,500 and when she protested they offered $7,879.67. So she asked me if I would check to see what the real value of the car is.
It's tricky since there are so few of these on the used car market. The NADA price is between $13,000 average and $17,900 high. The Gold Book of Classic Cars says $12,000 average and $16,000 excellent.
The few used cars I found online were mostly in fair shape and selling for $6-7K. A couple in excellent condition were asking $12-19K but had only 30-50K miles.
The insurance company says they do not use pricing guides, but pay according to the information they receive from CCC Information Services. They took their price, looked around for any used models they could find, and adjusted for mileage. The price they offered is firm and our only alternative is to exercise the Independent Adjuster clause in the insurance contract.
I don't think of the car as collectable, but would like to get $10K or $11K which is only slightly more than the almost 8K offered. I would appreciate any guidance or suggestions on how to proceed. Of if this is most likely a fair offer.
Thanks in advance.
Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 12:52 am Post Subject: CCC Valuescope Class action suit
Are you aware of any class action suit in California against CCC Valuescope? I've been a victim of their low-balling vehicle valuation practices.
Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:23 am Post Subject: CCC Valuescope
The insurance company pre-determines the amount they would pay you and their valuation company provides documents to support this. They lie about standard options and low ball mileage adjustments in their valuation report.
Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2012 01:20 am Post Subject: pricing a car
I have a 1979 M/B 450 5 cyl deisel with 112,00 original miles. Ths car was picked up at the factory in Germany by my wife.Her mother was the buyer. It has been in the family since the day it was driven out of the facory.It was given aan extra coat of blue paint and the front,rear bumpers are extended. Mileage ranges in the high teens to low 20's. No scratches.Serviced regularly. Always garage kept.Never stored always run. Probably a classic. What is a best estimate,sight unsee) for this car?
Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2012 06:17 pm Post Subject:
The insurance company did the same thing to me. I had a 4 generation Toyota Supra turbo in excellent condition and 90k miles. The insurance company wanted to total it and give me $13k. I had to do my own research of online retailers to show them similar models were selling for $30k. I eventually got about $26k, but is was a hassle. Unfortunately the insurance companies make you work for every dime, and usually they give a low-ball number first time around.
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2012 03:45 pm Post Subject:
Unfortunately the insurance companies make you work for every dime, and usually they give a low-ball number first time around.
Isn't that just a natural response when people are looking for the lowest cost of insurance? It's all a game we each play in a variety of ways.
Your employer pays you the least amount of money you are willing to take, and you do the least amount of work in order not to be fired. It's all a game.
So you learn that the first offer is never the final offer. You play the game until there is no more movement on either side. If the amount on the table is insufficient, then perhaps you find an attorney to pick up the ball and try to carry it further downfield.
And that game cost you between 30% and 50% of what you eventually win. So who really wins? You, the person who was originally damaged, or the attorney who wasn't?
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