Quote:
Originally Posted by miket
If a careless driver hit your trailer and totaled it how would that persons insurance determine how much to pay you for it? Or would they bring it to an auto body shop and have them spend a lot of and money to rebuild it it no matter how messed up it was? Would they fix any damge to the main truck and you do the same work again yourself on the modifications and trailer an bill the hours to their insurance company or would they have to do it all? Is your truck with modifications appraised for higher than the blue book value in case the insurance company would want to write it off and give you a small check?
Last night a big old car just pulled out in front of my car from a side street without looking. I slammed on the brakes and swerved around in a split second between that car and an oncoming pickup truck missing them by a couple of inches at most. It was all reaction. That got me thinking.
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miket,those are good questions,I think about it all the time,but unsure as to how to come up with anything reasonable.Here's a 'sense about it:
One summer,I worked at a local marina doing a restoration on a 45-foot Chris Craft cabin cruiser.Cost to the client was $40.00(U.S) per hour for the labor portion of the work on the all-wood boat,which included some reconstruction of moisture-damaged teak and mohogany(sp?).
If $40/HR was a reasonable figure,applied to the trailer,I would have $21,440 invested in it for labor alone.
I have on the order of $20,000 invested in the T-100 for labor only.
I suppose a person could take out extra coverage,however,in a 'normal' collision/claims-adjuster/claim pay scenario,I have no idea how real 'cost' could be estimated for a one-off,hand-built,custom vehicle.Doug's Dolphin car set him back $100,000.One of the X-Prize cars absorbed 2 -1/2 years chemical engineer salary to build.
This is a tough one!