Disaster Struck. I think my baby is gone. :(

Sucks. Sorry for your loss....hope it works out for you....Alex

 

Boy, tough audience. Reality check please. No matter where or when it was moved it would get messed up in the process. It got messed up moving it from the accident scene. It is currently at location A. It will be messed up more moving to location B, no matter where location B is. And if moved from B to C it will get more messed up, and so on. The car doesn't roll. It gets dragged on and off the truck. No avoiding it.

And, as Eric just said, it's going to be a total loss payout. The insurance company is acting in their best interest, moving it once from the present location to the auction site. Since they are making a total loss pay out they are guarding their interest by doing so. No paranoia here. And, even if Eric were to buy it he would first have to turn over the tittle to the insurance company. It will be their car. They must take tittle and have it branded, by law, in most states. Anyway, Eric is not buying it back (smart move) so what's the diff? Still, if he did, and could have had it held at the present location, it would still get messed up when he moved it to wherever he decide to store it.

Where is the paranoia? This is exactly what I said would happen. And yes, it's just a car.

 

Just, I only disagree a little and this is a lesson for us all:

Should something like this happen, consider ahead of time if you think you might want to repair or buy the car back. If this is a possibility, take personal measures to safeguard the car (no one else will) until you make up your mind, or more importantly know what the insurance outcome will be. Best option (if possible) have the car flatbed directly to your property where it can't be touched without your permission. Get it in your garage if possible.

 

Spot on advice, exactly what I have done in the past, don't be bullied by insurance companies into doing what suits THEM best.

 

Absolutely! I've had friend's wrecked vehicles taken to my house to safeguard them. The MV Agusta F4 was the most interesting.

 

I don't disagree about storing the vehicle IF THE VEHICAL IS REPAIRABLE. However, it was obvious (to me) that Eric's car was, sadly, a total loss from the get go. So, if in the same position, how many of you would really buy back the car for probably upwards of $30-$35k? How may of you actually have the knowledge, skills, equipment, and time to have such a car repaired? Sit down. Make a list of what the obvious parts required are. You will find that $20k for the obvious parts isn't unreasonable. And what hidden damage is there? So you would likely be into the car for $55k before you laid a wrench to it.

 

All true, John. But, no reason for good parts to get destroyed due to lack of care. Even for the insurance company's reduction in their loss - the less post accident damage the higher salvage sale.

 

Absolutely 100% the way to do it. If I wreck one of my cars that has any kind of value and I'm still conscious after the wreck then the tow truck will be taking MY car to MY house period. Insurance can send their adjuster to me to look at it.

I have the space, time and the tools to either fix or dismantle the car myself so I would likely take the lower payout and keep the car every time. But I've never wrecked a vehicle in my 26+ years of driving so no worries....Jinx. Knock on wood.

 

I just have a different view. Was my car. Got totaled. No longer my car. Don't give a rats butt what happens to it. Stick it in a crusher for all I care. All I would want is fair market value out of it and I'm done.

 

+355

And while you're at it, remove the challenge rear grill, tubi headers, and Capristo Exhaust before they come for it. That's $10k worth right there.

 

Yeah, my buddy owns a fairly big body shop and even when the cars are stored there people come out and swap all their stock parts back on. The insurance co isn't going to give any more money for after market parts over stock. To them a 355 value is a 355 value, none of the other things matter.

It might be different in other states but here no one can take the car until the owner signs a release. He has Copart trucks waiting all the time because the owners haven't got what they want off the car and didnt sign off.

 

Good decision to cash in and move on. Start afresh with something new.

 

I for one would happily have bought the car as it was, as would many others on here, it is very much repairable, just not via insurance. I can understand the OP not wanting the hassle of having it back and selling it on, but he would have probably made at least $5k on top of the salvage buy back price for little or no effort.

 

Make $5k over salvage? How? Reselling the car? Parting it out? Over what period of time? To who? You can register to bid and buy it at auction if you are serious. Matter of fact, if it's so easy to make more than the buy back why not start a business doing just that? there are 2 other wrecked 355 up for auction right now on IAAI. Along with Eric's car that's a quick $15k. No?

 

Eric would have bought it back for quite a bit less than the salvage value it will sell for at auction, and would have got close to the going rate they sell for on Copart etc by simply selling it on as it is to quite a few people on this thread.

I have bought back numerous cars from insurance companies over the years that I owned, they work on a 10 to 15% reduction in the pay out price if you keep the car.

Yes if I could buy every salvage 355 direct from the owner I would happily do so, I was not saying buy up every 355 at auction and make $5k on each one.

 

Exactly, he had 3 or 4 people interested in buying it just in this thread. I'd much rather buy from the original owner and give them a little more then they would have gotten from the insurance co. Save myself auction fees and the other hassles etc. then again every Ferrari I've bought at auction I've still profited more then $5k each. It's a lot of work parting out a car but IF you buy it right it's not a losing proposition, especially with Ferraris.

