Correct the adjuster's job is to settle quickly and for the least $$$ possible. They view cars as a commodity nothing special, unique or particularly valuable. The ONLY thing they FEAR is medical claims, injury. For every high value add you find they will find two low value ones and then argue that asking price and selling price are far different, typically 75%.
I have had some customers in the past who were quite pleased with their settlements but that only proves that adjuster "valuations" are very subjective and often very wrong .....
It is a negotiation but one where you as an individual have little power and nothing you say to an adjuster is anything new....they often have 50 or so cases open at any point in time. And threatening to sue or hire an attorney is no threat at all.

 

I am always amazed on how the definition of "whole" can be so variable.

 

the valuation that I put up in post #12 should be pretty close. When there are not many real examples out there to look at as comps, you must rely on the recognized appraisal tools, and sources like Haggerty and Sports Car Market (SCM) are two of the most recognized. They both show 928 values in general moving up more than a little bit. As I mentioned, an 86.5 is a special subset worth more. Interior condition, exterior condition and mechanical condition all add or subtract from the equation as the case may be. I suspect Debbie's car is on the high end. I'd say low to mid-twenties, and use the sources to substantiate that. If you want to get a higher value than that, you will need to find real comps that sold at higher prices, not comps where the ask is higher. Very difficult to find actual "sold" values in the market with limited production cars like ours.

 

Unless I'm badly mistaken, your own insurance company is definitely relevant. It's a big reason to get agreed-value insurance, to cover the most likely situation. But the limit on your own collision/comprehensive portion of your policy can easily be higher than the driver at fault, who may also have no assets to go after beyond insurance. Typical state requirements for property damage liability are not very high - only $10,000 in NY. The maximum from my company is $50,000 - not enough to cover any new Porsche. I have an umbrella policy to raise this and other liability limits.

 

Just saw this...glad no one was hurt badly. Hope you get it straighten out soon but I think it will take awhile.

 

Thank God she's alright Dins. Sorry to hear about the car. Life is more important than machines though.

 

First, sorry this happened and be glad the 928 does a great job for its age of protecting occupants.


I just learned quite a bit from Jerry and others by reading this thread. I also believe that each State has its own standards, so make sure the advise offered applies in Tx.


Real world experience many years ago in CA. In '91 a lady ran a red and I hit her with my '73 Bronco. AAA insurance which I thought would fight for my lost value. Nothing doing. Accident caused by the other with USAA insurance, and AAA fought me tooth and nail on valuation, even after I provided independent appraisals and much support for value.


Ended up in arbitration, AAA brought an attorney to fight me (unbelievable since they are just going to subrogate the claim to the responsible insurance company). In the end, they only had comps from KBB (what we had in those days) so the judge awarded me my claimed value AND the wreck which I was fortunate to part out for some pretty good bucks.


This took 18 months. If you are going to fight, prepare to go to the mattresses. Vindication was worth it in my case, ymmv.


Best of luck!

 

Dins, I went online looking for some legal authority about the question of a salvage title requirement when a car has been declared totaled but the owner keeps possession of it. What I found is an 80 page book and which relates to the law in Texas. I have printed it out and highlighted a bit of it what I think relates. I'll send you the whole book tomorrow. I can't tell just how current the law might be, but I suspect it is current.

The crux of it is that Texas is what they refer to as a 100% state. They contrast that to Iowa which is 50%. What that means is that if the cost of repair is equal to or greater than the pre-collision value of the car it must be re-titled as salvage. That does not appear to bear much on how a claim might be settled, which I think, might still be the cost of repair plus the diminished value plus the salvage value being equal to or greater than the prior value. It is only the cost of repair being 100%.

The change of title issue seems very strict in that ONLY if the cost of repair by itself is equal to or greater than the prior value must the salvage title be issued; and the law requires any insurance company, your's or the other guy's, that has found a vehicle to be un-repairable, they must report that to the state and the state will then send you a notice that your title is cancelled and must be reissued as salvage.

The definition of un-repairable is that it can be used only for scrap or parts. Then this is defined as having the cost of repair equal to or greater than the prior value. Again, the diminished value and salvage value do not play a part in this determination (whereas they probably will in a settlement). I think that means that one could reach a settlement based on the total loss/value calculation with all the factors included, but not require the title to be changed.

