Goodbye to an old friend

[Luke]

I don't know, I've been driving my '79 a lot since I lost the '86 and I don't think its that slow at all. 79's didnt have a cat and had the nice 2 piece exhaust manifold. A B motor 8V is a very different animal than a H motor 8V, I think most people that have owned both would agree that for some reason the B motors are just much peppier.

For it's time, maybe they are "not that slow" but compared to any modern car, minivan, truck, lets even say full size van, they are pretty darn slow. My DeLorean is fun to drive, handles well, and "feel quick" - but I have no delusions about it being fast. I will say this though... It would easily out run any stock non turbo 900... but if I came across any minivan made in the past 10 years that wanted to get in front of me before it's 109 MPH speed limiter kicked in, the van would probably be in front

Yeah, thats pretty accurate. I'm not going to be drag racing any minivans but without a doubt that angry soccer mom would come out ahead. What I mean is that I can easily merge and keep up with traffic on the turnpike without issue. My days of trying to prove anything on the open road are over, I happily cruise along at 10 over the limit and save my rage for the stage!

[V4_guy]

Any word from the insurance co. yet, Luke? I'm gearing up for a fight over my '89 900S sedan that met a similar fate a couple of weeks ago. Gathering receipts and hoping for the best, it was a very clean and nearly rust-free car in great condition with lots of new parts.

[Luke]

Hey Jon,

Yeah, I finally wrapped up my settlement today actually, i need to get a salvage title issued and then they will send the check. I was able to get $1750 and keep the car, which I was happy with, but it was a 3 week battle, not fun, not fun.

[Luke]

final days now, hard to believe that was 25 year old original paint

[V4_guy]

Hey Jon,

Yeah, I finally wrapped up my settlement today actually, i need to get a salvage title issued and then they will send the check. I was able to get $1750 and keep the car, which I was happy with, but it was a 3 week battle, not fun, not fun.

Luke, glad it worked out for you, I'd like to get no less than $2000 for mine, I had just put $600 of stuff from eEuroparts into it and it had some good bits like skidplate, E-codes, and '79-grille. About a month ago I converted it all to pre-'87 lights and bumpers. Taken all away by some stupid inattentive woman in a Suzuki.

[Luke]

Hey Jon,

Yeah, I finally wrapped up my settlement today actually, i need to get a salvage title issued and then they will send the check. I was able to get $1750 and keep the car, which I was happy with, but it was a 3 week battle, not fun, not fun.

Luke, glad it worked out for you, I'd like to get no less than $2000 for mine, I had just put $600 of stuff from eEuroparts into it and it had some good bits like skidplate, E-codes, and '79-grille. About a month ago I converted it all to pre-'87 lights and bumpers. Taken all away by some stupid inattentive woman in a Suzuki.

Hey Jon,

Unfortunatly they aren't going to care about '79 grilles, skidplates, ecodes etc unless you have receipts for the purchase of all of those items. I had all of those as well except for I had an early chrome grill. Also, they will calculate the average mileage of similar cars for sale in your area and attempt to take huge deductions for mileage above average. They calculated avg mileage for an '86 SAAB at 160K, my car had about 300K, so they bascially scale down the cost of any "comps" by 1/2 to reflect your mileage. It looked at one point that I was going to get about $200 if I wanted to keep the car. I was only saved somewhat because of a PA state law I found (I read the entire PA code on auto insurance) that mandates that a total loss be an average of two book values approved by the state. NADA was approved, (as was CCC they company that they use) NADA has a really high value for SAAB 900's ($3600 in avg condition!) They tried to deny that they were required to take an average... until I faxed them the actual section of pa code that states that... I also stated that I had already discussed the matter directly with the state department of insurance and that I would file a complaint with the state insurance investigator to see if other settlements in the state had been calculated by that insurance company without using an average value.
I told them I wanted $2500, minimum. I was really hoping for $1500, so in the end it worked out ok.

[SwedeSport]

Add "Lawyer" to your resume.

[V4_guy]

Hey Jon,

Yeah, I finally wrapped up my settlement today actually, i need to get a salvage title issued and then they will send the check. I was able to get $1750 and keep the car, which I was happy with, but it was a 3 week battle, not fun, not fun.

Luke, glad it worked out for you, I'd like to get no less than $2000 for mine, I had just put $600 of stuff from eEuroparts into it and it had some good bits like skidplate, E-codes, and '79-grille. About a month ago I converted it all to pre-'87 lights and bumpers. Taken all away by some stupid inattentive woman in a Suzuki.

Hey Jon,

Unfortunatly they aren't going to care about '79 grilles, skidplates, ecodes etc unless you have receipts for the purchase of all of those items. I had all of those as well except for I had an early chrome grill. Also, they will calculate the average mileage of similar cars for sale in your area and attempt to take huge deductions for mileage above average. They calculated avg mileage for an '86 SAAB at 160K, my car had about 300K, so they bascially scale down the cost of any "comps" by 1/2 to reflect your mileage. It looked at one point that I was going to get about $200 if I wanted to keep the car. I was only saved somewhat because of a PA state law I found (I read the entire PA code on auto insurance) that mandates that a total loss be an average of two book values approved by the state. NADA was approved, (as was CCC they company that they use) NADA has a really high value for SAAB 900's ($3600 in avg condition!) They tried to deny that they were required to take an average... until I faxed them the actual section of pa code that states that... I also stated that I had already discussed the matter directly with the state department of insurance and that I would file a complaint with the state insurance investigator to see if other settlements in the state had been calculated by that insurance company without using an average value.
I told them I wanted $2500, minimum. I was really hoping for $1500, so in the end it worked out ok.

