pp000830

Recently I have become concerned that if I made a total loss claim for my 993 the value my insurance company would assign to it would not reflect a reasonable replacement value.
Knowing that as soon as I make a claim my insurance company becomes my adversary in negotiating the settlement, I wished to enhance my negotiating position in such matters.

In such a situation there are certain levers of influence I feel I have at my disposal:

• One being how long I have been a customer;
• I have not made a major collision claim in probably 10 years on any of my vehicles;
• I do have other lines of insurance with the carrier, Life & Homeowners;
• My willingness to escalate a claim above the cash limits the adjuster is allowed to make an accommodation by involving an attorney, or at least making a settlement demand on attorney letterhead.

My Insurer informed me that if I had an appraisal made they would be willing to append it to my policy file for future reference during a claim. With this in mind I decided go ahead and add the additional lever in some future negotiation by getting an independent professional appraisal of my 993 and forwarding it as a matter of record to my insurer. I used a local independent appraiser with a cost less than $100 vs one of the national outfits that can be considerably more expensive.

The professional appraiser started with the base value of my car in the NADA Exotic car appraisal book, quite a different base value than the regular NADA book. He then adjusted the value based on the documented major recent service items, upgrades and enhancements made to it. He appended to the appraisal the documentation I provided, a list of all the major service work, upgrades and factory options added. He validated his number by making a thorough search of cars recently sold (comps).
Once complete the value he came up with will allow me to replace the car with one similarly equipped and in similar condition.
I emailed the appraisal to my insurance company who appended it to my policy file. This is no guarantee that in the case of a total loss the underwriter will make me whole. However I feel it does increase the likelihood that they will.

Andy

Ed Burdell

That is exactly the strategy I used, save for the nuance of using exotic NADA listing: 30 years a customer with minimal claims, four cars (now six), three houses, two lives, and one umbrella. My independent appraisal fell far short of replacement value, but after being persistent and unyielding, I finally got an offer that covered the repair cost and then some. I did not want the stigma of a salvage / rebuilt title associated with the car, but I was unsuccessful in talking them out of it. Ironically, the same insurance company is insuring the car again now that it has emerged from its year and a half long rebuild process.

Ed Hughes

Or, you can just go with agreed value at a collector ins co, and call it a day. Premium based on stated value, no appraisal.

P-daddy

^This