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Kinja'd!!! by "f86sabre" (f86sabre)
Published 08/26/2017 at 10:10

Tags: Evo
STARS: 2


Kinja'd!!!

My beloved Evo has officially been deemed to be totaled or beyond economic repair. My intent is to buy it back from the insurance company and put a cage in it for track days. Has anyone done this and what did you do to work toward the best price with the insurance company?


Replies (24)

Kinja'd!!! "LJK0916" (ljk0916)
08/26/2017 at 10:16, STARS: 0

Buying it back is easy, atleast with the company I work for. We get a salvage bid from our vendor and reduce the overall payout by that amount, have you sign a paper we take a picture of the title. In Texas you have 10 days after that to change the title to a salvage title afterwards.

Kinja'd!!! "farscythe - makin da cawfee!" (farscythe)
08/26/2017 at 10:26, STARS: 1

eh? insurance takes your car when its totalled over there? over here you get to keep it if you turn down your insurances offer to sell it for you (unless it was your fault in wich case there might be a clause that says they get to sell it and you just get your lump sum)

i realize this doesnt help you any... just surpised is all... any chance you could just ask them to let you keep the car?

Kinja'd!!! "aquila121" (aquila121)
08/26/2017 at 10:31, STARS: 3

As far as negotiating the best price for the insurance payout, I’m probably not much help—when this happened with my Prelude, the low mileage and good condition pre-crash meant that my insurance was looking at the high end of the used market when determining value. I didn’t try to argue with the figure they came up with, since it covered most if not all of repairs (but not paint).

The advice I can give, though, is regarding the salvage title: if you intend to have it re-titled as “motorsport only” or whatever that is and never drive it on public roads again, you can do whatever you want, pretty much. However, if you’re like me and don’t have a trailer, get the car road-worthy again (as stock as possible) before taking it to get a salvage inspection. Before doing so, pour over the guidelines in your state’s highway patrol office, ask questions as to details of what’s necessary, and schedule well ahead of time for the appointment. Keep all the receipts for parts and labor. Make sure everything works, the exhaust isn’t stupid loud, and pray.

After you have that taken care of, then go nuts with the cage and the mods. But if you do that first, I bet they’ll never give it a title.

Kinja'd!!! "Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
08/26/2017 at 10:37, STARS: 0

Arf, that hurts... Why not getting something from the country of the rising sun to replace it though?? :D

Kinja'd!!! "2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered" (2fast2furiousfc3s)
08/26/2017 at 10:39, STARS: 1

What country do you live in? In America if you have full coverage insurance, fault Doesnt matter, you get the value of your car before the accident and then you get the option to buy your salvaged titled car before it hits auction. For cheap cars (ie 240, Miata) the buyout could be as cheap as 200$. Now if I’m wrong you can correct me but this is how it seems

Kinja'd!!! "XJDano" (xjdano)
08/26/2017 at 10:43, STARS: 1

Not in the state of Illinois. They have a no buy back law. (As of years ago) pretty sure it still holds.

Kinja'd!!! "farscythe - makin da cawfee!" (farscythe)
08/26/2017 at 10:45, STARS: 0

im in the netherlands and if you have full coverage its pretty much the same deal except you just get to keep your totalled car if you want too

but if your only covered for damages you caused there can be a clause saying the car belongs to the insurer if written off

Kinja'd!!! "2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered" (2fast2furiousfc3s)
08/26/2017 at 10:48, STARS: 0

Oh really? That’s interesting. There’s always a couple states that do things differently, I’m just basing it off of how Ohio works

Kinja'd!!! "2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered" (2fast2furiousfc3s)
08/26/2017 at 10:51, STARS: 1

The whole idea over here is most people don’t want a wrecked car so the insurance company takes it to recoup it’s losses from paying you out. The insurance will surly make more in auction on lots of cars over the extremely low buyback that they offer you for certian cars that have a cult value

Kinja'd!!! "farscythe - makin da cawfee!" (farscythe)
08/26/2017 at 10:53, STARS: 1

that seems fair enough.. thanks

Kinja'd!!! "CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever" (carsoffortlangley)
08/26/2017 at 10:55, STARS: 2

I’m an adjuster, try and show that your car’s value is higher than others of its type. Maintence records, pictures of interior/exterior any addons or parts that exceed OEM.

Understand that there is a limited range that your adjuster can work in and they’re just trying to do their job.

Good luck!

Kinja'd!!! "f86sabre" (f86sabre)
08/26/2017 at 10:55, STARS: 0

Ha! When will a TME Evo be eligible for import?

Kinja'd!!!

Kinja'd!!! "XJDano" (xjdano)
08/26/2017 at 10:55, STARS: 1

Missouri where I live is different though. my sister damaged her car, insurance gave more than she paid, then later I had to buy the car from her ( parents rules) as my first car.

Kinja'd!!! "Flavien Vidal" (flyingfrenchy)
08/26/2017 at 11:00, STARS: 1

Quite a few more years for sure :(

Kinja'd!!! "RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars" (rallydarkstrike)
08/26/2017 at 11:03, STARS: 1

Damn, sorry to hear man....at least you can use it as a track car, but that really sucks it’s totaled for the road...at least nobody was hurt :(

Kinja'd!!! "someassemblyrequired" (someassemblyrequired)
08/26/2017 at 11:07, STARS: 1

Depends on the insurance company and where you are. One friend had Geico, and when his 300ZX got found after being stolen, he tried to buy it back. Geico told him to pound sand, and said he could buy it at auction if he wanted it. Dad’s friend had a daughter total their car, insurance company gave him the option to buy it back for a couple hundred bucks over scrap, then he fixed it for a couple hundred in parts and a few bills in paint. Lasted 12 more years.

Kinja'd!!! "DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time" (dc3ls-)
08/26/2017 at 11:49, STARS: 0

What problems exactly does a bent/folded unibody cause? Because if it screws with the alignment, it seems like that’d be problematic for a track car.

Kinja'd!!! "aquila121" (aquila121)
08/26/2017 at 12:23, STARS: 1

While you’re not wrong, I imagine that after some adjustable suspension parts and some serious hammering, one way or another the alignment can be made to hit the specs you want, even if the car doesn’t look perfect. And then if he’s going to throw a cage in it, that should help with any issues of rigidity in the structure after the accident.

Kinja'd!!! "Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
08/26/2017 at 19:36, STARS: 0

So what you’re saying is... you’re building a rally car, right?

Kinja'd!!! "f86sabre" (f86sabre)
08/26/2017 at 22:24, STARS: 0

I’m probably going to put an SCCA spec cage in it. Does rally use a different spec?

Kinja'd!!! "f86sabre" (f86sabre)
08/26/2017 at 22:25, STARS: 0

The bend is well aft of any suspension pickups as far as I can tell. Just forward of the bumper.

Kinja'd!!! "Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
08/26/2017 at 23:23, STARS: 1

I’d have to look at the SCCA specs, but probably. Rally cages need to be designed with rollovers and focused impacts with things like trees in mind

Kinja'd!!! "Stapleface" (patrickgruden)
08/28/2017 at 06:44, STARS: 1

Sounds like the local Geico adjuster bought himself a 300ZX.

Kinja'd!!! "someassemblyrequired" (someassemblyrequired)
08/28/2017 at 14:51, STARS: 0

I believe the exact quote was “Geico is NOT in the used car business.”