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Can anyone tell me how many 98 XJ Sports were made that were stock white, 4 door and 5 speed manual? I am fighting with an insurance company who has a customer that was drunk and hit my parked jeep. They are trying to low ball me on what the jeep is worth and trying to label it a total loss. Open to any and all comments.
In my experience and understanding of vehicle value through the insurance eyes. It's completely based on your state sales. Vehicles processed and sold prices are recorded and translated into a general value.
I dealt with this to a slight degree when my 14 chevy Caprice ppv got plastered in autoglass from a vehicle ahead of me. An obvious listed asking price on marketplace or otherwise is not gonna cut it for an accessed total value.
Blue book value for age and mileage and then also tabbing up a reasonable assessment of value adding accesories. The ones you have reciepts for would be priority because those are proven purchase prices which are lost investments. The accessories you got 2nd hand arent gonna do much for you.
start shopping any dealerships you can find similarily conditioned age and mileae jeeps and work your accessories in from there
Even if they declare it a total loss, you can just buy it back from them and fix it up.
This but maximizing what you get from the drunk's insurance is paramount in making the total and rebuild worth it.
Also get list prices for similarly modified jeeps, more ammo the better an@That Jeep Guy XJMJ says anything you have receipts for for if not at least ge the list price; lift, tires, bumper, winch.
Drunk's insurance is going to try and pay you as little as possible, I remember my sister having to fight the old lady's insurance because they low balled hard.
Without better pictures of the damage, a total loss would not surprise me at all..
You aren't going to be able to fight them with Facebook for sale adds of other xjs and how much the previous owner spent on aftermarket parts. As said above if you want to fight them, get out receipts for repairs and aftermarket purchases.
Not trying to be negative here but the insurance payout for things like this is hardly ever enough in the victims eyes. Been there a few times and it can really suck
Just a reminder that the OP should be working with their own insurance company and letting them deal with the other party's insurance. Do not negotiate with the other insurance company. That's why you pay for coverage.
Bottom line here, you're effed buddy...insurance isn't there to protect you, as much as they want you to believe that. You're gonna have to fight for everything.
Sometimes the juice ain't worth the squeeze.
The post above about dealing with the other insurance company is spot on, don't deal with the other parties insurance at all...let your insurance company or your lawyer deal with that....preferably both. You need to remember you're driving a 20 year old vehicle. They could give 2 ****s about what you have into it. They go by book, which doesn't reflect market in any way.
Sorry for your loss. Best advice I can give you is take the payout, buy it back, fix it with a salvage title
Had the same thing happen to my 2 door 5 speed. Its a 2000 body, but the title and registration i used was from a 96 4 door auto. They gave me 5 grand and i bought it back, easy fix, just havent gone through the rebuilt title process yet.
It is you verses the owner of the car that smashed into you. Make a demand for the cost of your damages. Dont just wait for an offer. Go out and do the work to determine what you rig is worth, note all the modifications, the cost to have that work done, and also note anything exceptional condition wise on your rig, it is exceptional for example to be rust free for a three decade old car. the average 3 decade old car has rust for example. Also you can claim not only the replacement cost for your exceptional modified rig, but also the taxes required to be paid to buy a new one (sales and transfer tax) and since you cant simply find a replacement at a new car dealer lot, you are also entitled for travel and transport expenses to find and bring back a replacement rig from out of area.
I'd also not limit my search for comparable vehicles to facebook, also search Craigslist, do a nation wide search if need be, keeping in mind that if the only comparable vehicle is 500 miles away, you are entitled to recover the travel and transport costs. You also can claim a professional vehicle pre purchase inspection cost.
Do the work, search the ads, search far and wide, come up with as many comparables as possible, list the travel distances, get local estimates for a pre purchase inspection, add up the sales tax, and title transfer taxes that yoy ust pay, also add up you time to find such a rig, figure a reasonable hourly rate for you search time and travel time to preview cars.
If the insurance company wont deal, then file a lawsuit against the drunk owner. Play hardball with them.
But you can only play hardball with them if you do the work I outline above. You need documentation. Go get 'em.
I asked for owner only sales, search title only for "Jeep Cherokee" with 600 miles radius from my home (San Jose area) I made the model year range 1988 to 2001
You may also search for Jeep XJ, and Cherokee XJ in addition to Jeep Cherokee. Not all sellers title the ad the same. Of course will some times get a grand cherokee listed, but by giving the year range you can reduce the number of bad hits. Look for comparable equiped rigs as yours. Exact year model dont matter as these are old vehicles, so look at the whole range of years, look for lifted modified rigs for price comparison.
I have used these tactics to obtain much better settlements than the insurance offered. dont back down.
We also have your pain and suffering, lost time from work to deal with this, rental cars costs etc.. even if you have a spare car while you jeep us broken, you are still entitled to the cost of a comparable (ie. full sized) rental vehicle. Ask Hertz or Avis to provide a rental quate for full sized car to document that cost. The rental period should be for the time of the crash to the time you Jeep is repaired. or until you obtain a replacement (whith in reason) A modified classic car requires more time to replace than a 2 year old Civic, and you need to write that into your demand letter.
Also let them know you are sore if so from the crash, neck, back, arm, leg, what ever, make sure you see a doctor too.
Rule of thumb is pain and suffering is 3 times the medical costs and lost wages cost. and the doctors cost is not what you pay as a copay, rather it is the actually hospital billing cost, X-rays may be many many 100's of dollars, an examine may actually be also 100's of dollars, even if you only pay a 20 dollar copay for these services.
say 500 bucks in actually medical costs, you get three times that, or $1500, then you pay $500 back to the hospital as they too get to recover from the scumbag drunk that caused this. You pocked $1000 for medical in the end. Loose a day of work for injury, to recover or to visit doctors and therapists you get three times you daily pay. That is how it works in California. I have been in plenty of crashes, I know, and I always win. Dont back down.
XJ got hit. Help with insurance company?
