What value would you put on my car? Plus a crash story

[dumbskate]

UPDATE:

I got a call today from the assessors to tell me that the guys from Turners had been down for a look and they valued it at $8,500. So what does the AA do?! They up my agreed value, after the fact from $6k to $8.5K without charging me a cent. So tomorrow there will be $8,500 in my bank account and I need to find a new manual BH wagon.

ORIGINAL POST

This is partly for Insurance and partly to get my head around a few things. I bought my car from a importer about a year ago for $6,000 and because the market was flooded with imports I just insured it for the $6,000 with AA. Now the market has shifted and my car being a manual in great nick I was think I should increase the agreed value a bit for replacement cost.

Fast forward to today. I had just walked back across the road after grabbing a coffee from a local. I hoped in my car and reached across to put the cups in the cup holders when BANG...BANG! I looked up to see the car skidding to a stop directly in front of me. It came to rest 40 feet up the road after hitting the curb and buckling its front passenger wheel.

I have to say Its a really lovely feeling when the first thing that goes through your head after the obvious and totally unconscious checks on your own life, was to know that I was totally insured. This kept me super calm and I took my time taking it all in and getting my head in order. Another car, a 4x4 had pulled over as they had seem the whole thing and had been following the car along the road before the accident. They were checking the other driver for injury and pointing to my car as the driver had no idea what he had. He was fine, I was fine.

It turned out that the poor guy, with no insurance, had been falling asleep at the wheel and swerving a bit for about 2km as the 4x4 followed. He had just missed a van 300 feet back before repeating his drowsy arc and clipping my car on the rear drivers quarter before waking, panicking, over correcting and catching the drivers front corner as he squealed to a stop in front of me.

Afterwards I realised that a little slower getting into my car or a little little bit more angle on his approach could either caught me opening the door or hit my car directly in the rear sending more than just my coffee slamming into the windscreen at 50km per hour.

Cops, tow-trucks, a bit of thinking at it looks like with the damage to both front and rear quarters along with what could be some structural damage to the rear strut, I may be having to make some hard decisions whether to take the $6,000 if they choose to write off the car or to have the car repaired. Now this all depends on what the market is like for replacing my car now Vs getting the repairs and either keeping it or selling it then. Either was I will probably increase the insured value if you guys and girls thinks it wise.

My car is part for part the same as this one on Trade me except:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=265119867

98 instead of '99

120,000km

4 new tyres ($950 total worth) a month ago

Blitzen 17 inch wheels

Factory 35% windows glass behind driver with front two done to match.

No Mods

mechanically sound

Straight Body.

I look forward to hearing your opinions

[Guest]

$9k is a good price. Its what I paid for mine with e-tune body kit, and is the 01 model with similar mileage and condition.

[Treecrusher]

 Heroes Legend said:

$9k is a good price. Its what I paid for mine with e-tune body kit, and is the 01 model with similar mileage and condition.

01 is face lift and therefore worth a little more.

6k for your car is cheap, no doubt. You will find it hard to replace for that price. I picked the one in my signature up for 6.5k but then I on sold it for 8.5k. So market value I think is between 8 and 9 grand but if you can get another mates rate type deal then you shouldn't have any issues.

I reckon you are best off getting it fixed and then sell it. you wouldn't want to keep a car with that sort of history and taking the 6k will make it hard to get into a similar car especially once you take your excess into account.

[Guest]

If they do write it off.... you bought it for 6k, you get 6k back, no worries. Sure it will be hard to replace for $6k but you won't be too much out of pocket (new tyres excepted). Unfortunately the new tyres etc probably won't mean much for the insurance appraiser.

You could buy it back off them if it's written off and try fixing it, but can you be bothered with the hassle? Plus you're gambling on it being fixed properly, not costing the earth, and being able to sell it afterwards if you don't want to keep it.... etc.

Is your policy 'agreed value', market value, or lower of the two?

