Vanagon EuroVan
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Date:         Fri, 10 Sep 1999 20:07:06 -0500
Reply-To:     Matt Brickell <bricknord@WEBTV.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Matt Brickell <bricknord@WEBTV.NET>
Subject:      Matt's Schwimmwagen, conclusion.
Content-Type: Text/Plain; Charset=US-ASCII

Here is the end of the story for those who are interested...

The adjustor came and looked at the van. He was not an auto adjustor--all the auto adjustors locally were at a conference so he was pressed into service from residential duty. He declared the van a total loss due to water damage. I asked how he would come up with a price and luckily for me Farmers does not go by NADA retail like most companies, they have a more thorough process. ( NADA for my van is $3,675 ) They take market conditions into account, first searching local classified ads and calling dealers in the area to find out what the cars are retailing for locally. This benefits someone like me with an unusual vehicle as there are NONE in the classifieds or on dealers lots locally. The next place to use would be internet ads he said, but he had no internet service at his office. Well, I had taken the liberty of finding 6 or 7 pretty cherry Westys at high prices ( 6-8K) and printed them off to use as ammo. He said sure, he would be glad to get that info I had, it would help him a lot ( heh heh). So he took his appraisal sheet and my internet stuff back and said he would call me the next day ( today). He called promptly today, told me that he also had contacted an individual in the MO-KAN VW club here locally ( pretty resourceful I thought ) and that person had said in their opinion my van was worth $4-7K. Therefore, his conclusion was that he would give me $7500 for the van minus my $500 comp deductible, plus my rental reimbursement. If you have Farmers Ins and do not have this get it now! It is called K5 and gives me $50/day for a 20 day max per claim regardless of if I use it or not, so $1,000 to me even though I have 3 other cars and a company car so I have no need for the rental, I still get $1K. So he came up with $8,000 total. This is if they keep the van. If I want to buy it back, salvage value is 30% of his bid in the end to make a long story less long, the van minus salvage 30% plus $1K rental coming to $5,600, and the van. Well, as much as it hurt, I think 8 grand will do me better than 5 and a half and a waterlogged van that I have no time to mess with and will never sell to anyone as salvage for $2,400. So it will go bye bye and I will likely use half of that 8G to get another and 4 to pocket for future VW projects. In the end I am completely happy with Farmers and the overly fair amount I received promptly and with no hassle. All I have to do now is go in and pick up the check next week.

My conclusions: Keep good insurance. I pay a little more for Farmers but they are outstanding consistently. Get good ammo if you need to substantiate a loss on your Vanagon. Minimal work on my part got me twice what book was on the van and more than replacement value. Lastly, belong to a good list like this one whose members have given me much support and good advice consistently.

Thank you all, and I may continue to lurk in the event that I will in the upcoming months get another van.

Matt Brickell 83 Jetta TD 86 Jetta D 84 Westy soon to go to the great beyond and to donate its parts hopefully to many needy salvage yard VW scavengers. Or, to some lucky soul who has the time to rebuild it and will enjoy it.

Olathe, KS


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