Salvage Title?

[Stanley]

About two weeks ago I got rear-ended, the driver's insurance company accepted full responsibility. Doesn't look too bad (still street-legal and drivable), but I took it to the body shop that repaired and painted it when I got hit a few years ago; they removed the rear interior panel and pointed out that the floor pan is pushed in at the spare tire area.

 

They (body shop) said the insurance company might total it, in that case I would get a check and a salvage title, and would be able to fix it and pocket a little cash.

 

I might not have any options, but I'm wondering what having a salvage title would do to the value of my Z.  Not that it's a show car or professional resto, it's just a reasonably clean and good-running daily driver.

 

 

[jfa.series1]

Generally, if a car is totaled the owner gets a check for the current/book value of the car and the insurance company takes title - i.e. they just bought the car from the owner.  The insurance company will then sell the car for salvage.  Some insurance companies will allow the now prior owner to bid on the car and buy it back out of the settlement.  That's when the car gets a salvage title.

 

As to the impact on future value, take a lot pictures of the car before and after repairs to document the extent of damage and how it was handled.  Only a future buyer can determine if it has significant impact on the price he/she is willing to pay.

[djwarner]

In May 2013, I was rear-ended in much the same manner as you. At first I thought the insurance company would total it.

 

The rear bumper was crushed forward 8.5", the floor pan was wrinkled and the right rear fender was buckled at the top of the wheel well. In fact, my spare was properly inflated and when the spare wheel well collapsed, the spare tire spread the loads minimizing the damage on the driver's side.

 

In preparation, I down loaded the Hagerty price guidelines. When the adjuster arrived, I showed him the average value north of $14G and told him I could produce receipts in excess of $10G. Told him that if he wanted to total it, I would demand the insurance company find a replacement vehicle in like condition.

 

The adjuster admitted that he also had a collector car and understood my position. He also admitted that it would probably take them a year to find a vehicle in similar condition. After that all talks of totaling the vehicle were dropped and he wrote a repair estimate over $6.6K.

 

The body shop pulled out the car on a frame straightener, cut the floor pan in half and inserted a salvage panel and new spare tire well. They then removed the rear valence and rear panel with intent of replacing them with salvage panels. They found the original panels had little or no rust and were much better than any salvage panel they could find. So they ended up mending the original panels and reinstalling them.

[Stanley]

Scary stuff.  Hope I'm concerned over nothing.

 

That photo looks a little worse than mine, but 6.6K, wow. I never thought about value before, since I plan to keep and drive the car, not flip it.

[jfa.series1]

DJ - congrats on saving that great looking Series1

[Patcon]

I would advise against a salvage title. I deal with a lot of salvage cars. A branded title reduces the vehicle value to 80% of fair market or more. If the insurance company totals it and titles it in their name it will be salvage. Even if you buy the salvage back from the insurance company. Many people who look at cars are scared off by salvage titles. I don't care as long as the car has been repaired properly. Although many don't get repaired properly! It is just easier to avoid the salvage title all together...my 2 cents

Charles

[Hardway]

I have to agree with Patcon. Stay away from getting a salvage title if you can help it. Just as DJwarner explained, get all your ducks in a row before the adjuster gets there. Since you are not at fault don't settle for the first offer the adjuster makes. Only settle once you are happy with everything. Good luck with everything.

[Carl Beck]

Dale - was your Z insured with Hagerty - or some other Classic Car Insurance Co.??.  Secondly did you have any physical damage to yourself or any medical bills that needed to be paid?

 

Usually, if you don't have a physical injury, and you don't have a Classic Car Policy with an Agreed value - -  and you are driving "an old car" - and insurance adjustors want to use their definition of ACV as the basis for adjusting the claim. Usually on a 240Z that is somewhere around $3K here in Florida. Most insurance adjustors pull the State Sales Tax records to get the price of used cars sold in the past five years.

 

Just wondered how you got lucky enough to get a reasonable settlement - without going to court.  Makes perfect sense if the car was insured on a Classic Car Policy - they don't want to get in a law suite with another insurance company. {florida is a no fault State}.

 

Carl

[Carl Beck]

Several people said stay away from a Salvage Title - I agree - - but didn't see anyone explain how to do that. If the insurance company wants to clam a Total Loss - they offer you an amount and they take the car. To avoid a Salvage Title, you have to agree to settle the claim for less than the value of the car they offered.  Usually that has to be around 20% less. The reason is the insurance companies guess that they can get 12-15% of the value they paid you - back when they sell the car to junk yards or recyclers. 

 

So you have to agree with the insurance company to take less than the Total amount - and they have to agree to let you fix the car yourself. {in other words you don't want a body shop listed on the payment check}.

 

You don't just want to keep the car - you want to keep it without it being declared a Total Loss by the insurance company. 

 

Good luck,

Carl

[djwarner]

Hi Carl,

Since I was not the at fault driver, i wasn't dealing with an adjuster from from my carrier.

No, I didn't have Hagerty insurance at the time, but they offer pricing and historical valuation on their website. Their reputation serves us well in these cases.

Putting the onus on the insurance company by telling them to find a replacement vehicle of equal condition doesn't hurt either. The at-fault party has an obligation to make you whole, not just throw dollars at you. When it comes to personal injury, it may be impossible to be made whole and money is the only substitute recognized by the courts. In our case, the at-fault driver had minimal coverage, but it was still enough.

Now as for Florida's no fault insurance, PIP, that was another matter. The first trip to the emergency room was billed in excess of the $10k coverage. Even though the insurance carrier eventually beat the hospital back to usual and customary, it didn't happen for several months. In the mean time, other medical coverage was denied and had to be put through our health insurance.

[Stanley]

Excellent advice, guys. I had no clue about any of this stuff. So today I went to Hagerty's and did a print screen of the table and graph and printed it out. Also made a copy of my AAA collector car insurance, even though it's only $5000 collision , which is probably about what it was worth 6 years ago when I bought it.

 

Lots of work since then, including complete professional suspension rebuild, new head, new brakes front and rear, pro rebuild of the beat-up seats, new paint, and lots of other stuff. And many hours of student Z mechanic (me) tuning it for performance.

 

I went to AAA a few months back to see if I could get the collision raised enough to cover replacement in 2014, but no dice. It's cheap though, since I've been with them since the 80's. AAA has been helpful with this, but the other driver's insurance is paying.

[Stanley]

Update: It took a month for Maaco to come up with an estimate (State Farm wanted that first, before they sent their guy). They figured about 4500, not very detailed. State Farm estimator didn't get here until mid-January. He was a knowledgeable person, did an extremely detailed estimate. S.F. finally got the estimate and check to me in mid-February, about $4100. Not totaled, no salvage title. (Per the advice I got here, I told the estimator no Salvage title).

Then I dawdled a while, since I had to work. So now, finally, ready to fix it. Maaco's OK with the 4100.

 

If I hadn't been working lately I'd probably get minimal repairs done and pocket the rest. But since I have, I'll fix it. If I could find some nice 6 into 2 headers with 1 3/8" equal-length primaries I might spend part of the money on that instead, but I can't find any at this time.

My hood is sort of shot (nothing to do with the accident). I can get a good second-hand hood so I'll have them do that at the same time. I'd also like them to tap out some of the tiny dents (maybe from where I and some other Bozos leaned on it) but maybe I can't afford that.

 

Anyway thanks for the advice, it probably helped to have the Hagerty's print-outs for the estimator.

 

Maybe I should have let triple A handle the whole thing.