Did you say your insurance was from Allstate? I was screwed by them several years ago, and vowed never to return.

Also, consider the option of buying your car back as a salvage after it's totaled. The salvage cost may only be a couple of hundred dollars. Often you can use the $20-$25K-$whatever that you get, to restore the car and pocket the difference. Or, buy another MINI with an entire parts car in reserve, or use the salvaged vehicle as a competition car.

Good luck, don't let them screw you.

 

The saga continues.
As of 12/30 still no settelment with my insurance co.
And still no MINI.

1st, 4 days before Christmas my the oh so friendly adjuster
gave me a number just $15 lower then my loan amount
and told me there are still working on it. So over a week
later still no new response. We have even gone over his head
and NADA.

2nd, Since this happened I call my MINI dealer about
replacement. I was told they had a black and white MCSa
coming in and the will hold it for me (no money down).
So yesterday I get a call someone is coming to look at that
car so I gave them a $500 deposit. All's cool.
I go in today to pick it up. So I do all the paper work.
1st red flag the price of the alarm with install is $$$.
They told me the alarm went up in price to $825 and
they would give it to me for $625 (again w/install)
That still seemed high.The price on the first purchase
was $595 w/install.
But I said screw it the over price of the car was good.

So everything is done I go get in the car...It's a manual.
WTF!!! I go to my sale chick WTF. I originally bought
and automatic from you why would I be getting a manual.
She told me it was an honest mistake. The sales GM told me
he'd work with me but wouldn't honor the original price.
He came down to a $605 dif. And the cars they have coming
in aren't exactly the colors I'm looking for.

Bottom line feels like bait and switch.

The only good thing they did was contact MINI finance
and asked them to agree to extend my payoff period
a month so I can settel with the insurance co.

Maybe I just not to own a MINI. But tomorrow I'll
do the rounds with the other dealers.

Happy New Year All.

Studog

 

Hang in there studog. Mistakes happen & I'm hoping that's what your dealer did. I wouldn't accept a manual if you want an auto. Keep looking I'm sure you'll find your MINI.

Chuck

 

Studog - do I understand right that you signed the paperwork before you ever got in the car? I presume they cancelled and ripped up the papers?

 

Yes. All paperwork was voided.
The car was being detailed for my pick up.

 

ALRIGHT! some good news, the dealer came clean on their mistake
and honored the original price. The car comes in mid next week.

One down one to go.

Studog

 

Good news indeed!!!! I'm glad your dealer stepped up & did the right thing for you. Send us a picture of the new one when you pick her up. Seems like the new year's going to be ok on the MINI front.

Chuck

 

What an ugly mess!
Glad to hear you've gotten some good news though.
Hope 06 goes better for you, and a good start would be getting a settlement from the city over this.
Remember, if it wasn't for their incompetence, you'd be driving along happily without any worries... that should count for something.

 

I setteled with Allstate. Not happy with the final out come, they can with
in 4 bucks of loan which is great but I lost my down payment($2300 ouch).
But one good thing is they reinburse you for the taxes and transfer fee
on the new purchase up to the amount of the settelment.

And

I'm in my new F-IN-A!!!! MCSa Dark Sliver all the way around.
I do have to replace a few things that I had from the first one
(wheels, chrome interior trim, tinting)but I rather have a car now
then wait 3 months and drive a rental. When I've put on the new
wheels and grille I post some picts.

Thanks to all for your support.

Studog

 

That sounds like a very nice car. Now that all of this is behind you it's time to shop for a better insuarance company.

Chuck

 

I;m going thru ur same experience but with Geico Insurance, the stupid appraisal guy said its just cosmetic stuff, to just "clean" the carpet and leather and the car will be ok, the idiot doesnt understand the water was covering the freaking tires. i'm 6'3" and water covered my knees. there was water up to the rear seat, where u put ur bumm, water was up to there. they are towing it to Bremer (Mini Dealer of Miami) for an evaluation tomorrow (its a holiday today) i want the car totaled BUT heres the catch, the MCS has alot of $$ in upgrades, heres a list of a few and im know im gonna loose most of it:

[FONT=Times New Roman]- 15% Super Charger reduction pulley (ALTA)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]- CAI System (ALTA)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]- Sport Cat Back Exhaust system (BORLA)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]- Madness V2 Header (BORLA)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]- Performance Clutch System Stage II & Flywheel[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]- Oversized Intercooler (ALTA)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]- 2% lightened Crank Pulley (ALTA)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]- Oil Catch Can (ALTA)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]- Rally Style light bar (ALTA)[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]- Carbon Fiber Strut Bar[/FONT]

is it worth totaling it and loosing all this stuff??
im gonna attach a photo, what should i do? the A-hole from Geico said "oh if we total it, its a $13-$14k car. i did a kbb.com review and its $19k and thats for the normal Private seller, and he replied "oh those are overpriced"

any advice would be great

 

I guess this is one reason to not go with Geico...

