Re:[alfa] Collision - car valuation

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

Ed,

Well I was able to get the damage on my GTV6 compensated by my own 
insurance company.  I had a declared value policy on the car, so that 
made life much simpler with regard to the claim from my own company.  
However I still had to provide them with all the valuation info on my 
car in order for them to get their money back from the at-fault 
insurance company.

What I needed in order to prove the value of the car was:

1.) Photos showing the car in its previous condition, and in which the 
license plates were clearly visible
2.) All receipts showing what had been done to the car.  Really this is 
parts costs only and only some of those, etc.  They don't count a new 
fuel pump, for example, because it's considered "wearable" (and $159 on 
the GTV6!)
3.) Comparable cars and what they _sold_ for.  They wanted listings of 
similar cars for sale, but gave more weight to the ones which were sold 
for that amount.  Basically this involved scouring old Owner mags, Ebay 
listings, etc.  I was able to find about 3 GTV6s with similar equipment 
to mine which had sold on the 'Net.  I also had about 4 Alfa Owner  
listings.

They take all of that, deduct what they feel like based on wear of 
parts, age of parts, etc, then calculate what they will pay you.  You 
don't have to settle for that.  If it's WAY off, tell them you'll be 
seeking legal aid.  There are basically lots of strategies after that, 
but the best weapon is to just BURY them in documentation.  Find every 
receipt you have,

FOR EVERYONE ELSE:  GO GET A DECLARED VALUE POLICY IMMEDIATELY.  It 
saved me so much grief I can't even tell you...  And get specialty 
classic insurance if it's available on your car.

Karl
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided