[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Fwd: THEY'RE FIXING JASON'S CAR [LONG]
Jason Cammisa asked me to forward this to the list...seems that sometimes
his messages don't make it through...odd really.
==Brett
>
>
>
>WOOHOO!!!!!!
>I just got off the phone with Erie insurance (the other guy's
>insurance company). A check is in the mail to me for the damage to
>my car!!
>
>Here's what happened:
>
>I got a call from Erie's claims department yesterday morning saying
>that their insured had finally called in the accident, admitted
>fault, and did not contest my story of what happened. She offered
>me a rental car, which I turned down, saying that I had another
>vehicle and would rather the funds be used to repair my car instead.
>She told me that an adjuster would be contacting me within 24 hours.
>
>Last night at 5, I left work and went to get the car from the body
>shop it was towed to and drive it to A&L Motors, a reputable Jaguar
>& BMW dealership about 5 miles away. Lou, their used car manager,
>is a Pittsburgh Auto Industry veteran, having been in the business
>over 50 years and owned 3 highline dealerships himself. He agreed
>to appraise the vehicle's value, and have his body shop look over
>the damage and give an estimate. He told the guys at the body shop
>to drop the labor rate to make sure that the car wouldn't be
>totalled.
>
>I went to the car, which I had requested that the body shop leave
>outside. The parking lot is a ghost town with just my car there
>alone -- with a note taped on the steering wheel "Car will not
>start". Oops, did I forget to tell them about the ignition kill? ;)
>
>Car starts right up and I nervously set about my 5 mile journey to
>A&L. To my absolute exhilaration, the car drove normally -- it
>tracked dead straight ahead without any vibration, clunks, or
>strange noises... and not so much as a puff of smoke from the
>radiator even once the oil and water got to normal operating
>temperature. To boot, the A/C still blows cold air, so the
>condenser wasn't damaged (badly, anyway).
>
>I pulled up to A&L and Lou set about looking the car over. I gave
>him all the info I had on the car including a ton of classified ads
>for other 16Vs for sale around the country, pictures, trophies, bla
>bla bla. And a few hours later I walked away with an appraisal
>stating that in Lou's professional opinion, "this vehicle is both
>highly marketable and quite rare", and that it's fair market value
>is "in the area of $7000." Sweet -- that was exactly what I was
>hoping for, and coming from Lou, I knew that the appraisal would
>give me some solid ground to stand on.
>
>I went home last night and went back to work on compiling everything
>I had on the car -- all the receipts, records, pictures, etc. I
>wound up with a 15-pound, foot-high pile of receipts, literally
>hundreds (if not thousands) of pictures of the car, all of my show
>entry tickets, awards, brochures, road tests, Web-Site printouts,
>appraisal letters from friends, etc...
>
>By about 3am, that pile had come down to a neatly organized
>chronological photo album, a 43-page printout of the service records
>I have on the car (including, as some of you already know, a list of
>every tank of gas, wiper blade, oil filter, and lightbulb I've put
>into the car).
>
>Fast forward to 7am this morning and I'm leaving for the dealership.
>Me and the adjuster get there at the same time. Damn, no time to
>prep the Body Shop Manager for the meeting. Oh well. Dan, the
>adjuster, gets out of his car, introduces himself, and looks at the
>front of the car for about 30 seconds. "Okay, the first estimate
>came back at $4300, and the blue book value of your car is in the
>area of $2200-2500, so we don't have any choice but to total your
>car and give you a check for that value."
>
>Me: Stare in his eyes, left eyebrow cocked up, head turned slightly
>sideways. Silence.
>
>Dan: Uh, <clearing throat> on the appraisal report all I get to see
>is "1987 Volkswagen Scirocco. Being that I've now seen how clean
>the car is, I'm sure that the value is closer to the $3000-$3200
>range..."
>
>Me: <interrupting> ...actually, the car is worth $7000 as appraised
>by Lou Hollibaugh of this dealership. Surely you're familiar with
>Lou. [Hand him a copy of the appraisal].
>
>Dan: Oh. Yes... But...
>
>Me: <interrupting again> ...and here's a letter from Robert Bisch,
>who has the same car with the same mileage who just went through
>this very thing with his insurance company. [Hand him letter]
>
>Dan: Uh, huh, and...
>
>Me: <interrupting yet again> [Reaching into back seat of Mercedes,
>voice straining as I produce a foot-high stack of papers and place
>them on Dan's extended arms] Here's some information I've gathered
>for you on the car. The first 43-page document is a list of... [5
>minutes of non-stop explanations ended with:] and I, of course, have
>all of the original receipts, but I doubt if they would fit in the
>trunk of my Mercedes, so I'd have to rent a larger car to get them
>to you... but I'd be glad to if you need them. [Cordial Smile]
>
>Dan: Oh, um, I...uh... don't think that will be necessary.
>
>Now, at this point I should point out that I totally blind-sided the
>guy. On the phone with him yesterday, I gave him absolutely no
>indication of any of this, I just asked if I could be present at the
>time of the estimate to give him "a few things." Poor guy, he
>didn't know *what* the fuck to say or do.
>
>He puts the pile of documents into his car and comes back out. He's
>like "okay, let's go talk to the body shop manager Bob and see if he
>can put together an estimate on the car."
>
>Bob, who had unbeknownst to me been asked to "make sure this kid's
>car doesn't get totalled" walks out explaining that he hasn't even
>seen the car yet. He gets over to the car and goes: Total? This?
>Naah, the car's too clean, that's not any real damage. He goes
>about inspecting things.
