maxi-freak

Hi fellow Maxima lovers,
Last week my son wrecked my 90 SE. It was not his fault, but if the other insurance company considers it totalled, then what can be done to fight that decision? I don't believe that it suffered frame damage, just front end, hood, quarter panel damage...etc. The car was even still running after the wreck.
Here's the deal - I just put 3500.00 into it. I could not EVEN replace that car for 15,000.00. Can you fight the insurance company claiming that it's worth more than the book value? I even talked to the body shop (it hasn't been estimated yet) and suggested to the owner that used body parts might make it possible to revive it.
Anyone have any ideas, or have been through this kind of thing before?

Jamie

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

You can require the insurance company to fix it. You should show documented proof that your car was in excellent condition before and that you just spent $xxx amount of $$ on it recently.

What happens is that the insur. co. researches the blue book value(as low as possible). If the repair exceeds XX% of the this value, they will total it. But when they settle for the total amount, they will try to lowball you. It's up to you to research excellent examples of your car to get the total amount higher. Thus getting the repair amount under the $XX pecentage.

Or you can try to settle for as much as you can and then buy the car back from the insurance company. Then you can use the settlement $$ to have the car fixed.

JUDE

iTrader: (7)

You might even be able to work something out with the insurance adjuster. I had a friend who's car was considered total even though it still ran. They gave him the insurance money and let him keep the car. The only problem is that the title is now salvage, but he still gets to drive it to work.

masterplan89

I agree with the others. I had a 90GXE with real bad hail damage but other than that the car was fine. The insurance co. totaled it out and let me buy back my car for $500. I won bigtime! You probably could too.

maxi-freak

Yeah, I let it be known to the body shop, my insurance company and the other insurance company (who is responsible for the wreck) that I did not want the car totalled. The body shop seemed to think that he could repair the body with used parts and still be under the other insurance company's threshhold....which would be fine with me; why would I care if the body parts are used? My insurance company actually said "make sure you have your repair reciepts in case we need to get involved". Hummm....that almost makes me think that they are going to get involved if it means satisfying my wishes.

Dan 93 SE

I totaled mine last summer. My Insurance agent and friend recommended to me (on the side) that I take it to the most expensive shop and get an estimate. If you are happy with the number,remember its negotible, once numbers are settled, then say you want to buy it back and fix it. Then do your work, find either used or aftermarket parts in excellent condition and a lower priced shop. I came out about 3K ahead.That money helped Dallas and I get WSP going.Down side, slightly higher insurance rates. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

Dan

CoolMax

iTrader: (7)

Ground him.

maxi-freak

I did worse than grounding him. I told him that if the Maxima is totalled, I'm not replacing it for him. I bought a `99 Trans Am, and turned my Maxima over to him 6 months ago.

mateo92GXE

Even if it is totalled, you shouldn't have to replace it, I mean, it wasn't his fault, right?

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

I'm in kinda the same boat as Dan...
My GXE was wrecked back in late Jan of this year, almost totalled. I had a smashed fender from a hit-and-run a couple years ago that I never bothered to fix.. When I had estimates done on it, every shop (about 6) I went to said the car was totalled, even from just the "new" damage. (which was pretty minor.. new hood, bumper, left fender, and headllight, some minor work on driver door).. but it all just added up to more than most people wanted for the car.

I went ahead and fixed it (of course! it was my baby!).. Well, it took almost 2 months to get fixed correctly.. had to have the bumper repainted, and the shop had problems (lost 3/4 of their employees because of problems within the company) blah blah blah.. FINALLY got the car back in perfect conditon on March 31 (friday), then TOTALLED it on April 2nd (monday morning)- not even 3 blocks from the last wreck!

But after that, the insurance company tried to tell me the car was only worth $3500, as it had prior body damage, mismatched interior, and many non-stock items. (well yes, it's got $7000 in mods- I'd say the parts weren't stock too!). I told them it was a stereo competition/show car, and the stock parts were still in new condition and will be put back on the car if needed, blah blah blah.. they offered $4000 after that.
I told them I wouldn't take a penny under $6k for it, and after about 3 MONTHS of arguing and piles of paperwork (it's amazing what they say when you fax them 65 pages of receipts for mods and replacement parts for just the last 8 months!)...

but when all was said and done, they gave me $6500 for the car, and then I bought it back for $1100 from them... I still have a GREEN title too- which means I could have had it repaired and nobody would ever have to know it had been totalled. (had some moderate- but fixable- frame damage, which is why I didn't rebuild it myself)...

Of course, I then banked the money and bought my 93SE for $2800. rebuilt tranny and new clutch for $1100, and now I've got a nicer, faster car and pocketed $1500!

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

Holy jeez that was long!

Wish the GF would hurry up and get home from work before I write myself a novel just to stay away!

superdesi

A 93SE for $2800? I'd be hard pressed to find a 92 model for that price. How many miles did it have? Did u buy it privately or from a dealer?

maxi-freak

The insurance company only wanted to pay me 2450.00 for my totalled SE. After telling them that was an insult, and firing off a letter stating my demands, I actually got 4800.00 for it; not bad considering the miles.

The car was still worth 10,000.00 to me though. It was perfect.
Thanks for all the replies and thoughts.

Jamie

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

It had 150k on it when I bought it, a growling tranny, slipping clutch, and bad VTC tick.. the engine idled VERY poorly (that was just about 15 loose vacuum hoses from where the hunda dealer is was sold at pulled the valve covers trying to fix the "lifter tick" )

they originally asked like 5500 for it, but no one bought it.. I saw it on autotrader for about a month and never thought twice because it had so many miles for the price- and it was 120 miles away.. Then I got desperate for a car (dad was going to take my loaner car back the next weekend!), and I called 'em up.. "Well we just took it to the auction lot because mobody wanted it. no one bid over 2500 on it, but we won't sell for under 2800."

I told 'em I'll be there to pick it up the next day if they'll give it to me for 2800, and they accepted.. so me and the GF took a day off work and drove the 120 miles to see it, and I wrote 'em a check and drove home an hour later.

Bman

Wow, this is making for some interesting reading here. I should print this thread out when it's done - all these tricks and traps with the insurance companies is both neat... and scary (lowball payouts )!