QuestionHey I had a few questions for you experts. I have only had my car for 6 months. It is a 2000 maxima gxe with 82,000 miles on it with leather interior. I was rear ended fault is with the other party, and my body shop has given me an estimate of $7000 to repair the vehicle. I have had two credible people tell me that it is a totaled car as the KBB retail value is 10,200. My dilemma is that the car has 4-5k worth of upgrades and work done to the car and only a few of these upgrades are removable. The work done includes, installing an a $1000 gps in dash unit, upgraded speakers, Sound deadening or dynamatting of the entire trunk, install of all speaker wiring, window tint, tail light tinting, side corner tinting and more. Just three months ago I put $1000 worth of new wheels and tires on the car, as well as had $550 worth of preventative maintenance done. I paid the $550 worth of preventative maintenance anticipating being able to drive the car another 80k miles and wanting to keep it in good shape as I was certain to buy this car in perfect mechanical condition. I was wondering if the person's insurance(ALL STATE) would pay to compensate me for any of these extra expenses. How would they go about figuring out what I would be compensated for? Unless they give me a fair and reasonable price for me leaving the in-dash gps unit, wheels and tires, and speakers on the car, I am planning on removing them. This will of course “depreciated” the value had they been left on the vehicle but I have all the original equipment to place back in the car. But say I take the things I can physically remove off, I am still out the money on the things I cannot remove from the car, such as the window tinting, tail light tinting, the dynamat/sound deadening in the trunk, the $500 in preventative maintenance, the labor cost to install the gps in dash unit, the labor cost to install the 4 speakers, the labor cost to put on the sound deadening material, the labor to run speaker wire and hook up my amplifier, etc.. The labor/install costs comes out to just as much as the actual items being installed…and that will all be a loss to me when I go to have my new car restored to the condition of the old one.
Not to mention there is probably a 5% chance the wheels and tires will fit my on my new car making them nearly useless to me when they total the car. I will have to sell them for much less than what I bought them for which was not in my prior plans. There is another 30% chance the in dash gps navigation unit will fit in the new car. So part of me wants the insurance company to fairly compensate me for them and let me start over, and part of me wants them not to total the car just to avoid the hassle of having to have everything done over on my new car and essentially(if the insurance company wont pay to have them reinstalled) having to pay to get everything installed again. What can I expect the insurance company(allstate) to pay for out of these losses? What do you think my best course of action is in dealing with this issue?
Thanks so much for your help!!!
P.S. I asked this and got an answer from another expert, but i wanted to follow up and he is maxed out? so i thought id ask you and maybe you can see what his response was to the above questions....my new questions are below.
In my situation i am not saying the insurance company should pay for the costs i spent. But i feel i should at least be compensated for the costs for the labor plus the costs of the items that are not removable minus depreciation. They are supposed to give market value for the car. And even though my car had upgrades, it would sell for more than a basic car with the same year/mileage. Plus once i remove all the stuff i can remove i am going to have to pay to get it put back in my new car. I have estimates of $850 in labor and $1100 in parts i cannot remove that i will be out of when they total it. For instance, what if i was driving a car that is a classic car with 300k miles on it the kbb says its worth 2k and its in perfect shape and ive totally restored it with 20k, the insurance company will only pay out the 2k? If the insurance company will not cover these losses should i sue the at fault party in small claims court for my uncovered losses? What are my options, and have you ever heard of insurance paying for upgrades/options/labor to reinstall items?
AnswerHi Adam,
Last question first. If you were driving a classic restored car, you would have insured for and appraised 'stated value'.
My son purchased a new truck in '93 and a few years later spent over $4,000 on a new stereo unit and did most of the instillation himself (along with help from friends. When he traded in for a new truck in 2000, the stereo system added $0 to it's value.
Many of the things you have done were for your own pleasure and added little or no value to the vehicle. The $500 that you recently spent on maintenance is not a reimbursable item because, like you said, it's maintenance. Your special wheels add about $50-$100 in value....the tires are just a maintenance item.
No car ever sells for KBB retail value,(read the definition of excellent condition at the kbb web site) that's just the highest starting value for a top quality, fully reconditioned and professionally detailed vehicle. To purchase, you negotiate downward. If your car were unwrecked and you had decided to sell it, all the extra items that you have added would have little to no extra value unless you happened to find that 1 person in 10,000 who is looking for a car so equipped. The majority if work done to your car was to increase your own personal pleasure while driving.
Allstate will surely offer some amount of compensation, but it's only going to be a small percentage of your investment.
If you desire to 'save' your car, you should approach your own company to discuss having them repair it. They will be much more willing to work with you toward that goal than Allstate.
I trust that this information has been of some help, please write again if I can be of more assistance.
Your feedback for my answer will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area 10-24-07 11:56 PM PST
