I believe you can insure any type of modification, of course your payment is going to go up.

Do you think all these guys with show cars have basic coverage and no insurance on their modifications?

I believe you have to get everything appraised and have all of the receipts BEFORE you wreck.

 

Now, now - in the US, the GSL-SE went for $16K+ forgoing inflation over the years, that figure would be 22.5K in Canuck bills...

Mantis is well within his rights to ask them to **** off for the US$ amount of 3201.17

I mean, c'mon - any idiot can see his car was in far better condition than any $3200 car I've seen...

 

there are many people who will pay 5, 6, even 7 grand for a nice perfect condition SE here in the states.

There are also many people who like to de-value the Rx-7 so they can get them for cheap. I know around here, you can't get a bone stock rx with a decent amount of miles on it for less than 2k. If you live in an area where there are hundreds of them, then yeah, I can see them going for less than a grand.

It's called supply and demand, people!!! Just because some company runs numbers and says it's only worth so much... YOu can't go by KBB or NADA its higher in areas and WAY too low in others. In the condition that Mantis's car was in, I can see it getting appraised for that much. Especially since it is kind of a rare find.

 

you live in a special world. i know very few people that have paid over 2k for their first gen or 3k for an se. also what collectors and crazy money spenders are going to pay for an absolute premium se is not quantitative enough to sway the blue book value. that is what people go by. now be it his car should have been worth more due to overall condition and maybe miles, not sure on that one though, he still isn't going to get his money back for his mods because the car wasn't appraised and the rate set accordingly. you can pull out extreme cases all day but numbers are numbers. it sucks so it isn't like i'm happy, but thats the realistic view of how it all works in conjucture to the situation.

 

Insurance is supposed to give you enough money to replace the car .. like for like. Not reflect the current market value of an average car.

So who cares if you can buy an RX7 for a $ or $100'000 that car was valued by an insurance approved assesor as being worth that amount and the insurance should pay that out.

and to all you guys who are saying that the price is too high ... how much would it cost to return an average car back to near show room condition ? doesn't seem too high now does it.

 

Yes, we have collector car insurance here in the US, and it's actually quite reasonable. The problem is that it doesn't cover cars that are used as daily transportation, generally. If the car is a true classic, is not driven daily, and is kept in a locked garage, the rates are very cheap.

 

I know that ' hemmings' classic cars site can guide one to info about insureing a ' classic' or 'show' car.

 

Speaking about restoring a car to "showroom" condition....

Just think, to get my car *on the road*, I'm spending almost 3g CDN. I got the car for free. This doesn't count the paint job on an otherwise almost pristine car (no rust, perfect interior).... so with the parts I'm putting in, and paint, you're looking at bare minimum 7k. Add to that the fact that I may need a rebuild within the next year and it's easily 9 or 10g.

I agree with the guys who are saying "two appraisers consider it worth *this*, and therefore *this* is what they should give you". Stick with the lawyer, and the two appraisals, and hope for the best.

A *good* lawyer can be worth the weight of his briefcase in gold some days. Just ask my friend Jim :P

Jon

 

should being the keyword, but didn't he also say that part of the price was performance stuff, like the headers etc. that is a cost adder that the insurance will not pay for because it was never reappraised. i agree that condition of the car is a key item. my only argument is the use of performance parts and customization as an add-on.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong:

but the only performance (or even aftermarket) things Manntis had on his car were the RB exhaust, shifter boot, and stereo. The rest was bone stock. I wouldn't guess that the RB exhaust and whatnot would comprise more than... 2g of the price... 20-2 = 18, so it's obvious that the bulk of this evaluation is NOT the mods

Jon

 

I'm not sure how the market could be so drastically different only a couple hundred miles away, but I only paid $600 with tax and license including a transfer fee from Oregon to Washington for my Bone-Stock '82 GSL with only 78K original miles on it. And I didn't search for a great deal. They sold it to me as a parts car cause they didn't realize that the needles and seats needed replaced. It was flooding out. If they could have figured out that problem they said they would have sold it for $1300. Still not a terrible price. Kelly Blue Book value at that point was $2250. So you can get a deal without too much effort. And there is not any sort of over-saturation of the market around here.

