Thread: value of wrecked streetrod pickup?

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I spent over three years doing a frameoff resto with updated equipment on a 62 fleetside shortbed with big back window for my son. Last week, an elderly lady made a sweeping left at 20 mph and came down the middle of the street and hit him head-on even after he stopped 2 car-lengths short of the intersection and honked. The front foot of this beautiful truck is demolished on the left front, below the hood and both frame rails are bent.
Even though there is no dispute regarding fault, I'm really fearing that the lady's insurance company is not going to play fair on the value because of the age of this truck. The resto has less than 5k miles on the odo and the truck lives in my garage while my son is away at college, so I carry liability only on it.
If anyone has any experience settling restored pricing with the other party's insurance, I'd really like to hear some positive stories (if they exist!)

Originally Posted by DennyW

The first thing I would do, is get a hold of an old car adjuster, appraiser. Get written documentation on the value, not just the average insurance guy.

This was my first thought also. I might try finding one in Hemmings Motor News.

Having spent a few years "doing battle" with insurance guys what Denny and Richard suggest is a good start. Have the appraiser value the car in pre-accident condition. As a typical "rule of thumb" insurance companies will "total" a car when repair costs are estimated at approximately 80% of full determined value, the rest is considered salvage value for the good, salvagable components on the rig. As additional ammunition the survey of Hemmings, or any of dozens of online sale sites, including ebay, will give you multiple examples of comparable values. Be aware though, with the exception of ebay, all the others are ASKING prices, not sales prices, which are more representative of market value.

Even if you do all that research and pay for your own appraisal, the insurance folks may try to blow that info off, or buffalo you. They may still undervalue your vehicle (assuming you've done an honest job of finding a value rather than trying to fool yourself). They don't make money by being generous. You have another avenue of appeal. Your state probably has an Insurance Commissioner. Their job is to "license" insurance companies to do business in your state. If an insurance company gets a complaint through the Insurance Commissioner's office, they usually respond quickly and more fairly as too many complaints in their file could jeopardize their ability to do business in the state. You have to demonstrate to the Commissioner's office that you've tried to work it out with the company first, so this isn't your first avenue of effort. This is when having documentation, as much as possible (he who has the thickest file wins in these kinds of deals) will work for you. Just going in with your opinion against theirs (remember, they're the "professionals") isn't to your advantage.

If they are close, but the value is still too low for them to justify repairing it you have another option. You can take their settlement amount, pay them the estimated salvage value (in essence buy back your rig) and then spend whatever extra amount is necessary to fully return it to pre-accident conditon. The drawback to this process is you'll likely have to surrender your existing title and request a re-issue from the state, at which time they'll give you a title marked "salvage" or "salvage recovery" or some such terminology. This title "branding" usually diminishes the value in the future since the next buyer will be suspicious of the repair quality and will either kill the deal, or expect to pay some lesser amount to compensate for unknown concerns.

bob and the guys are right! i know its too late now
but when my ride was about 80% completed i was talked into getting the
29'er appraised.4 years ago! $18000 dollars(can), a year ago it was appraised at $22000(can), still not finished!
the unique thing about this is the appraiser,will in you're situation, go to
court with you and in almost all cases the insurance company will settle for his appraised value!
i know that this is small consulation since this accident has already happened
but its something to think about!

