Met with the adjuster today, seemed like a nice and very knowledgeable guy. He said he'd done 3 or 4 VX's in his 7 years on the job, including one when he was actually training to become a certified adjuster. I was surprised when he volunteered that he knew how rare they were and how hard it would be to replace mine, especially since it looked to be in good shape before the accident. He confirmed that the valuation process IS a negotiation between he and I, so there must be some room for wiggle. Obviously that was very encouraging to hear.
I also learned something very interesting about the total loss (yes it is now officially a total loss) process in Virginia. In what has to be a rare act of wisdom by lawmakers, Virginia law forbids insurers from assessing the value of total loss vehicles because it represents a conflict of interest. In other words, the insurance company is liable to cover the damages or total value of the car, so it is absolutely in the insurer's best interest (as we've discussed at length in this thread) to undervalue the car. So instead of allowing that to happen, Virginia mandates that insurers take pictures of the vehicle, record all pertinent information (mileage, year, VIN, etc.) and send that information to independent 3rd party companies who specialize in valuing used vehicles. The adjuster said the company that they are required to use will take that information, research the book value for the vehicle, then pull comparable listings from used car sites to determine the real cost to replace the vehicle. He said it usually takes a day or two to get the price projection back, at which point we can begin negotiating a final value.
Overall I'm very encouraged.
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