Mugatu

iTrader: (1)

yeah well that's nothing. i'm out to lose $4000!

mysql101

I lost a little over 17% ... so if you paid $26k for your car, 4k is around the same range.

RojoOcho

Wrecks suck. Hard. I hope you can negotiate that to your favor.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

Mugatu: Insurance companies (as well as banks) prefer to use N.A.D.A simply for the fact that it usally comes in below KBB. For insurance companies, that means smaller payouts, for banks it means less risk (financing less)

Pull up the KBB, have your window sticker, and B.O.S. handy and don't take 'no' for an answer.

Rems31

Tell them that the point of insurance is to "make the insured whole" ie you should be reasonably back to where you were before the accident. So if you had an 06 with low miles, you should get something like that. Maybe more miles but definitely within reason.

supergoat

Not sure if this helps but I have a LITTLE experience negotiating a totalled car.

When my 05 was totalled they were giving me the value of a sport model. They didn't say that, but I could tell from the offer. I told them that the car was a GT and I should be getting about $2500(I was just estimating) more.

They told me that they ran the VIN at Mazda and it came up as a sport model. They said any other options I had must have been added by the previous owner or myself. I told them that I highly doubt the previous owner would by a sport model and then pay to add heated leather 8-way power seats, moonroof, Xenon headlights and autodim mirror afterwards. He argued that he ran the VIN and it's not a GT. I went to a local dealer, gave them the window sticker and vin. They ran it and it was indeed a GT. They wrote a letter stating it was a GT on Mazda letterhead. I sent a copy to the insurance company and I ended up getting a higher amount back.

If you can have a dealer prove the car is of higher value than the insurance company says, you may be able to get more back.

However, I lost about $5000 in the deal. **** you silver Mazda3!!!

Mugatu

iTrader: (1)

well after all the back and forth with insurance, the final outcome was victorious. i wound up getting $4000 MORE than I paid for the car. insurance paid off my loan to Mazda, and I got a check (which has already been deposited) that was $4k more than the amount I had put down initially.



today i pick up my '07 galaxy gray GT. and now with the extra money to play with, the mods i want are easier to swallow.

Wilson

Sweet. I am glad to hear that the outcome of this was better than expected. I hope you keep your new one a long time.

CTrx8

iTrader: (2)

good to hear that it had a somewhat happy ending.

elf

Well Done!!! Good choice of color on your new 8 too

Wilson

By they way. You should be back from the dealership by now. Where are the pics?

DARKMAZ8

Wow, that is a happy ending! It's amazing that you made out with another 4k....How did you manage that? Is it because you're not claiming physical injuries?

Mugatu

iTrader: (1)

here's the new 07 Galaxy Gray 8, pre-mods.

Rems31

ooh shiny!!

fitz75

Great to see you stuck with the 8! Hope one of the first mods is a spoiler...