>
>Meanwhile, Dan's looking at the original estimate. He inquires as
>to whether the front bumper is really $600. Bob opens his mouth,
>but doesn't have a chance. I interject "actually, yes. But that's
>immaterial because I have one being drop-shipped from Germany to my
>house for about a third of that price and it should be here next
>week." Bob laughs. Dan looks confused. Dan then asks about the
>Euro lights, and before he finishes his sentence, he's shaking his
>head as if to say "I should have known better" as I explain that I
>just happen to have a spare driver's side light in my garage, so he
>can scratch it off the estimate. Ditto the passenger side light
>mount, as I have a spare one of those, too. Oh yeah, and I'll get a
>grille. Mm-kay, don't worry about the Kamei spoiler.
>
>Dan finally realizes that it's pretty important to me that the car
>gets fixed and back on the road. He says that we have two options
>-- to see if we can get Erie to value the vehicle high enough, and
>keep the repair costs low enough to put it back on the road. And
>then, option two is that they can probably get a value of $3300 for
>the car, total it, and give it back to me for a few bucks. I do the
>eyebrow thing again.
>
>Dan's a quick learner -- he's like "well, if that's not an
>option..." I said "Well, you're right, it's not an option. I don't
>want to have an R-Title car in the first place, and I don't want to
>have to pay for the damages caused by your insured myself -- that's
>not fair. And frankly, I don't think it's fair to total a 70,000
>mile, appraised-at-7000-dollar car because of $3500 of front end
>damage.
>
>"Listen, my one and only goal is to get the car back on the road,
>with a regular title, and preferably without bankrupting me. Now of
>course I'm willing to help out as much as I can to make sure that
>you don't total the car, but I can only do so much. I told you I'm
>getting a bumper for 70% off, I'm giving you a $250 headlight, and I
>turned down a rental car so that we could use the money -- a
>considerable sum considering the car won't be fixed for weeks -- to
>fix the car instead."
>
>Dan goes "well, if we guaranteed that we got only the best, would
>you be willing to accept really good condition used parts?"
>
>I do the eyebrow and then smile. "Sure! But really the only major
>part that we can get used is the hood -- and remember, I have to
>answer to judges. So, if we get a used hood, I need to have it
>sand-blasted to remove all rust, sanded down, and painted inside and
>out.... and inside the supports. Oh, yeah, and it would also need
>the original padding under there, and the original stickers."
>
>Dan says "Okay, fair enough." He promises to be in contact later
>today or first thing tomorrow morning, and off I go into the
>showroom to talk to my friend Jim who sells cars there. About 45
>minutes later, I'm getting ready to leave, and Bob (the body shop
>manager) is walking towards me. He told me that he got a good
>indication from Dan before he left, and that he even decided (after
>my speech, of course) that maybe it'd be better to go with new parts
>after all.
>
>I leave feeling much better.
>
>So then about 5:00, the phone rings and it's Dan. He's like "Okay,
>first the good news -- we've decided to do everything to keep your
>car on the road". I'm like "Great! What's the bad news?". At this
>point, I'm shitting, right...
>He says "Oh, no bad news. The other good news is that we got the
>estimate down to $3300 by sourcing out some cheaper new parts and
>deleting some of the parts that you already have."
>
>According to him, he spent almost the entire day on the phone with
>VW Dealerships in the area to get a feeling on whether the $7000
>estimate was valid. And of course they said it was on the high
>side, but without seeing the car they couldn't be sure. At least
>they added that the car has a large enthusiast following and
>therefore what the car could actually sell for might be a whole lot
>higher than the $4000-4500 wholesale prices they quoted. Good deal.
>
> Then, he said that it was kinda obvious that I wasn't after money
>or personal gain, but just wanted to have my car fixed... and said
>"and I noted to the adjusters that you turned down a rental for that
>purpose, and there's no better measure of good faith than that."
>
>So we left off with the decision that A&L will tear the front end
>apart tomorrow morning and make sure there's no additional frame or
>mechanical damage (which I'm not too *too* concerned about because
>of how well the car drove), and as long as we're within a couple
>hundred bucks of the $3300 estimate, they would be sending me a
>check tomorrow.
>
>So, while nothing's yet carved in stone, things are looking up, and
>I might actually get some sleep tonight. Like I told all of you who
>were so kind to offer advice, help, and moral support, I'd happily
>take out a second mortgage on my house to get this car back to the
>way it was.
>
>In one way I'm cursed -- it's a bad thing to have your favorite
>possession in the entire world be something that most people
>consider just transportation. But on the other hand, I'm quite
>lucky -- I have found a hobby, a passion, and a friend that
>unconditionally makes me smile. It's the one thing in this world
>that makes me smile and laugh like a kid no matter what it does
>wrong... and I couldn't imagine life without it.
>
>So wish me luck in getting it fixed right, and though I don't think
>the car will be ready in time for the Cincinnati meet, I hope to see
>you all there.
>
>Thanks again for all of your support -- and go and get your cars
>appraised so you don't have to do this all in the last second like I
>did. And let me know if anyone has found a stated value classic car
>insurance policy with generous mileage limitations... :)
>
>Jason
>__________________________________________________________________
>
>ShareIt! - your global partner for selling shareware
>http://www.shareit.com
>E-Mail: cammisa@shareit.com
>ShareIt! - a service of element 5
>__________________________________________________________________
\/ '84 Scirocco (ITB racer 2B) | "Hot VW's, take two home. They're small"
\/\/ '88 Scirocco 16v (Show), '85 Scirocco (Winter) | - brett@netacc.net
--
Email problems to: scirocco-l-probs@scirocco.org To unsubscibe send
"unsubscribe scirocco-l" in the message to majordomo@scirocco.org