Don't worry too much about a salvage title. Just keep the vanagon and drive it until you no longer can. Declare and support the situation with whatever documentation you can assemble now. In 5 years that van will still be worth $1K or so. AND you got another 5 years of use. Check to see if your policy is a "replacement" value policy. If so, you have a few other options too. I went through this a while ago on a 189Kmi Syncro Westfalia. Totalled by a drivers side front collision deemed as "no fault" by the donut muncher who took time out of his busy day harassing jaywalkers to do a little real work. Time is on your side. Don't settle. Sit on it. Assemble sales figures for vans like yours in your area. Contact Hoch Motors, J&R Vans or similar specialty sellers to see what the "real" sales numbers are. Check vanagon.com for their data. Document your claim. Demand replacement, not payout. When I did all my research, KBB upgraded their evaluations based on my data. Derek Drew gave me invaluable advice on the method. It's in the archives and if I have time today I'll fetch it out. p |
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