Out of curiousity, how do you back that up? Do you have some sales transactions of used cars with MM4?

The fair market value is whatever a willing buyer is willing to pay to a seller.

 

Surely that does suck. In almost every accident you are never really made whole.

This whole thing does raise a queston for me - is there not something you could have done to protect yourself from this kind of loss? Is there a type of insurance for this type of thing?

I have a classic car that i will soon be restoring. I know that once restored I can get insurance that will cover me for more than blue book and closer to the value of a classic car fully restored.

Yet as planeguy says, even if I get get insurance that covers my classic car I know that I would not recover what I put into it if it gets into a total accident. In fact, again as an analogy to planeguy's statements - many classic cars when restored cost more to restore that the resulting value. It sounds like this may be true of heavily modded cars as well - its the risk you take.

On the other hand I agree that its certainly not fair or right. You can certainly take it to court and present your case for what your losses are.

 

Rustyboy, if you won't listen, I can't force it on you. Please re-read my first response.
Your attorney (or your dad's) needs to sue the other party for the full replacement cost of your MINI, plus incidentals (rental car, etc). His insurance co is then legally bound to represent him in your action. They will want to settle this as much as you do.
It's not like I am pulling this out of my hindquarters; I lived in this world for many years. I do know what I am talking about.

 

I had my heavily modded 1999 Jeep Wrangler totalled by another individual. Here's some tips I got from attorney:

• First, in CA they are only legally required to give you "replacement value" for your vehicle - what it would cost to replace it with a similar used vehicle. To get ANYTHING more than blue book, you MUST find similar vehicles and justify exactly how yours compared to the ones you found, and they must be within 250 miles of your home. This is good if you are in CA because car prices, even used, are generally higher here.
• They will not give you more money for items at "replacement" cost - only at what value it adds to resale. So I had $2,000 in stereo equipment, but basically for resale value that only adds about $350 to the value of the vehicle. So that's all I would get. Goto dealers with similar cars and get quotes from them as well.
• If you miss time from work (I missed 5 days) they reimburse your time off at 2.5X your hourly rate of work. My employee gave me time off with pay and I worked from home, but they were still required to give me 2.5X my loss for pain and suffering. All medical is reimbursed at 2-2.5X times cost of loss as well under this same theory. So what's funny about this, I had negotiated with them for 3 months to get $2,500 added to the value of my 4x4 for all the mods, and felt really screwed. Then the insurance company almost williningly gave me $6,200 for pain and suffering (no perm injuries, just sore for a few days, no hospital visit either, just 2 doctor visits and one set of xrays). My health insurance then covered all but $250 of the medical bills.

 

DOH!! I typed that worng....should read "resale value" of your vehicle. CA is not a "replacement value" state - they are a RESALE VALUE state - what it would cost to buy a similar vehicle on the market. They DO NOT pay you what it takes to get exactly the same vehicle you had before - only close...and they only give you what they determine your car was worth if you were to sell it.

 

Having been a court reporter now for over 23 years and having done hundreds, if not thousands, of depositions and trials involving every issue surrounding autos and auto accidents, THE best advice I can give is hire a good attorney who does a lot of car accident plaintiff work. That doesn't mean you have to sue anybody over this deal, especially since you're only talking about property damage (I assume no one was hurt). But a good lawyer will be able to write the right letters and talk to the right people and put the proper pressure on to get the result you need at very little cost, if any, to you.

Good luck and let us all know how it turns out.

 

My insurance company settled the claim out at 32k on my car, thats not including anything for medical/pain and suffering/etc. I would never file fraudulent medical claims, I wasn't seriously injured, although I did miss several days of work because of being too stiff to perform basic job duties. We're currently pursuing action with the At-Fault driver's insurance company (Medical claim). Now that I've had a few weeks for things to settle down I've noticed an odd sharp pain I get, similar to whiplash, whenever I move my neck at an extreme angle, which I'm obviously going to get checked out by a doctor.

I ended up going with a G35 Coupe 6MT as a replacement car, since they settled, I lost rental coverage, so I just went ahead and bought the G. I'd always liked the styling on it, it's quick enough for me, I like the blue tooth, and they're safe, but it's sure no Mini.

