[alfa] Re: GTV6 Rear-ended

["Karl N. Matthias" <karmat@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Alfisti--

Thanks to all of the listers who wrote me in support of my insurance claim
on my GTV6.  After a lot of different advice and a lot of back-and-forth
with State Farm, I am going to claim this on my own insurance policy and
let them duke it out with State Farm.  The reason I am doing is is that my
insurance company has already agreed to a stated value on the car.  That
means they can't try to total it for $1500.  I have paid my premiums based
on that number and therefore they have to follow through.  They _could_
still try to give me grief about the cost of repairs, but I don't think
they will be able to, since two other body shops found no data in their
systems regarding the car and were unable to write an estimate for it. 
The body shop who finally wrote me the estimate had kept all of their old
data since they opened, and will work on anything old, anyway.  I spoke to
a claims supervisor at my insurance company (Encompass--part of Allstate)
and she explained to me how the whole process would work.  I basically
just have to provide them documentation about the state of the car which
they can take with them to arbitration with State Farm.  I don't have to
wait for the results of that arbirtration, though, since State Farm has
agreed to pay my deductible up front, which is the only out-of-pocket
expense I would have.  Now I just have to see what my insurance company
estimates for the damage.  If they under-cut the body shop I will tell
them to show me the parts prices and where they are going to get them! 
They are not allowed to put used parts on my car unless they can be
demonstrated to be substantially similar to the ones which were there...
good luck!

Thanks for everyone's help and I'll let you know how it works out.  For
all of you out there who have your babies insured on a regular policy: get
a stated value on it or you WILL get screwed in an accident.

Thanks

Karl
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