Date:         Mon, 06 Jan 1997 10:07:25 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Lawrence Johnson <ljohnson@halhinet.on.ca>
Subject:      Re: Kelly On Line

Lawrence Johnson wrote:
> 
> Kenyon,
> Tonya is right.
> IMHO Pressure, applied gently but persistently is the most productive
> method. In our case it was a 6 year old 1986 Subaru with only 13,000
> kms. They wanted to write the car off; we wanted it repaired. What we
> did was challenge the insurance company to locate such a low millage car
> for sale anywhere in Canada. We were fairly confident that it was an
> impossible task. Nobody sells such a gem. For the repair costs they went
> from $2,400 to $4,500 to $6,500 finally (more than the book value at
> that time). The war took over three months of sparring. It helped that
> the car was my mother's (little old lady) and her son was championing
> her cause (justice for our elderly). I milked this injustice bit for all
> of its political juice. It also helped that car insurance companies were
> going through a rough time in the press. There was more than a hint that
> I would go to the press it they didn't do-the-right-thing.
> 
> The three most important tactics to follow are: pressure, presistance,
> and stand on firm ground.
> 
> Get all the adds you can find for similar year/model/condition and get
> the asking prices. Get as much info you can for real live vans (not
> stats orbook values). If the company is going to give you what you want,
> they must be given some way to save face.
> 
> I wish you very good luck,
> Larry
> '86 Syncro Westy "Fritz"