The Few, The Proud, The #$#!!@

[soapbox]I was double T-boned by a drunk b!tch and a Jerry's Kid (Springer) at 2:30 on a Wednesday afternoon. The reporting Officer laid blame entirely on the Barfly. State Farm started paying out, no questions asked, by the next day. It took a lot of work by my Lawyer to get everything back on track and to reimburse State Farm as well. Turns out I was on-the-job so my workman's comp covered everthing that didn't come out of the settlement with ms wannabe milf.

The Jerry's Kid almost got away with murder (it's a blessing I didn't have a passenger) and did get away with everything else.

Both had a long history of traffic convictions.

Because of spinal injuries I'll probably never be about to ride a sportbike again and had to sell my brand new (at the time) Ducati 1098S as a result. My beloved Jeep was totaled in the process.[/soapbox]

 

Wow. I was over at Bobileff's today and saw your car there. Hopefully they can put it right -- it looked quite nice apart from the collision damage. (Which was scary looking...)

 

It's a lot like dying and descending into Hell, as best I can understand the afterlife....LOL!

Too many stories to tell, but the one time the guy who hit me SHARED my insurance carrier it took....two YEARS to repair the car and settle the money...don't forget phrases like "diminished value" and "like new condition".......thankfully your agent should have photographed the car for a Stated Value policy......

And we all know the look GOOD in photos...LOL!

On the upside there was the time my kid's handprints were allowed $$$, on my Ferrari Art Car, as "custom graphics"!!!

 

The shop making repairs probably is best to use in negotiations with the insurance, at least initially, only get involved personally when the need to play hardball arises......

 

This is sort of my field, so I will provide an answer that you can take to the bank.

In California, if the damage to your vehicle is over 80% of the value of your vehicle, it is considered BY LAW a total loss. There is no negotiating out of it at that point. It will be given a salvage title if you chose to retain the vehicle and you will be settled upon the value of the vehicle minus the amount it could have possibly netted at a salvage auction (very little). Or you can just give the car to them and take the value your agreed policy gives you or whatever USAA offers you.

Total loss threshold percentages vary from state to state, but I have yet to find a state that is below 65% (Nevada). Most other states are 75%.

Regarding a diminished value claim. You can of course mention that you are interested in presenting a diminished value claim to the adjuster, but the only time it is going to receive any attention is when you have some official numbers to present formally. Once the car is completed, you should have a formal appraisal performed on the vehicle by an expert. In your case, Bobileff may be willing to do this. May sure you are charged for it so you have expense and the appraisal documentation is very thorough regarding why and how the value is diminished (if at all).

USAA is an excellent company to deal with, but the adjusters behind the phone are human just like everyone else and chances are very great that this will be the 1 and only Ferrari claim they come in contact with so they and their supervisors will not exactly know how to deal with it. Should you determine through your research that the value has diminished $10k as a result of the loss, you will probably be offered substantially less than that at first, but who knows.

Glad you are ok. THis may take a while and feel free to PM me should you need to chat about the situation.

 

The main issue I see in your loss is coming to an agreement regarding the value of your vehicle. Selling prices are all over the place and there is never a consistent value regarding these models due to: maintenance records, condition of the car, ownership history, blah blah blah. Getting an adjuster to understand these circumstances is going to be difficult.

 

I was not serious on "dimished value" on a Ferrari that's for Porsche guys...LOL!

Two reasons:

A dealer once quoted to me: "A properly repaired Ferrari incurs no dimished value", and furthermore they will refrain from supporting such a claim....

Then an adjuster looked at me once, while surveying damage, and said..."We know how these cars are used (properly I assumed!), and after 30 years we just ASSUME they have all crashed, at least once, before!

So I thought this was very interesting, anyway my opinion is just get it repaired the best you can and go on with life, parts are more available now than when new, most likely.....Ferrari would only sell the entire front clip, it was $7K!

 

A good suggestiong but instead of simply throwing them out, I suggest that you have both determine a value. My 92 T Cab was totalled and USAA was very easy to work with in determining a replacement value...

- JMG

 

any new word on your car and what the insurance is doing for you?

