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Brat wrecked....totaled?


ettev
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no.

reason, a tailight can be had for 20 bucks, tailgate for about 75, and bumper who knows. heck, the tailgate on there can be straigthen by a professional.

the tailight lens is screwed in place.

 

But, they might total it due to no parts availability. When insurance company goes to ALL the auto bodysuppliers, none of the suppliers are going to have these parts.

 

But, member on here, know part are around.

Edited by bheinen74
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Listen to edrach. He is right. The insurance has to settle in three years and if you hold out that long they will "pay you off" completely. The frame can be pulled and the bed straightened on a frame rack, if its that bad, the tail gate is much better than mine I'm gonna fix and the bumper is your footwork. If you search 'insurance' you will find edrachs footnotes on his claim and all the sources to get yours adjusted.

 

Never cash the insurance check if its not satisfactory. That is the end of the settlement case.

 

My lifted wagon was totaled day after christmas last year and insurance offered me $119....you can guess where I told them to put it.

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Just from the pictures i see no reason why the frame would be tweaked. Can u get a picture from the underside right behind the bumper? Even if it is a bit tweaked its nothing that a good bodyshop cant pull. As others said..then all your doing is looking for a good tailgate and bumper. My thought...not totalled at all.

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Listen to edrach. He is right. The insurance has to settle in three years and if you hold out that long they will "pay you off" completely. The frame can be pulled and the bed straightened on a frame rack' date=' if its that bad, the tail gate is much better than mine I'm gonna fix and the bumper is your footwork. If you search 'insurance' you will find edrachs footnotes on his claim and all the sources to get yours adjusted.

 

Never cash the insurance check if its not satisfactory. That is the end of the settlement case.

 

My lifted wagon was totaled day after christmas last year and insurance offered me $119....you can guess where I told them to put it.[/quote']

 

Actually you don't have to wait the three years. You can sue at anytime in small claims court. Some pertainent advice here: It was said before, but NEVER CASH THE INSURANCE CHECK IF IT'S NOT SATISFACTORY! Keep it for evidence that the insurance company is trying to "lowball" you.

 

Force the insurance company into making a "comparables" check to determine the "fair market value" of your Brat prior to the accident.

They won't want to do that since it will increase their cost of settlement. Do not accept NADA, KBB, or Edmunds valuations unless they meet with what you think your Brat was worth.

 

If you do decide to file in small claims court:

1) Do your own comparables study before you think about suing. It will take 3 months or more to get a decent number of comparable prices because there aren't a lot of Brats left out there. I had over 85 comparables; only needed 10. The taxi driver had none to counter what we presented. The Court will usually take the average of what you present and weigh it against what the other person presents.

 

2) Do your homework about how small claims court works.

 

Sue the person who hit you, not the insurance company. The insurance company is only responsible to cover their insured against loss; go after the person who caused the loss (i.e. the owner of the car and/or driver).

 

Get a copy of the police report of the accident; hopefully you have that.

 

Pay the fee to have the local sheriff serve the supoena. Fees are recoverable when you win your claim. The person served will not want to respond to anything less; mailing the supoena or serving it yourself may not stand up in court.

 

When you have a decent comparables list, file with the court for the EARLIEST DATE POSSIBLE. This will minimize the time the other guy will have to get decent comparbles to contest your list. Submit the 10 best comparables from your list, but have more on hand if you need more data to support your case.

 

Be able to explain to the Court (if asked) why you think your Brat is worth so much. It's a rare cult car and in demand to collectors; your '82 Brat is unique even among Brats since it's the only year of a certain body style; it's low milage, rust free condition; there are fewer now than ever because of rust, age, accidents, etc. Have receipts for any parts installed; i.e. rebuilt engine, 5 speed transmission, upgrades, etc. Bring pictures of the Brat before the accident if you have them.

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Here's why you don't want to use NADA pricing:

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=95709&highlight=Brat+sale+summary+ebay+listings

 

Somewhere back when I was posting info on our '82 Brat during our fight with the insurance company, someone posted a URL to get ebay listings for various cars; I plugged the Brat into the URL and it gave me a summary for ebay sales for the previous three years for the Brat with item number and listing price. If I clicked on the item number, it gave me specific information for that sale. Sadly that info was unavailble if the listing was more than 3 months old. I've been searching for that URL but haven't been able to find it. I did a copy and paste of it and printed out the 3 years of the lists for our case and it might be helpful but it is somewhat out of date. I still have the printed copy and could forward that to you if needed. It would be nice if someone could tweak the search engine to find that URL.

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