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I will look into being able to buy my own car back and getting insurance, but in terms of parts I think I'm looking at buying another Cabriolet in even worse shape than mine and extracting the fender, bumper and hood. And my Cab's top doesn't open fully anymore. Gets stuck halfway. So there's that too. So buying my car back plus another Cab plus labor to fix it all is going to cost a bit more than I can justify. I can probably just buy another 1997 Cab for less money.
Which ever way you go, remember one thing. It's your car. The insurance company and you have a contract to fix it or pay you it's value. It does not belong to the insurance company unless you agree to it and they pay you. Everything is negotiable.
Spoke to Fedex's insurance company today and gave them the preliminary estimate from the body shop. Their first question was, "Would you be fine having your car repaired there?"
I told them I would. Then they said they would be sending out an appraiser to look at my Cabriolet. I emailed them a copy of the estimate along with a statement that the top only opens halfway now, something I had not noticed the day of the accident (which was almost the same day the estimate was done).
Anyway, now I wait for the appraiser.
Tenspeed, thanks for the advice.
egp320i, I'm already looking around on car-part.com. Thanks for that. I suppose that color doesn't really matter? that's just going to get painted anyway?
Spoke to Fedex's insurance company today and gave them the preliminary estimate from the body shop. Their first question was, "Would you be fine having your car repaired there?"
I told them I would. Then they said they would be sending out an appraiser to look at my Cabriolet. I emailed them a copy of the estimate along with a statement that the top only opens halfway now, something I had not noticed the day of the accident (which was almost the same day the estimate was done).
Anyway, now I wait for the appraiser.
Tenspeed, thanks for the advice.
egp320i, I'm already looking around on car-part.com. Thanks for that. I suppose that color doesn't really matter? that's just going to get painted anyway?
You must be able to see the future because today is only the 13th! lol
egp320i, I'm already looking around on car-part.com. Thanks for that. I suppose that color doesn't really matter? that's just going to get painted anyway?
Matching paint when it's faded for 18 years is tricky, certainly if you can get get a hood, fender and bumper already silver which is quite common it would save cost.
A full paint job will run into the thousands but if your willing a shop will certainly do it for you.
Bulky items like a hood will ship freight so if you can find a cab as close as possible even better.
The absolute best bet would be if you found a cab in a yard with say the rear end bashed and offered to buy the entire car [minus the motor as they always yank that first].
Yards love to get rid of rare cars to make space for more popular like Honda Accord's so they might give you a great deal.
Front end, fenders and hood are in good shape. Just arrived today. Pearl White. Looks like it had been sitting outside for a while. Interior is in poor condition.
Thanks for the pics Rusty. It's so sad to see them that way..
The appraiser came over yesterday morning. Nice guy, just doing his job, but he basically said (and I paraphrase a bit) "Don't shoot the messenger, but the insurance company is going to declare this a total loss."
I talked to him about how the company needs to take into account the service history of the car, the opinion of Audi dealers/experts that had first knowledge of the car, etc, but he basically thought it wasn't going to make much of a difference. I did try to defend my point but he reminded me the discussion is not with him.
Again, a nice guy doing a rather tough (thankless?) job.
He's gong to send his report back to the insurance company and they would be in touch with me.
So that was my Saturday morning. The rest of the weekend has been better.
Insurance companies love to "total" older cars..don't know why. It probably just makes their job easier. It is easy to make the argument. A 1998 Audi cabriolet has a book value of about $3500. Once they get to $1700 in repairs they want to total the car.
I have had a couple of bender benders with my older rides. It is a common problem.
Just remember it is your car. The insurance company has no "legislative authority" to declare your car totaled or take it away.
When my 1998 Audi cabriolet was bumped in the rear by a careless BMW driver..it cracked the bumper surround. The part is NLA. The insurance company immediately wanted to total the car.
I told them NO and took the car to a body shop I know that works on a lot of classic cars. Told them to source the parts and give me an estimate. I told the insurance company I was having the car repaired, work has started and where it was. If the insurance company was not going to pay the bill..then I would and sue the BMW driver in small claims court (up to $15k in Georgia) for damages.
Insurance companies know they lose in court and the legal bills are larger than the repair costs. Keep that in mind. Don't let them take control
It is your car and you decide if the car is worth fixing..that damage is not bad enough to take the car to the junk yard.
Be prepared to get a copy of the accident report and trot down to the small claims court. Sue FedEx for the repairs and inconvenience.
Rusty, yeah I've been in small claims court in Florida, and the system basically works. But I'm not sure that's my best option right now.
The insurance company finally called me today: The bad news—they want to total the car and pay me $3531, the value according to NADA. The good news—I get to keep the car.
So having the car declared a total loss has several implications, but I'm not sure what they are. Will have to call my insurance company to see what they say.
I didn't accept, naturally. I gave him the whole sob story that my car was indeed special because it had a meticulous service history going back like 15 years, it has always been garaged, etc. So it was worth more than whatever NADA said. So I have to prepare some kind of document that the agent can send up to her superiors.
That's where I'm at. At the end of the day, I might get $4,000 plus keep my car (albeit a "total loss"), which is much better than I had initially thought.
05-11-2015, 10:08 AM
