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Putting myself in the OP's shoes, I don't want the car back. I am too **** about the little things, so I will constantly be hearing noises, or thinking the car doesn't feel right. Basically my enjoyment of owning this car is dead. So the only acceptable outcome for me is replacement of the car, or enough money to buy the same, plus taxes, etc.
Knowing what I know about insurance companies, I would get an attorney to make sure the outcome is fair. Because otherwise I would almost be certain I was going to come out on the short end of the stick on this one.
Shop owner needs to source a car with same or very close specs (but no wrecks of course) to yours and give you title. He can keep the damaged vehicle and fix it, salvage it etc and deal with it thru his insurance. He may not have the pockets for this but it's what I would demand given you have no fault here. If your insurance does the right thing it's what's going to end up happening (either thru your agreed value cash settlement or them giving you a new car). I dealt with one dimished value claim on an early 997 turbo wrecked (but not totaled) thru no fault of the owner. The at fault party's insurance tendered and we sued the driver. Took 18 months and a bankruptcy to squeeze 20k out of her after the drivers insurance covered the repairs. All lawyers (including p car owner) so minimal (just filing fees).
Does the owner happen to have a teenage son? The owner riding shotgun immediately popped in my head when I saw the passenger airbag had been deployed.
Definitely look for security cameras around the scene of the crash. Also find out if the shop has security cameras, so you can see who got in both the driver and passenger seats.
Attorney here. Depending on your state you are going to have a very difficult time obtaining diminution in value compensation from your insurance company on your own (especially given the nature of this car. $50k hit seems very realistic, maybe more if you paid way over MSRP). One strategy for a reasonable recovery is going to be a combination of your insurance repairing the RS plus cash compensation from the owner. Should that fail (not all small business owners have that kid of cheddar just sitting around), you will need to sue the owner to get a crack at his commercial insurance policy.
Good luck. If you don't already have an attorney that you work with, now is probably a good time to find one.
As an attorney I agree. That's why I posted above that he should have the shop make a claim under their liability policy. If they can get coverage under that policy they will cover the full damages.
Not to get too technical but liability policies often exclude damage cause by use of a vehicle because they leave it to the auto policy to cover those. However, this is a bailment situation which arose out of his business in enhancing performance of cars. He had to test the car to further his business work and in doing so damaged the product he was working on thereby triggering the liability policy.
Of course this is merely speculation on my part since I am not privy to the facts of the case and policy language.
UPDATE: Insurance fight has started. Nick you are bang on, I am pushing (as is my insurance) for them to tap the liability policy. Gave shop owner the option this am to purchase the car outright, deal w/ claim on his side. As expected, no $$$. We are going to get the offer from his side (adjuster to the car today or tomorrow) our guess is they say X$$ damage for fixing plus some value for diminutive depreciation (won't accept that) and I will pull claim on my side and the agreed value policy will kick in (my side is very confident they will wipe it given the collector car status its insured under w/ agreed value). I appreciate all the input on the board, my attorney has been invaluable in predicting how this would go. Will keep with the updates and finally a full story.
UPDATE: Insurance fight has started. Nick you are bang on, I am pushing (as is my insurance) for them to tap the liability policy. Gave shop owner the option this am to purchase the car outright, deal w/ claim on his side. As expected, no $$$. We are going to get the offer from his side (adjuster to the car today or tomorrow) our guess is they say X$$ damage for fixing plus some value for diminutive depreciation (won't accept that) and I will pull claim on my side and the agreed value policy will kick in (my side is very confident they will wipe it given the collector car status its insured under w/ agreed value). I appreciate all the input on the board, my attorney has been invaluable in predicting how this would go. Will keep with the updates and finally a full story.
If they decide to total loss the car I'll give you 10K for it
As an attorney I agree. That's why I posted above that he should have the shop make a claim under their liability policy. If they can get coverage under that policy they will cover the full damages.
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But OP has an agreed value policy, so he's not gonna lose a dime. Other than (possibly) losing his deductible, why do anything more than claim under his own policy and let his insurance sue for recovery? I can see the logic in his contacting the other party just to see if he wants to make it simple and pay him off directly, but once that fails, I don't see why the OP would even stay in the process. Take his check from his insurance and move on. That's part of why we pay such ridiculous collision premiums, for this very type of situation.
Fair question. With an agreed value the OP agreed to an amount the car is worth should there be a total loss. I have no idea what that is. I doubt that it is more than what he paid for the car. It could be less than what the car is worth. Also, if he turns to his own company to pay the claim, depending on his company they may raise his premium or not write the policy when it comes up for renewal. If he submits his a claim to the shop's policy, there would not be any charge back by his own carrier.
BTW, if he decides to submit his claim to his own carrier he would have to pay the deductible but his carrier would try to get it back form the shop insurance company when they file their subrogation claim.
They should buy this one for you. Looks exactly like it. I mean exactly, that's until... What a coincidence, there last Wednesday. "On deck for tomorrow", then ...
Fair question. With an agreed value the OP agreed to an amount the car is worth should there be a total loss. I have no idea what that is. I doubt that it is more than what he paid for the car. It could be less than what the car is worth. Also, if he turns to his own company to pay the claim, depending on his company they may raise his premium or not write the policy when it comes up for renewal. If he submits his a claim to the shop's policy, there would not be any charge back by his own carrier.
BTW, if he decides to submit his claim to his own carrier he would have to pay the deductible but his carrier would try to get it back form the shop insurance company when they file their subrogation claim.
I've been through multiple claims where I was not at fault and just took the payout through my carrier, including a total loss on a brand new A6. No impact whatsoever on my rates and each time I got my deductible back. Both were with GEICO and they told me flat out that since I wasn't at fault, there would be no increase in my rates. Only time I didn't go through my carrier was when a teenager ran a light and broadsided me on a motorcycle. There were serious injuries involved in that one and his insurance stepped up immediately to pay out the full policy, so there was no need to go through my carrier.
Life's too short. I say let the carrier sort it out. They're really good at that stuff.
As for the diminished value I would definitely say it is a $50k diminished as a minimum.
I'll take this a step further. The future buyer of this car would only be a guy like me (too underfunded to buy a clean one) OR a guy looking to make a track car.
In my case, I would be a buyer at $50k back of sticker, NOT the current market value, so you are looking at $100k of DV minimum.
I'll take this a step further. The future buyer of this car would only be a guy like me (too underfunded to buy a clean one) OR a guy looking to make a track car.
In my case, I would be a buyer at $50k back of sticker, NOT the current market value, so you are looking at $100k of DV minimum.
This sounds right. -$50k of MSRP and I'd buy, assuming no major structural issues.
My insurance agent and I discussed rates on a subrogated (Thanks!) claim but ultimately the rate doesn't go up enough. I am going to end up pulling my claim through my insurance to tap the agreed value, outside of punching the ticket on shop owners liability policy to make it a whole claim. I also agree the car is probably $150k fixed assuming no structural. $100k from market is probably right.
I think you mean subrogated, but yes, I think that's the smart play, even if your rates went up by that. You'd spend 10x on one day's lawyer time and/or the value of your own time. And don't worry, your insurance company will be all over him like a spider monkey.
02-27-2017, 09:28 AM
