Scenario: Stock 1997 ITR stolen in Orange County, CA. Car was stock, no accidents, clean title, 98K miles. Bought for $15,500 two or three years ago.

Insurance company initially offered $6,000 based on a sampling of 20 1997 Integras recently sold within a 150 mile radius (I think that's how it went, the insurance dude was talking way too fast). I explained the rarity of the Type R, blah blah blah. I sent the adjuster documents supporting my explanation, including ads for 1997 ITRs currently for sale or recently sold that weren't salvaged, JDM fronted, K'd out, turboed, etc...basically stock or near stock 1997s. Adjuster didn't want to accept the ads since they were either private or posted on a message board. He was looking for examples sold on autotrader.com or actual dealerships.

A week later, he calls back with a settlement offer of $10,100 though I'd get $9600 after deductions. This was based on a few 1998 ITRs recently sold, all of which were sold for less than $10,000. I don't have the document with me but I'm hoping you guys can help me located these 98s that were sold because I'm sure they were in crap condition. I do remember one of the sample 98s was from Denver, and I remember seeing someone here or at ITRCA posting a Denver craigslist ad for a 1998 ITR.

$10,100 settlement was refused. Adjuster explains that I can now hire an appraiser and umpire (term he used) and he will also hire a different appraiser. If appraisers come up with a value more than $10,100 the insurance company will reimburse me for the appraiser and umpire costs. If the appraisers come up with a value less than $10,100 then that's all I'll get and I pay for the appraiser and umpire out of my pocket.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

Easy, I'd take the 10k...and call it a small loss, that's a decent insurance offer.

 

You not happy with 10K? This isnt a rare AC cobra or a 1.1 million one of one car. Thats around what its value is. Its got 98k on it, maybe you paid a bit more than you should have for the car in the first place.

Take the 10K

 

Yeah I hope its not too late to accept that offer of 10k, otherwise your probably gonna end up losing money.

 

its worth the fight, this guy in the link here had a salvage 98 R stolen and ended up getting 16k after some fighting so there is some hope
https://honda-tech.com/forums/acura-integra-type-r-8/value-insurance-salvaged-type-r-2902399/

 

How the hell are you going to prove a car that doesnt really have a "set" value yet is worth more money than 10,000?


This isnt barret jackson, its a small niche market car.....And a upper scale integra to them.

 

I just went through this with my insurance company and everything you have said sounds familiar. He told me private sales weren't valid, even though all of the examples in his report were private (even a Craigslist ad). He would basically come up with new excuses as to why my examples weren't valid, even contradicting himself a few times. Luckily the at-fault driver's insurance in my accident was very reasonable and gave me what I asked.

The umpire is probably not worth the time, but if you feel that strongly about it, it's all you can do really.

 

10k is a good deal. there was a 77k mile 2001 car that just went for 8500 on ebay the other day.

 

Reason being because it was dicked. No VINS on tranny. And shitty as description

 

looked better than a lot ive seen in here

not sure what you consider "dicked"

 

That car must've been in **** condition

a 77k 01 in good condition will pull 11-12k at a minimum

My 01 w/ 48k went for $15,100 a few months ago

 

I hate to tell you this, but you "overpaid" for your ITR when you bought it. Overpaid in the sense that the price was significantly above market value, though I'm sure most of us here will agree that this car carries a few thousand dollars of extra sentimental/special/whatever value.

With that said, NADA suggests that clean retail value for your car would be $7900. It seems to me, and please don't take any offense by this, that you're derriving the value of your car based on what some of these cars sell for around here without accounting for the inflated price inherent to a true Type R.

NADA: http://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/1997/...R-5-Spd/Values

There are no 97's on Autotrader being sold by dealer's at the moment.

I'll echo what others have suggested, take the 10k and write it off as a loss.

 

When I argued with State Farm, I asked them to show me where I could buy another itr, same year and similar mileage, for what they were offering.

I pointed out that a few itrs, with much higher mileage, were for sale on-line, for thousands of dollars more. Did State Farm expect me to make up the entire difference between what they were offering and what I would have to pay?

They came up $4000, from their original offer. I got $16,500

Let me know the name of the insurance comapny that is doing this to you.

 

it actually should have. it was clean and if it would have been sold private probably would have been listed at 11,900

just happened to be one of those deals the buyer lucked out on since no one with $ was bidding against him

 

I just sent you a PM with some info

 

Outrun(we met at the Hybirds MR2 track day, friend of Jeff),

Be aware that in California insurance agencies can only value your car against that year model, or 1 model year newer, i.e. 1997 & 1998 in your case.