My Mini will be something to tell my kids about though, one of those legends that just never dies . In my 4 car's I've owned thus far, and on the 5 different car enthusiast forums I've been a part of, the Mini crowd has been the most supportive, mature, and helpful out of all of them. Kudos to that, and Mini's will always get my wave, no matter what kind of car I drive .

Thanks to all of those who offered advice and opinions. I'll be pursuing the medical expenses with the other insurance company, I don't like ambulance chasing, but at least it will negate any loss on the Mini not covered by my insurance.

 

Be prepared to WAIT awhile for that to settle. Also need a history of treatment and loss of wages just to MAYBE get the limit of the liability policy, those are the reasons I gave up my injury claim cheap and I still suffer from a lower back injury. At the time I could easily make the same money I might get in the months or years it would take to settle it, more so now. I couldn't see staying out of work that long. The medical Dr's said I needed to excercise the areas to build the muscles around the injury, Chiropractors were happy enough to run up the bills but I didn't like what the one was doing that much. I might look into the Chiro again NOW, with some pain issues. Backs and necks are tough problems to live with, I know that now, 20 years after my injury

 

Did you want to retract any of your anti-my insurance co.- diatribe? It looks like they didn't do too bad by you. Now you are an ex-MINI man. That must feel terrible when you are in your new luxury ride.

 

I don't, because of the amount of work required to get that much was ridiculous. I know from experience with other insurance companies that they would have valuated the car based on market value + depreciated value of the modifications just based on the fact that I had EVERY SINGLE receipt from the mods. What my insurance covered was irrelevant, the accident was caused due to another persons negligence, as far as the law is concerned, the car has to be "Restored or replaced with a comparably equipped car" . I have to admit, my adjuster did all she could to get everything possible covered, but in reality, they didn't cover any of the mods, just market value for a similarly equipped car.

 

You got 32K out of a 2 year old vehicle, or damn close to the list price you paid TWO model years ago and you are complaining. MODS are a HOBBY, not an investment, never were, never will be. You settled in a couple of weeks and now you have a new non-mini car OR you could have bought another loaded 2006 MINI, I think I'd be grateful in that scenario, but folks always want to say the other guy RUINED my day.

You also HIT him, remember, maybe you could have avoided it, I don't know I wasn't there. BUT maybe you were a little fast, a little less experience predicting other cars and less experience staying out of other's danger zones. I just think they have done right by you, and what was all the work you did, talk to them and hold out for your number? WORK is pounding nails or rock or pavement somewhere until you drop at the end of the day from exhaustion. Talking isn't.

 

There was no way for me to avoid the accident without running down a pedestrian in the x-walk. Trust me, I would have if I could... I was going VERY slow for a street with a speed limit of 45 MPH. The light had just turned green and I was coasting to a stop because I saw the red light from 1/4 mile away. I had less than a second to react (30-40 MPH of combined speed with less than 40 feet of reaction space), in that second I made the decision to swerve, then the decision to STOP the swerve as I saw the pedestrian in the x-walk. As far as how much the car was worth, I got 32k including the taxes on the car, for a 2 year old car with about 6k miles on it. If you spent $15k customizing a car, then someone who was yapping away on their cell phone looks to the right while making a left turn, totals your car, and your insurance decides that unless you devote 2 weeks of your life to researching the cost of the additional aftermarket components, and finding comps, etc, they're not paying you a dime over $24k I think you'd be pretty pissed off. The accident was ruled AT THE SCENE to be the other drivers fault, he ADMITTED fault, and half a dozen witnesses remarked about how only an idiot could miss a bright red mini with racing stripes IN THE MIDDLE OF THE INTERSECTION as they turn .

Ya, I could have gone out and bought a loaded out 2006 mini, if I wanted to wait a month or two for it to arrive, and if the car had the stock 168 HP (I had 270ish). If the insurance had given me enough money to buy a 2004 mini and put all the used parts that were installed on my car into it, I would have gladly done it. I wish nothing had happened... I loved that car, I'm just saying, through no fault of my own, I lost a significant amount of money on that car.

