Insurance Haggling and buy-back
 

My boss dodged a car, and wrecked his 66 Mustang. This had been totally restored with added built engine, 5 spd transmision, rear end, brakes, interior, full harness replacement, etc.

He is looking for a settlement from his insurance company, Nationwide, under uninsured motorist claim as the at-fault driver did not stop. This is in South Carolina.

Question: If he points out all the $$$$ items in the car to try to increase the settlement, will it cost him more for the buy-back? What is his best play?

DNM

Most ins. companies will not give you squat for aftermarket items, unless they were specifically covered in the original policy.

Your boss is out a lot of money.

In the future make sure he knows to get a stated value policy for his car. On anything that is old or rare it is well worth going that route over standard insurance.

In my case, I had to prove evidence that my car ('07 Subaru STI Ltd) was worth more than they were offering by finding current listings for an exact equivalent. Most cases, it seems they want to find that equivalent in the state you are in. In my case, and likely his also there will only be a few for sale within the entire US.

Once I substantiated my claim, they added several thousand dollars to the payout. Unfortunately in the process they also increased the buyback disproportionately higher making the buyback option much less agreeable than the first offer. I'm sure YMMV, but maybe it could be helpful going into it.

He knows, just procrastinated.

My Miata was recently just totaled out. I was given additional cash ontop of the NADA value of the car due to modifications. The adjuster was thorough and wrote down everything that was aftermarket.

In my experience it did NOT affect the buy-back price. That price was determined from what Copart listed as the Salvage value for a '96 Miata (about $300).

Stated value is useless, agreed value is what you want.

https://www.lelandwest.com/stated-va...-insurance.cfm

Any classic car should have agreed value collector's insurance. You're friend is probably gonna get screwed.

Update: Offer made
 

The insurance company employed a contract appraiser who evaluated the modifications.

The company has offered $29K settlement. As high as could be expected.

The buy-back Offer is $5K.

Therefore, Net settlement $24K. He was hoping for $25K, so I think he is pretty satisfied.

Thanks all.