v-tach

i just dropped off my girl, coming home - sober by the way - a little too fast on a turn - hit some ice - lost control of the car - i could not regain - then spun and hit a tree. this sucks ! my car was a totally mint 1987 951 with 50,000 miles. i had aflat bed tow it to a local gas station. i have not yet called my insurance company. im with geico - i have full coverage - but i know i prob wont regain fair market value on my car. this sucks as it was only two days ago that i was looking at a new policy - agreed value.
please comment - what should i do first ?
im alright got alittle bruised up but could have been worse - thank god !
i will post pics prob tomorrow.
vtach <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

special tool

50,000 miles? Uggggghhh.

dmoffitt

my condolances and that from several friends who saw this thread i know how it feels to loose a p-car, not fun by any means <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" />

just keep this in mind tho: cars can be replaced, people cant. at least you are ok and at least your girl wasn't with you (mine was in the car when we flipped cuz i fell asleep. DOH - she is/was fine but never really forgave me)

Russ Murphy

Yeah, keep in mind that at the day's end you're quite fortunate. It's nice that you can talk to us and that nobody else was hurt either. I feel your pain in regards to a beautiful 951 lost. Keep a positive outlook and try to establish a rapport with the claims adjuster. Give them some data relating to the disparity between "blue book" and market value for these cars. How exactly is the value of your car established in your policy?

tazman

Glad your ok man. That sucks about the car. It sounds like you just have to report it to your insurance then haggle with them to try to get a fair settlement.

Dwayne Williams

Yeah - that really bites. Watch out for the insurance folks - my buddy bought a 914 and got rear-ended THE DAY IT WAS DELIVERED by a soccer mom in her Excursion. The insurance folks initially wanted to total the car and give him about $1K for it. The damage wasn't anywhere near that bad and was completely fixable so after months of screaming and yelling he did finally get a little more $$ and a non-totaled settlement. What really helped him was he pulled together all the documentation he could find: cost of car, cost of parts and upgrades, cost of other cars being sold (newspaper, eBay, magazines, etc...). And even with a mountain of stuff he still had to argue like crazy to get any sort of decent settlement - but the documentation did help him get that better settlement so you may want to try that route.

guardsred951S

Really sorry to hear about that! But as everyone has said, at least you or anyone else wasn't hurt.

I've been through the whole ordeal myself with my first 951 - it really hurt to see my baby all munched like that. Here's what I'd do:

1. Like Russ said, get to know the people you'll be dealing with because they're your best way to a good deal.
2. Obviously, you'll want to get every piece of paper that has $$ on it that relates to the car together to help contest any doubts about its value. All receipts, appraisals, pictures (these help when they say "Well that scratch was there before the crash and would have cost XXX$ to fix)...everything.
3. Don't be afraid to turn down an offer if it's not what you think the car is worth. The reality is that few people actually know the value of these cars and it'll cost them just as much to go to arbitration and then still have to pay the extra $$ for the car. When my car was munched, they hired some "car expert" that somehow put a price on the car which was reasonable but if I'd know how the system worked, I would have grilled 'em for every last dollar. This "expert" just went on the internet to see how much they were selling for!

Hope this helps!

<img border="0" alt="[cheers]" title="" src="graemlins/beerchug.gif" />

Asahi

Sorry to hear that. Good thing that you're Ok. How bad is the damage on the car? If the damage is not that bad, you may want to consider the option of declaring total loss and then buying the car back from the insurance company. It's would be a shame to send a 50K 1987 951 to rest.

87951CJN

Very sorry to hear about you losing your car. As everyone here is saying, thanks goodness you are ok and it's only the car.

Good luck with the insurance.