Help with Insurance appraisal

[IgnacioIII]

Hello all,
I have a problem, on the weekend of the 4th of July a drunk driver hit me from behind and damaged the drivers side rear quarter and now insurance wants to total my car, but it is still drivable and all the parts are available new from BMW and estimated at $6000 to repair which I want to do. However insurance only appraise our cars at around $5800 which is a travesty as we all know. I was hoping someone knows of a reputable appraiser in the South Florida area that is sympathetic and knowledgeable enough on the scarcity of our ZHPs to be able to provide a more respectable value for my car so that I may get the insurance company to fix it.
I am sick at the thought I may not have my car back, I am the original owner of an '04 ZHP I bought on Dec 31, 2003 with only 1.9 miles on the ODO.

Any Help is greatly appreciated, Thank you.

[ZHPizza]

Your best bet would be to search around for comparable cars listed for sale. How many miles are on it? EAG would be the best resource for inflated price comparisons.

[Natban]

I went through something similar last fall. Here's how it went, hope it applies or helps you.

I was able to deal with my insurance adjuster who originally valued my car somewhere around $3K (CAD) by way of a 3rd party appraisal report. Report is supposed to be based on similar cars in the local market. I requested to see the 3rd party report. I could then see that they used different 3-series as comparables. Mine was an '03 330i5, comparables in the report were, 320's 325's and 330ciA. For each comparable vehicle the report shows asking $$, km's, adjusted selling price reduction of +/- 10% and maybe a few other things. With that info I was able to deconstruct their valuation process. Then I could see that the insurance company was valuing things like "3-series" and "2003" more than "30", "i" and 5spd. So after that I just had to be polite with my adjuster and let them know that my cars comparables were things like LCI (03-05), sedan with a 5 speed transmission. Once that was understood we could then select proper, fair comparable cars in our local market.

In the end the insurance company needed at least 3 comparable vehicles. Luckily , that's all that were for sale in regards to sedan LCI 30 5spd. And ZHP or not, that combo has a much higher asking price, my payout doubled, and rightfully so.

The only danger I can see when talking to your insurance company about the value of your car is that you set the parameters in such a way that make your car too rare and you are unable to find 3 different comparables in your local car market.

On a side note, I also started my journey by talking with a friend of a friend who deals with representing (not a lawyer) people against the insurance company and help them get things like compensation for the de-valueation of a rebuilt title or claims on titles etc. He was the one who told me about the Mitchel Report (3rd party appraisal). But when dealing with cars of such a relatively small value he wasn't able to offer more help.

[Johnzerd1]

you should also be able to use the auction history on BAT...... to establish the value

[IgnacioIII]

Your best bet would be to search around for comparable cars listed for sale. How many miles are on it? EAG would be the best resource for inflated price comparisons.

Thank you, What is EAG? not familiar with this.

[IgnacioIII]

I went through something similar last fall. Here's how it went, hope it applies or helps you.

I was able to deal with my insurance adjuster who originally valued my car somewhere around $3K (CAD) by way of a 3rd party appraisal report. Report is supposed to be based on similar cars in the local market. I requested to see the 3rd party report. I could then see that they used different 3-series as comparables. Mine was an '03 330i5, comparables in the report were, 320's 325's and 330ciA. For each comparable vehicle the report shows asking $$, km's, adjusted selling price reduction of +/- 10% and maybe a few other things. With that info I was able to deconstruct their valuation process. Then I could see that the insurance company was valuing things like "3-series" and "2003" more than "30", "i" and 5spd. So after that I just had to be polite with my adjuster and let them know that my cars comparables were things like LCI (03-05), sedan with a 5 speed transmission. Once that was understood we could then select proper, fair comparable cars in our local market.

In the end the insurance company needed at least 3 comparable vehicles. Luckily , that's all that were for sale in regards to sedan LCI 30 5spd. And ZHP or not, that combo has a much higher asking price, my payout doubled, and rightfully so.

The only danger I can see when talking to your insurance company about the value of your car is that you set the parameters in such a way that make your car too rare and you are unable to find 3 different comparables in your local car market.

On a side note, I also started my journey by talking with a friend of a friend who deals with representing (not a lawyer) people against the insurance company and help them get things like compensation for the de-valueation of a rebuilt title or claims on titles etc. He was the one who told me about the Mitchel Report (3rd party appraisal). But when dealing with cars of such a relatively small value he wasn't able to offer more help.

Thank you for this great advice I have my homework cut out for me now.

[IgnacioIII]

you should also be able to use the auction history on BAT...... to establish the value

I have already told them about that, but I do not believe they looked into it. That is why I am now at the stage I am at with finding an appraiser.
Thank you

[Johnzerd1]

which insurance co are you having to deal with ?????

[Johnzerd1]

https://www.autozin.com/for-sale/2004-bmw-330i-zhp here are some more comparable for you

[az3579]

https://www.autozin.com/for-sale/2004-bmw-330i-zhp here are some more comparable for youMost of those aren't comparables because the mileages are much lower.

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[racer2086]

I went through the same thing with Geico down there in South Florida. My mom's 535i got totalled and they were undervaluing by thousands. They use everything from picking cheap, crappy comps and ignoring options to underscoring the cleanliness of the car. My dad had just waxed and full detailed the car including the engine bay (mind you the car only had 50k miles), and they rated it "good" and "acceptable". I told the adjuster to go out to the lot and open the hood and tell me if he couldnt eat off that engine bay. Got thousands more on the value after that.

[Natban]

Most of those aren't comparables because the mileages are much lower.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using TapatalkI wouldn't worry about the milage. Yes it matters, but in my case, the value of the cars are prorated against the milage.

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[fredo]

Thank you, What is EAG? not familiar with this.

EAG : enthusiast auto group. It's a dealer based in Ohio.

www.enthusiastauto.com

[az3579]

EAG : enthusiast auto group. It's a dealer based in Ohio.

www.enthusiastauto.com

They are going to laugh in his face. lol

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[IgnacioIII]

which insurance co are you having to deal with ?????

Mine is State Farm the Drunk's is Progressive both have said about the same thing, although progressive has not seen the car.