How do we value our cars?

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jhdeval

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So over the weekend I had an accident and now I am concerned with valuing the car. I have antique insurance and told the insurance company my 65 Barracuda /6 (Hopped up) was worth 18-20k. I got that number from the Haggerty valuation tool. Nada values my car with a slant at 16k.

As the title states how do we value what our cars are worth?
 
jhdeval said:
So over the weekend I had an accident and now I am concerned with valuing the car. I have antique insurance and told the insurance company my 65 Barracuda /6 (Hopped up) was worth 18-20k. I got that number from the Haggerty valuation tool. Nada values my car with a slant at 16k.

As the title states how do we value what our cars are worth?
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thats a tough one. i have an agreed value plan. my car is insured for 35k. if its totaled that is what i get. the only bad part is if you want to buy the total back they will charge you on a scale of that agree'd value. that being said i have over 25k in reciepts and i know my car would be lucky to fetch 15k on the open market.
 
I have about 9-10k into my car so I am well below the value set but the repair cost spit balled by a shop was 10-12k. I am worried they are going to total it and leave me with not enough to fix it myself if it comes to that.
 
Never been a fan of it but how about an appraisal? A bit late for it in the case of the op but.....We have our car insured for roughly what I have in it right now. When we first insured our 64 Fairlane we had no idea what to put the value at.....Spoke with Haggerty and there suggestion, being that we had just purchased it was to insure it for the purchase price plus what it cost me to go get it from another state. Made sense to me at the time....
 
In general what I see is that $5,000 buys a really good original early A, no rust and very road worthy. Maybe another $1000 ( so that's $6,000) for a really nice Formula S. There may have been a few cars at auction that get a bit more but not too many. So there's a large gap between what you can buy and the value guides. To me this means if you can get all of the agreed upon value it should be taken. Then if you want you get another car for $6000, in all likely hood a better example too, and then there's enough left to do some upgrades. The one exception would be if you have a deep emotional attachment, say if you or soneone I the family is the original owner, then I might want to concider getting it repaired.
 
My emotional goes to the fact that this is my first built. With years of hard work going into the build. Still waiting on the insurance company.
 
There has been $4.600 put in my Sedan, I have it covered for $7.500.
Not to much nor to little for a 66 Valiant Sedan that I have been driving and enjoying
I looked at many A bodies that I could replace mine with and $7.500 would be enough.
Grundy took pictures and agreed on my value and said I can make it higher as I keep working on it.
 
I have a friend, decades ago that had a 57 2-door Chevy with a stated valve of 10,000 policy. Someone in a 260Z ran into the front fender and bent the upper control arm. The blue book valve at that time was for 600 dollars. They were going to total the car till he said "You mean that you are going to give me 10,000 dollars for a fender bender?" They said "what do you mean?" and he told them about his stated valve policy. The insurance company fixed it instead.
To prove the value of your repair, sometimes you have to show them(proof to them) what it would cost to replace it with the same condition car.
I truth what I have heard from some insurance company's is they will try to work with you. Lets wait and see, of course do your research now while waiting in case it turns sour.
 
ssvdp has a good point. my valiant only has a NADA value of 4-6000.
I looked at what most clean ( not perfect cars ) were going for and went slightly higher
when insuring my valiant.
 
YOU have to agree with the settlement. I had a 64 Polara that got racked and sat in a storage lot for 6 months, while they tried to get me to take less. In the end, they gave me what I wanted and paid the storage about the same... Go figure.
 
PoisonDart74 said:
Then fix it yourself.
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Not saying I won't fix it myself. I still need to see what the insurance company is going to do. What I am doing right now is trying to justify the value of my car. Is it worth 6k or 18k or 100k. I started this thread with the interest of trying to determine real value.
 
I don't think the insurance company cares about real value if there is truly such a thing. They will go with book value or the agreed value if you have one, the 57 Chev was a perfect example. Appraisals always seem over the top high so I doubt that would help much. I don't know anything about your car but 16 - 20K seems pretty high if you were trying to sell it in these times.

It's worth what you can get for it, so finding similar cars sold would go a long way
 
Here we need an appraisal by a company the Ins company recognizes as reputable and that is the agreed value. No argueing on either side.
 
