Value of 1983 GL Wagon

[lkindred]

Administrators move this if I'm in the wrong thread.

 

The Silver Surfer has died. But after killiing a Chevy Sonoma mid size truck (it even knocked the rear axle off the truck) it goes to an honorable death.

 

Problem - what is an 1983 Subaru GL wagon worth. It's pretty much totally stock, not lifted has EA81, 4 sp 4WD and was a daily driver capable of making long trips even in hot weather without blowing a head gasket. No big dents or dings. Some of you saw this wagon at WCSS11 in Stevenson.

 

The insurance company is going to low ball us and probably offer us $300-500 we figure.

 

I have talked to an attorney, and he said the insurance company should be paying us "net fair market value" of the vehicle.

 

So what do you folks consider that value of the vehicle. This much loved wagon has a little over 240,000 miles and faithfully goes thru DEQ every two years.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Oh, and would love to hear from anyone who has similar wagon for sale within 200 miles of Portland, OR in Pacific Northwest

 

Lynn & Ken in Portland, OR

[Subruise]

i had a 91 festiva that killed a bronco in a similar fashion, car wasnt in that great of shape to begin with. they gave me 850 for it. i know its not a 83 gl but they're worth about the same ish

 

RV

[Yo'J]

They gave me $719 after I hassled them. They must find one in the same running shape as yours to do a price match so good luck with that. My wagon has a half done macco paint job and a destitute interior w/ 220k at the time. If yours looked better than that you should get more.

 

Show them this http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=117599

 

That'll rile 'em up!

[brumby420]

^LMAO same year and everything its perfect.

[Flowmastered87GL]

Eh, I would probably say its worth around $1000 tops. Consider buying it back for parts as buyback is only like $50 usually. Unless the engine and tranny are screwed now.

 

Try to find that craigslist ad of that 82 or so GL up in Washington thats cherry and like $2000-3000 and just ask em to buy you that one!!

[Nomad_Brad]

I got hit by another person and all it did was break the back tail light (driver side) and rip the molding off the rear quarter panel.....went to get a quote for insurance, $999.92, I call the dude insurance and they had to come check on the damages, Which was barely some scuff marks and the broken light, they felt it was all the clients fault and did there own inspection, long story short...I got $750 for a broken light and molding, which cost me a total of $15 to totally fix......., That how I had money to buy my new project, the EA82T loyale........

 

 

Best of luck.....

 

 

-Nomad

[lkindred]

Thanks for the replies so far. Very helpful.

 

Anyone else with comments?

 

Also anyone have a 83 or 84 wagon for sale within 200 miles of Portland OR. If so, send particulars.

 

Thanks,

 

Lynn & Ken

[edrach]

Lynn, Sorry to hear about the devise of the wagon.

 

Your lawyer is correct, you are entitled to fair market value along with sales tax if needed along with costs to re-title and register the replacement vehicle.

 

That being said; do your homework. Establishing fair market value:

Find any an all ads for a similar model/year from the newspaper (you don't have to look at them and they don't have to match yours exactly) and document the information and keep copies of the originals.

Search Craigslist and again document everything you find. Here's one from our CL/ebay forum: http://seattle.craigslist.org/oly/cto/2056602908.html

And by the way, anything within reasonable driving distance is legitimate (I went to Portland from the Seattle area in the search for both my Impreza and our Forester).

Lastly, do a search on www.autotrader.com. Since it's an '83 you might have to expand the distance of the information collected. Again, document, document, document.

When you are done, select the 10 most comparable to you (throw out the obvious "low ball" values). If your values are too high, the insurance carrier will tell you, no need to throw in the towel yourself. Let them do the legwork if needed.

 

Lastly, try the services: www.nada.com, www.edmunds.com, and www.kbb.com. These are NOT fair market values but will give you some insight as to what the value of your '83 was prior to the accident. I found out something interesting when researching values for my son's '82 Brat. Even though my Brat had an NADA valuation of $1700, the same year valuation for an '82 wagon came out to $3100. I didn't quite understand that, but that's what it was. When you select the information from here, don't downgrade your car by giving it a poor or fair rating. Give it an average or better; don't do the insurance company's work for them. Find the best values you can live with and submit them.

[edrach]

By the way, are you collecting from your insurance carrier or the other person's? It also helps if you weren't at fault. If you like, drop me a PM with a phone number and I can get you some more information. Judging from your original post, you've already thrown in the towel with your thoughts on a low valuation. Get that out of your system. A reliable wagon that doesn't quit on you every other week is worth more money even if it has 240K on it. Finding an equally reliable wagon might be pretty tough.

 

Another thing, when the adjuster comes to look at it (if that hasn't happened yet), make sure it's clean and looks like a reliable daily driver and not like a "beater." First impressions do make a difference.

[edrach]

Well forget about www.autotrader.com. I did a search for 82 to 84 GL within any distance with a WIDE range of price. Not one hit.

 

Not bad news, good news since it indicates your car was quite rare and will be very difficult to replace.

[Yo'J]

I figure I could have gotten more if I cleaned the engine bay and the interior, it would have said more about the running shape, but, I'm still driving it. The settlement I got kept me driving. (helped pay the rent after I got it fixed) Whatever you do, take your time in settling. My friend had a land crusier stolen last year. His new one is not as classic but is quite comparable and the insurance company got it to him as well. It took a year plus and their first quote was like $600.

[edrach]

Yo'j is correct. Don't rush into anything if you can afford to wait (a cheap beater on the side is helpful). Our '82 Brat got the first offer of $400 and the insurance company eventually upped it to $1100. They never offered to look at comparables and we just collected a ton of them over a 6 month period. Two days before the 3 year statute of limitations would occur we filed a claim in small claims court. We had some good comparables and the judge averaged them out to $3750. When she asked the other side for comment they had none. Since they had no counter argument available, my son was awarded the $3750 plus court costs.

 

Hopefully it doesn't come to that for you, but if it did, you don't sue the insurance company; you sue the person who caused the damage. After the judgement, it's up to the insurance company to pay the judgement.