Obviously that's true. If the insurance payment is roughly equal to what you still owe, you're back to zero.

 

Well we're suppose to find out today if its totaled or not, and if not what the new estimate is. I called the loan company yesterday to see how much is left on the car exactly, and I'll just say I hope its not totaled.

 

I run an insurance company here in Ga if you guys have any questions, let me know. Lets just hope that it is repairable.

 

Nathan talked to the body shop this morning, and they say it is repairable, but the insurance may think its more to fix than its worth. The adjuster is suppose to go back today to find out everything else that is wrong and do a supplimental estimate.

The body shop said that there is some frame damage and floor damage. And the adjuster hasn't accounted for the front end damage yet either, nor did he add in the exhaust tip that was crushed and bent . the insurance adjuster also put used and aftermarket parts into the original estimate, but the body shop rejected it, so we should get all new parts.

Thats awesome... We owe more on the car than they will prolly ever value it at if its totalled, without gap insurance we're kinda screwed on that one aren't we? We're still learning how the whole process works, since this is the first time we have ever had to file a claim. We are still trying to figure out exactly how they calculate the value of the car in the case it is totaled. We're just trying to figure out what all can happen.

we have been told that kelly blue book is a good place to start to estimate the value of the car, but what kbb value are we suppose to be looking at? suggested retail, trade in, private party?

thanks for all you guy's help.

 

Trade-in price will be the lowest, dealer retail of course will be highest, and private party somewhere in-between. I'd look at the private party figures and put in your mileage (think you said it was 68,000?) and condition (before the wreck, of course.) Probably you'll hit somewhere around $15,000.

What's your deductible? That will be subtracted from value.

What's your insurance company? Some are better than others at giving you fair value for your car.

With frame damage on a four year old car, that is a big item that can lead to it being totalled.

 

it seems like this kind of spinning out/losing control happens more often in a Z than most other cars. Is this anything to be worried about?

 

500 dollar deductable.

Geico (they give us a decent military discount. after the run around that they have been trying to give us, I think that we will be changing to another company in the near future unless they start listening better and being more cooperative.

unfortunatley. we owe somewhere around $15,000 for the car now, and from what I've been told the car will most likely be judged by trade in value rather than the private part value. and from the looks of it if the car were to be totaled out, I would be really luck just to not lose money on the deal.

me and my wife are gonna go down to the shop on monday and talk to the repair shop in person so that we can see for our selves what it actually damaged and what exactly is going on.

they did the supplimental estimate yesterday, and the total cost of the whole repair looks to be somewhere around $9,500. and the kelly blue book value of the car in good condition is about $13,500. so at this point it's looking pretty iffy right now. I don't believe that it's totalled at this point but I know that it's not going to to take a whole bunch to put it into that catagory.

so basically it looks like if the car becomes totalled I am gonna be pretty much royally screwed.

 

Yup, sad to say, indeed you are. You're just under the cut-off of 75%.

Interesting about Geico not being very co-operative. Is it that they keep giving you different stories or they're just taking their time to evaluate the situation? Years ago when someone rammed my Stanza, I think it took about a week or 10 days for the other guy's insurance company to declare it totaled. So taking their time is normal; giving you B.S. about using other than OEM replacement parts is not.

Read up on handling rear-wheel vs. front-wheel drive, especially if you're young enough never to have driven a rear-wheel drive before. Respect the HP and the torque. Slow down in the rain. Know your tires; don't drive in the snow on summer high-performance tires. Don't street-race (read the thread about the "new owner from Houston" if you want a sobering dash of reality of young drivers street-racing).

Don't be too proud to take a driving class or two, especially if it's your first rear-wheel drive - most large cities offer them and you can learn a lot, and sometimes get a reduction in your insurance rates.

All this would be true of ANY high HP performance-oriented sports car. It's not unique to the Z.