Insurance (different companies) has totalled my 65 Newport 3 times. The way it has flowed for me, I take it to their approved body shop, the bozos report "can't fix", insurance decides to total it, then it becomes just a question of price. I collect ads and such from ebay, craigslist, auto mags (before internet) and document comparables. They usually don't figure my 4 door is worth less than a 2-door high-option car. I recall $2500 - $3500 agreements. I buy the car back for ~$700 and fix it. Most were fairly easy repairs. One was a single door (deer crunched). Painting is the biggest hassle. Once your car is on a salvage title, more salvages don't hurt.
 
any insurance company will be more than happy to work with you( when you pay them enough) i just run basic liablity, as they dont make replacement parts for my truck and theyll just say its a lost cause so i dont bother. but it also has a big part of where you live. here in evenaville, theres a painted dart thats got a crunched *** end and he wants 7k for it, rust buckets for 2k and rollers for 3k. but down south theyre alot cheaper, and out west theyre alot better and still cheaper. where as my truck is rusty and cost 600 bucks, out in cali the truck are damn near rust free and i coulda nabbed a 56 ford f100 for a grand. just take in your total parts on the car, and if you want your labor but i dont think thats fair cause its a labor of love but some ppl wanna charge for that. i seen an ebay where this guy said he wanted 7k of his price just for the use of his building and such, water, price of tools, etc etc. but at the same time on the other foot, i paid 600 for my truck but with how rare it is i wont sell it for less than 2500. so i guess im just as bad as everyone else
 
It has been my experience that without an appraisal...done by a recognized appraisal company recognized by the insurance company..that the car will be valued just like an old car...essentially nada regardless of what you think it is worth and have told the insurance broker what you think it is worth. ... or in the words of an old teacher of mine ".. if you don't got it in writing, you don't got it at all".

I see that you are from the states and hope this isn't the case. I am hoping that this isn't an expensive lesson..

Good luck.
 
Agree to what ever value you want. As has been stated you could total it and buy a nice one with a V8 for around 5 grand.
 
OK only my 2 cents but you say you have 9-10 K in the car, right? now what about the time you spent doing it. Your time is worth something. If it is insured for 20K fight to get all of what you can...I am sorry that you had an accident its got to suck with your heart and soul into the build. I would be really sad/pissed if it happened to me...Good Luck...Bill
 
It sounds like you are concerned about what your insurance company will say your car is worth. The Hagerty & NADA guides should be the basis, then it's all about condition. If I remember correctly your car looked pretty nice so a few current pics would help. Then you'll need to work it out with your insurance company. This should be a moot point if you already had their agreement on value beforehand.
 
jhdeval said:
My emotional goes to the fact that this is my first built. With years of hard work going into the build. Still waiting on the insurance company.
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I hate to say this, the insurance company couldn't care less about peoples emotions and feelings

I really hope you do come out on top; but without an apprasal there going to low ball you, and if you can't really find an example of why it should be a 15,000 dollar car they'll give you that low offer, or maybe even write it off if they believe the value to fix is above payout value

hopefully you have alot of reciepts to prove its worth it for them
 
I have checked with the Insurance Agent and the value was stated at 18-20k. I priced it there because at the time on Hagerty the high water mark was 28k I believe and the low was around 16k. I figured mine wasn't perfect nor terribly rare but it is (was) a nice example. And with what I had in it plus my labor 18-20k was about right.

I want to fix it but I think in the end I may just roll this into another project or a finished car. Either way I plan to keep it and maybe down the line I will get the parts and fix it right.

Lets hope the insurance company will come back with some good news. I appreciate every bodies input. Wish me luck.
 
I think Hagerty's valuation tool is pretty spot on. When I make major upgrades like when I finished body & paint I move the needle closer the top end. I know many of us pour money into our cars even more than the car itself is worth. I think its ill advised to believe we would recoup that money on a sale or insurance payoff.
 
I've yet to see a first gen Barracuda for anywhere near $28k and it's doubtful there are very many that would go for $16k. In the end, it is what is on the policy that will dictate what they offer and what you may take.

We went through an issue several years ago with a rough-around-the-edges 87 Daytona Shelby Z. Fresh drivetrain and lots of good parts. Allstate lowballed me at first, but I had fresh comparable ads that showed a greater value and got the adjuster to cover some recent expenses, INCLUDING my labor without receipts. He could have fought it, but it wasn't a ton of money ($4,200) and their insured was clearly at fault and they would have been out more if he hadn't hit an "old" car...They were also paying for a rental, which I think they would have had to pay for until we reached a settlement...
 
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