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Fight with insurance--We won

Gsxhybrid

Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2015
Messages
7
Location
Nevada
About a month ago, as some of you know, my wifes 'parked' car was hit in the grocery store parking lot. She called the guys insurance and they ended up trying to total it out for about $1,800 (even after submitting paperwork showing its value, like recent sales of vr-4's at around $11,500...regardless of mileage, a private party appraisal showing its worth at $12,000 from Hagerty insurance, and a list of work I had done).

There was no way we were going to accept the car being totaled out...especially at that price. And according to our states law - NRS 487.730 (declaring fair market value) - they have to give us fair market value using recent sales (Section 1), or estimate by a private association (Section 2), or national data base, NADA (Section 3). But only the base model Mitsubishi Galant was in their database (We know this because the original MSRP of the base model was $10,500. The VR-4 was 23.500)

So, we filed a complaint with the NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners), since the insurance company was basically breaking the law. As soon as the NAIC contacted them about the complaint they totally changed their attitude. The insurance company agreed to repair the car and cut us a check for $3500 instead of totaling it out like they had originally tried to do.
 

HadesOmega

Active member
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
31
Location
San Jose, California
That's cool someone ran into my GVR4 in front of my house and their insurance wanted total mine too. These cars are worthless to the insurance company. They supposedly did $5000 worth of damage to my car. I even showed them several car ads and they wouldn't budge. I pleaded with them told them this is a very rare car and they didn't care. In the end I totalled and bought it back from them and they gave me a check for $2800. The insurance company was State Farm also. There was no way I would send this car go to the scrap heap for $2800 so I kept it and 6 moths later I barely got it road worthy the other day. Glad you got a good deal.

One reason they didn't want to fix it was that it is hard to find parts and well I guess I can understand that parts are becoming scarce for these cars.
 

yubh8tn

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 21, 2019
Messages
223
Location
coeur d alene, idaho
When my car's running, I want to get comprehensive insurance and avoid a situation like yours, Omega. What can I do to not get less than my car's actually valued? Give them receipts and other sale listings BEFORE I need to use my insurance?
 

ApexHunter

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
1,992
Location
Marysville, WA
I believe there are a number of members on here who have the car insured for "agreed upon value", and I think they are using Hagerty although I don't think they are the only game in ton.

OP- Way to see this one through and fight those scumbags./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/applause.gif
 

iceman69510

Turn Right Racing
Staff member
Joined
Mar 5, 2001
Messages
10,964
Location
Michigan
Quoting Gsxhybrid:

So, we filed a complaint with the NAIC (National Association of Insurance Commissioners), since the insurance company was basically breaking the law. As soon as the NAIC contacted them about the complaint they totally changed their attitude. The insurance company agreed to repair the car and cut us a check for $3500 instead of totaling it out like they had originally tried to do.



I second Apex's comment. thank you for taking them on and winning. Please keep your documentation in case others can use the help in the future.
 

FlyingEagle

Staff member
Joined
Mar 5, 2005
Messages
1,635
Location
THE Ottawa
Quoting ApexHunter:
I believe there are a number of members on here who have the car insured for "agreed upon value", and I think they are using Hagerty although I don't think they are the only game in ton.



My 1989 turbo C53A Colt (Mirage) with modified drivetrain (4g63t swap plus upgrades to suspension, brakes, etc) is insured with Hagerty in Canada, for $10K agreed upon value with a cherished vehicle clause (whatever happens to the car and if its paid out in full, you keep the car).

It is H84 silver and looks like a technicolor dream coat because of sourcing off color replacements for the hood and side mirror, and a dark green GTi/JDM bumper from France, but with receipts for nearly $20K for parts on and with the car, the agreed upon the 10K with minimal photos of the exterior.

Insure it with the right company, but it does change how your car lives it's life, at least in Canada.

Must or should have a locked garage, cannot own a motorcycle as a primary vehicle - must be a car/truck, no younger drivers on the policy, clean driving record, X number of years insured, can't park it at the grocery store ... but you can drive it any wear you want - not just parades like classics can be relegated to.

As long as it can be underwritten for road use .. that is the biggest thing for a broker/company taking it on.
 

Drew84

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2010
Messages
240
Location
Peabody, Ma
Mine is insured with agreed value from Hagerty, you do need a daily car registered and insured with a regular insurance company. However, they will accept driveway parked cars now. I only have two garage spots, but my other three collector cars with Hagerty are driveway parked and that's one of the questions they ask when you set it up.

The caveat is, if someone hits your car, you need to go through Hagerty for the claim, they'll pay you the proper value, and then go after the other person's insurance. If you go through the other party's insurance they are going to try and get out as cheap as possible.
 