 

So you had to document your MODS to get the insurance co. to pay 5 to 8K in depreciated value for them, right? Or they paid you list price for a new MINI without depreciating it by being a 2004? Were they supposed to take your word for it? You lost some money, yes, all MODDERS should realize that now, but I don't think the insurance co. did so bad by your loss to warrant calling them the names you did. They paid and you settled within a week or so, you could have fought it, ended in arbitration and had the amount reduced, you know. Sorry for your loss, I would have waited 6 to 8 weeks for a base MINI MCS and pocketed 8 to 10K for future expenses. Might have had to borrow a car or take the bus, that's what I did when I pre-traded my Mercury for the MINI.

P.S. How come a 2 y/o MINI only had 6K miles on it?

 

I had a wreck here in Florida that totalled a car, not my fault. I had serious after market wheels, tires and extensive stereo and speaker system. My insurance was State Farm and they told me to just produce the receipts to the other company and see what they said. They are "supposed" to make you whole, which means either reimburse or buy the new parts again for you. It is their choice. State Farm told me if they balked at all that they would go to bat for me and I would get taken care of under any circumstances. The key here is that it wasn't your fault. Even if it is a no fault state like Florida.

 

Sounds like it's too late, I am sure Dad had to sign a waiver of future physical damage claims to get the 32K check. We ALL tried to tell him to settle with the other guys insurance co. but they didn't want to go that way. Mercury, for being a Discount Insurance Co., gave them the best $'s they could under the circumstances, I think. He has a NEW G-something or other, so this MINI is just one for the family album now, CASE CLOSED.

 

I think you are very correct. Discount insurers are a roll of the dice.

 

I would do what someone else suggested here as well which is buy back the wrecked MINI from the insurance company. I had a freind do this with his "totaled" Porsche and he came out way on top in the end.

 

I guess I don't work for a living. I sure am lucky to get that pay check every two weeks.

 

I talk and write and research for a living, but in the context of all the WORK it took to settle for a check for 32K from an insurance co. about a week after the accident, then I just couldn't pass up a comment on what is WORK...

P.S. I have done both and I will stick with the talking work NOW

 

I was going to say something after that first "work" statement but I understood the point and didn't comment.

My ex father-in-law used to say things like that a lot. My response was always that I have done both kinds of work - the physical and non-physical whereas he had not so he didn't know what he is talking about.

 

Just built out a JCW Checkmate MCS with H/K sound in Pepper White on MINIUSA, came out about 30.5K, would have been a nice ride with full factory warranty and enough left to pay 1/2 the taxes, I would have easily and happily waited for that over another G-something out there, BUT we are a culture of instant gratification, of which I am sure I also am GUILTY.

Still, PW/B MCS JCW-Checkmate Pkg, hmm, hmm GOOD...

 

If the originator bought a MM IV kit, why would he settle for 60 less HP?

Whats done is done. He's settled, bought a car, and moved on.

let it rest in peace

 

Probably just pondering MY next ride in about 2009 or so...
I get into a certain brand in vehicles and just stick with them for a few models at least over a few years, before I change brands again,
Suzukis, Yamahas, Kawy's, Hondas, Buells, VW's now MINI, it's always been that way. Baring a bad experience, probably will do that with MINI.

 

No, there was no waiver, in fact our claims adjuster encouraged us to go after the other drivers insurance to see if they would pay out a seperate settlement for any money they lost. The money paid was List price on a 2004 mini (Fair market) + the depreciated cost of the factory body kit and a set of special edition leather sport seats. G35, it's no mini, but it's still a nice car.

 

I would have loved to have another mini, I would have loved to have kept MY mini, but what happened happened, through no fault of my own i'm not driving another car. There's no way for me to wait 2 months for a car, I need a car to get to and from work, I live in Southern California... not exactly a place where you can get very far walking . I'm happy with the G, it's a powerful car, but also has that little edge of sophistication that the Mini didn't have. My mini was just raw, crude power. A blast to drive, but not hugely practical, and certainly not something to show up to a clients house in and expect to be taken seriously from a business standpoint.