Preparing my insurance response in advance

Take a read. Let me know what you think. I am trying to anticipate and provide thoughtful, reasoned, responses to what I expect will evolve into debate. Don't be shy, share advice if you have it.

Dear Farm Bureau Agent.

It is important for you to understand some things about our 2000 Dragon Vehicross.

Designed in 1997 sold 1999 to 2001, vehicles in the states for the entire three years amounted to 4,153, total sales world wide 5,957.

My Dragon Green baby was one of only 125 sold in 2000 for the USA (WiKi). For me this is not just a car.

Generally when I am not at work, my life revolves around the kids. When they (the kids) are otherwise occupied. I can be found taking a clay bar to the paint of my Dragon, waiting for the right time of day for a hard wax under a shade tree. Removing all the wheels and buffing them to a mirror shine.

It's not just a shiny car that I love. It's the uniqueness of the car that often takes the spotlight. Where most people would agree it is uncommon for strangers to take the time to stop and complement them. It is uncommon for me to make it from home to work without spending at least a few minutes, often several times in a trip. Chatting about my Dragon VX . While that may sound like Ego. It really goes a long way keeping my spirit up.

My daughter has significant special needs (Autistic). One of those needs is supervision 100% of the time. Starting over with a base VX would present a real burden for me. I really don't have the time to install lift kits, and the other improvements that are on my current VX. Jobs that take a normal person 4 hrs to do. Take me several days to a week to complete due to the time required being the daddy of a special needs child. I'm not complaining about that, being Chloe's daddy is my number one passion. It's just something that needs noted. Also a point of interest is that one of Chloe's most cherished activities is "Ride Green VX". She really does not have many other interest and doing it helps keep her calm. We "Ride Green VX" several times daily is no understatement (weekend's can involve up to five rides daily). Getting an appropriate replacement soon is not only important to Chloe and myself. It is important to our family.

My Dragon Green Isuzu Vehicross was stolen from us 03/13/16 at 0100 am from our driveway as we slept. Recovered that same day at 7am on local industrial RR tracks. From the moment I received the discouraging news from the impound guy (It may be totaled). I have been on the search for a reasonable replacement. In all likelihood I have been looking at comps, or replacements longer than you. I think you will agree they (VX's)are few and far between. Nothing close enough (geographically) for me to even take a simple test drive. So I have to be very careful. I have determined that VX Vehicross is really the only option for a combination sports car/ suv hybred, unless I include the Porsche Cayenne as an available option. I simply will not be happy with the endless cookie cutter, soccer mom "Sport" SUV's available. Jeeps will just cost you more, and make me less happy (don't get me started).

This thing you call a vehicle. It gets me up in the morning anticipating my ride to work. It picks me up at the end of a long day knowing I get to drive it home, knowing that I am one of, less than 125 people who can say that. It is part of my identity when I gather with friends. Maybe most of all, it is part of the family. Understand I am not asking you for a gift. I am not asking for a free ride. I have in good faith, paid my premiums year after year. I have placed my trust in your company not only for my personal ride, but for the home my family lives in, the car my wife drives, my away from home car, my off road vehicle's, soon my son's first car. That amount of trust in my opinion is no small thing.

Although it is rare I use insurance. I do expect the insurance I have chosen to be there for me. If that turns out not to be the case. We might as well just purchase insurance from the endless supply of internet discounters. Please stand tall and respond in a way that makes me proud I had chosen you as my total insurance provider. I do not expect to get something for free. I am hopeful that my insurance investment was not wasted.

I have gathered additional reasonable comps that I would like to share with you if your interested.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Not to discourage you, but I'm not sure anything you write will affect the outcome. Insurance companies tend to be VERY black/white about following the rules for paying out claims. Surely, part of the reason is to avoid favoritism.

I have had two "losses" with my custom Corvette (though both times I had it repaired). I've also had a total loss on a Jeep in the past. (None were my fault).

With the Corvette, I spent 5 months trying to CORRECTLY resolve repairs and get my car back. It ended up falling on the repair facility for problems. AND...it's not the insurance company's desire to fix a "show car" to that level of status. It's only they "responsibility" to "go by the book". I'm saying they will treat it -- like any other car.

The value to YOU will not play a factor. To them, it's nothing more than an object/property on which they'll suffer a loss. They WILL pay the claim to avoid problems. But, they won't go out of their way to keep you a customer. What they view it's worth is what they'll pay. For people wanting MORE insurance than "book value", their are collector car policies that will cover "Agreed Value". THAT is the kind of insurance you would have needed for something with show, custom, or sentimental value.

