has anyone ever had any experience with insurance claims on the suzuki samurai? i was just in a 3 car accident with the samurai and I'm pretty sure the insurance company at fault is going to try to total the sammy and give me blue book. any suggestions on how to recieve fair market value when they get around to compensating me for damages? any info greatly appreciated.

One good way that I have heard of is to try to get shots of other zuki's modified about like yours are, and what they are going for (Ebay, Zook sites, Auto Trader) Etc, and get that to the insurance company.

Others might have more experience here... I don't own a Sammy but I think I would be in the same boat with my modded Kick.


Heather

what happened?? and how did the zuk take it??

GA_ZUKI just went thru this, pm him and he can tell you what he went thru to get the value out of his. I do know that he ended up with his samurai.
Steve

Take in receipts for any mods you have done. Pictures before the wreck are a great help. Then find out what the bye back is. They have to offer it to you first. They usually will total at 50% of blue book.
They totaled my father inlaws Olds. They gave him $3500. He bought it back from them for $400 and put another $500 into it. New exhaust, steering column, ignition and detail. Fight them, always ask to talk to the adjusters manager. Depending on how old you are take your father, wear a suuit and be a pushy jerk

I work for insurance companies. I know how adjusters work. Be demanding, but in a good way. Dont back down, but they can and usually will break and jus say deal with it so dont push them to far. And for those of you who say they cant do that. Yes, unfortunately, they can. Ive seen people go thru a house fire, have there house rebuilt and be dropped by the company, and it was legal. Be firm, dont say much (they love to throw stuff back at you) and know where there breakin point is and you should be fine.

I went through this with my old 79 Bronco (cream puff).
My Ins. wanted to give me $800-$1000 for it.
I told them NO, that I would get price quotes from local dealers (to replace it). I came back with estimates in the $5500 to $6500 range. So they took it to the body shop to get estimates. The est came in at + or - $4500. So they had the body shop go to work. Over $5000 latter it was done. It was sold the day it got out of the body shop for $5800. I smiled at the ins adjuster. I had offered to take $4000 and keep the truck. Would have saved them some money. My sami is insured for value, the ins company has a copy off all the reciepts.

I bought a zuke last May for $1500.00 off e-bay and in Sept.a lady hit me in the left front wheel making a U turn in a plaace marked no u turn. She was totally at fault. Her insurance co. tried to give me something like $600.00 for it, the adjuster said that was all the blue book would allow. I said NO WAY this is a modified vehicle and I have lots of money in aftermarket parts. So he said give an itemized list and replacement price on the parts. I had a hay with that, I left nothing out, sterio,bumpers wheels,carb, springs, shocks,seats,exhaust,winch,removable hard top, bikini top, shifter knobs,if it wasn't stock I listed it,got the price up to $6000.00 or so and he came back and gave me back the zuke and I got $1650.00 check. So if you play the game and do your homework it may pay off. I just got on the net and went different websites gatting the price of all the aftermarket stuff and that is all it took. Hope this helps.
Don

But what do you do if all the mods on your rig are custom-built by yourself or someone you know? Surely it would cost a fortune if many of us bought a "kit" or professionally built aftermarket parts instead of designing, fabricating and installing all the upgrades ourselves. You can't produce receipts unless you have made a purchase. This is what scares me if anything were to happen to my truck.

Your time is also worth something. Get the prices of comparable stuff and use that as replacent value.