Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1998 12:31:58 -0700
Reply-To: Craig Standley <cstand@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Craig Standley <cstand@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
Subject: Re: Insurers, salvage and totalling the vehicle
In-Reply-To: <199807231650.JAA17588@gull.prod.itd.earthlink.net>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
I would like to add to this, however. My '74 Bus burned up, but not
completely. From the front, you couldn't see any of the damage. The
engine and rear interior were destroyed enough that they totalled the car.
But, when figuring out the price, they used the selling price found in the
paper. I ended up getting $2800 for it. I could have sold it for maybe
$1500-1700, but they average the asking price of ALL the buses in the
paper, not just the ones in similar condition to yours.
Craig
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Craig Standley cstand@u.washington.edu
University of Washington http://weber.u.washington.edu/~cstand
Physics
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On Thu, 23 Jul 1998, Ed Stevens wrote:
> On 7/23/98 11:59 AM, DAVID MOST emailed
>
> >Thanks to all who have replied thus far. A couple of you have wondered
> >why the vanagon would be considered totalled if the drivability hasn't
> >been affected. >
> >In any case, if you go a dealer and estimate how much it would cost to
> >replace the entire front dash (and the other parts mentioned), you may
> >(or may not) be surprised a how muchthis would cost. It's not unusual
> >for body damage caused in an accident to lead to costs exceeding the
> >"value" of the vehicle.
>
> Many wonder why a vehicle is totalled in insurance terms when most of the
> car is fine. In addition to the points David raised:
>
> (1) Insurers use a book value for autos that probably is lower than
> replacement retail. With our beloved vanagons and westfalias, the book
> and market values are very different. gotta drive these puppies
> carefully...
>
> (2) Often if a damage estimate comes in at 70-80% of the book they may
> well want to declare it totalled because if the vehicle is repaired and
> additional work is found then that must be done, the insurer could end up
> paying more than book value. Imagine you are doing a $3,000 job (when
> book is $3600) and then another $1000 in damages is found. You cannot
> just stop and get the $3600 book value, you would already be committed to
> out of pocket $4000. This happens and insurers want to avoid it.
>
> (3) The salvage values of autos have increased. When the car is totalled,
> the insurer keeps the car and sells it off. This is an offset to the
> costs of totalling the auto.
>
> Be extra careful out there... :)
>
>
> -peace
> Ed Stevens
> Valley Forge PA
>
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