I had a 1985 20v swapped ae86 insured with Allstate. I t-boned a guy that was trying to cross 4 lanes of heavy traffic.. He was 100% at fault, cops even gave him a ticket when they showed up. Even though he was at fault, my insurance company really tried to screw me. I think they offered me $1100 or something. I refused their offer and went back and forth with them for a couple months. I spoke to the national manager and he told me "I saw pictures of your car, it's a piece of junk and you're lucky to get the $1100. If I had seen photos earlier, you would have been offered a few hundred dollars". Rather insulting, it was an ae86 with 145,000kms and original paint. Couple rust spots, but very solid car. An insurance company is supposed to pay out market value for a comparable car. For comparables, my insurance company was sending me 4 door FWD Corollas from the mid 80's.
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/txphjzdvuiyltdu/PIC_0516.JPG?dl=0
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/bycfcjlvj0esalu/PIC_0529.JPG?dl=0
https://dl.dropbox.com/s/3k4fmgtmmgl26fs/GOPR0042.JPG?dl=0
Anyway, long story short, while we were negotiating, Allstate told me that I'd be able to buy the car for scrap value from them when everything was settled. They said it would be around $100. In the end, I got a settlement of $2250 or so, kept the car (without paying a cent back to them) and then sold it for about $1600.
I'm not with Allstate anymore, but unless they've changed recently they will let you buy/keep your write-off. They're a horrible company though.
Sont toutes pareilles... Y vont toutes s'essayer...
When I was a kid my parents' house got robbed twice in Ile Bizard, first time around 1980 they had to go to court with Wawanesa with old pictures of my mom wearing whatever jewelry she had brought from Italy and then prove they weren't fake. Irony was that the photos had been taken with an upscale camera from the 1970s and the camera was also stolen and was part of what the insurance disputed as "fake." Once they saw the photos and their own expert examined the negatives and told them - yep, they be legit and taken with whatever that camera was... they paid in full. From memory my mom had them write her an apology letter for good measure as part of the court order and the judge agreed.
The second time they had a "valeur a neuf" insurance on the house and everything in there with Desjardins - whoever broke in demolished the wooden door and frame and Desjardins wanted to just have a locksmith go and "glue" the door (and frame!!!) back together instead of replacing the door and frame. That one didn't have to go to court once the insurance guy - that hadn't even been to the house himself, just relied on photos we sent - anyways once their guy showed up he said: "Ben non voyons c'est pas reparable..." No shit.
Remember when in 2013 - was it? Intact tried to write off the Sidekick because some kid broke into it and stole the battery? There was about 7-800$ damage on it MAX. Needed a new top, grille and battery + battery harness and bracket + a bit of paint in the front where the idiot tried to pry the hood open because he couldn't find the hood release (in the glove compartment - locked - he broke into the glove compartment but didn't see the release latch.)
The lady on the phone offered me ~1400$ for the truck minus the 500$ deductible I had back then = ~900$ of course I laughed at her.
I held my own and they fixed it, I wasn't in a hurry, it was November and I was about to store it for the winter anyways so it could spend all winter at the body shop for all I cared.
It's now for sale for 4800$ and just Saturday, I have received an offer of 5000$ from a guy from Moncton that wants me to keep if for him even though I already agreed with another guy from St-Jean south shore, that he could have it in the spring for asking price. So now it's actually a bidding war (although I'll still sell to the first guy that offered to buy it for asking price since I had already agreed.)
The guy from St-Jean was ready to pick it up on January 12th, backyard was on grass, truck under the tempo winterized but easy to move if necessary all it needed was to plug the battery and install the winter rims/tyres + call insurance and go to SAAQ. We decided to wait for spring, first because of the cold, and the second week-end because of the snow that came last week-end, also I want to have him test drive it before I sell it. He knows, but he really needs to understand it doesn't ride like any other car so we setup an appointment in the spring when the snow melts probably April.
Hold your own with insurance.