The law allows them to use cars within 150 mile radius, being sold either 90 days prior, or 90 days after the claim was filed. When I fought with my company we expanded the territory to cover the entire CA. Due to the limited amount of '97 & '98 that were sold, you might have to open that up to the entire US.

When they value your car, ensure that it's the exact same model. The first adjuster that I had was pulling ALL Acura Integra models for my valuation. I requested copies of all of their valuations and disallowed ALL of them, as there were very few that were Type-R models, or they were vehicles that had been considered "total losses" and had been repaired and re-sold. I even found a few of them that were for sale that were missing the 5 lug, had LS engine swaps, had the entire interior missing(I told the adjuster sure, let's use the car with the missing interior, I'll get you the price for the new seats...they quickly removed the car from the list). For this I had to speak with a supervisor, as the adjuster couldn't understand the differences. I was later given another adjuster who had a better understanding of the car.

Remind the insurance company that there were a total of 1,322 Type-R's produced between 1997 & 1998, for which you can provide the VIN number for each and every one, https://honda-tech.com/forums/acura-integra-type-r-8/how-many-itr-were-sold-usa-1492748/

Good luck, and pop me a PM if there are specific questions you have, I've fought the insurance company a number of times when they were trying to either total the car, or value a car that had been totaled by someone else.

Austin

 

I'm sorry for your lost. Be firm and have your research ready at hand. Tell them you want to be put in the same condition prior to the theft of your vehicle. Thats their duty and as the others have stated fight but in a nice way. I personally had my vehicle totalled 6 months ago. I pulled in over 16k for a 2000 w/ 93k. Also if you have any recent maintenance on yours, enclose that information. Every little bit helps. When the adjust contest to your findings and you feel the adjuster is not being understanding, ask to speak to a supervisor.

GL

 

Thanks for all the advice but I'm gonna take the settlement. My dad's chemotherapy starts tomorrow and I don't have time to fight all the BS with my insurance company while working full time and taking care of my dad. I already have to take time off at certain times during the week to care for my dad.

I'm pissed off about it but my dad takes priority. I'm peeved at how I showed my adjuster a somewhat local 1997 ITR for sale ($13,000) and he dismissed it since it was an internet ad, yet the CCC valuations report used 1998 ITRs that were sold for under $10,000 and one of them I'm sure was from a Denver craigslist ad.

Finding and hiring an adjuster and umpire would've set me back a few hundred dollars too.

Anyways, thanks again to all who replied.

 

Sorry to hear about your deal man.. Insurance adjusters suck and they will always offer less. I had a 00 SI with a ton of things done to it and all receipts to prove it.. I was offered 6500 at first, fought with insurance... Farmers actually had a private adjuster contact me and I gave them all receipts.. I ended up getting 14K out of my SI that was taken. Maybe I am one of the lucky ones, but maybe if you have receipts for anything added to it, then you can get them to come up a bit more..
Sorry to hear about your dad too.. Things will get better man..

 

My adjuster didn't have anything to say when I brought the same exact issue up. He was a real winner:

Adjuster: "We can't use private sales since people can ask an outrageous price.
Me: "Your report has 3 examples that are all private sales, including a Craigslist ad."

Adjuster: "You can't use Kelly Blue Book because it uses dealer data that has dealer markups."
Me: "..."

Adjuster: "Your examples are from all over the country. Prices will vary a lot and will be higher."
Me: "Your examples are from N. Carolina, Arkansas and Colorado..."

Adjuster: "I found one on Autotrader in the same condition with a few more miles."
Me: "Oh, this one? It has 150,000 miles on it (mine had 67,000)."
Adjuster: "Oh, that might be it I'm not sure."

 

I'm sorry to hear about your father.

If the CCC has a car from Denver, then they're illegally using a car in their valuation, and you can file a complaint with the California Department of Insurance. I'd advise calling and talking to the adjuster's supervisor. Due to the guidelines they have to accept any 1997 and 1998 Type-R's that are for sale/were sold as a valuation, as it clearly shows market value. I also had a very good relationship with the local Acura dealer(who knew the condition of the car) and had the insurance adjuster call and have the Acura dealer give them a quote for how much they would sell a Type-R for, it raised their quote by ~$3,000.

I'd suggest that you look at the specific regulations, and before finalizing the claim tell the insurance company that you're going to call the Insurance Commissioner's office to ask them if your claim looks to be handled appropriately.

Section 2695.8 - scroll down to this part, it has some good info.
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0100-con...ement-regs.cfm

Might I ask which insurance company you're working with?

You can also request free mediation from the Insurance Commission, as you meet all of their requirements:

http://insurance.ca.gov/0100-consume...oMediation.cfm

http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0100-con...tionFinal2.pdf