busted...con't

[Ben Fenner]

> Well talked with the body shop. They said total loss. They only valued the
> car at $1400!!
>I just refuse to believe only $1400!

> Brian Cembor
> 92 SE-R maybe...

I was the same way when I was re-ended in my car 1 month after buying it. I
printed out quotes from Kelly Blue Book (www.kbb.com) and other places. One
site had it worth $6k stock, retail. Wholesale it was worth 4k or so. The
apraisers look at the wholesale price, but to be more exact, they look in
their Kelly Blue Book for the value. Mine was a '94 and was worth something
like $3,200. I was told the SE-R is the highest priced on the list. What you
want to do is get the apraisel guy to quote the damage as little as possible
(Proabably too late for you here). Then, go to a body shop that understands
your extreme connection with the car and your willingness to do what ever it
takes to get it fixed without totalling it. Anything about the car that's
rare can be used to help convince them that you'll never find one like it
again (Color, lack of sunroof, ect.). Yes the car is worth $10k to you, but
sadly, no one on the other end cares (I went through the same stuff you are,
I can tell). Anyway, once you've found a shop that understands you, there
are a few things they can do to help you out and get more money from the
insurance company. They can re-apraise it and demand more money to fix it
(asking for a supliment) on the basis that the car is worth $3k or so. My
car had $2k worth of damage, it was first quoted at $1k and I was given the
OK to find a body shop. I have a connection with the owner of one such shop
in my town. He was able to get the extra thousand that was needed and I came
out a happy camper. Of course some states say damage amounting more than 60%
of the car's value is totalled. In Massachusettes it's 80% I believe.
Good luck, the frontal damage is much more expensive than the rear =(

-Ben
1994 Sentra SE-R