insurance total loss BS

[singlecamslam]

To make a long story short, lady backed into my car while i was parked causing minor fender bender damage to the front. She took full responsibility and now i'm working with her insurance agent.

The adjuster said the damage came up to be $1950.00 for basically a fender and a bumper which is 90% threshold of what the car is worth.

My car: Base model two tone coupe 1989, and now they want to salvage it out and i really dont want a salvage title for a few hundred $ of damage. My car is worth a lot more than 2500 but they just will not listen, i tried everything but they refuse to budge on the value. If i try hard i can dig up about 1500 worth of receipts, the rest i paid cash for. They want to give me $2,000 and a salvage title.

My question, what can i do in this situation? Anyway i can keep my car a clean title? How can i prove that my car is worth more than whatever they are pricing it as? Her insurance carrier is nationwide i believe. They obviously dont know the market for these cars and i would hate to have a salvage title for some tiny damage. Pictures of damage later, but here is what my car looks like:

[sr23det]

reciepts dont mean much since they consider it as upkeep and or maintenance. blue book is what your gonna get plus keeping the car.

dont forget you have to brake and lamp the car and vin check it to get your new salvage title. i had simular incident and got around what you was offered.

[jellis]

total it and buy the car back from the insurance company or sue her for more money to fix the car

[racepar1]

Welcome to the reality of 240 ownership. A scratch on your fender will salvage it. You only have two options:

1: Don't go through insurance. Pay out of pocket and hopefully the person who hit you will be willing to re-inburse your expense. This is not likely as that's what insurance is for and the person who hit you probably won't be willing to pay out of pocket for something their insurance will cover.

2: Let the insurance company salvage it. You can buy the car back off them for waaaayyyyyyyy less than their declared value. Use the leftover money to repair the damage and deal with having a salvage title.

This is how insurance works, you have no other options. The insurance company is not going to change their mind on what the car is worth regardless of what you say...

[Sileighty_85]

Beat Me too it ^^

You can always choose not to file the claim and pay for it out of pocket

[Laotian240]

nationwide is on her side

[singlecamslam]

^^ That made me laugh. Well its how i though it was going to play out. Another question, i know i will have to do brake and lamp inspection, but will i have to go to CHP? And if i do how can i go there with that motor?

And yea she said she doesnt want to pay me out of pocket.

[xoxide]

^Lmao



If its as minor as you make it sound I would just handle it without going through insurance. Depends what a non-salvage titled car is worth to you...

[racepar1]

Originally Posted by singlecamslam

^^ That made me laugh. Well its how i though it was going to play out. Another question, i know i will have to do brake and lamp inspection, but will i have to go to CHP? And if i do how can i go there with that motor?

And yea she said she doesnt want to pay me out of pocket.

There are brake and lamp inspection stations, the CHP does not do it. It costs about $100, you can get a list of stations in your area on the DMV website. Just make sure that ALL of your lighting is DOT approved, some of them are dicks and will fail your ass for any little thing they can find...

[sr23det]

just go in the dvm for the vin check so you dont have to worry about the swap assuming you vins match

[singlecamslam]

i see, its just i know some cars i buy that are salvage they send you to CHP for vin inspection and if they do that to me i'm screwed. Its too late to do anything, stupid ass insurance company already sent the paperwork to the DMV, plus 2k is not a bad amount i guess if i'm keeping the car.

[SmogSUX]

If all else fails. Take the 2k, salvage the car and if you can't get it to pass inspection for some reason, use 2k to buy another shell and some goodies.

[KendallH]

They cannot do anything to your title unless you take their money as far as I know. I would ask them to settle out for $500-1000, and get a new bumper/fender and paint (or sil front, if you're so inclined).

[FRpilot]

Seems like you want the $2,000 payout, but not the salvage title.

Are you willing to take less without having the insurance company salvage it? I'm not even sure if the insurance company will allow that.

Your shell is clean. Seems like too much work to swap stuff over including your s14 dash. Will probably make it even harder to sell with a salvage title and even worse low balls that you got the first time around.

[Slippin'eight-nine]

If her insurance company is taking care of it how could they possibly salvage title Your car?
When some dude smashed my door he wanted to settle with no insurance. I insisted on going through them.
They called me and gave me 2 options:
1. They salvage it since the damage exceed the value and give me $2356
2. Or I keep my clean title and they gave me a cash amount to the tune of $1890
I obviously took option 2 and found a door for $50
So i would fight them. Don't let them salvage it and buy it
back. Insist on a cash amount and retain your clear title

[S14DB]

Since she is at fault they have to cover everything done to the car.

What you need to do is find comps. They have to pay the replacement cost of the car. Find cars with the same major features for sale. RB swaped, silvia fronts, two tones. Show them how much it would cost for you to buy another car with the same things as yours. They don't care how much you put into it. They care about how much it would cost you to buy another one exactly like yours.

[2slow2go]

her insurance cant salvage your car.

they should just cut you a check to fix whatever it is. i think it only matters when let say u have 5000 in damages and your car only worth 2000. theyll only cut the check for 2000.

since your car is worth the same amount they just cut you it for 2000.

