Retail Value of car

by Guest » Tue Jul 12, 2011 09:07 pm
Guest

My boyfriends car was totaled in an accident and I am confused as to the settlement we should be expecting. We live in Indiana and the accident was in Illinois. He has a 2005 Ford Focus Wagon SE. It had cruise control, power seats, mp3 stereo, etc but had 238,000 miles.

The Illinois insurance page states we are to receive retail value, but Edmonds has it listed @ 5,400, Nada has it at 6,350 and KBB has it a little over 7,000. The accident happened over 2 weeks ago and they stated today that they are still waiting on the final value but won't give us an offer.

I know the mileage is high, but we just put $3500 into this car less than a month ago, so almost everything is new. I know repairs are for maintenance purposes but believe that would help substantiate that this car was well taken care of. It still looked very nice and ran like it was new. What amount should we be expecting?

For some reason, I just feel like they are going to try to say its only worth a few thousand despite what Edmonds, Nada, and KBB say. Any help would be appreciated!

Total Comments: 8

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 01:10 am Post Subject:

The Illinois insurance page states we are to receive retail value


I have no idea what that is. A page from what?

I know the mileage is high, but we just put $3500 into this car less than a month ago, so almost everything is new

Making $3500 in repairs does not add $3500 to the value... it maintains the value of the vehicle, as you mentioned.

For some reason, I just feel like they are going to try to say its only worth a few thousand despite what Edmonds, Nada, and KBB say. Any help would be appreciated!

You probably want to wait and see exactly what they are going to offer before assuming it won't be enough.

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 04:52 am Post Subject:

from insurance.illinois.gov. Sorry, but it won't let me put a link.

I understand it maintains the value, however it should be a higher quality if you can show you took care of the vehicle rather poor quality from letting things go.

I am waiting to see, however would like to know what people on here would estimate what we will get. We are down to one car and need to replace it asap.
Thank you![/url]

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 05:35 am Post Subject:

"Companies normally use guidebooks or computerized data marketed by various sources.

If your vehicle is not listed in one of these sources, the company can use written dealer quotes"

In this case the don't define where this "retail" value comes from. More likely when they say "retail" the mean not wholesale value. That is... what _you_ could buy the vehicle for.

I understand it maintains the value, however it should be a higher quality if you can show you took care of the vehicle rather poor quality from letting things go.

Depends on what was done but most likely it will still only maintain the value. They won't offer you a reduced value for the vehicle being in poor condition. When you buy a vehicle you expect the tires to be in good shape, the engine to work well, the brakes to be good, etc. If they are not in good condition, then the value goes down. Hence, those things _maintain_ the value.

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 06:35 pm Post Subject:

Okay, we got the CCC one report today and they are saying $4000... Where do we go from here? There is no way that is accurate! I have a copy of the report but don't know where to start. Help please!

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 07:28 pm Post Subject:

You need to take a look at the options and info on your vehicle to make sure it's correct. I've seen them not add things like sun roofs and nav systems (as the appraisers check list may not include these options.

You then need to review the 2 or 3 vehicles that they used as a comparison. Are they the same year make an models? If not, their valuation is not going to be very accurate. They will attempt to compensate but changing those things leave a lot of room for error. If these are not the same, call the adjuster and ask him/he to have CCC expand their service. The adjuster may not know this can be done or simply refuse.

If you really want to press the issue, call a few of the places with their vehicles listed and ask about the over-all condition of those vehicles. You will probably find from most that there were issues with those vehicles. CCC relies on the info supplied to them... they really don't actually check/look at those vehicles.

Don't go by KBB, it lists asking prices from dealers (the sticker on the window that no one ever pays).

Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 08:26 pm Post Subject:

They have 23 comparables on this report from 30 miles away all the way to 180 miles away. Is there a limit on distance? There is also a baseline adjustment of $727 but they don't explain why anywhere on the report. Most of the comparables have already been sold so i can't even see if the quality was comparable (I called each dealership as we really do need to replace the car!)

They missed the cruise control and power trunk/gate release but thats it. Most of the comparables weren't wagons - which is what we had.
I didn't expect the $7000 that KBB said, but I did expect something more like $5,500 rather than $4000.
Once I have review the report and found all these things, how do I approach them? I feel like a little lost kid with no clue where to go...
Thanks in advance for your help!

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2011 06:01 am Post Subject:

The baseline is explained. Basically they are lowering the price of the 2 or 3 vehicles they have listed. Their rational is that they are saying that those vehicles are in better then average condition. The _only_ reason they are saying this is because they are for sale at a dealership. They _never_ looked at those vehicles so they have no idea. The baseline adjustment is 100% BS!

180 miles away is not far.

Ask the adjuster why the baseline adjustment. The adjuster probably won't know. You can feel free to explain that CCC only applies this to vehicles at dealerships (is this correct... they vehicle listed with a baseline adjust are from dealers?). Explain that it also would only be correct if your vehicle was in less then average condition (as explained in the baseline adjustment definition. How did they rate your vehicle? It's not rated as "average"... it will probably be rated as good.... as they don't use the same terms when rating their vehicles and yours (interesting, huh). If your is rated as "good" as the adjuster why this is so much less then "average". Ask the adjuster to also consider vehicle's you have found for sale. If you can find vehicles that have sold for more, is your data not also accurate?

You can also call a few of the places listed in the long list of vehicles and find out the condition of those vehicles. I'm betting some will tell you that they as junk. Use this info against CCC as well.

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 05:41 pm Post Subject: eGLrAEHHaP

I didn't know where to find this info then kbaoom it was here.

Add your comment

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.