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Originally Posted by BtownPony
I don't know how to talk to insurance adjusters, and my worry, and what everyone is telling me, is that my insurance guy is gonna take one look at the car, one look at the fact that the Blue Book on a '92 Stang is less than $4k, and Total it, leaving me screwed with a car loan, and no chance of getting the car repaired.
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Very difficult to tell for sure without seeing a picture. One persons idea of beat up may be totally different than another persons. If by beat up, you mean the fender, the door, the quarter is toast then your dead. If by toast you are talking about some deep scratches then you might have a slight chance.
Most insurance co's total at close to 80% of LOW book, some at 70% of retail book. You will get a little adjustment for the low milage, but I won't lie to you it won't be much ... we use the milage adjustment straight out of Kelly BB, as for any special wheels etc. if you didn't have special coverage on them then you will likely only get a small courtsey increase on them, again look up what they give you for premium wheels in Kelly BB, it ain't gonna be much. You will get your car sent through as very good condition, again sorry but just won't be that much.
If the entire right side of that car is buggered up you are looking at 6 or 7 grand to get it back to where it was, and on a 92 Mustang that spells total any way you look at it.
Look your car up on autotrader.com and find as many high comps as you can, at least that way you will get a decent amount of money for it.
One other thing, if by some act of God the appraiser says hes trying to find some used panels, that means hes at least thinking about fixing it. If you tell him you won't accept anything but new parts ... kiss it goodbye on the spot, it pisses them off when they try to help you and you get picky on them. It is perfectly legal for them to put used parts on your car .. if you don't believe that look at your policy. Most won't put aftermarket parts on but used parts they will. As a side note, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a used fender. It still has all the factory sound deadning and factory primer etc. new ones are just raw primed sheet metal. Doors, I'd rather have a used one, they were put together on the jig at the factory, as opposed to being tossed together by the body shop guy.
At any rate, most likely your car is a total loss, because although the insurance company will give you (after deductable etc.) a settlement based on what that car would actually sell for on the open market, where they draw the line at total is based on a value much less than that.
Buy it back if you like, but it will then have a salvage title, which makes it worth considerably less. Then again they will usually let you have it for salvage value and thats dirt cheap, so if you have some good parts on it, go for it.
I'm not totally ignorant of this process, because, I'm that insurance guy that you don't know how to talk to lol