My dad car was hit last year. the damage was 2000 appraised at a bodyshop. they sent him a check through mail to either go to the bodyshop to fix it or pocket it.

if anything just be like i just want my 2000 in a check sent to my address now and thats it. if anything keep calling and tell them if they dont cut you a check soon youll go through a lawyer and ask for physical therapy or something. Just keep calling them and harassing them or get another agent from their firm to talk to( some will help you and some will just tell you no to get you off the line). They count on you to not do shit and accept it.

[singlecamslam]

This is what she told me "Since you're in california, its state law we notify the DMV of a total loss vehicle" so they went ahead and informed the DMV days ago without me even knowing which is what is pissing me off right now. I offered a settlement of 1000 they didnt take it. It really seems there is no way of going around it since i'm in California and its the law for insurance companies to report it. I'm going to call in tomorrow and try to talk to someone else because she felt completely incompetent over the phone with constant 30 seconds of awkward silence, plus she's from a completely different state. This system is so retarded

V C Section 11515 Total Loss Salvage Vehicles

[fliprayzin240sx]

Originally Posted by S14DB

Since she is at fault they have to cover everything done to the car.

What you need to do is find comps. They have to pay the replacement cost of the car. Find cars with the same major features for sale. RB swaped, silvia fronts, two tones. Show them how much it would cost for you to buy another car with the same things as yours. They don't care how much you put into it. They care about how much it would cost you to buy another one exactly like yours.

^^^^This, i just went thru this crap a month ago. You should have gone thru YOUR insurance, showed them a print out of every similar mods, mileage, year, S13s atleast within 100 mile radius of where you're at. The goal is to make sure you're car doesnt hit 50% damage threshold to what the car is worth in their eyes. So you have to convince the adjuster that the car is worth more than what they think. You're insurance adjuster would be more willing to play ball since they dont care, they're not the one paying you. All they're gonna do is bill Nation wide.

The kicker is now you went thru Nation wide, its been reported and they have fodder to counter your insurance. Talk to your insurance company and talk to an adjuster ASAP. If you can convince them that the car is worth more than $5K, you shouldn't hit that 50% total loss threshold.

My insurance calculated that I have $3200 worth of damage and just played the numbers by not putting down a number of what they think the car is worth. Adjuster basically just said that she believes the car is worth more than $7K and $3200 is less than the 50% so they didnt total it.

Damage since the other driver thought redlights are optional:


$2200 later of insurance money and saving $1K in my bank account:

[brewster240]

other option is to not live in california.

in ny they just say, heres some money, see you later.

[singlecamslam]

I will definitely use all your guys's advice, i'm calling them first thing in the morning. The nationwide adjuster basically gave me the estimate of the cost, than sent me off to the total loss department which is who i am currently dealing with. I never been in an accident before so this shit is new to me. i have very basic coverage on my car but i'll still talk to them.

Tomorrow i'll call the total loss nazis again and report back. Thanks for the help, hopefully this shit will work out, i hate salvage cars with a passion.

[fliprayzin240sx]

Well, my best advice for you at this point is DO NOT GET THE CHECK!!! You cash that check, its game over...you pretty much accepted your own fate if you do.

[zooopreme]

Originally Posted by brewster240

other option is to not live in california.

in ny they just say, heres some money, see you later.

Yeah because that's a completely logical resolution to the OP's concerns. Let me just pack my shit up and deal with this shit in a different state.

[ghoti]

That's owning a 240 for you, Insurance doesn't value your car as much as market value.

Also, I want to see pictures of the damage.

[fliprayzin240sx]

Originally Posted by ghoti

That's owning a 240 for you, Insurance doesn't value your car as much as market value.

Also, I want to see pictures of the damage.

But thats what makes a great insurance. The ones that will give you fair market value is a life send compared to shitty give you KBB/black book value of your car insurance. Thats where printing out every similarly modded S13 within 100-150 miles of you would help show what the market value is on these cars. I printed out every 95-96 S14 in VA, MD and NC from Zilvia, autotrader, and CL to show the value of my car. Cheapest one was about $5k and the most expensive was about $14k, RB'd S14 was at $9k.

[ghoti]

Originally Posted by fliprayzin240sx

But thats what makes a great insurance. The ones that will give you fair market value is a life send compared to shitty give you KBB/black book value of your car insurance. Thats where printing out every similarly modded S13 within 100-150 miles of you would help show what the market value is on these cars. I printed out every 95-96 S14 in VA, MD and NC from Zilvia, autotrader, and CL to show the value of my car. Cheapest one was about $5k and the most expensive was about $14k, RB'd S14 was at $9k.

That's good advice for OP and I'm sure that works great.
The thing is he lives in CA with an RB and said he's going to have the car inspected, so yeah.

Then again, wtf do I know.

[singlecamslam]

Alright guys i got an update, my car is staying clean title! She is going to pay me the estimate amount of $1950 and call it a day and i'm happy with that. Thanks for all the advice, heres some pics of damage, like i said very minor. Time for silvia front maybe

[allenms240]

What? they paid 2k for that?!?!
I guess I'm just a nice person on the streets. Personally, I would've taken 500 at most.
But then again, who says no to cash!

[whitey240]

I went through a similar situation. I talked the other persons insurance company for giving me 1 penny below the threshold and just took that. It wasn't the value I needed to fix the car but I wasn't totally out of luck

[Initial_R90]

she did you a favor lol.