I am seeking any legal advise available especially in the state of Ohio on how to get an insurance company of a guilty party to pay for a fair value on my truck. The guilty party slid on an icey road she was going too fast coming the opposite direction ended up t-boning me and pushing me off of the road where I continued to roll it on it's side. Now there insurance company is wanting me to settle for $1200. The truck had the cab and bed off the frame and both the frame and body underside were POR-15ed, had all new shocks, all new pads, rotors, shoes, drums, wheel cylinders, hoses, master cylinder, the upper end of the engine was re-gasketted , new timing chain guides, new fuel pump*, new redline weber 32/36 dgev*, new carpet, new seats from an 08 ranger*, new plugs, wires, cap, rotor, pcv valve, new starter, new radio, new speakers,new chrome 2wd bumper, new valance, new chrome 4wd 87-88 grille, new clear markers, new drivers side fender, 4 New tires. I have photographic proof of a cab of resto as well as 98% of the receipts. I have not put 1300 miles since i bought this vehicle. All of the work was done by me over a period of three months. *= installed on vehicle less than 2 weeks. Vehicle is a 1987 Toyota 2wd RN50 22r 4spd regular cab 6ft. bed. Any legal advise or proof of appraisel value would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance and sorry so lenghty.
I always hate breaking the news....for the most part, insurance companies only pay for value of "stock" vehicle in these situations. Granted I am unfamiliar with Ohio Laws but that might be what you are looking at in this situation. Please someone correct me if I am wrong, but they do not assess the value (blood, sweat and tears...money of course) invested in restoring these vehicles. For the most part, consider that amount of your investment gone but if the truck isn't in too bad of shape, i.e. frame is not twisted/bent, try to force the issue of having the work done to bring it back to stock. Have you notified your insurance company of this situation? Was there a police report stating that you were not at fault?
There was a police report citing the other party at fault. The frame is excellant but cab and bed are trash.
Damn!! Im just glad to hear that you ok. As for what to do there are little to no options when it comes to the value of a vehicle. Here in SC if you get into a wreck the insurance company by law only has to pay what the vehicle at the time is worth, unless you have everything that you added to the vehicle covered!! Take for example my 91 Toyota...Ive got full coverage on it, but Ive got all my add ons, rims/tires & anything of value listed on my policy just incase I get into an accident. If something were to happen then I would get it from either my insurance company cause Im sure the other company wouldnt want to pay. In most cases like yours youll proubly have to sue the person that was drving the vehicle that hit you in order to get the difference in costs. Ive been down that road & its a pain in the ass!!
Hey man sorry about that - it stinks when you put in all that work and money just to have that happen...where do you live? I could come by with a baseball bat to the lady's knees for you. As far as insurance goes all you can really do is write a letter describing the work, attach photos and receipts for parts you bought and send it off. You'll never get anything close to what you spent BUT, you will get more money than if you did nothing at all. Not to be insensitive or anything but...what are going to do with the front bumber, valance and brackets?
sorry to hear dude. an appraisel is usually the best way to go but it only works if its done before the accident. most of your mods seem to be to the chassis and engine, maybe take the $1200, but it back from the insurance company and pick up another one with a blown engine for cheap and swap everything over.
Sorry about your truck man it sounds like you put alot of work into it, but in the state of california and im sure that its pretty universal, the only way you can increase the value of your vehicle with your insurance company is it needs to be modified visually as that it can be photograhed and documented before any accident has accoured, or you need reciepts from a shop that states that the vehicle has been modified internally, or have it appraised by a professional for current value and last you need your insurance company to insure it as a special interest vehicle and you need to pay for it, this is the only way that any insurance company will reconize the value of your truck. otherwise you have a run of the mill 87 toyota truck that has noting done to it and is in the condition that every other 22 year old truck is in. the salvage law is that you can buy your vehicle back for what the insurance company is going to sell it to a salvage yard, i did this with my ex's truck and it paid out, i got 2000 dollars for it and it only cost 1000 dollars to repair it with brand new and top of the line parts.
insurance companys are D's get a independent inspection, from the best body shop you can find. the insurance company HAS to settle with you. you do NOT have to take their 1st offer. they make money by not giving out fair value or not giving any value. they are very sneaky and malicious. i would not count on legal advice from a car forum. i would get actuall legal advice from a lawyer. did you go to a hospital afterwards? any injury's? plain and simple they are trying to F you, to turn a profit. no matter what, do NOT sign ANYTHING, until you have a check in hand that you feel adaquetly covers the loss and/or damage. i dont know about ohio but here in wa, the insurance company's by law have to provide you with a rental until things are settled, which they will pay for. but they do try to make you pay first, promising to re-imburse you, F that noise, demand they get a car and deliver it to you. they will also try to make it out to be your fault, manipulate you into settling for less and anything else they think they can get away with due to any ignorance you may have. get a lawyer. note: nuff is not a lawyer, or a insurance agent. these are simply coffee driven opinions based off of F'd up dealings with insurance companys. lawyers arnt much better then insurance rep's, but they are slighly better and have more of your interest at heart.
I Sent all 68 receipts as well as 20 pictures of the work in progress and it raised the value $60.00. State Farm blows.
Time to part the truck out. Take the cash, get another truck and do the swap. That's what I would do.
UPDATE!! So i have faught with the insurance company for almost a month before completely blowing up on them. I got a third party appraiser that appraises classic and custom vehicles for companies like Hagerty to come and apraise what it would have been worth had it not been wrecked. The insurance company had to pay for the appraisel of course. They ended up giving me $2603 for the vehicle a far cry from $1200.
Sorry about what happened to it, State Farm does suck! They didn't do s*** for me when I had my accident in 2007, and the total of parts I needed was only around $85. Sure, I do have liability coverage, but it's rediculous that they didn't make the broad who hit me pay a cent (she was talking on her cell phone!). Most expensive car wash I ever did! Good luck on the restart! And finally they gave you closer to what it's worth, 2WD trucks are worth somewhere around $3000 and 4WD's are somewhere around $5000 where I live. They still should have given you more!
having worked a body shop I've learned a little about insurance companies first off - they will try to make everything your fault, they do this to scare off the majority of people second- they will low ball you third- they will give you the run around and make everything take longer than it should unless you are forceful and only deal with supervisors fourth- they know they can intimidate and lowball most people and get away with it (they are trying to make the most money possible since they are a business) and the only way to get them to cooperate most of the time is being very clear and forceful but not rude. Also when it comes to older vehicles they will always screw you on the offered value. Best thing to do is find out what comparable vehicles (has to be same year/gen) of your vehicle are selling for on craigslist, ebay, autotrader etc. Find the most expensive ones and take them to the insurance company as proof of the value of your vehicle. Lastly demand they give you that fair market value AND you get to keep the vehicle without "buying it back".
Great Idea, I don't plan on totalling my truck, but if those b******s think they can screw with me, they will be proven wrong, just need a better job where I can afford better coverage.