It's probably not your fault for not realizing insurance isn't "insurance for the heart". It's insurance against a TOTAL loss. By that I mean to avoid paying everything. That's why there are deductibles (to affect premium) and book values to determine "street value". This is the type of insurance you probably have. I assume so because you didn't mention any of the key definitions normally associated with collector policies.

I doubt this will help you feel any better...and likely the opposite. My hope is...if you find another VX to replace it...and WANT insurance to cover what it means TO YOU, please look into the collector insurance market. That is how my Corvette is insured now. I have a $15k agreed value policy.

Good luck with your claim!

I have have had good results with stating my case and not accepting their offers as they usually will try and total your car for way too little or let you keep it and try and give you a lower amount than they should, every time I have argued my point and showed the car was worth more than they claim they have offered more, so I say it cannot hurt to stand up to them and tell them how you feel and show them what the VX really sells for and not what their little books say, they do make exceptions for true market value, if you have a good insurance company.

Stated value insurance only works for cars that while driven are never left attended. That means show cars folks. You cannot even leave a stated value car long enough unattended to run in the supermarket. Believe me I have Porsche',s and antique Cadillacs that I drive and they will not give stated value unless I never leave it unattended.

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Originally Posted by blacksambo

Stated value insurance only works for cars that while driven are never left attended. That means show cars folks. You cannot even leave a stated value car long enough unattended to run in the supermarket. Believe me I have Porsche',s and antique Cadillacs that I drive and they will not give stated value unless I never leave it unattended.

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That is not true, I have a policy like that for my show car and I can leave it unattended and drive it across the country to a car show and leave it in the hotel parking lot for 3 days if I want to. I do have to have at least one other car that is a daily driver and it does cost about $500 a year which is more than the standard collector/show car policies but I think it is worth it because I do drive it to shows that are far from home and last several days. The value on that policy is 40K for reference.

I figure you all are probably wanting to hear the status.

First offer without purchase of totaled vehicle
$5450. After my letters. And challenging their comp's with my own much more extensive list. Keeping my totaled VX as hostage, not releasing it from $25 a day storage until a compromise was reached.

$7905. I refused that offer until they conceded to allow me to remove and secure the Brush guard, wheel carrier, and wheels/tires. These items were in addition to the $7905, and did not reduce the payout. (my payout was changed from my VX's condition from "Average" to "Clean Retail", and the comps were revised, throwing out the low end)

This agreement was not complete until the morning after (Monday) I had completed the purchase of Craig's VX. The morning after I returned home from Ohio with my new VX. As the sun peaked over the horizon in the salvage year. A friend and myself were laying on our backs in the mud, removing item's and trimming cladding to fit larger tires.

Part two Stolen personal possession
A very similar situation. Doubled the initial offer.

No doubt this was not an easy process (truck and personal property).
In my heart I believe the result had less to do with the particular insurance carrier. And more to do with my letter which may not have swayed the adjusters emotionally. But I like to think made a statement that I will not go quietly into the night. More importantly researching strategies for insurance negotiation. Not being reactive, but being proactive, when researching comp's or depreciation values for property. When they made on offer, it was immediately responded to (within minutes) with researched, reasonable arguments.

The big lesson I learned, Included in almost every research on strategy. NEVER ACCEPT FIRST OFFER! I have no doubt. Without the work I had done. The initial offer would have been at least nominally higher just refusing that initial offer and doing nothing else.

Congratulations . I'd say you did very well. Just curious where did you source your comps? Thx

Okay. A hotel parking lot is your home away from home and would be acceptable, but don't leave it in the shopping mall etc..

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Originally Posted by blacksambo

Congratulations . I'd say you did very well. Just curious where did you source your comps? Thx

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They could only find three comps, and far between. I can say confidently I have every listed VX, 17 I think. I left them all together but only after I ran the numbers myself. There were several statistical abnormalities like 30k and 4k. I advised the adjuster that I was willing to throw out the high freaks, if they were willing to throw out the low freaks. The requirements for insurance comps are to find them within the zip code of the client. Obviously this was not an option. I used that to my advantage explaining that they would need to add transportation cost within the average numbers.

I found them on
VX info
Craigslist
Auto Trader
Ect ect ect . . .

Literally anywhere I could find them. I had my list done before they had their done. Their list of comp's had two at 7k and one at 4k. I explained that not only were their comps statistically inappropriate, It was rude and insulting.