Getting ready for an insurance fight!

[trialsdork]

Well, my '91 pickup was wrecked by my wife last friday. She's okay, and the wreck was a stupid little mistake, but the insurance company said that the pickup's totaled. I'm sick, cause I just put on new tires, bumper and valance, exhaust, timing chain, seats, brakes and turn signals. Anybody have any advice for me? How much was that pickup worth? It was pretty much perfect, just faded paint. Has anybody sold one of these lately? How much? I did have full coverage on this thing, which kicks ass.

Man, this sucks. At least my wife's okay. I just don't have any money for another vehicle now. It was worth so much more to me as a good reliable pickup than the money I'll get for it. Dang.

Thanks for listening.

[Quickywd01]

This might be an option: If they total it take the money and keep the truck. I've done that before. I can't give you any details because I don't know how your insurance works. Good luck.

[yota44]

My buddy wrecked his 91 and the insurance company called it totaled. He bought the truck back from them for like 900 and they gave him about 4 grand for it. Spent probly a grand fixing it and ended with plenty of money left. I guess it depends on what happened to your truck in the wreck.

[desentrix]

Originally Posted by yota44

My buddy wrecked his 91 and the insurance company called it totaled. He bought the truck back from them for like 900 and they gave him about 4 grand for it. Spent probly a grand fixing it and ended with plenty of money left. I guess it depends on what happened to your truck in the wreck.

^It'll have a salvaged title on it if it was declared 'totaled,' but what he said... I've heard of people doing that. But whatever you choose to do, good luck!

[yota44]

Who cares if it has a salvavged title, its a yota. Keep it for ever

[phatboy5015]

If its fixed and inspected by the highway patrol, the salvaged can be turned into a clear title.

[maxpower_hd]

I'd keep it too and look for another one that needs some work that you can swap your parts onto. That's what I did and I didn't even get any insurance money. Mine was totaled by salt.

I ended up with a pretty nice rig for short money that way. It does take some time and work though.

[maxpower_hd]

Oh yeah. As fas as value, it really depends on your insurance. When my wife totaled her car, our insurance would not give us Kelly Blue book or NADA value. They claim that is resale value and not replacement value. They took an average of NADA, KBB and local listings of like vehicles to come up with the value which of course was lower than what I wanted. I also did the same research and came up with a considerably higher number. I put it all in writing and explained that I only searched for the same year, make and model with similar mileage. I then removed both the highest and lowest priced vehicle I found to eliminate low balls and inflated prices. They brought there number up a bit. Then they also gave me rental, tax and title fees which brought just about where I wanted to be.

Good luck.

[Vicoor]

Almost 2 years ago I hit a deer and did $3400 damage to my truck, which totaled it. It was in very good condition, even the paint. I took $2900 and kept the truck. Did the repairs myself, and had enough for a whole new paint job, plus some other new goodies.

Here in Virginia, because of the truck's age, it did not get a salvage title. But after the repair, in order to get insurance coverage, I had to take it to my insurance agent to be inspected so they could verify that the repairs were completed. You'll definitely want to talk to your agent and find out what the requirements are where you live.

It was a lot of work, and I wouldn't suggest it for anyone but the most dedicated DIY'er

here is a link to the thread I posted while I did the work.

Picture Of The Day

[denniswoo]

there is a difference in vehicle cost and good transportation replacement.they get you no matter what.

[trialsdork]

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the moral support. I talked them from 2300 to 3000 even, and the salvage title is 750. That'll leave me with some to fix her with, but it's the only car for me and my wifey. Kinda sticky, but she's unbelievably cool about the whole thing.

Crazy part:
I also talked to a body man and he said that I can tell them to go to hell with the salvage title price, cause I already own the pickup, and they have to give me the value for it anyway, and I can keep the rig. He said that he's done it 4 times with his own cars over the years and told his customers to do it many more times. Montana has some crazy laws, so maybe I'll have to play some hard ball.

[ohgood]

too bad your insurance payments are not actually covering your vehicle, but actually covering all those jackoffs that drive $50,000 escalades on time payments.

i'd buy my truck back, fix it, and drive it another 10 years. do i love my truck that much ? nope, i'm just that cheap.

[sailor]

here is a blue book link:

http://www.nadaguides.com/home.aspx?...=28&p=0&f=5000

The insurance company may give high blue book because of your recents costs. My 1987 4 wd got hit by hail in a few spots. The moonroof was cracked with maybe three dings in total on the hood, left fender and top of cab. It had a aluminum topper which got dinged alot (soft metal) and was totaled for around $400. The truck only had 67,000 miles when the hail hit this summer.

Anyway, they gave me a check for about $2300. The claims adjuster said he could total the truck but I told him I would fix the damage myself, which frankly was really easy. I am using the money to buy a bed and bought a used moonroof for $80. I doubt whether the insurance company would have given too much more because the bed is rusted.

This what nada said is low, average and high for my truck: TOTAL PRICE $1,650 $2,600 $3,600

Look in the classic section for your truck value.
Good luck.

[Zembonez]

Originally Posted by phatboy5015

If its fixed and inspected by the highway patrol, the salvaged can be turned into a clear title.

Not true in a lot of states. It varies from state to state. In Texas a salvaged vehicle is always a salvaged vehicle... but like others have said, it's a 91 model vehicle and it really wouldn't matter since you know the truck. If it isn't too bad I'd take the money less whatever salvage value they give it and fix it myself.

Good luck man!

[maxpower_hd]

Originally Posted by Zembonez

Not true in a lot of states. It varies from state to state. In Texas a salvaged vehicle is always a salvaged vehicle... but like others have said, it's a 91 model vehicle and it really wouldn't matter since you know the truck. If it isn't too bad I'd take the money less whatever salvage value they give it and fix it myself.

Good luck man!

Same thing here in MA. You get a "salvage" title if you buy it from an auto auction or insurance company. Then you get a "reconstruction" title when you get it inspected by the state. That's if you do it right.

However, here in MA, if the original owner buys it back from the ins co, they get a clean title.....for some reason. Even with all that crap there are still cars out there that are pieced together from two or more vehicles. Part of it is because people simply purchase them from other states that do not have the same laws, like NH or fix vehicles that were not reported to insurance. Then there is no record of any accident at all. That's why I don't have complete confidence in the free Car Fax reports. They are only good if the person reported what happened to the police and insurance co.

Anyway, if you're keeping it for yourself it really doesn't matter.

Good luck.