It took me 2 months to settle with the guys insurance that rear ended me. They wanted to just total my 98 D1 out for 1,800.00. I was like umm you're out of your minds. This isn't the typical LR D1 on CL with a gutted interior and blown motor. Lucky for me I kept every single receipt for every $$$$ I put on it.
Travelers Insurance (which I now can't stand btw) had some independent people come out to look at my D1 which I was able to drive home with no issues. They first started by taking pictures of the inside, and several under the hood, and the frontend while only taking one pic of the actual damage..... Then they asked me to crank it so they could verify it ran. That pissed me off and I kindly said sure, but it had no problem going down the road at 65MPH and stopping unlike your clients 2014 F250 that apparently can't stop for sh!t....
After that I never heard anything from Travelers for over 2 weeks. Upset I emailed the guy back and he said his independent guys haven't got back with him and that they were scheduled to come out this week. I said your independent guys just showed up without even a phone call 2 weeks ago... He said oh I'll get right on it then.. Another week goes by and by this time I could have gone postal. He finally calls back and says well sir with the damage sustained in the wreck we're looking at totaling your LR. I said over a chrome rear bumper, a broken bumper end cap, two bumper lights, and a broken rear cargo door light cover? He said well first off our info shows that your D1 only came with a black painted bumper... I said umm do you not see the chrome one in the pics? Yes sir I do, but that must be custom. I said no sir it's called a 98 Land Rover Discovery LSE 50th Anniversary Edition! I then asked for his email address and I sent over a copy of the original window sticker, and about 50 $$$$ receipts.
I then got back in touch and said this is insane. If we total every single vehicle involved in a wreck how will we ever end up with the equivalent to a 67 Ford Mustang?? I said I bet right now your client is getting the keys to a brand new F250 and you're trying to low ball me at $1,800.00 and I'm the frigging victim here!!! I said thank god this isn't my D/D as you haven't even offered me a rental!
Then he started with well we can give you $$$ to fix it, but it'll have a salvage title. I said umm no way over a damn bent bumper are you going to touch my title status! So we went round & round for a solid week.
He finally emailed me back with a 900.00 repair claim. I said and what all does that cover that was damaged? He sent over a list and it was basically a black rear bumper, and installation time.... No end caps (mine were painted in Woodcote Green), no new rear lights in the bumper, no new cargo door light assembly, nada zip nothing. So I called him ASAP and said umm what exactly is this??? He said from the pic he saw of the back of my LR it just appeared to be a metal bumper that was damaged... I went out and took 5 pics and sent him ASAP. He was like oh well the independent guys didn't show or list that... I said yeah no sh!t!!!
He then came back with 1,800.00 but once again he didn't cover the painted end caps or new ones for that matter or the cargo door lamp assembly or the chrome bumper. I kindly sent him the P/N From RN for a Chrome bumper to solve that mystery for him. He then came back with a wild 3,100.00. I said okay, but here is the #1 question to that. What is my title status going to be? Clean/Clear or Salvage? He swore to me it wasn't going to change, but if you did a carfax it would list my LR was in an accident. I said as long as my title status doesn't change I'm good with the 3,100.00. I then asked if that was 3,100.00 at a shop or just 3,100.00 to me. He said as it was under 4k it would go to me, so I got the check, bought a complete rear bumper for 65.00 (with end caps and lights) at LKQ, got the rear cargo light assembly for 10.00 at LKQ, and then I took the rest and bought a 99 D2 as a back up for if I get hit again.
Send em all your receipts, and fight em is all I can say!
If they do total it out you can usually buy it back for the price of scrap basically. Worse case scenario is yours gets totaled, you find another 03-04 with a blown motor buy it with whats left over and just take your engine and swap it over.
Important thing is your okay! I was nearly T-Boned last night on my way home at 75MPH. I was on a road with crossovers and this redneck in another F250 (they're out to get me I swear) was apparently blasting down this country road and he wanted to beat the train coming on the other side of the road so instead of stopping and waiting to pass he never stopped and tried to make it all the way across!! Well I had to make a hard right at 75MPH and I went off into the grass and was able to get it back on the road without crashing. My neck hurts as I jerked it in anticipation of the crash and I swear I made the brake pedal into a new shape. I came to a stop looked back and he beat the train is all I can say because he was gone....