For example I think that if your 928 was worth $24K prior to the accident and the cost of repair is, say, $18K, and the diminished value is $8K, and the salvage value is $2.5K, a salvage title should not be required, but your settlement might only be $21.5K ($24K minus $2.5K) based on the jury instruction of totaled, and you keep the car. The other parts of your claim will be on top of this, of course, and play no part in the car settlement.

I hope it came out well with Debbie at the Doctor's.

 

Jerry,
This is Miss Debbie.
I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the research you are doing to help us in this situation.
I always knew I was driving a very special vehicle, but I never imagined that I was part of such a special group of people.
The care and concern that you all have exhibited leaves me awe struck, I can't wait to meet you all at future 928 events, hopefully driving a new 86.5.
Much Love to you all
Debbie

 

The wife asked, what is a SUPER USER?
I said , Its a Rennlist term for socialist.

 

Very sorry for your accident, but glad your wife Debbie is Ok. It goes to show what a stout car a 928 is, and Mr. Wilhoit would certainly agree.
That looked to be a very nice, low miles example of a 86.5, and a nice color combo also!, and I am very sorry to see this happened!
If the front frame rails are bent , and not Crushed, in the crush zones, the car would be repairable, and a experienced frame man could confirm this, which may require some disassembly, to gain access to confirm, I would certainly recommend having this inspection done, because there is a possibility that the insurance company may elect to total it, even if the frame rails are just bent. Even if the car is considered totaled by a insurance company the Owner of the car always has first right of refusal to buy it back or not. Which usually is very cheap, because it would then have salvage history on the title, but also because it cost the insurance company money to dispose of the vehicle at auction. There is transport, storage, and administration fees involved. You are actually doing them a favor by buying it back, when you settle with them.
True salvage history on a title does diminish it's value, but if its fixed correctly by someone very competent, and can be put back to the condition -like before the accident happened. With the money settled upon, and including get the car back, there is a probability that you could actually come out ahead financially.
If you do decide to get the car repaired, and find you need a donor car for structural parts, I do have access to a undamaged 1985 us 928 shell in Charlotte N.C. , which you could probably have for the shipping fees or pick-up. Let me know if I could help in this regard.

 

Lou
You are such a sweet man to offer this to us.
We don't know what we are going to do as the settlement is still up in the air.
The journey to come and collect the car would be epic.
I would love to see Dins and Tony on an adventure again, they are an awesome team and it would get Dinsdale out of my hair for a few days.
He is a handful.
Once again, thank you so much for the kind offer and we will be in touch as soon as we know more.
Miss Debbie

 

Man, hate to see these threads pop up, but stuff happens. No injury is the most important part, and that's the only silver lining here.

I'm in the ~$20k ballpark on this car value as well. Guessing the ins adjuster will peg it at ~$12k, and at that valuation - yes, they will declare it a total loss. Part of the equation is the adjuster's knowledge of the repair costs for a vintage Porsche. Frex, if taken to Porsche dealer and they start adding up parts and labor things will get out of hand very quick. A qualified adjuster will know this, and just write it off as low as they can get away with.

However it turns out with the insurance, do insist on keeping the car after all is done. I'm sure with the expertise here, and a good chassis guy, we can have it back on the road. One quick place to start is checking the door jamb gaps at the rear of the door where it meets the striker plate. Look at that gap back in there, and see if there is a large difference from top to bottom. Also, open and close the door and see if it closes easily as it did prior to the accident, or if there is some resistance, or scraping. This will be a quick indicator of chassis mis-alignment and the extent of the repairs needed. Of course, the 928 is a very strong car, hoping for the best. Keep us informed.

 

Doc, the door gaps are perfect! They shut like a vault door even though the nose of the car is mashed.
After a thorough inspection, I agree that the car will be written off.
I'm preparing for the meeting with the adjuster now. We have several 928s to use as visual aid's. Even an 1986 5sp to show him to show him the differences.

Now we wait.

 

I just heard you were looking for recent $ales data on 85 to 86 MY's, PM on it's way

Also glad to hear you all doing well at this time, as said sometimes it takes weeks for back and neck to show up.

Dave K