Even if you total it, can you not take the parts off the old car?

 

Think it's all insurance company. I had a new Mercury Tracer (no big loss) that was flooded. By the time State Farm got done with me all I could afford was a 9 year old Volvo with 140,000 miles on it - ouch. All said and done you didn't come out too bad even though I know the grief they gave you really, really sucked.

 

I would think with that much water that they'd have to total it. Yes, you'd lose most of your upgrade $$$-unless you've been paying them to insure custom parts (you have told them about the custom stuff, and had it insured for more, didn't you? or not-to save money-if so out of luck)

Total it, buy it back as salvage from the ins company and get the parts you want, part the rest. You could most likely make back the cost you pay back to the ins company. FL has some funky laws regarding salvage/rebuilt titleing-might want to really check out your options first.

kbb is inflated! edmunds.com is closer, galves.com many people say is better-they have a $5/day pass. Without year/mileage info it's hard to guess, but they're probably close with their $13-14K, and you're probably WAY off looking only at kbb.

 

Let them consider it a non-total. Get the cleaning done. Then start nickle-and-diming them for every thing that is wrong. They'll end up paying more than the car is worth in repairs, over time. Once they've paid 50% of value in repairs, it will be too costly for them to change course and total it.
What year is your MINI?

 

2003 MCS with 50,363 miles on it, sport package with the R60 rims and all the above upgrades, 2 tone leather

 

here are some pics

 

Carmax recently offered me $12k for my 03 S, 57k miles, all 3 packages plus leather, so $13-14k sounds low for retail.

 

I love the mini and have spent alot of $$ and effort in getting it the way it is, im just affraid if they fix it , it will have problems in the future, according to the GEICO A-hole, all work would be done @ the Mini Dealership in Miami and the offer a lifetime warranty on their work, since i had my ECU unit fixed to mesh with the CAI, exhaust, pulleys, intercooler.... etc, would they replace it with a STOCK ECU or would they put the right one? i also rememebr seeing the front left XEON headlight with water inside, would they replace it or just dry it out, i also had a really nice sound in the car, the wires were as thick as my finger and all the speakers were upgraded, would they put stock or replace them with the same brand? i know my appraisal A-hole from Geico should be answering this but he's NOT very helpful.

another concern is i live in Cape Coral, thats about 165 miles away from the dealership, what if somethign goes wrong 3 months from now, i cant afford to tow it to miami everytime somethings happens, DAMN you GEICO!!!!

 

that almost happened to me, about a month after i got my MCS november rain caused the only empty road in ny to be under water and my brother was considering taking my baby through it I had to yell at him to get him to go back but he did

 

Better hope for total loss, wiring will just start corroding and cause a world of issues

 

I agree - I would hope for a total if I were you.

However, since mods are not generally considered "insured", aren't they considered more like "personal property" (like CDs, whatever else is in your car that belongs to you? I mean I'm sure some of the stuff will not work due to water damage, BUT you should be able to strip off the stuff that doesn't.

Either they cover its replacement or they let you take it off...makes sense to me, but I'm not an insurance guy I just know I was allowed to strip my upgraded stereo head unit out of a totalled car because they considered it "not covered".

 

If you have the stock pieces to put back on then you can swap, that is what I do with my customers.

If they are additionals and not replacing a stock part and were not included in the value of the car then I would allow the insured to take those parts off.

Either way with the amount of water you describe I am surprised that they are repairing it.

I am handling a claim right now on a 1972 $90,000 Ferrari with water just underneath the dash and the only reason I am considering repairing it, is because it is insured at 90K and that gives me a ton of money to put to repairs. A car with a value of less $20,000 seems to me to be an obvious choice to total if the water was up to the dash line.

 

Thanks guys i appretiate the support, spoke yesterday to the mini service guy thats evaluating the car and he was just gonna take a look @ it so i briefed him on what had happened. to my surprise he was NOT informed correctly, the A-holes over @ GEICO just said the car needed to be cleaned, shampoo the carpet, clean the leather, change spark plugs and revise electric system, didnt mention anything about being in a flood or water up to the glove compartment, BASTARDS!!

The mini guy was very cooperative and said IF they do choose to fix it then i could ***** and moan for ANY detail for the rest of the time i own the car and have them as my insurance provider, BUT i hate GEICO and dont want anything to do with them, anyways, i'll keep everyone posted,

thanks guys

 

That's amazing. Water that high-you'd think things like bearings, brakes, transmission, did water get in the motor, transmission, fuel system, gas tank. Are the bulbs ok? Man-there's a thousand things I'd check.

Salt water, right? I'd hate to think what that would do to bearing surfaces, injectors, electrical connections.

Can you escalate the insurance adjuster?