To pre-empt a lowball $800 offer, I have already sent them a letter explaining the whole restoration process, stressing that every single bolt was turned and every item replaced or reconditioned and cleaned and painted. I also pointed out that the truck is a rare model that has had power steering and brakes, a/c, a locking tilt column and a complete, updated rewiring. I enclosed several e-bay auctions supporting $15k of value and a repair specification sheet.
I have offered four choices: 1) Full value total 2) Full value total minus $3000 for allowing me to keep the salvage 3) Sign my "repair specification contract" and have it repaired (which includes detailing and installing a new chassis) or 4) Replacing the truck with an exact replacement that has been frame-offed, equipped, and detailed as ours has
Their appraiser was sent out the next day and is a street rodder and former body shop owner. He took pics of the special details of the truck and Mooneyes odometer with under 5k miles on it. He sympathized and said his report would honestly state the pre-accident condition of the truck, but that we should still expect a tough fight over establishing actual value.
As a side note, I loaded the thing on the car trailer and visited some body shops and learned the downside of telling them that insurance is involved.... They were each more than willing to take on the repair, but explained that I would have to give them the job and that the actual repairs and pricing would be determined by the adjuster.
While I wouldn't necessarily need to know what's being paid, I have a real problem with the scope of repair being under the control of a guy that is paid to save the insurance company money! What happens when they do it half-fast but it looks good to the un-discerning eye? Would a court not consider me petty for rejecting less-than-perfect repairs?
In the second round of estimate-searching, I'm going to have to tell the shops that I'm a post-settlement cash customer to actually get estimates written!

Keep in mind..........an estimate is an estimate.........not a bid.

Don at this point it may be good to talk to a lawyer. SOme of the questions I owuld ask (provided the insurance settlement is not what you feel is fair) would be things like compensation for diminished value, if you have any recourse to sue the driver of the other vehicle for the difference in insurance payoff/ reair cost be different.

Man that suck's. I know what you are feeling. Luckily in my case the insurance company is going along wth what the body shop est.. And any thing else that comes up.
st thing is see what her insurance company say's If that does not fit with you then do some research for a good atturney. Hopefully one that is a gearhead.

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

If they are close, but the value is still too low for them to justify repairing it you have another option. You can take their settlement amount, pay them the estimated salvage value (in essence buy back your rig) and then spend whatever extra amount is necessary to fully return it to pre-accident conditon.

What Bob said is pretty much spot on with my experience ... An old lady ran a red light and smashed the front of my 65 C-10. I initially and fairly quickly received a verbal estimate of 500 bucks from her insurance. She said that was all they could give me since there was no established value for my truck. I took before and after photos along with Sale adds and such to a lawyer. Once he contacted them ... they were singing a different tune. I had 4 body shops give me estimates for repairs, and the amount I received was about midway of all the estimates 6,200. I did'nt have to worry with the salvage title, though initially they were wanting to do it like that. I actually spent 8,000 repairing it, It seemed like a good time for some changes. The biggest part is establishing value. I was told by the lawyer that if I had classic vehicle's insurance with an "agreed upon value" or an actual appraisal It would have been easier.
I would go visit with a lawyer to see if he could help you any.

Gary

I've been surfing a bit and found a few resources: NADAGUIDES.com establishes three retail values: low,average and high. A 1963 shortbed fleetside (with no other specifics asked) is showing $7800, $14500, and $25600.
Manheim gold has categories fair, good, excellent, and show with $2800, $6000, $11500, and $15000 as their opinion for a 63 fleetside (not even specifics about long or short) There is also autoappraisalnetwork.com that I can hire if this thing becomes nasty..... The silence is deafening right now.... I'd really like to move forward!

Before and after

Ok
Wow .. thats a pretty good smack there ... I think I have yours beat though...
Here are my before wreck, after wreck, and after repair pics.

Before - http://www.gschexnayder.com/Picture_0183.JPG
Wrecked - http://www.gschexnayder.com/100_1536.JPG
Fixed - http://www.gschexnayder.com/100_1468.jpg

I put a 1 piece tilt front cap on it ... please do make it a point to get in touch with me prior to doing the same to yours ... there were certain things I was not aware of when I did this... Its not a bad thing .. just things you should know and stuff to make sure is done to them.

Oh yeah BTW, after jumping through many hoops to show it ... they agreed the value for mine was at 15.

How much did they subtract when you kept the salvage and did they force a salvage title on you? (if you don't mind me asking)

To me, that truck is totally fixable....They shouldnt write it off.......Just getting enough money out of the other drivers insurance company will be the thing....Your insurance company should help with that.

truck needs a new fender, bumper and grill it looks like, not too bad. have it appraised. I don't see any more than 2k worth of damage, having a shop fix it, and that truck will appraise for more than 2k for shure.