Car stolen, how do I deal with my Insurance?

So while out camping this weekend my car was stolen. Any advice for dealing with my insurance company? I have Farmers, and apparently I have a $100 deductable for auto theft.
I'm just sad that the old Ford Focus went out so... uneventful. I hope they give it a proper viking funeral like it deserves.

They will pretty much give you fair market value, less the 100. If you have done anything to increase the value (new engine etc) then usually that will be adjusted providing you have receipts. Not much negotiating to be done.

Remember they are playing a game. The have no morals at all and will try and screw you and not even use any ream-cream just for fun*. You are not obliged to take their first offer. They low ball you like every penny is coming out of their pocket cause they are good drones.
Document yourself what fine, clean, well mantained, low miles treasures like your old favorite was..

Never lie when half the truth will do!
But don't say anything bad about your rare, desirable model..Note those words Rare and DESIRABLE..
If it was manual box and I stink you said it was, say those are RARE.



* if you mention they aren't using any, they'll charge extra for that...

Poor ol car.
Poor you [sotto voce on] who would steal a Fuck-us?? [/close sotto voce]

Looking ahead: Whaddya gonna get with all the loot you're gonna get?

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

JVL is right!

My 1982 RX7 with lots a fun Racing Beat parts was stolen in 1996. I played the "game" with the insurance company. They hire third party companies that scour classifieds listing in order to establish "average regional market values".

The downer of this process is that if you had a cherry car, it gets valued as an average car unless you have receipts for things like engine rebuild, new tires, etc...

Performance upgrades or specialty items add zero value in the eyes of insurance companies because they are considered "preferential personal upgrades". That is unless you are in possession of a thrid party vehicle appraisal.

Collect receipts, and present your case.

Your insurance company likely has a statute of time (ie. 30 days) in which they must settle your claim. As John says, always turn down the first offer.

The adjusters job is to make you accept as little as possible and make you sign. He/she is not your friend and only acts in the interest your insurance company.

They bank on most people not arguing much. A Focus is so common the values will be pretty easy to average out. We just sold a very decent '01 for 3k. 150k miles, average condition, new struts, undocumented mileage replacement engine. Sold in a few hours of being listed, so probably was worth a tad more.

If they offered me 3k, I would be pretty happy. Especially if I can have it in non-sequential quarters.

John, to answer your question. I wouldn't get another vehicle. I plan on paying off my credit card. I have too many cars as it is. Two trucks (one on the market), and two cars (one with a cage and one with a turbo) If there's anything left over, it's going toward the everlasting Volvo project in the garage. Maybe even a plane ticket to Germany, we'll see.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/2013 01:40AM by Robert Culbertson.

They stole a ....Focus???



Oh-wait... I love Foci-that sucks!

Kinda rare to see one stolen-even nicely modded ones-I'm on the Focus Forums quite a bit and the Pats system works pretty good..but of course they are ways around that I suppose(like a tow truck)!

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Quote
RALLYRS
Pats system works pretty good..but of course they are ways around that I suppose(like a tow truck)!

Or if you dropped the keys when you got out of the car.....

Yep,

Prep to negotiate. When the old Volvo got hit the first offer was $700, I took them all the way to $1600. I didn't feel at all bad, as trying to replace what it was locally for $700 was a friggin joke (rust belt). At $1600 I at least felt better. But all in all, not bad for a car I paid $300 for...

There is a bit of mis-information here. Upgrades are covered per your policy, most policies I've ever written cover roughly $1000 of upgrades to the car. Check your policy. They like receipts for the upgrades, but will happilly pay up to the limit.

Remember that you are expected to replace your car with the cash they give you. If you do or don't thats your prerogative. Take a few minutes to find comparable models on sales lots in town. Most people have to go buy a car the next day as it's their only source of transport.

Not all adjusters are absolute asshats. I hope your lucky and get one that's reasonable right out of the gate.

(I will never work in insurance agian. It's miserable)

A guy shouldn't have to take a beating from an insurance company because he got a deal on the purchase originally. The rates you pay are based on the overall value of that type of car. You don't get to negotiate the premium for a given coverage.

We just paid a ton for a '08Trailblazer SS for the wifey. It had one adult female owner and 13,000 miles. I'd guess I'll have a fight with the insurance company if we ever lost it.

Quote
Mad Matt F
Yep,

Prep to negotiate. When the old Volvo got hit the first offer was $700, I took them all the way to $1600. I didn't feel at all bad, as trying to replace what it was locally for $700 was a friggin joke (rust belt). At $1600 I at least felt better. But all in all, not bad for a car I paid $300 for...

But but but! is the Volvo gone? (sniffle---sob, sniff)

And speaking of things the should be totaled, hows the mighty Justly coming along?
Did you find room for the 1700 lbs of ballast you have to bolt into the car to even the competition?

---

John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

RIP poor swedish iron...

Yes John, the mighty copper fridge went to the big junkyard in the sky. It wasn't running well, then got t-boned while parked on the side of the road. Crumpled the A piller pretty good, and wrinkled up the firewall, totaled a Virgo wheel,

There was some debate about keeping it as a shell to replace mighty Justy... but I was short space, money, time... I pulled all the fun bits, still have the billies, and the IDP bars, sold the lights, and sent the shell off to wherever the Insurance company wanted.

We now have some modern Ford produced Volvo product... but it does have a T5 and when provoked the back axel seems to produce forward thrust, so all is well particularily with street parking and a 30 cm snowfall!

As for Justy, I pretty much have to put the motor together. Finally found all the bits, just want to balance pistons/rods/etc, and I'll bolt it up. A shipment of lead arrived yesterday, should make a dandy sump guard (We actually got an exemption from CARS)

I should call...

Robert, sorry 'bout the thread jack.

Matt, thread jacking around here is a way of life. I usually enjoy the side conversations, when they're conversations.

Quote
Robert Culbertson
Matt, thread jacking around here is a way of life.

Yah... it 'aint an oaf-issul anarchy thread till it gets Jacked.

Quote
Mad Matt F
(We actually got an exemption from CARS)

wot da foque?
Was nobody thinking about the children?

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First Rally: 2001
Driver (7), Co-Driver (44)
Drivers (16)
Clerk (10), Official (7), Volunteer (4)
Cars Built (1), Engines Built (0) Cages Built (0)
Last Updated, January 4, 2015

Quote
john vanlandingham
Blame is for idiots. losers.