[Max Headroom]

I would have no qualms about having it repaired and keeping it, as long as it was done by a reputable panelbeater.

My brother bought a new Mazda 626 in 1985, and had an accident with a truck two years later. Damage was extensive to the r/f corner and the entire r/h side. With about 80,000km on the clock at the time, he was sure that it was a write-off and went shopping for a new car in anticipation of a payout. He was horrified when the insurance company told him they had found a cheap front cut and were going to repair it!

He got it back eventually and was pleasantly surprised at how well it drove and how well the repairs had been executed. There was no remaining evidence of the accident damage anywhere. He decided to keep the car and had no unexpected issues with it at all. He eventually headed overseas, sold it to my sister at 280,000km, and she ran it up to 350,000km before finally trading it. At the time she sold it, there was still no evidence of paint defects, suspension issues, alignment problems or corosion anywhere and the car looked like it had covered less than half of the indicated mileage.

Wait for an assessor to look at your car first, and start asking around for the name of a good panelbeater.

[driftrex]

something to think about if it gets fixed, is there are alot of shady panelbeaters who will fix it the cheapest and easiest way possible so they make the most money out of it.

one experience i had, was i hit a big dog at 110kms in the wrx, mashed up the front left hand corner, it was covered by insurance, i took to a reputable panel beater who my parents had used several times, they fixed it, a while later i had to take the bumper off to do some mods, found a shocking repair, most of it wasnt even straight and there was rust coming through cause they hadnt painted where the paint had flaked off when it was bent. also they repainted the front bumper and paint had started flaking off from washing the car within 2 months. oh and the bumper was missing bolts so was hardly held on i found out.

long story short, i took the car back, made it clear i was less than impressed, could of done a better job myself, and it was an insurance payout so it should of been done to the highest standard, obviously they just wanted to pocket more of the payout, so i made them re-do the whole lot including painting bumper. i have since had bumper off again to do more mods and im still very unhappy with the job. but i wont take it back to them cause i dont trust them, and have since told everyone i know that they are useless.

moral of the story you never know what your gonna get with panelbeaters, it might look good on the outside but will never be the same again. or you might get lucky and get a mint repair. never know.

[dumbskate]

 Erelyes said:

Is your policy 'agreed value', market value, or lower of the two?

It's agreed value at $6,000 with no excess so If they choose to write it off that's what I walk away with. They actually wrote my car down to $4,600 as their standard yearly practice and I only noticed a month back and told them that I wanted it fixed because of the price I paid.

[dumbskate]

Thanks for all your info so far everyone.

The car will be assessed at AA's special garage in Penrose before that will ask for two quotes from about ten Panel beaters in Auckland who have given a guarantee that they will warranty the repairs for the life of the car.

The best solution seems to be get it repaired and either keep driving my 8k worth of car or a little way down the track sell it any way to keep the value of my cars up.

If they do choose to write it off, which would mean it needs more than $4,500 worth of repair then I will still be left with the money I started with and I will just have to find another great deal.

The repair and sell for a profit is obviously the preferred though.

[dumbskate]

So an initial call to the AA today told me that they were planning on writing the car off. Now I have to wait to find out what damage they have found and the prices they have been quoted. Hopefully I can get my trusted panel beater to do the work for an agreed price to keep my car in one piece.

Anyone got experience with this sort of negotiation?

[Guest]

$8,495 on a Yard.

If you get quotes, try Porana Panel on the shore, tell them Lance at Peugeot in Greenlane sent you!

[Swindog]

So whats the damage exactly for them to wrtie it off? Be careful as they tend to want to write these cars off to get them off the road.

If its structural maybe they have a point but if its just major panel it would be worth getting it fixed. Its not actually up to them if they have it fixed or not, its up to you as this is what you pay them for.

[dumbskate]

 Hopai said:

$8,495 on a Yard.

If you get quotes, try Porana Panel on the shore, tell them Lance at Peugeot in Greenlane sent you!

That's about what I was thinking.

