| Author | Message | ||
     Brendan Kearns (Howboucha) Member Username: Howboucha Post Number: 77 Registered: 01-2003 |
As some of you may know, I had a little slip off the road side which resulted in a landing from a 12-18 ft drop on my roof. My 95 Disco is completely destroyed. All body parts are trashed except for the "rear door". The engine and transmission were seperated from the mounts and many parts such as the air cleaner-box, etc busted loose. The dash-gauge housing seperated and the interior was somewhat trashed by us when we were trying to crawl out. The appraiser "stopped when I hit the 9K mark, and I never got past the front doors", so my assumption is that my insurance company is putting the value at 9K, which I am okay with. Here is the part I need advice on. They are getting their values from the Internet with sources such as: Ebay, Autosource, Edmunds.com and trying to assess a market value. Unfortunately, in my neck of the woods in Indiana there are very few disco's in this area. Which pulls me to my concern. I want to keep the disco to either turn it into something, or as a parts unit if I can find another 95 that is cheap. My insurance company (IC) states that since the vehicle is in high demand by the salvage companies in our area since there are so few of them around, that the buyback is 25% of the settlement. I informed her (IC agent) that it is gone, there is nothing usable. But I do have recently installed OME 2" suspension, 5K miles on my recently installed 265's, and a new exhaust system (local shop install). That is all that is of real value. I am comfortable with buying it back for a grand, but not $2,200. Have any of you been in this situation, and if so could you give me some advice as to what I could, should do. I expect them to have their figures tomorrow (Friday). Brendan Have a 95 Disco that looks like a metal version of a hot dog. | ||
| Paul T. Schram (Paulschram) Senior Member Username: Paulschram Post Number: 1646 Registered: 02-2002 |
Brendan: I emailed you the total loss value of your vehicle. If they got to $9000 of damage, it is truly totalled. Usually, the salvage value is 10% of the value of the vehicle, but as you said, if there is a greater demand, the cost increases. What I don't buy is their comment about being in demand in your area. These trucks are sold to a central salvage pool, so there is no way to know where it will end up. They may say they are getting their values from eBay, etc. but more likely, it is from an outside vehicle valuation company that takes those things into consideration and using your zip code comes up with a value. Unless your policy has verbiage where you told them the value of your mods, they ain't likely to consider the value of those parts. $2200 isn't really THAT much for a good engine/•••••• and both axles. You can part out the little stuff and further defray the cost of that crawler you want to build. Peace, Paul | ||
| Daniel Covaciu (Danielcovaciu) Senior Member Username: Danielcovaciu Post Number: 278 Registered: 10-2002 |
I agree with Paul. I think $2200 is reasonable for a trashed disco. Just think of the usable parts still there and how much they are worth, probably way more than $2200. I think the insurance companies numbers are about right. Dan | ||
| Brendan Kearns (Howboucha) Member Username: Howboucha Post Number: 78 Registered: 01-2003 |
Thanks guys for the tips, and special thanks Paul for the total loss evaluation figure. I am putting a "vultures" thread in the classifieds now to see if anyone is interested in certain parts to help me make my decision. Brendan | ||
| Paul T. Schram (Paulschram) Senior Member Username: Paulschram Post Number: 1648 Registered: 02-2002 |
Brendan: Buy the truck back. You will have no problem cannibalizing the truck either for a new one (I can point you toward some series parts trucks), or another Disco. I hate to say this, but if I were to crash mine, I would have no qualms over keeping the carcass and building another. |
