It would be fun to build a mini race car engine up. I'm going to wait a while until the prices go down a bunch Then start building one up.

 

It was about 1am when I got stuck. It was a typical jam up.
Hubbard's cave is alway slow so I didn't think anything about it.
I was behind a few big trucks outside of the tunnel. The left
lane was open and it took it. Traffic was moving about 15-20mph
I got about half way in to the tunnel before a complete stop.
My view was blocked by a few semis and the water at that point was a
trickel. Then we all had to scruch tighter too allow for more
emergancy vehicals. There was nowhere to go. In about 40 minutes
the water went from 1 inch deep by 2ft wide to 1ft deep and 3 lanes
wide another 25 minutes the water was 2ft high and I had to bale.

I over the whole thing, hopefully the insurance co will be good to me.
But the real killer is my car was Jet black and Jet black is no longer
available so I'm a little bummed about that. The whole thing was kind of
sureal. I'll let you know how it plays out

studog

 

What a bummer! I would think you'll get it totaled, but now you have to wait all over again for a new MINI! Maybe you can get "pain and suffering" added to the insurance payoff!

Sorry to hear.

Melancholy Cheers.

 

I am so sorry to read about your loss. I too am currently suffering from the loss of my Mini, so I totally understand. However, the other people who post that what matters is that you are ok. Indeed, as much as we all gush over our Minis (myself included), and as much as we care about our cars, they are replacable goods. Life is not replacable. I am very glad to read that you are ok!

http://www.mtawa.com.au/index2.htm?h...21_04_2001.htm

http://wdb.wardsauto.com/ar/auto_sto...itle/index.htm

http://www.nada.org/Content/Navigati..._10-6-2005.htm

Hope these help. I know the first one is from Australia, but it is interesting reading. Good luck, and keep us posted if there is anything we can do to help.

 

Make sure that you use the color of your car as a bargaining point with the insurance company if they balk. It was one of the reasons that you bought the car you did and they reason you have insurance is to make you whole.

 

wow i know how you feel....dam..

 

wow.. and i thought that crashing my 3 day old MINI was bad... my heart goes out to you man! good luck with the insurance company!

 

Oh man sometimes I am afraid of the same thing! (That and if I were to buy a new one it would be 5 grand more expensive..) However given the so-so paint quality I sometimes think if my MINI were totalled, I would order a white or silver then get the entire car repainted in black.

 

Warning for cooper owners and 'standing water'.

This has been discussed before, but the Cooper has a 'very low' resonance box connected to the air intake system that can ingest water into the engine if you drive thru deep water. This results with a hydrolocked engine which will need to be replaced.

Owners manual states: "Do not drive through water on the road if it is deeper than 1 ft / 30cm, and then only at walking speed at the most."

Safe driving!
Ken

 

In Road and Track they mentioned that they did this to their MCS... I think they said it was a $10,000 repair. ouch.

 

I don't think that is what happened to STUDOG. He was trapped in a place that subsequently flooded. He did not drive into a deep puddle and hydrolock his engine.

 

Thanks Red05MCS, As I stated, when I first got stuck in the back-up in the tunnel and there wasn't any water at that time. The water came in over the next hour and I wan't able to get out. 26 cars in all had to be towed out.

Never-the-less according to Illinois law pertaining to flood damage (2 laws)
One I'm having trouble finding out. Something about water covering the still plates or slip plates??? The second if the cost of repair including labor exceeds 33.3% of the cost of the vehicle it considered salvaged.

I find out today or tomorrow (12/8-12/9) what’s the out come. If the car is salvaged the insurance co. does an evaluation of it’s worth. It’s a 12 page report on all the details of my Mini and others with the same specs. The report will tell if the car had any other problems that might have been hidden. Also it will have all know recalls and if there are any others car available. I’ve been told it’s quite comprehensive.

Stay tuned.

 

We will. Thanks for keeping us informed!

 

Sill plates maybe? That would mean water above your door opening.

 

I'm getting screwed!

(Sorry this is long)

It took 2 weeks before they totaled my car. And the process Sucks.
BTW the agent the ones happy to take your money, Don’t do squat!
You call your agent to tell him your car was ?????. They tell you to
call the 800# and then you have to wait for an adjuster to be assigned.
(24-48 hours) Next the car has to be taken to a tech center
to be evaluated. (It was three days after I spoke with adjuster that the
car was picked up) The evaluation can take anywhere from 48 hours to
a week/week and a half So finally after a painful 2 weeks I got good
news the car is totaled. The bad news they only want to give me 23,9K
(I have 26,93K on my loan)
(The purchase price was higher I had 2K from my trade in)
So I ***** and the evaluator says he’s sorry but he’s done all he can do
and it’s passed to the final adjuster. (sometimes 2)
Meanwhile my agents says don’t worry it’s the first number. Total losses
take a while wait until you talk to the adjuster. Well the final adjuster is
a piece of work. HUGE A-HOLE!!! He was very curt, very matter-of-fact
he had no empathy and basically told me I was foolish for buying an end
of the model year car. (That was insulting) He has no idea what my
reasons are for buying what and when. I had the car for 2 weeks.
(THEY DON'T CARE)
But here’s where I get screwed. I bought a demo and close to the end
of the year. Even though dealers don’t treat demos the same as used.
Allstate does.
And even thought it was tricked out buy the dealer and the color is
no longer available (Jet black) and it’s basically a non-negotiable car.
I doesn’t matter to Allstate or most likely any insurer. I got the sense
he thinks I over paid. Did I? At the time I was looking
no dealer was discounting end of year models not even demos.
Also the adjuster has to get some info from my dealer And he was a
jagg to them and also to my wife. (I sicked her on them). He flat out
said I doesn’t matter if you over paid, under paid, or won the car in Vegas
we are only going to give fair market value for an 05 MCSa with 5k. Done.
So I bitched some more and the 2nd round the came back at $25,580
(once they understood all the options on the car) still Unacceptable!
So they said they’ll do one more round and if I’m not satisfied I can
chose to go to arbitration. So that’s as of 12-16.
Stay tuned readers the saga continues.