[dumbskate]

Ok so the update:

I spoke to the head assessor and explained my situation along with how the car was worth more like $8,000 but that I set it at $6,000 as that was what it cost me. He was really understanding and said that because the accident was totally not my fault, that he woudl look to get the car valued by a few dealers and then asses the damage against that valuation. He said that the difference to my yearly premium would only have been $40 more had the car been insured for $8,000 instead of $6,000.

The damage to both the front and rear quarters of the drivers side plus some broken suspension parts mean that the car woudl need to be 3/4 resprayed to get the colour to blend and also three of my funny Blitzen wheels woudl need to be repaired for chips and repainted.

The repairs were looking to be more than 75% of the cars value at $6,000 but if he can get the agreed value up to $8,000 then the repairs may be more realistic. Otherwise I might walk away with $8,000 which shoudl put me into another car of the same age/km/condition.

[Swindog]

If you got $8000 be worth thinking about. Sucks though that some idiot WITHOUT insurance hits you and you have to wear the problem. Plus i doesnt take into account your time to sort it. You lose your pride and joy cos of some twat staying up late at night watching porn.

This is why compulsary vehicle insurance should be put in place.

[Stoffa]

dont forget if it does get written off you get first option to buy back, if you parted it out you may make up the extra cost easily in parts if they only pay out 6k

[dumbskate]

 Swindog said:

If you got $8000 be worth thinking about. Sucks though that some idiot WITHOUT insurance hits you and you have to wear the problem. Plus i doesnt take into account your time to sort it. You lose your pride and joy cos of some twat staying up late at night watching porn.

This is why compulsary vehicle insurance should be put in place.

I totally hear you but the kid will have his pay garnished for like the next 5 years so either way he's paying for it.

They are sending a valuer from Turners car auctions around to see the car tomorrow. Depending on what they think it would worth in pre-crash condition we see whether I get $8,000, a repaired car or somewhere in between.

[Swindog]

this is true, goes back to the theory if the other fella had insurance youd be ok. Compulsary for all. Inc cyclists.

[dumbskate]

 Swindog said:

this is true, goes back to the theory if the other fella had insurance youd be ok. Compulsary for all. Inc cyclists.

Yeah but as long as you have an insurance company as good as AA seems to be right now you will be sweet.

I got a call today from the assessors to tell me that the guys from Turners had been down for a look and they valued it at $8,500. So what does the AA do?! They up my agreed value, after the fact from $6k to $8.5K without charging me a cent. So tomorrow there will be $8,500 in my bank account and I need to find a new manual BH wagon.

[Stoffa]

thats brilliant, its not very often you hear of that happening.

go AA

[Swindog]

haha thats awesome...they didnt charge you because their valuatoins are low so when they pay you out they dont lose so much money.

[dumbskate]

 Swindog said:

haha thats awesome...they didnt charge you because their valuatoins are low so when they pay you out they dont lose so much money.

You could be right but its a $2,500 profit for me and the car gave me 20,000km with no problems so thats a great sale for me.

[Swindog]

Yeah you got a good deal, again!

[spicyHam]

 Swindog said:

this is true, goes back to the theory if the other fella had insurance youd be ok. Compulsary for all. Inc cyclists.

NO!! as great as this sounds, think about what would happen to the prices of our policies if this was brought in today.. Take a look at the UK - even though only 3rd party is compulsory, average insurance cost is now over 1000pounds. http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jan/28/car-insurance-costs-rise Topgear also did part of a show about insurance and from what i remember and it seems anyone under 25 has to drive a 15year old 1.3l vauxhall viva over there unless they want to be paying 5000pounds a year in insurance. - the only cars they found to be an acceptable price in their challenge were an ugly old volvo 240 estate, a cheap and nasty early 90's hyundai coupe, and a golf.

Id like to know more about the buyback policy and what you would expect to pay.. seems like a good idea if your car has had alot of lil' bits added that cost alot of money when added up.