DR1665

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 19, 2005
Messages
4,642
Location
Iowa City, IA
As soon as the NAIC contacted them about the complaint they totally changed their attitude
Damn straight, they did.

I had to do that once back in the day. Offered me $800 because that's what (checks notes) Bill, the Sales Manager at the local Honda Used lot saw in his blue book for "1991 Mitsubishi Galant". I faxed 40 pages of evidence to the Arizona Insurance Commissioner's office. They sent a letter. I had something like $3k in-hand a week later.

@Ludachris this community could really use a special section for tracking/documenting values. I don't know if there's a way you could maybe add special, required fields for FS posts—listing price, and then a selling price when sold—but considering this site is THE authority when it comes to the North American E39A VR4 market, I think they might be easy asks. There used to be a master list of all the VINs, loosely matched to badge numbers, too. I could see us having a page reporting the best guesses for how many are left/viable, and what they tend to ask/get when they sell.

Just a thought. Comes in handy for fighting insurance carriers. When you DON'T get as lucky as our OP, above, these details also become valuable when you take some sorry schmuch's ass to small claims. ;)
 

Drew84

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 16, 2010
Messages
240
Location
Peabody, Ma
I can think of at least one GVR4, an absolutely mint car sold on BAT for about $15k. I met the owner at Radwood LV and saw the car in person, probably the bench mark for a perfect stock example.
 

Ludachris

Administrator
Joined
Feb 12, 2017
Messages
1,111
Location
California
@Ludachris this community could really use a special section for tracking/documenting values. I don't know if there's a way you could maybe add special, required fields for FS posts—listing price, and then a selling price when sold—but considering this site is THE authority when it comes to the North American E39A VR4 market, I think they might be easy asks. There used to be a master list of all the VINs, loosely matched to badge numbers, too. I could see us having a page reporting the best guesses for how many are left/viable, and what they tend to ask/get when they sell.
If anyone has any input on what a special section like this would look like, I can see what options we have. Maybe we could add a field the Vehicle Profiles that specifies how much was paid for the car and when it was purchased? That would be easy to do.

The only issue I see with the "sold" price in the FS listing is that it would require the seller to go in and update it after the fact, which likely wouldn't happen. I don't know that there's a reliable way of doing it. And if there were maybe the buyer/seller wouldn't want it posted.
 

tyeler18

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 16, 2012
Messages
130
Location
Casa Grande, AZ
How about a thread dedicated to the galant sales? That's how we track the price of e30's on the R3v forum. Makes it easy to pick through previous ad's for insurance.

I will say that progressive wouldn't honor any sales ads from forums, craigslist, facebook marketplace, or similar sites because they don't list actual sold prices. I had to resort to BaT ads for my insurance fight with them over my montero, and it was still a struggle.
 

iceman69510

Turn Right Racing
Staff member
Joined
Mar 5, 2001
Messages
10,964
Location
Michigan
All this activity on this board bringing it back to life is going to make me get out the VIN vs. Badge number list I have. Have not done much work on it lately. Much easier to keep it up when I had inside Mitsu information to consult. :sneaky:

I do still have the Excel file of all the GVR4s and GGSXs imported. Maybe that is old enough now to post publicly.
 

jeffthemarine

New member
Joined
May 29, 2021
Messages
1
Location
Caldwell, ID
That's cool someone ran into my GVR4 in front of my house and their insurance wanted total mine too. These cars are worthless to the insurance company. They supposedly did $5000 worth of damage to my car. I even showed them several car ads and they wouldn't budge. I pleaded with them told them this is a very rare car and they didn't care. In the end I totalled and bought it back from them and they gave me a check for $2800. The insurance company was State Farm also. There was no way I would send this car go to the scrap heap for $2800 so I kept it and 6 moths later I barely got it road worthy the other day. Glad you got a good deal.

One reason they didn't want to fix it was that it is hard to find parts and well I guess I can understand that parts are becoming scarce for these cars.
I had a wreck in April of this year and the other driver came into my lane while attempting to pass in heavy fog. Fought and fought with Statefarm because it was a 1977 Dodge crew cab pickup truck. Lots of the Yee Yee crowd is buying them up to Cummins swap them. They "valued" my truck at about a quarter of what actual replacement cost would be. I've been driving a different truck since the accident but finally gave up on trying to find another one right now and just bought something else. My experience has been nothing but horrible since day 1. Took them over a week to get me a rental, then I had to constantly fight with them about giving back the rental because they hadn't paid me for my truck yet. Sorry to hear about your misfortune with them as well
 
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