Luke,

Good detective work on your part!

I have all of the eEuro receipts and I've gotten some values for the headlights ($300) and grille ($75) from Chip Lamb via email and I will put the insurance co. in touch with him about that. I only had liability on the car and no agreed value since it's just a daily driver but since I was not at fault in this wreck it should not matter. Can they find me another very clean rust-free 900 sedan with the aforementioned upgrades and new parts? I don't think so. So they'd better damn well pay me what it's worth. Sure, it has 210k miles on it but it's in better condition and better-maintained than most other daily driver C900s out there.

Maybe my luck has finally run out but I have had good luck dealing with other peoples' insurance companies in the past. Our '86 900S notchback was totaled by a drunk driver (hit and run) while parked on the street in Easthampton, MA back in '03 and in that case it was totaled, we received a check for $1600 from the lady's insurance co. and got to keep the car (I ended up selling it cheap to GeoffC, he fixed it and drove it daily).

Then a couple of years ago here in Louisville, KY some moron in a Suburban sideswiped me in my '70 96, kind of a high-mileage car with no special insurance, and I got over $2300 for the relatively minor damage without it even being totaled, as seen below:



It's just bullshit that some idiotic X5 or Suzuki driver can wreck your neat old car and then you get screwed by the insurance co. It's a moral issue, they need to pay what it's worth. I honestly don't want to even take less than $2500 for it. I'm not in any hurry, I'm willing to draw this out as long as I want to get what is owed to me. That car cannot be replaced. It could probably be fixed if the front fenders were cut off and replaced but I'm done with it at this point, I already spent a long time putting it back together after the gearbox blew, replacing all of the "easy to get to" stuff while the engine was out (timing chain, motor mounts, bushings, etc.), I just don't have the desire to go on.

The good news, however, is that I am picking up its replacement in Atlanta on Saturday, a 90k mile '86 9000T. I should be able to drive this car for years as long as some idiot doesn't plow into me.

[Luke]

[quote="V4_guyIt's just bullshit that some idiotic X5 or Suzuki driver can wreck your neat old car and then you get screwed by the insurance co. It's a moral issue, they need to pay what it's worth. I honestly don't want to even take less than $2500 for it. I'm not in any hurry, I'm willing to draw this out as long as I want to get what is owed to me. That car cannot be replaced. It could probably be fixed if the front fenders were cut off and replaced but I'm done with it at this point, I already spent a long time putting it back together after the gearbox blew, replacing all of the "easy to get to" stuff while the engine was out (timing chain, motor mounts, bushings, etc.), I just don't have the desire to go on.
[/quote]

I'm with you all the way, its a scam and its wrong. They will literally break the law unless you call them out on it. I was very close to taking the women to small claims, as I knew that I could support the value of the car with data and furthermore that my methodology for calculating the loss was as outlined by state code. If you can't come to agreement over the value with the insurance company, thats the next step. As a third party you have to litigate directly with the individual whom caused your loss, not with the insurance company. Her contract is with the insurance company to cover her liability for the loss. They are obligated to provide her legal expense compensation as well. They are not going to want to do that over such a small claim. You don't need a laywer for small claims, but you better be pretty well spoken and have your facts straight.
My boss's wife is an insurance adjuster, so she gave me some insight as well... If you have time that is on your side. The insurance companies want to close claims, they are audited and scored internallly on claim closure time. That said, they know how to use the same stall tactics on you as well to make you desperate to get the money now and thus accept less in the end. They will do this up to a point though, eventually they need to close the claim.
Also investigate if they are required in your state to provide a rental car. They may not offer unless you ask. I asked and they said they would if I needed it, I then declined and asked them to instead offer me loss of use payment for the time between the accident and the issuance of the first settlement proposal, which they did.

[V4_guy]

I'm with you all the way, its a scam and its wrong. They will literally break the law unless you call them out on it. I was very close to taking the women to small claims, as I knew that I could support the value of the car with data and furthermore that my methodology for calculating the loss was as outlined by state code. If you can't come to agreement over the value with the insurance company, thats the next step. As a third party you have to litigate directly with the individual whom caused your loss, not with the insurance company. Her contract is with the insurance company to cover her liability for the loss. They are obligated to provide her legal expense compensation as well. They are not going to want to do that over such a small claim. You don't need a laywer for small claims, but you better be pretty well spoken and have your facts straight.
My boss's wife is an insurance adjuster, so she gave me some insight as well... If you have time that is on your side. The insurance companies want to close claims, they are audited and scored internallly on claim closure time. That said, they know how to use the same stall tactics on you as well to make you desperate to get the money now and thus accept less in the end. They will do this up to a point though, eventually they need to close the claim.
Also investigate if they are required in your state to provide a rental car. They may not offer unless you ask. I asked and they said they would if I needed it, I then declined and asked them to instead offer me loss of use payment for the time between the accident and the issuance of the first settlement proposal, which they did.

Luke, thanks again for the great advice and insight. Sorry for the threadjack. I will definitely take this all the way to small claims court if I need to.

I finally talked with the other driver's insurance company today, they have accepted liability based on the police report. They're going to transport my car to an appraisal facility tomorrow where they will go over it and come up with an a value which I'm sure will be too low, they're assuming from my description of the car that it's a total loss (which it certainly is).

They did offer me a rental car without me asking and I declined because I don't need one. I will, however, see if they can issue me a loss of use payment.