I wish I knew there was someone providing this service 2 1/2 years ago when my 2011 Toyota Camry was totaled out by an idiot driving too fast on a wet road. I have owned and operated a collision repair shop in the area for nearly 40 years and I thought I knew how to deal with an adjuster when it came to negotiating the value of a vehicle, boy was I mistaken. From the beginning I felt that I was being tag teamed, by multiple file handlers and rushed into making a decision. My wife and I were totally insulted by their first offer, when I questioned how they arrived at this fair market value they offered to send me the 17 page report that was prepared by J. D. Powers & Associates. In the report they intentionally left off options that were on our vehicle, hoping that if we called them out on this and they added a little bit more money to the second offer we would feel like we accomplished something. I've seen this same strategy used on my Sister-in-Law's report, she went through the same ordeal last December with a different insurance carrier. It is a psychological game for them and believe me they are very well trained at it, the average person doesn't stand a chance. Deeper into the report I noticed that 3 of the comparable vehicles used to determine the fair market value were located at the local dealer we were planning to buy from to replace our vehicle, so my wife brought the report with her to verify that the vehicles were there and comparable to ours. The sales person quickly told her that 2 of the 3 had already sold and that he could not disclose for how much. And when he saw the price that they had listed for the one he had in stock he said that was the internet listed price and that was the "rock bottom price" because of how competitive the internet is. To make things worse a 5% predicted sales adjustment was subtracted from the internet listed price, when I asked the adjuster what the heck that was for he simply replied that everything is negotiable. After making some phone calls to the other dealers that were used to generate this report and going on the internet I discovered a pattern, all of the dealers confirmed that the internet price use in the report were not negotiable and the CARFAX showed that almost all were base model Toyota Camry LE's that Enterprise Rental Car had traded in. My vehicle was a Toyota Camry SE, with added options of a Sun Roof, Leather Interior, Spoiler, Aluminum Wheels, and Satellite Radio. After going through 2 different supervisors, the last being the smoothest talking of all, I demanded that he locate a vehicle equipped like mine and if he used the internet listed price, not to deduct the predicted sales adjustment, and I wanted to know where this comparable vehicle was located so I could verify the options and the price, he agreed, and told me that he would get back with me by the end of the next business day with his final offer. I reluctantly accepted the last offer at my wife's request, because she said it was only a couple of hundred dollars less than the NADA valve and she did not want to get stuck paying 2 car notes, as we had already purchased a new car and this ordeal had been going on for over 3 weeks now. That's part of their strategy wear you down, divide and conquer.
A few months back, a long time business acquaintance, Robert McDorman contacted me because he noticed a rise in the amount of vehicles that were being "totaled out", he knew it affected my business as well because a lot of these vehicles are reparable. I told him that salvage bids (the price a salvage company will pay for a damaged vehicle) were at, all-time highs because most of them were going south of the border to be repaired with cheap labor. So the insurance companies are selling damaged vehicles for a premium price. This was when I learned that he was doing this research on these "Valuation Reports" and he offered to do an analysis on my report, I was shocked at the results.
Vehicle Value Experts (Robert McDorman) did an evaluation on my report and found that most of the vehicles used in my report had in fact already sold and that they had all sold for more than the price used on the report, one sold for $1700 more than the internet listed price, the price they took another 5% off of on my settlement. And I learned that my vehicle qualified to be a Certified Pre-Owned "One Owner" vehicle, about a $1500 add-on to the NADA value. So in the end I sold my clean one owner, well equipped vehicle that was "NOT FOR SALE" to the insurance company for less than the value of a "traded in" rental car. Having to deal with insurance companies on a daily bases I already had a very low opinion of them so be aware. They will and do take advantage of uninformed people every day. I have, and will continue to refer my customers that are in need of this service to Vehicle Value Experts.
Thank you Robert, not only for the help you have given me over the years, but also for helping my valued customer read more
