Hi Rudy,
A 1960 Airstream Pacer recently sold on ebay for a bit over $17,000.
Here's the item # 170141733431.
I'd start making a file to prove/defend value.
Good Luck,
George Beebe
Newtown Square, PA
62 Bambi
> > I have now received an offer from my insurance company. on AAA it is about
> > $7,400. this is an increase from
> > the $6,000 they first offered on about 8/15/07
> >
> > no amount of money can replace it. It
> > was a family heirloom . I woudy have ratter have had it stolen. Streamer is a
> > loss to all vintage lovers world over A
> >
> Unfortunately this is the standard operating procedure for many
> insurance companies. I used to work as an expert witness and several of
> the cases were against insurance companies just to force them to pay the
> coverage they had contracted. They have their own lawyers in house whose
> only job is to minimize payouts because payouts take away from profit.
> Its sad, but you need at least as much firepower on your side. Their
> contract is filled with fine print to avoid payment of the contract
> price and they will apply every such fine print paragraph to avoid
> paying.
>
> The rub with hiring an attorney is that the typical fee is 1/3 the
> winnings unless you pay by the hour. You will need expert testimony
> about the value insured and about the wording of the insurance contract.
> Whether outright or indirectly you will have to prove the value of the
> trailer, that the loss was not premeditated, and that they agreed to
> that value. This can be treated as a case of them defaulting on a
> contract and you have to show that. Sometimes the state insurance
> commission can be used to apply pressure to the insurance company but
> sometimes that commission is more in their pockets than yours. There may
> be a citizen's advocate that can help stir the commission.
>
> Sometimes when hiring an attorney on that 1/3 contingency fee, you can
> add the phrase "and legal expenses" to the prayer in the petition, but
> without good legal aid your odds of full recovery are not as good. Apply
> as much through the state offices as you can before going to the
> attorney.
>
> Keep all records, because in the discovery stage of the case they can
> and will demand them and be sure all the insurance payments are up to
> date, even after the crash. Don't give them the excuse that you were
> late and so you defaulted on the contract.