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I was afraid you'd say that, I mentioned 11k when you first posted. Looking at Edmunds TMV I've seen prices as low as 9k. I don't know what value ins. companies use, whether it's fair market value or some other "book" value, or "loan" value like banks use. It sounds like you're on the right track with a professional appraisal though. Unfortunately the book value sees the E55 as nothing more than an upgraded E500, which is just an E320 with a bigger engine. And either of those aren't worth much with 140k miles....anywhere from $2500 to $6000. FWIW I was offered $15k for my 159k E55, clean but modified. I don't want to sell it, because what could I replace it with for $15k?
Last edited by E55Greasemonkey; Sep 6, 2022 at 09:23 PM.
They essentially offered NADA. This was my worst fear. The dumb thing is my company isn't even paying but maybe this is an insurance company thing. Anyway, the good thing about this offer is I feel completely justified in fighting it.
What I can also offer is how the appraisal service explained this process works. And I quote:
You have the right under your policy to push this to an independent appraiser, known as the Appraiser's Rule. This will force the insurance company to do the same thing, hire an Independent Appraiser to come up with a fair value. At that point, the 2 appraisers attempt to settle on a mutually agreeable figure. If this cannot be done (which VERY seldom happens) then a umpire is hired to review the 2 appraisals, selecting one or the other or doing their own appraisal if neither is acceptable to him (or her). This is of course extra money out of your pocket. This will not get to that point as there are very few comparable vehicles for sale on which to base a value and my guess is that both appraisers will be looking at the same 4 comparable vehicles for a value.
I was surprised about the 4 comps. He must have narrowed to only 2004s.
What I will also say is that his initial survey is that the value is about where I originally said it was, based on my own assessment. We'll see how it plays out and how long it takes. He works directly with the insurance company and/or the other appraiser. Well worth the $250 I think (though let's get to the finish line before I celebrate).
Has anyone established an "Agreed Value" policy on these cars (or other cars in your collection)? If so, what was involved in setting up that policy and how much more did it cost when compared to the standard policy?
I have a lot of money invested into the restoration of my car and I recognize that it has value well over NADA, but we see that insurance companies do not.
What I was told by a rep from my insurance agency (who despite being in the business 30 years probably doesn't know everything), is that agreed value policies are typically issued by specialty insurance companies (like Hagerty) and usually come with driving use/distance stipulations. My cousin has such a policy for his 2005 Lotus Elise and obviously a car like that is no hardship to drive less than 5k/yr. Usually those policies are actually cheap but that's because they reduced a lot of the risk by attaching limitations to your usage of the vehicle. I am wondering if anyone has agreed value on just an otherwise normal insurance policy.
This person also indicated that I would have to switch insurance companies for this car if I wanted this type of policy but maybe some offer it as part of a normal coverage rider.
Here's a comparable car, 1 year newer with 50% less miles than yours for $18k asking. Maybe not the numbers you want to see, but here it is. My fuzzy math says every 10k miles is worth $1k, each year difference add/subtract another $1k. This puts your car around $12-13k
Last edited by E55Greasemonkey; Sep 7, 2022 at 06:40 PM.
Value is based on dealer prices not Facebook marketplace. The appraiser said he was looking at 4 comps. I don't think that includes scouring Facebook and craigslist. Would I scour FBM and CL? Of course. I found mine on FBM believe it or not. But that's not how values are calculated.
Mileage deduction is based on a log function, which is how depreciation works in general. See my curve above.
Update. Insurance company is fixing to stop paying for storage at the body shop. Like tomorrow. So after a few phone calls, here is the update.
I will probably be towing the car to my garage which is sort of what I had prepared for, although it's not so much in anger as it is just something I need to do for the settlement process. I think if I release the car to insurance, that coincides with accepting the settlement on offer (which I do not). So if the price is I need a smashed car in my garage for a few months, works for me. Most people wouldn't bother with any of this. I will probably have to use AAA unless the body shop wants to do it for super cheap.
By the way, there may be a lesson in here. If you think there is a chance that you will encounter this kind of headache do NOT let the insurance company take the car to their facility. It's your car, have it towed to a body shop first. You can then always bring it home if need be. But if Progressive had the car this whole time I am not sure what my bargaining chip would be when I didn't accept the initial offer. Something to think about.
My appraiser already initiated the process where he will hopefully be put in contact with the insurance company's appraiser. Then they can play golf together and make fun of me or whatever (wait, that's real estate agents and lawyers).
In other news, I have what I THINK is the buyback number and it's low enough that I am considering retaining the car for.....purposes. And I also am entertaining the idea of getting a second opinion at another body shop (who, unlike this one, MIGHT actually want to fix it?). Just in case.
