'88 S4 Attacked While Passive
 

While its master was getting a haircut, a MD State Highway Administration truck attacked the front left fender, etc. of my beautiful '88 S4 while innocently parked a seemingly safe distance away in the lot.
During the repair estimating process, the computer paused halfway through and said 'Car Total Loss' at $5,500. Mine is a beautiful example of an S4 worth $10k+-. Does anyone have ideas or experiences on how to convince the self insured state of Maryland that the car is worth thousands more than $5,500?

That's really too bad.

actually, its not that bad. just a fender painted black and a turn signal lense.
its not that hard to get the fender off the car. you could take the fenders to a shop and have them painted (matching the paint to the old fender) then, bolt it righton. the nose doesnt look too bad. If it was between salvage and no cash and losing the car, i would do what I suggest. BUT, you are right. there has to be a way to get more out of the state or the insurance company the loss.

but, if you can get 5500 and get the car back as salvage, you can get it fixed yourself for much less, easily. you might have to live with the scratched lower bumper area, but with a new fender painted to match, the bumper stuff could be touched up and look fine. Or, if you needed the front bumper taken off and painted, you could do that too and the car would be perfect again.

Total loss can be calculated by the amount total of parts. Parts will quickly equal 5500 and what you are trying to do is get the VALUE of the CAR to where you want it. I had a truck that was going to be 6500 dollars to fix. Since the truck was valued at 13,000 - they did not fix it. But they had to give me 13000 dollars. That said - you are dealing with a municipality who has insured themselves. This adds complexity (like you didn't know that)

Wow, bag of downers ... I'm with Mark, take the $ and scare up good used fender and bumper cover (bet you can find good black ones if you look around).

At least you are offered some compensation. I lived in a gated community and a garbage truck ran into the exit gate on his way out. The city threatened to fight us over it, claiming the gate was struck because it malfunctioned. Even though we had garbage pick up by similar trucks every week for ten years without any 'malfunction' ;-)

I just ran a quick search NADA search it only goes back to 91 bet they list a clean retail price of $16,025 in the 21401 zip. I would think that theris probably alisting that goes back to 88 somewhere. try going to the P dealer and see if they have suggested retail values for older vehicles.

Problem with taking the money and getting the car back is that it's forever on a salvage title if you let them total it and take it, then give it back as salvage.

Cash without them declaring the car a total, maybe so.

You can argue the value with recent sales of similar cars, things like that. "Book value" doesn't mean much to collector cars. Actual Cash Value is what you need to prove up, and if examples are selling for $15k for example, then that's the actual cash value. Probably need an attorney but I'm not sure I'd accept their offer so quickly.

Depends on how much you want to fight it.

You need to be made whole, no matter what the estimator cost of salvage is. If you car is marketable at $10k then demand that and fight for it. You will need to prove your valuation, but I can't see where that would be a problem.

Don't forget loss of use, rental car, diminished value. There are appraisers everywhere, find three that agree with your valuation before the accident and get them to write it up. Each appraisal should be about $70-100. That shows you're serious. Once you get the cash, or the valuation agreed to you can THEN discuss buying the car back from the insurer as a salvage. The insurer will typically but not always offer it to you first rather than an auction because they will get a bit more from you.

Show them this to start:

http://www.cars.com/for-sale/searchr...MENT&pgId=2102

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/search...=1262808553110


These are asking prices, but should be representative of the fleet. What I've done in the past is that if they get sticky about the money owed tell them to go out on the market and buy you a replacement vehicle with similar age, condition, mileage and accessories. That usually shuts them up.

If you decide to repair it , I am local enough to perform the repairs. All I do is Porsche. You can search me here on Rennlist. Good luck to you and your 928,
Kevin

Asinine that someone (anyone) that causes property damage can self declare their liability limit.

I've seen Kevin's and Rick's operation, not had work done there; it is first class. Paul Champagne had paint work done there, that should say something. I don't know the details, but I think Kevin values his rep, etc., etc.

MY BROTHER HAS A FENDER FOR SALE !

I agree. Tell the insurance adjuster to just go out and get you a comparable model with same miles and equipment for what they offer you, then have them pony up the dough for your car if they won't.

It should not be that much to fix. I have all the parts (fender, turn signal, fender liner etc) minus the front bumper and fog assembly.

That's really not that much work. Fenders can be had for $200-$400, Get some clear corners, and the bumper cover(might be saved?) and paint... done $2000-$2500 Make sure they write you a check for around $4000, though.:p