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View Poll Results: What is the value of this 1982 300TD?
$2,500 to $3,000 0 0%
$3,000 to $3,500 0 0%
$3,500 to $4,000 2 7.14%
$4,000 to $4,500 1 3.57%
$4,500 to $5,000 10 35.71%
More than $5,000 15 53.57%
Voters: 28. You may not vote on this poll

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  #1  
Old 12-30-2003, 04:02 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Madison, NJ
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Poll: Value My 300 TD for Insurance Claim!

Here is some background in regards to the poll above (You can also see photo below) - My 1982 300TD hit a deer earlier this month and my insurance company (USAA) wants to total it. They say the total value of the car is $2,900.00 though I believe it is significantly more. Repairs are going to cost approximately $2800 and Insurance co says repairs cannot cost more than 65% of the value of the car or else it is "totalled". That means the car would need to be worth at least $4,300 to not be totalled. What do you think?. Here is some background on the car: 1982 300TD - navy blue exterior, dark blue interior (MB tex). I paid $5,700 for it 2 years ago (plus shipping cost $750 from FL to NJ) The car has 214K on it, was a FL car till 2 yrs ago, always garaged, high gloss shine, no rust at all, interior in near perfect condition (no holes, no wear and tear, no dashboard cracks, like new), impeccably maintained, all records, totally rebuilt front end suspension, new brakes, new master cylinder, new hoses, rear suspension works perfectly (new globes), AC blows cold (converted), Heat blows hot (new mono valve and blower motor rebuild), looks like a million. Please give me your honest expert opinion on the value of this car and i will forward on to Insurance co along with listings I have found. Also, if you post a reply please list any expertise/credentials that may be helpful in convincing the insurance co of the validity of your insight. Thanks a ton!

Paul Morgan


Last edited by pkmorgan17; 12-30-2003 at 04:45 PM.
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  #2  
Old 12-30-2003, 04:10 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Madison, NJ
Posts: 117
Here is a photo

Here is a photo of the 1982 300TD to be valued
Attached Thumbnails
Poll: Value My 300 TD for Insurance Claim!-300td_photo_11_03.jpg  
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  #3  
Old 12-30-2003, 04:12 PM
GottaDiesel's Avatar
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Location: New Jersey
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If the car is as perfect as you say... which I trust it is... Tell the insurance company to fix it and I'll bring them the $3850 they think it isn't worth.

If you put a car like that on autotrader or ebay it would get $5000+ easily.

Pete

P.S. I'm in NJ too... so don't let them give you any 'market' BS.
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  #4  
Old 12-30-2003, 04:19 PM
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Join Date: May 2001
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,373
I have an '85 300TD and paid $5000 for it in May of 2001. At that time it had 200k miles, 6 rust areas (slight bubbling types...nothing through the paint), great shine and perfect interior.

I since have felt that I overpaid for it because the rust has continued to work its magic. However, I voted on $5k or more on your poll due to the fact of how well maintained yours is and its appearance.

Don
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'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
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  #5  
Old 12-30-2003, 04:27 PM
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Location: Brandon, Mississippi
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Adjusters

Tell your adjuster you do not want a "economic" or "constructive" loss settlement that you want a "comparative" settlement. Look at the Appraisal Clause in your policy. If you and your insurance company do not agree as to the settlement value of your auto damage claim, either you or the company may invoke the Appraisal Clause. That means you would hire an appraiser to represent your interests, the insurance company would hire an appraiser to represent their interests and those two [2] would hire a third appraiser to act as "umpire" or "Referee". In the event the first two appraisers fail to reach an agreement as to a reasonable settlement value, they would each submit their respective work product to the third appraiser for determination.

It's a bunch of work and in your case there is not big $$'s between you and the adjuster - probably will allow you to get repaired.
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  #6  
Old 12-30-2003, 04:41 PM
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Location: Madison, NJ
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here is another photo

Here is another photo showing the other side of the car (I have since removed the chrome trim around the doors)
Attached Thumbnails
Poll: Value My 300 TD for Insurance Claim!-300td_3.jpg  
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  #7  
Old 12-30-2003, 09:20 PM
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Location: Atlanta, GA
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I had to fight the same fight a couple of years ago when someone rear-ended my SD.

The damage was visually minor looking, but required some more complex bodywork to fix, so I wanted my MB-only shop to fix it, to make sure it was done right. They wanted to do the salvage title thing, so I could keep the car instead of totalling it and getting another one. I said no way, because that will kill the resale value of my car (of course I didn't tell them that I NEVER intend to sell the car).

I said to them, "Your customer hit my car. You are contractually and legally obligated to return my car to the condition it was in before your customer hit it. I want to keep THIS car, not another car. I don't want the value of this car ruined by a salvage title, or bad bodywork. Send an adjuster to verify the great condition of this car, and all the money and effort I've spent getting it there, and that person will see why you MUST fix this car."

They did, and I got the money to fix it properly at the body shop of MY preference.

Don't let the bastards walk all over you. It is the adjuster's job help the insurance company honor the claim at the lowest cost possible, but times like this are why you've been paying thier exorbitant premiums for all these years--they will fix your car if you are firm with them.

Mike
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_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

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  #8  
Old 12-31-2003, 10:28 AM
Peyton300TD's Avatar
S124 owner
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Marina Del Rey, CA
Posts: 1,072
Insurance paid $6,200 for my TD

State farm offered me $5,500 and I wouldn't accept. I told her how rare the wagons are, how immaculate mine is, all the little extras the car had that are hard to come by... and eventually talked her up to $6,200.

Having photos and a well organized defense helps a lot. They will try to compare your car to ones for sale in your area over the computer.

