[Non-Cobra] Accident today...

[Tony Ripepi]

Hello Randy,

The Car can and will be fixed or replaced....Take care of you.

BTW...Sorry again for the bumper car action in the parking lot at breakfast, I had no idea that you had already been involved in one with the Bullit.

TR

[Randy Rosenberg]

No problem Tony...

My Chiropractor took a bunch of x-rays yesterday and gave me some PT; my neck and back are still really swollen. I'll see him today to learn what he's found out, and how we are going to proceed.

In the meantime, the body shop estimate from the local Ford dealership is in, however they are asking CSAA if they can spend some $$$ to tear her apart a bit to see if further damage lurks underneath. At this time, the estimate to repair, assuming no further damage is found, is between 68% and 87% of Kelly Blue Book (high and low) values. My Bullitt had 30k miles and was in prestine condition (plus about $2.5k in mods).

What I'm unsure of is how does a CA based insurance company determine value. In other words, what can I expect when negotiating the settlement of vehicle damage (this is separate from my medical and "P&S" settlement, which will be later)? Is using Kelly Blue Book a fair expectation? At least they show the "Bullitt" separate from the GT... Ford only made 5582 Bullitts (of which only 723 were True Blue), so it's not like there's a whole bunch for sale.

The first page of the CHP report was supposed to be available yesterday. On it is the information about the drivers, vehicle registrations, and insurance information. I expect this to be available today, at which time, I'll fax it to CSAA (my insuranace), as they are very, very interested in going after the "at fault" driver's insurance company. (If she's not insured, then I have "uninsured motorists" on my policy.)

Thanks,
Randy R...

[klayfish]

Randy,
Hopefully it is just soft tissue whiplash injury that you sustained.

About the questions you asked, it's very hard to give precise answers without seeing the specific wording of your insurance policy. But as a general rule of thumb...

Each company has a method of determining the cars' value, which is approved by the state Dept. of Insurance. We use an outside firm which surveys the local market frequently to come up with a value. As you noted, because your car is not extremely common, it may be a little more difficult to get an accurate value. I doubt they would use the Kelly Blue book. I haven't seen one in a while, but if you look at their fine print, they say the values given include the cost for a dealer to condition the car, prep it for sale, advertise it, overhead, etc... Insurance companies won't cover those. They value it on the private market. The modifications you have on your car likely won't be part of the value, unless you have a special endorsement on the policy. They insure the "stock" Mustang Bullit. You're entitled to remove those mods, as long as you replace them with the factory parts. If you can document the condition of your car, you should be fine. You are certainly entitled to know how they come up with the value, so be sure to ask.

I don't know the laws of California insurance, but here in PA, uninsured motorist will not cover your car. It covers you for pain and suffering in case the other driver doesn't have insurance, not the vehicle at all. So if you get hit by an uninsured driver, you either have to use the collision coverage under your policy, or if you don't have it, you're on your own to pursue the driver legally. Some states do have uninsured protection for vehicles (called UMPD), so you'll have to see if it's on your policy.

Your pain and suffering claim would be against the other drivers' insurance company and is totally independant of the damage to your car.

Hope this helps, and if you have any other questions, ask. Remember, I'm just giving a rule of thumb, I'm not 100% on California insurance law or the exact wording of your policy, so it may be a little different for you.

Steve

[Mulv]

Randy

There is no point in getting info from those out of state....

I left you a message on your office machine, maybe it failed to be saved.... I totaled my Mustang GT on the Lawrence Expressway in Sunnyvale in late 96, maybe early 97. At that time Allstate gave me the equivalent of replacement on the car. They determined this by literally using the Mercury News want ads and taking the average value of the advertised cars with roughly the same mileage and age as my car. They in fact, paid me more for a one year old car than I had originally paid Swanson for the thing. I pointed this out ( insurance fraud is not my thing) and was told that I should accept the settlement as this was the way things were done. In fact, my agent congratulated me on my good fortune.... My insurance went berzerk for the next three years though...

Steve

[Guppiedriver]

Randy

This last Feb my wife was in an accident on 880 with my truck. Uninsured illegal comes smokin' on to the freeway infront of her, spins out on the wet pavement, an they have a "head on" with this guy goin' backwards. Lots of front end damage, I thought CSAA would "total" it. Turns out they said they would spend 70% of the Blue Book value to fix it . They did, it turned out fine.They assured me my insurance premium would not go up. Sorry to hear about your accident. Mark