 

do you have pics of the "repairs in progress?" Hopefully things are going alright for you and the insurance company is cooperating.

Mbrown

 

How much to buy your car back after its salvaged? You possibly could come out ahead dollar wise in the end. Best of luck.

Dave

 

That stinks but it isn't surprising given USAA's lack of customer service over the last ten years. I know this doesn't help in this case but anyone here who has a classic Ferrari, get an agreed value policy from a collector car insurance company.

 

Your car is over the total loss threshold to repair it. The law decides this, not USAA. USAA just comes up with the amount the vehicle is valued it which is indeed very subjective for these types of vehicles. California law has a high threshold for total loss which is any estimate over 80% of the vehicle value will total the vehicle. If your car repairs are estimated at $30k, then your value needs to come back at over $37,500 ish to keep in the clear. I wish you the best of luck and I hope Gary can help convince USAA of this.

 

You might want to learn how to spell Sergeant, surprised, miramar, shouldn't and doesn't before making the statement that any idiot can become a sergeant. Why don't we stay on topic instead of making statements that make the poster look silly. Sorry about your car Daniel I would be crushed!!!!

 

Just my opinion:

I think I would REALLY avoid the salvage title situation.

Have you thought about retaining an attorney - just to make your life easier. Yes, it will cost some bucks BUT the other insurance company can be held accountable for the attorney fees. The attorney is NOT to go after the other guy but rather ONLY to get things in your favor and to make things right. ESPECIALLY with the work on the car you have already done, don't get rid of it. Of course, probably weighing ALL the opinions by Fchatters (grain of salt though) would be a wise idea.

MBrown

 

sorry, one more thing.

I am sure that USAA wants all numbers to fit in between the lines. Ferraris are rare cars and difficult to assign a "value" to. They do NOT fit into standard depreciation tables or "average price of repair" ranges. Don't let anyone screw with your head. An attorney will help to make sure that even your own insurance company won't screw you. They are STILL in the business of making money. This is why you have insurance - to fix things.

Oh, after this is over, switch to Hagerty - wonderful people to deal with. (yes, more expensive - for a reason)

Let us know if we can help - I will try to call you this weekend.

mbrown

 

And they have no mercy for our Cars.In my experience they will never pay up to fix it right,they wont pay enough to fix it half ass at econopaint in catalized enamel.Fight them and grow old,I hate them for many good reasons.IMHO,take what they give you,steal all the parts you can and buy another Car,fixing wrecks is a major no no for these and Alfa.They really seldom repair correctly,a trained eye can always tell.I guess you could get the check and do a gto rebody,been there done that X 10

 

Another trick you may wish to employ: With the help of the repair shop, come up with an initial estimate that is below salvage write-off value for your car. And, as usual, as the repairs progress, the shop finds other things that need fixing not on the original estimate. The shop can then hit the insurance company up without triggering the "salvage" switch. Though I haven't used this method, I've heard of shops doing it.

 

Why dont you get a notarised statement from the fellow who offered you $40K, and stating that you turned him down. That would at least give you a price point in your favor. Tell them you wont accept a dime less than $40K or youll take them to court. They always lose in court. They will cough it up.

But if they will only go up to 50% value to fix the car, your going to need an appraisal over $60K with that $30K repair estimate. With the downward market shift in the last 30 days, thats going to be tough to do. Although, wouldnt they may have to consider what the cars value was on the day it was wrecked?

 

Daniel, I know it is tough no matter what the offer knowing the effort we put into caring for our cars but I have to say looking at the math you just posted it looks pretty fair. 20k and change plus the car which you know will bring you easy 15k in present condition including a salvaged title puts you within a couple 2k of the realiistic value you quoted. Thats well above the 31k usaa started with. On a side note, if you have service records and they are fairly recent heck I'll give the 17k for the car as is and you are exactly at the 37.5k

 

Except USAA does decide what it was "worth" and that will determine where that threshold is for the car. And USAA is not all that lenient anymore.

Again, another reason to have a declared value policy. At least then he could get right up to the declared amount to repair the car.