Date: Thu, 4 Jul 2002 12:59:16 -0400
Reply-To: Edward Maglott <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Edward Maglott <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
Subject: Re: BS Insurance Co sharks!!!! Re: specific features of 86 GL
Wolfsburg
In-Reply-To: <5.0.2.1.0.20020628072120.03d68920@buncombe.main.nc.us>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Here's the latest update on my Vanagon Insurance fiasco. I tried one more
time talking to nasty adjuster, got nowhere. She told me that if I wanted
to challenge the valuation of the van I could get an independent appraisal,
and then if necessary the ins co would get an appraisal and if they can't
agree, they would call in an umpire, whose decision would be final. I
would have to pay for part of the cost of this process. I told her about
the 4th digit in the VIN being an X meant that it was a kombi and not a
passenger van as she had said before. She then said that the comps they
got were kombis, which is the opposite of what she said before. She also
said that one of the "experts" she had talked to had told her that the
Wolfsburg Edition did not come out until 1987. I told her that I had the
owners manual for the "1986 vanagon camper "wolfsburg edition"" that showed
all the equipment on my van. She said something like, "that doesn't prove
anything, that could have come from anywhere."
So then I decided to call my agent. That was a good idea. They were very
nice and said they would see what they could do. And thanked me for
calling them. Saying that all too often someone has a bad experience and
they never hear about it until it is too late to do anything about it. The
next day, they called back and told me that the agent was detained out of
town, and would not be able to call me that day. That was nice. The next
day the agent called back and got some more info from me and said he would
talk to the adjuster. I told him I wanted $2000 and no salvage title. The
next day he called me back and said he had talked to her. He repeated her
comment about there being no wolfsburg edition in 1986. I told him that
wasn't true, that I had the manual that matched the vehicle, and that it
was not just the badges on the outside, it was things like the whole pop-up
roof that made it a wolfsburg. He acted like he actually believed
me! Imagine that... He said he told her that I had been with them for 12
years, never had a claim, had my homeowners with them too, etc. He said
she was concerned that I be treated right then. I told her those same
things and she just blew me off.
So here is the offer that the agent got out of the adjuster. I can get
$2000 w/ the salvage title. Or if I can find a shop that will repair it
for less than $1800, I can get that amount minus my $100 deductible, and no
salvage title. They have set the value at $2400 and can't go over 70% of
that to repair it. The estimate they are using is for $1834. I could
probably get that down to $1800 by providing them with a replacement turn
signal light or something that I might have laying around. So then I would
get $1600 and something, and no salvage title. That is my choice at this
point. I am leaning toward taking the $2000 and salvage title. I don't
intend to sell it anytime soon, and can use the extra money to fix some
more stuff on it. Getting the value higher at this point won't really help
me much because of the low estimate. The other estimates I got were all
around $2300-$2500.
Any comments? FYI, this is Nationwide Insurance. YMMV, could be just one
bad adjuster.
Edward
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