Overhaulin'

My ins agency is giving me about $3-5k less than fair market value on my car. What can I do?

I was involved in an auto accident which was my fault. Took my 86 mercedes to get worked on and total came to about $5600. State Farm decided to total my car. At first they said the web-site they use was nada.com. ( I was told that by 2 seperate people) Then when it came time to pay out they said because my car was older it goes to a different web-site as it's considered a classic. I could not find any prices on that web-site(must have to suscribe to it). They are giving me $1875 for my car. nada.com has price ranges from $5600 to $11500. My car wasn't in perfect condition, but it would be considered great condition maybe $7k-$8k. Kelley blue book rates it from $ 4375-$8600. If i went by KBB may $5500- $6800. These prices seem like fair market value, but because there are no other same year cars being sold within 200+ miles of my town I feel I am being sent out to pasture. What can I or should I do to combat this!!

Public Comments

1. Was the 5,600 paid to fix it covered by insurance or out of your pocket? If they paid, you add that to the offer. If you did payit out of pocket, offer to buy it for the 1875, and keep your car and to see if you can fix it back to useable condition. But it will never be worth what it was before the accident.
2. There are actually 3 different "fair market values" for used cars: dealer sale price, private sale price, and wholesale (dealer buy price). Read your policy to see which value they use. IF it is stated in the policy that it's wholesale/dealer buy price, you probably don't have a legal leg to stand on. If they stipulate some other benchmark or don't stipulate, argue with them. Or have your attorney argue with them. Insurance companies can be really nasty about this junk. And they are very difficult to argue or negotiate with. A lawyer m-i-g-h-t have a chance at this.
3. You can use NADA, you can use KBB. If you didn't buy "classic car" coverage, which is usually on either an "agreed value" or "stated value" basis, you get "actual cash value" - depreciated value. Are you looking at RETAIL values, or private party sale values? Look, when I type in 1986 Mercedes, assuming 200K miles, fair condition (which is what "isn't perfect" but runs, usually is), I'm getting roughly $2,000 for PRIVATE PARTY, used, wholesale. Their offer is fair. That NADA value is for that car in PERFECT condition - which obviously, yours isn't, and it's also RETAIL. And you don't get retail, with insurance, unless you BOUGHT an "agreed value" policy. All you can do, is provide comparable sales via craiglist ads, or provide TRADE IN or PRIVATE PARTY sale values, of vehicles with similar milage and similar body condition. There's no way a 25 year old car, that's not "collectable" is worth anywhere NEAR $8,000. Unless maybe you've rebuilt the ENTIRE thing, including the engine, and you can see yourself in the spotless paint job.