My Camry was in a fender, hood, bumper, and headlight bender

[redpoint5]

What I'm saying is that these slimey insurance companies will lowball you.

When I was rear-ended in my 1996 Subaru Legacy on my 28th birthday, the insurance company offered me $1,000. Thing is, everything in the $1k price range didn't run right. They claimed my car had a lot of prior damage that would cost thousands to repair. Sure, I said, but I didn't drive the car to pick up chicks. I drive it because it's perfectly mechanically sound. You've got to get me into a perfectly mechanically sound vehicle, and $1k isn't going to cut it.

They gave me $2,500 for the car, which is 2.5x more than their initial offer. I bought the 2006 TSX which is still my newest vehicle for $17k after that.

[Xist]

I didn't know where else to look for data, so I checked completed auctions on eBay:

[Xist]

Meanwhile, someone took the time to point out that I refused the offer for my car and they came back with the same number.

I guess that it depends on how reasonable their initial offer is.

Then again, I only dealt with USAA.

[Xist]

The one with the highest mileage has 195,278 miles.

It also has the lowest price, but why pay $6,500 for one with 195k when you can buy one with 142,416 miles for $7,000?

It's also in Tucson.

Enterprise doesn't show any rentals.

The only other option is Uhaul.

They would charge $213 and the site says it is 222 miles.

This says it would get up to 12 MPG.

That works out to 18.5 gallons

Gas is $3.70 in Tucson: $68.45.

All that I can find is "Tax, title, registration, $499 dealer doc fee, market adjustments, and dealer installed options extra."

This says the sales tax on $7,000 is $541.24.

With the rental and gas it would total $7,821.69

So, claim my car is worth $7,000?!

Seven thousand dollars?!

Settle for six?!

[redpoint5]

Start at $9k and let them talk you down to $7.5

You probably already know this, but 2001 and prior model years all had non-interference engines and timing belts. They would use up the belt like clockwork right around 90k miles, so it was one of those not optional maintenance tasks, but at least the engine wouldn't grenade if you didn't get to it in time.

2002+ went to interference engine and a timing chain. The chain in theory should go as long as the engine. Hopefully it would merely skip a tooth before letting go catastrophically. I've got no experience with what happens when a timing chain wears too much.

[Piotrsko]

Timing chain wear is pretty much as you just described. Timing goes retarded just a wee bit as the chain stretches but Jumping teeth is a failure of the tensioner

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Start at $9k and let them talk you down to $7.5

Good luck with that. A year ago the pre-crash value of the vehicle was established at about $4000 by the insurance company that paid out for the last crash that totaled this Camry. The salvage title absolutely matters and the insurance company is under no obligation to pay Xist the value of a car with a clean title. A good outcome would be 75% of the book value of a clean car.

While ads can be used for comps what really matters is sales transaction data. There are industry sources that collect this data which the insurance company will have. Your best option is Ebay completed sales and maybe KBB.

From Edmunds:

What is the value of a salvage title vehicle?

Edmunds does not provide pricing estimates for vehicles that have major mechanical and/or body damage or for vehicles with "branded" titles (e.g. salvaged, flooded, frame damaged, etc.). In general, though, we believe that a salvage title decreases a vehicle's value by up to 50% of the True Market Value (TMV) for an identical vehicle with a "clean" title.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by JSH

While ads can be used for comps what really matters is sales transaction data. There are industry sources that collect this data which the insurance company will have. Your best option is Ebay completed sales and maybe KBB.

So, this?

Originally Posted by Xist

I didn't know where else to look for data, so I checked completed auctions on eBay:

Based on mileage I could only hope for $2,000.
I don't think that I can find any running Camries for around that price, but I can't imagine they would care about me replacing a restored-salvage vehicle with one with a clear title.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by JSH

Good luck with that. A year ago the pre-crash value of the vehicle was established at about $4000 by the insurance company that paid out for the last crash that totaled this Camry. The salvage title absolutely matters and the insurance company is under no obligation to pay Xist the value of a car with a clean title. A good outcome would be 75% of the book value of a clean car.

While ads can be used for comps what really matters is sales transaction data. There are industry sources that collect this data which the insurance company will have. Your best option is Ebay completed sales and maybe KBB.

From Edmunds:

Yes, but there are costs associated with losing the vehicle beyond the value of the vehicle, like loss of use of a functioning vehicle, taxes, fees, etc.

Then there's the fact that Xist had a functional vehicle. Insurance is responsible to make the claimant whole. If that person had a mechanically sound vehicle, insurance must provide a way to achieve a mechanically sound replacement.

The way to do this is tell them you will be happy to accept a lowball offer due to branded title, if only they provide an example of branded title replacement vehicles in perfectly mechanically sound condition.

At the end of the day, the value of a vehicle isn't in what a piece of paper says about it, but the reality of what it delivers; reliable transportation.

The claimant holds most of the cards. Does the adjuster want to have the oldest liability on the books of all the other adjusters over a matter of a few hundred bucks? As long as they can put in the notes a justification for paying more, they'd rather close the case out and move on.

[Xist]

"Hey, my car was restored salvage. I understand if you don't feel obligated to replace that with a car with a clean title. The only dealership that I found selling a Camry with a restored salvage title asks $4,900 for an older car with more miles." https://www.valuepriceauto.com/inven...amry/vp742701/

Of course, I would cite the out-the-door price, not the sticker price.

I e-mailed all of the dealerships with i4s on Craigslist since some of the ads are old.

Fun how that restored salvage Camry is $4,900 with 217,000 miles--and restored salvage.
2006 with 146,000 miles for $2,995
2006 with 187,000 miles for $3,5000
There was one more ad, but they don't show a price.