# client calls about someone falling down their stairs



## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

pinwheel said:


> A few years ago, we flipped our car upside down & totaled it. We got the max value on that car because a few months earlier the wife had a deer run into the front fender. Same adjuster on both accidents, so he knew the condition of the car before the rollover. Doubt we'd have gotten as much if they'd have just assessed it on the mileage & age of the car. He followed up at the body shop to check on the repair, so he knew it was in excellent shape.


I guess where you at, the insurance company pays based on what the car looks like, not what the car is actually worth... Consider yourself to be very lucky to get more what the car is worth.


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## pinwheel (Dec 7, 2009)

greg24k said:


> I guess where you at, the insurance company pays based on what the car looks like, not what the car is actually worth... Consider yourself to be very lucky to get more what the car is worth.



Valuation is partially based on condition, just like Kelly blue book. Not just age & mileage. A 5 year old car with body damage & trashed interior, isn't worth the same as the same model, year & milealge in excellent condition. Surely you wouldn't pay the same when buying one of the 2 described cars, would you?


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## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

pinwheel said:


> Valuation is partially based on condition, just like Kelly blue book. Not just age & mileage. A 5 year old car with body damage & trashed interior, isn't worth the same as the same model, year & milealge in excellent condition. Surely you wouldn't pay the same when buying one of the 2 described cars, would you?


It's not how it works... The car value is set on year and mileage...The insurance company cannot pay you more than the car is worth. Take a brand new car from a dealer, close the deal and drive the car off the lot... Get hit a month later and see what your car is worth, same as if you buy a new car and try to trade that car in a year later, you will get depreciated value based on the car market, not how lean it was... If it got dings and dangs you will get less, perfectly clean, you will not get more.
Same as when you buying a house...The bank can only give you a loan based on the appraisal not how beautiful your home is and how many extras you have in it.
Try to take a 6k bank loan for a nice clean car that only worth 5k per se, and see what they gonna say...It will never happen.

As I said before when you do a private sale you can ask for your car a little more and you might get that... But when dealing with the insurance company, dealers, lenders they follow strict guidelines and adjusters don't have much to say in the matter...Some can dress it up the report here and there if you grease their palm, but to come across someone like that nowadays even that became a rare thing because the job to most is more important.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

greg24k said:


> ........... Get hit a month later .........


Get hit with the front tires in the street and the back tires still on the dealers' lot as you drive home. Same result. Jez sayin'.


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## pinwheel (Dec 7, 2009)

greg24k said:


> It's not how it works... The car value is set on year and mileage...The insurance company cannot pay you more than the car is worth. Take a brand new car from a dealer, close the deal and drive the car off the lot... Get hit a month later and see what your car is worth, same as if you buy a new car and try to trade that car in a year later, you will get depreciated value based on the car market, not how lean it was... If it got dings and dangs you will get less, perfectly clean, you will not get more.
> Same as when you buying a house...The bank can only give you a loan based on the appraisal not how beautiful your home is and how many extras you have in it.
> Try to take a 6k bank loan for a nice clean car that only worth 5k per se, and see what they gonna say...It will never happen.
> 
> As I said before when you do a private sale you can ask for your car a little more and you might get that... But when dealing with the insurance company, dealers, lenders they follow strict guidelines and adjusters don't have much to say in the matter...Some can dress it up the report here and there if you grease their palm, but to come across someone like that nowadays even that became a rare thing because the job to most is more important.




Last word I'm gonna post on this topic. You don't know as much about the subject as you think you do.


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## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

pinwheel said:


> Last word I'm gonna post on this topic. You don't know as much about the subject as you think you do.


I'm sure you do my friend... 

No wonder insurance companies in business because they pay-out more than the insured items worth and what would we do without insurance adjusters who remember the car being clean and well cared for a few months back when the same car hit a dear... and now knowing that the car been already in the accident and this is the second one and they pay you for a clean well cared for car... 
I hope you listen to yourself and how that sounds...I'm just saying.


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## Mordekyle (May 20, 2014)

How much is a ‘57 Chevy worth?

How much is my 1998 1400 sq’ house worth?


I think condition certainly is a factor.


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## greg24k (May 19, 2007)

Mordekyle said:


> How much is a ‘57 Chevy worth?
> 
> How much is my 1998 1400 sq’ house worth?
> 
> ...


It's a classic ride, to begin with, and if you total that car average insurance payout value is about $17,000k no matter how clean it is or how much chrome you got in it...the payout is based on the car having all original parts,and not the amount of chrome you got on it.

The private market value on the average is about low-mid in the 20k range if you have the custom features, seen people spending in the high 30's for that car some will pay more.

That being said, not to bad for a car, considering it was sold for 2k 61 yrs ago.

That being said owners who own classic cars don't take them out more than they should because they gonna get nothing as insurance coverage goes. The lookout for weather, etc before taking the car out.

I remember reading an article someplace it was a car show and the wind took an umbrella and send it flying and it hit 3 cars parked side by side, 57 Chevy convertible, 37 or 38 pickup I think dodge and a 66 or 67 Ford Mustang if my memory still working good... the cars were in mint condition, it ripped the top of the chevy, damaged the hood and the bumper on other 2 cars and insurance only gave owners about 1k for all 3 cars to get repairs done, and I think they all vent after the umbrella owner.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

Mordekyle said:


> How much is a ‘57 Chevy worth?
> 
> How much is my 1998 1400 sq’ house worth?
> 
> ...


What it's _truly _worth and what the insurance company is obliged to pay are two different animals.

Sent from MyFingers using CherryBomb


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## SPG (Mar 9, 2017)

480sparky said:


> What it's _truly _worth and what the insurance company is obliged to pay are two different animals.
> 
> Sent from MyFingers using CherryBomb


...and then what you can get them to pay is another. 

Funny story, but some old guy hit my wife's little Mercedes GLA (the cheapest Merc they make) and his insurance wasn't going to cover more than $20/day for a rental car so I called them up and said you can't get anything decent in a rental for that. They started hemming and hawing, saying that they only have to cover something comparable, then they looked at the police report and said fine, we'll send over a brand new full size SUV instead. Why? The police report showed the old guy 100% at fault and listed my wifes car as a G-class SUV that costs about $150,000 instead of the GLA which was $30,000.


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