Totaling it out is still a good thing though because you get to buy your car back for about $600 and keep the rest of the money to put into the car.

For example, I got a check for $6,200, then paid them $800 for the car (salvage title). That means I had $5,600 left to repair it. Repairs only costed $4,500. that left me an extra $1,100 to do whatever I wanted.

good luck

eric
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  #9  
Old 12-31-2003, 05:33 PM
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Re: Insurance paid $6,200 for my TD

Quote:
Originally posted by Peyton300TD
Totaling it out is still a good thing though because you get to buy your car back for about $600 and keep the rest of the money to put into the car.

For example, I got a check for $6,200, then paid them $800 for the car (salvage title). That means I had $5,600 left to repair it. Repairs only costed $4,500. that left me an extra $1,100 to do whatever I wanted.
It can be a good thing financially, but having a salvage title still SERIOUSLY hurts the resale value of the car if you ever intend to do so. People will see "salvage title" and assume the worst, and will of course expect to buy your car at a much lower price.

Mike
__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic
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  #10  
Old 01-01-2004, 10:26 AM
Peyton300TD's Avatar
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Re: Re: Insurance paid $6,200 for my TD

Quote:
Originally posted by mikemover
It can be a good thing financially, but having a salvage title still SERIOUSLY hurts the resale value of the car if you ever intend to do so. People will see "salvage title" and assume the worst, and will of course expect to buy your car at a much lower price.

Mike
Mike makes a great point. I don't plan on selling my car, that's why a salvage title doesn't bother me.

At the same time however, let's say you're looking for a relatively rare specimen of a car, like a TD. and you see a very clean spotless one. yet it has a salvage title, you're still going to pay whatever the market demands for a car like that. yeah it's been in a wreck and that's a drawback - but as long as it was fixed well, and better than the other specimen's, i assume you'd get just as much despite the title (knowing how little the cars are worth at this point anyways - now if they were still $35,000 cars, then yea it would suffer even more i think).
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  #11  
Old 01-01-2004, 01:26 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: st. louis, mo
Posts: 13
Insurance Claim

Since you state you hit a deer, I assume you will be making a first party claim to your insurance company, under your comprehensive coverage. Know your policy language first. It propbably states you are owed an "actual cash value" of the veh or a market value.

If you and the insurance company cannot agree on an amount, there is also probably an arbitration clause on first party claims in which you can envoke an arbitrator to determine the value. The down side for you is the cost of obtaining this as the insurance company will not pay for this, however if data is on your side, this can be a good way to get your $$ value. Also, the insurance company normally will go up in the offer to avoid this as it is very time consuming and a pain in the butt for a disagreement of only $2,000. Use this as your last resort.

To back up your value, get details on how they came up with theirs. You should then pull NADA, Edmunds, NADA Classic cars, and every web listing you can find, to show values of vehicles like yours. If you check the NADA classic values, the low retail is 4k on your car with high of 11k.

Throw every value and every car you can find on the net at them, along with every detail on your car. Do not give up on slamming them with information. Shoot them a high value and "settle" for the right value.

I was a manager in claims for over 10 years. As a general rule, all consumers think their veh's are worth more than they are, and every adjuster thinks they are worth less than they are. The difference is the one person is looking at it strictly from a transportation thing, and the owner has more at stake both $$ and emotionally.

That being said, you should be able to get 4-5k on this if you do the above, based on a quick search of values. If all fails, and you have some data that backs 5k, invoke the arbitration clause and see where that gets you..

Good Luck..

http://www3.nadaguides.com/Values/ValueCategoryReport.asp?UserID=5108065387E85&DID=37987&wSec=2&wPg=1207&CategoryId=12&MakeId=1115&VehicleId=36828&Year=1982&ColorId=
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  #12  
Old 01-01-2004, 01:35 PM
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Location: st. louis, mo
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Insurance claim

One more thing...

The insurance company may have another concern of raising the value to 4k. If they do so and the veh becomes "repairable", they are then on the hook to repair the vehicle properly and to completion.

IE.. they could get in to the repair, have supplements from the shop, and end up paying 4k for the repair. (not sure if there was a tear down prior to the initial estimate). This is the biggest fear as companies :
1. hate to repair a veh that should have been totalled.
2. do not want the liability of not repairing a veh fully and properly. Hence sometimes it is easier to total a veh vs repair, especially on older veh.

The solution to this:
1. Get the value high enough to not make the veh a total
2. as a concession, agree contractually to a repair amount. Get the veh torn down, contractually agree to a repair amount, so that the ins company is assured that they will not get supplemented to death.

Just another way to keep a clean title on the car if that is what you want, all based on substantiating that the value is high enough to repair vs replace..
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  #13  
Old 01-01-2004, 03:43 PM
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Mmm.... Diesel.
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: N. NJ
Posts: 434
Over $5000 easily

I've seen your car. You've seen my car. Both are equally impeccable. The price I paid for mine was a $7000, and you've seen the car. If it's any help at all, the adjuster is welcome to come down the road from your house to see my car. Or, if you want to come by, you could take detailed pictures of mine. Mine's an 83' with 184,000.
-Chris
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  #14  
Old 01-01-2004, 03:48 PM
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Mmm.... Diesel.
 
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Wink Redundant?

OK, half of the wording in my last post was not needed.
Maybe the New Year's champagne hasn't worn off.
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  #15  
Old 01-09-2004, 05:16 PM
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well it's done

Well, it's done. i got USAA to finally agree that the car was not totalled but that was only accomplished after the repairs came in at $2100. So end result, car fixed, not totalled, done. Thanks to everyone for their help!

Paul

PS that E-bay listing is at $7600 now...

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