 

yea they keep trying to use aftermarket parts

 

they keep trying to use aftermarket parts, which they didn't ever mention to me. the only way that I found out was because I talked to the body shop. also they plan on trying to fix some parts that should be replaced (IMHO). at first they seemed very straight forward but now I am finding more and more things that they never told me. they are just loosing my trust very quickly. they want to pro-rate the tires and the exhaust on the car. I can understand that they want to prorate the tires because they aren't gonna wanna pay to replace used tires with brand new tires, but there is no real wear on the exhaust what so ever in my oppinion. I don't see why the exhaust shouldn't last the life of the vehincle. they wanna put the same tires on the back passenger side that were on there to start with dispite the fact that it is one of the most likely causes of the accident, so I will end up paying out of pocket to buy two brand new tires.

it looks like all said and done I will be paying about 300-500 dollars out of pocket in addition to my deductable. I mean for christ sake why am I paying them so much money for them to not restore my car to the condition it was in pre accident, and have to pay for it out of my own pocket aswell. WTF

 

Pro-rating both the tires and the exhaust is normal. Wanting to replace with same tires is normal (but you should fight HARD for this - ask for a cash credit instead so you can add your own money to it and buy new, better, tires).

Saying replacement parts are better than OEM parts - if they're NEW replacement parts, *maybe* they're better than OEM parts, but I'd doubt it.

If you haven't yet, get out your insurance policy and read it thoroughly. Including all the fine print. That might let you know what they can an can't do.

Incidentally, are you eligible for USAA insurance? I've had them for 25 years and like them very much. If you still decide to switch, you might want to give them a call.

 

Hey I'm sorry to hear that these idiots are jerking you around. Good luck, man. This really makes me want to make sure I don't have to deal with those insurance people.

 

just remember the only time peoplein here hate on people is when they're idiots, you seem to be a level headed guy.

 

yeah I think that when this is all said and done I probably will switch from geico.

me and brittney will be going down to the the body shop on monday so that we can see everything for ourselves.

I will post pics of the progress once we get back from all that.

 

"will switch to geico."

I thought Geico is what you have now??

 

another Z wrecked this is happening way to much and have to figure out how to stop this hahah kk but thank god your ok man thats all that matters

 

I think it's BS that they're trying to go off the trade in value to determine whether it will be totalled. When I totalled my 99 integra back in 2000 they gave me fair market value for it, not trade in

 

My Z came with Kumho tires all the way around and they gave me an uneasy feeling every time it rained or even if a little dirt was on the road. I switched them out for a set of Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position tires as I could not find any other tire that came close to their overall performance. Spend the extra money when you get your next Z. Its better to go cheap on the accessories but NEVER on tires.

 

hmmm this looks familier..i was just there man,it took 7weeks!my estimate was 12000+,rain sucks.but my cars beautiful again,and honestly i cant tell anything ever happend

 

it's great to hear that everything worked out okay for you.


me and brittney (my wife) went to go see the car yesterday (monday) for the first time since the accident. it looked bad but I guess it's not too too horrible. they said that they are basically gonna have to take most of the whole rear end of the car (minus the left quarter which wasn't damaged) off and replace it, and depending on how quickly the parts come in it could be done in as little as two weeks. the guys that operated the shop seemed very proffessional as well as knowledgable and I have confidence that they will repair it correctly.

after talking with the repair shop and several sources through out nissan north american, and the body shop as well as some others who have asked not to be mentioned; I realized that the pro-rating of the muffler was uncalled for on this age/condition/type of vehicle. after doing some research I called the insurance claims adjuster and talked with both him and his manager about the pro-rating of the exhaust and they both agreed to pay for the entire cost of the muffler.

the insurance company wanted to replace the passenger side rear tire with exactly what we had on there to start with and which we believe was a very large contributing factor to the accident so we went ahead and ordered a complete set of eagle F1 DS G3's to insure that we won't have this same hydroplanning problem again.

so atleast now we are getting back on track and we're headed in the right direction. again thank you guys for the help and support.