All that said, and for multiple reasons, my preference would actually be to sell the car as it sits to someone who would fix it. I assume there is not a lot of demand for this around here but I'll put the general offer out. I am in RI. And it will probably be in my garage for a few months...
So with the CURRENT offer (which I am not accepting), they told me I could retain ownership for $1,376. My first thought was, wow, what a deal. However, if the offer goes up as high as I would like it to, it is entirely possible that this "salvage value" will be recalculated. I would be shocked if that was the actual highest bid. My guess is they did not put the car out for bid and this is some lookup figure that is associated with the NADA value of my car. The "buy back" price may go up when we actually come through the settlement, and frankly I expect it to.
All I'm trying to do is establish the parameters for when I'd choose to buy it back or just let it go.
If I keep it, I may do something as simple as find a set of wheels that clear the brakes and keep these to either use on my next one, or sell. And maybe part out an easy item here and there if there was interest. But if someone wanted it as is I would also consider that, but I kind of want to understand the potential audience before I decide what to do as we settle. I guess worst case, I keep it, do nothing, and scrap it myself. I mean the cats alone are worth whatever ($1000 or so?). I'm not going to give it away because, well, economics, but also because this money is most likely going directly into a replacement car for my wife (whole separate saga that just happened).
Outside of the major items that you mention, the idea of selling a car for parts always seems like a good idea. But, if you have a day job, family, other activities, then it probably isn't worth it. Not to mention turning your garage into a hot mess.
I wouldn't blame you if you got the most cash you can get, got rid of the car as a whole, curse the insurance company to hell, and move on instead of having all of this (either the repair or parting it out) linger on.
Oof? Maybe I didn't explain right. If they gave me a check, they would deduct $1,376 from that check and I keep the car. I have to believe the actual salvage value is quite a bit higher than this. Cats, wheels, interior, engine, trans, diff. Hell the rear shocks are brand new Bilsteins with probably 5-10k on them.
$1,300 won't go far to restoring the car. They may have paid out that much if your car got key in a parking lot...and that wouldn't leave you with a branded title.
I'm still not sure I am coming across. They aren't giving me a check for $1,376. They would give me a much bigger check and let me keep the car. It's just that check would be $1,376 less than it would have been if I let them take the car. I know I am deliberately not answering the actual question you asked but just bear with me....
I'm still not sure I am coming across. They aren't giving me a check for $1,376. They would give me a much bigger check and let me keep the car. It's just that check would be $1,376 less than it would have been if I let them take the car. I know I am deliberately not answering the actual question you asked but just bear with me....
Ah!
To restate my original question: How much will you leave with if the insurance company totals out your car and you buy it back from them?
I originally said I didn't want to divulge but who cares since the offer sucks. NADA is $8,500 or so. I think we can all agree that's a pretty big joke, even for "I scored a deal on FBM."
It would be something on the order of I get a check for ~$7,100 and get to keep the car. *HOWEVER* I am not accepting that offer and have just entered into the "Appraiser's Rule" process. The car will probably end up in my garage for the duration.
Ive been with progressive for 14 years, I told them to find me another exact spec of mine, They could not, offered me around the same, I provided more than 15 comps and not a single car could be compared to mine option wise. after my deductible I got 17.7K for mine. hang in there and keep fighting,
It's been a month. What do I have to show for it? Not a whole lot. I got a worried note from my appraiser that Progressive was being unresponsive so he asked that I reach out and either pass along his info or get the correct appraiser info and provide it to him. I contacted my claims rep and she directed me back toward the original corporate appraiser (NOT the same as the independent appraiser that they are supposed to hire). So that was a waste of time. My guy contacted him and apparently the corporate appraiser (who offered me NADA) had no real idea how to handle this, so my appraiser has been explaining the process. However, he just sent me a note today that he took a calculated move to send the appraisal to Progressive directly and IF they can agree on a number, then that would save some time. Otherwise, I guess the idea is this will still route to an outside appraiser and then the independent appraisers can argue on the number, and report back to Progressive.
Personally that plan bothers me a bit because I really didn't want Progressive directly touching the appraised value. I'd rather appraisers (who actually know how to do their job) do that deal and then hopefully arrive at a similar/acceptable number. This seems to give Progressive too much direct veto authority. We'll see.
2 weeks later, I finally sent a nastygram to the Progressive appraiser. He replied saying he has hired an Independent Appraiser (IA) so the process has FINALLY begun. Hopefully this part goes fairly quickly. I asked my guy what happens if comps change between now and from before but I'm not sure what the answer is or if it will end up mattering much. I guess I'm just curious what the "rules" say or if it's all open to interpretation.
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