BIG BTW IF CAN GET GAP INSURANCE.

Studog

 

Just wondering here... Might the city, public works, state, whomever is responsible for that water main have some liability here? This was a utility that they maintained that failed and caused a few thousand dollars in property damage (at least).

It probably depends on the law in your state, but you might be able to recoup the money the insurance company is shorting you by submitting a claim to whatever agency/company is responsible for maintaining that water main...

 

The damages calculation in theory will be the same no matter who is doing the reimbursement.

Of course it may be worth a shot if very unhappy. The thing is that once the insurance company pays out, they will be able to go after the city and any claim the car owner has against the city, the insurance will have subrogations rights - meaning they will have a right to any claim the owner has up to the amount they paid out. So for it to be worthwhile the car owner has to recover from the city more than the insurance paid out.

I will say this, being only two weeks old, there is no better argument that its value is what you paid for it. That is in fact what the definition of market value is - what a buyer is willing to pay. With only two weeks from purchase to loss, depreciation is not a significant factor. I would insist on fully what you paid or within a couple hundred bucks at most. Anything less and it is time to get a lawyer.

 

Hang in there studog, don't roll over & play dead for them. That's just what they want & I'm sure many people dojust roll over for them. Since the second offer was better that the first there is a glimmer of hope the third offfer may be the right number. If not have your lawyer talk with them. When this is all done remember to change your insurance to another carrier.

Good luck,

Chuck

 

Get an atty to write them a "demand" letter from his letterhead for the full price you paid for the car. Read your contract, even with arbitration, they and the city could be on the hook for your atty's fees. Litigation, even arbitration is expensive. ($$), they know that better than anyone. It might change their tune. I don't see the problem, since they are going to collect from the city's insurance carrier in the end. Get the price you paid for the car and don't agree to any less, the rest is just them "puffing" and trying to lock in an early settlement.

P.S. The price you paid for the car from MINI, lose the idea they should reimburse you for the MODS you made.

 

Studog: I'm sorry to hear about your ordeals -- first with the flood and then with the insurance adjusters.

Q to those who know: Would he have the option of removing any mods he's not reimbursed for?

 

please post the name of your agent and insurance company. if this ends well it will be good for them, if it doesn't, people should know who is treating their customers like crap.

 

Ask them where they are pulling the values of your car. Do not let them use KBB, there is another one, that car dealerships use when they price out their used cars on their lots (I forget what it is called) that usually values one's car a few thousand more or "closer" to the "real" value. However, when one trades a car in to a dealership, the dealership uses KBB so that they can gouge you.

Do not accept the amount they give you if you are not satisifed. My brother in law works for a car dealership, and he said one of his co workers totalled his brand new car, and the insurance company was only going to pay out an amount that was less than the value of his car. But since this guy is "in the business," he cussed them out saying he knew exactly what the value of his car was and he would not take the amount offered, then proceeded to hang up on the insurance co. A few minutes later, the insurance co. calls him back and offers him about $2-3k more than the first amount.

 

I think you may be referring to NADA. You can find them at NADA.com. This is most often considered the official and most correct car valuing book. Anyone can get a value from the web site for free but paying program subscribers like car dealers can enter your VIN into NADA and it will know all the stock equip and exact model of your car.

And yes NADA is almost always higher than Kelly. I often refer to Kelly as nothing more than a dealer tool for convincing people that they are giving a good deal on a trade or giving a good price on a used car.

 

Thanks for the support and advice. There are no mods.
It's all MINI parts just dealer installs not factory.

When a car is being evaluated they have a third party do
it in my case its ADP. ADP searches for available cars in your
area to compare to. If they cannot locate a car with the same
specs they contact 2 dealers. I live north of Chicago, so they
contacted a dealer in Milwaukee and Knauz in Lake Bluff.
This is the kicker both dealers came in with LOW numbers and
what blows me away is that one of the dealers I was shopping,
Knauz about 2 months earlier and they wouldn't discount
their demos at that time and they were lower then the shop
in Milwaukee.

I didn't contact the city yet because I didn't think I'd have a
problem. But first thing on Monday I'm hitting the phones.
The only thing that sucks is the timing with the holidaze here.

I'm down, but I'm not out.

Studog

 

Wow that is just awfull....