Problem as it relates to replacement value is exactly that however. You can find deals like mine fairly easily, and that's what the insurance company is banking on to back up it's settlement. Now mind you, mine is no where near perfect (see my sig for the most annoying of problems) But it wouldn't cost $19K to get it to the condition Manntis' car was in either. So, if they hadn't had it appraissed by someone whom is obviuosly unbiased, they could easily just say, "Hey, we can pick up one of these cars for $1K or less, and dump $5-9K into it to bring it up to this condition." and then walk away only paying $10K. However since they had an unbiased appraiser, that said that it was worth $20K, and your appraiser said it was worth $19.5K, I think they're pretty much stuck coughing up the $19.5-20K. That is if your lawyer can force them to. The only problem I'm seeing is their little hidden "**** you, and the appraisers, we'll pay whatever we damn well see fit." clause.

Good luck, and keep fighting the good fight Manntis.

Brian Heston

 

i wouldnt sell my car for anythign less than about 8.5k after i get done with the engine swap.

 

I do hope Manntis realizes that this is no longer 1985. Who knows how the price of a car can drop from 19,000 to 4,000, but it happens.

Nevertheless, the best of luck with your insurance agency.

 

I do hope Manntis realizes that this is no longer 1970. Who knows how the price of a car can rise from 6,500 to 150,000 but it happens.

 

How goes the fight Manntis?

I think what people are missing is that he had it appraised for that much. Sure a typical rx-7 isn't worth that much in book value... but when you have it appraised for a certain amount then you should get something close to that amount. Or am I just living in a dream world?

 

The ignorance of some of the guys posting in this thread is really mind-boggling. Quite obviously if you think that a minty SE should go for 3k, you've never seen one. Prices are on the rise, as the 84 SE goes classic this coming year. Search in areas other than Florida, California, Arizona and try to find a really NICE SE for less than 4k.

 

i agree with these people. sounds like some of you are jealous.

 

Here's one:http://www.autotrader.com/findacar/v...or=&cardist=18

Get your $18k..plane ticket out here 500... hotel 200... gas to drive it back up 400... smile on your face.. priceless..

 

$22,000 CAN taxes in is what an SE sold for WITH taxes back in 1985. With 200,000 km ( I dont care how mint it was) you would be very luck to get 6 or 7 grand. That car is NOT worth 22,000 CAN

 

According to the impartial professional appraiser contracted by the insurance co., it was. Perhaps the fact that the car had once been a daily driver of a celebrity comes into play.

 

lol, only if it was owned by Elvis.

 

I dunno 'bout Canada but down here you have to have a special rider or seperate policy for that sort of thing. Kinda like having precious items or artificats in your house. Homeowners will cover up to certain amounts, but really precious stuff has to be seperately documented and appraisals already forwarded to the insurance co. for proper coverage..

Good damn luck though..I know she was worth every penny of what you claim!

 

Lots to agree with here, but the Canadian dollar value is only part of the reason for the unusually high appraisal. The unusually low quantity of showroom condition SE's in Canada vs. the U.S. also comes into play. Factor in the fact that all mods were reversable, the (possible) increase in value due to Pam's derriere gracing the drivers' seat once upon a time, clean accident history, the highly sought-after stock color, complete service records, and minor details like the only-in-Canada headlight washers and it's obvious that this car was worth more than the garden-variety mint-condition SE's that we occasionally see advertised on Ebay.
The problem is that even with the appraisals, if the car was insured without the insurance company figuring the car's appraised value into the premiums, Manntis definitely has a battle on his hands. I'll be very surprised if this is settled out of court.
And Manntis, I'd lock up the buy-back of the wreck (on paper) asap. If this gets as ugly as I think it might I wouldn't put it past the insurance company to hold your desire to get Pam back over you by refusing to sell it back to you until you play the game their way. BTW, do you have the car in your possession right now or is it with them?

 

They have it in their Regina compound, two hours down the highway from me. At least it's no longer in BC getting the interior rained on...

 

Yeah- It very well could be an icon car in the future. Depends on Pams continued notoriety. Very worthwhile investigating a buy back.