 

So sad to read this discussion of the salvaging of his car. Like eavesdropping on a committee of vultures on how they're going to carve up the carcass of a dead animal. Just one of the sad realities of these situations.

 

Sorry to here you have personally had numerous cars totaled. That has to be a drag. I've only had one.

In any event, here is a 355 that has a current pre-bid of $38,000. Its the same one as I posted form IAAI, but the IAAI hasn't updated the prebid at this time. So, $38k, plus auction fees, plus seller fees = $40,683. If the owner wants to buy it back what do you think, would he have to at least match the prebit price?
Just as an insurance company has means of evaluating the ACV of a wrecked car, I can not imagine they have the same data and means to determine the salvage value. It's their business. They may not use auction prebid on a specific car, but they are certainly aware of what these cars go for at auction and I can not imagine that they don't track different car models, AVC, damage estimates, and auction results for each car. For example, for this red 355 the AVC is listed at $93k, repair estimate is $65k, and salvage value appears to be upward of $38k. It seems it would be pretty easy, with even a small data base representative of 355s , for an insurance company to set up a correlation where AVC and damage estimate were input and salvage value popped out. Ever old data could be corrected for changing ACVs as cars further depreciate or appreciate. I'm sure sometimes it may be more, sometimes less than what a cars actually pulls at auction. But there is no way I would believe that insurance companies are potentially throwing away $5k on every 355 they offer back to the owner. That would surely one way to go out of business fast. I mean, it would make no sense for any owner of any car not to buy it back because they then turn around and sell it for more. And, in stating the obvious, if you buy back a car how would you know you got it for less that what it would have bought at auction if it never went to auction? So, when you say the buy back price would be less that the auction price, well, it may be true, but it doesn't make sense when look at even superficially. If it is true, I think I'll call these insurance companies and tell them I know of a sure fire method to significantly increase their profits and they only have to pay me 10% of the increase.

So excuse me for doubting you, but it just doesn't make sense from a business point of view unless there are other factors involved.

 

I am talking from years of experience in this matter, you are not, and thus simply guessing.

Why question someone when you have no experience in the matter yourself?

Those are the facts, I recently had the option of buying a 355 in the UK from a member on here who had totalled his car, he could have kept the car and just had his payout reduced by 15% instead. He also chose to let it go to auction instead, the car sold for far more than 15% of its pre accident value on copart.

Whether you choose to believe it is up to you, but it is how the insurance buy back system works be it a Ferrari or a Saab.

 

I wonder how many people who made those offers would actually step up and buy it? I'm sure that even if you buy such a car at auction you can either part it out or invest in making it road worthy again and make a profit. Otherwise no one would bid on these wrecks. But, how long does that take? There is a reason why places like Ferrari Parts, Exotic Car Parts and Eurospares, etc exist. It's a capital intensive business. You state yourself it's a lot of work. If you are not accounting for your time at a reasonable rate, your not really making money, IMO. It's like wheeler dealers. Buy a car for $5k, spend $1.5k on parts to fix it up, plus who knows how many of Ed China's hours, sell it for $7.5 and claim you made $500. Makes interesting entertainment, not a business.

Tell you what. Next time you buy a 355 for parting let me know how much you pay for it. I'll invest the same amount in something else. When you sell all the parts, to the point where you trash the remains can compare who profited the most. Let's see a $5k profit on a $40k investment. That's 12.5%. Shouldn't be hard to beat. Heck, I've made over 29% (including dividends)on ATT stock this year so far and I haven't lifted a finger.

 

Best you stick to what you know then and enjoy the $ that way and leave the rest of us to do what we do, which is rebuild Ferrari's and enjoy doing it.

 

No. I said I had one experience and that experience doesn't jive with what you are saying. If you like I will go through the discussion and explanation I had with my insurance company, or, I can leave it at the agents opening comment, "Well, it's complicated". Granted, this was a 2 car accident where the other driver was 100% at fault.

But anyway you are telling me Party A could have bought back his 355 for a 15% reduction in payout and could establish before hand an agreement with party B to pay him, let's say for argument 20% (or fill in 15% plus the premium of your choice) and he turned it down? Must not have been much of a premium, certainly not $5k. I can't think of to many people who would turn down a quick $5k for basically doing nothing.


Frankly, I expect even Eric would have bought back his car if someone were to guarantee him (in writing, put the money in escrow, what ever) $5k over the reduction in his payout. But like I said, apparently none of those you alluded to sent Eric such a PM. Trust me. Should I total my 355 or my 308 GTB QV I'll be PMing you. Thanks for the tip.

 

What I know is, as I said in the post I just made above, I'll contact you if I total one of my cars. I can always use an extra $5k or so.

Oh, I do know a lot of people in the insurance business since I live in the in The Insurance Capital of the World state. I guess it won't hurt to ask a few of those guys there views.