No offense on the comprehensive, and sorry to the original poster for his calamity, but I have been screwed twice on comprehensive insurance, I've dropped it all now. Maybe I'm misunderstanding my policies, but I carried full coverage which included comprehensive coverage on all my vehicles for years. Now I started driving my 40 at 16, and my dad and I restored it in the garage. We had it appraised and covered for 10,000 dollars, in 1997. I drove it for many years, cost me thousands of dollars, as full coverage on any vehicle for a young driver adds up. Now about 9 years ago, I had a wreck, lost control with a small trailer behind me. Rolled on one side, ruined hard top, fender, a few other scratches. It had some returned rust spots, typical wear and tear of 10 years daily driving. The 10K value meant nothing at the point, insurance totaled it and gave my $4200 bucks. Not nearly enough money to even remotely properly replace all the damage. Not even close to the true market value of the rig, even then.
First of all, this would be collision coverage, not comprehensive. It would be interesting to see what policy they sold you (there are differences), but even though you stated the value as $10,000, most of the time the policy will only pay up to fair market value. We both know that $4200 is not fair market and your agent should have helped you with your options. To me, that isn't a policy issue, it is an agent issue.
A few years ago I hit a doe deer with my T100, it took the grill, bumper and dented the hood and fender. No mechanical damage, truck is in beautiful shape for a DD and age. Insurance totals it also, after a severe downgrading in cost, which was far below the cost of any others I saw for sale, and then taking out 1800 bucks in salvage value, I got about $2400 dollars. I paid $8000 for it 6 years earlier. I had no way to protest it or anything. My local agent was no help, they just sent the check and that is all I got. To top it off, they requested a bogus car inspection be done before they would re-insure the truck, and I couldn't get it done because I was waiting on a backordered bumper, and the turn signals for a T100 are in the bumper. But in reality, they had no legal standing to request the salvage title inspection Colorado, as the truck was too old for the salvage title rules to apply.
Again, it sounds like the agent wasn't doing his job. All insurance companies that I know of use a 3rd party company to get values. That company will supply a range to the insurance company, and the insurance company offers you an amount in the lower part of that range. YOU DON'T HAVE TO TAKE THAT OFFER! Remember, the insurance company is buying the vehicle from you. If you can prove that fair market value in your area is higher, they have to take that into consideration. Furthermore, if you can't agree on a price, you have the option of a 3rd party appraiser coming in and determining a value. However, that value is final. In this instance, it would have been covered under the comprehensive portion of your policy.
In both cases, obviously I kept the vehicles, fixed them myself and cut my losses. I left Farmers and the agent I thought was looking out for my interest and was a family acquaintance for over 40 years. I had been ahead to save the amount I spent on the increased cost of the full coverage in a mutual fund or something for a rainy day, then throw it away with the insurance folks. I honestly barely broke even. So unless I get a "new" nice car, I just keep a few grand in the bank, and only buy older rigs for 10K or less and keep them running, but that's just me.
I agree that you would be money ahead investing the difference for increased coverage, but most people won't do that. Even if they had the best intentions too. That money would get used to replace a washing machine or build a new deck... If you are one of the few that can do that, more power to you! That is a rare trait. Unfortunately, it sounds like you got screwed mainly due to your agent and you not knowing your rights. I am truly sorry to hear that.
For the original poster, unless you had a classic car, guaranteed endorsement on this truck, and it was in really good shape, which I don't think your average Geico policy does. They would have just laughed at you anyway, you may have gotten 1-2K in money, as they would have totaled it out from the fire damage I suspect.
The policy (even without that endorsement) SHOULD cover to the fair market value of the vehicle. That will be stated in the coverage section of your policy.
Creeper, say a big rock falls off a cliff and punches a hole in the roof of your average DD 40. Even when the roof panel was available it was over $1000. Now they are harder to find. Insurance insists that a shop does the work, they figure labor, etc... The truck would be totaled, then you can no longer get comprehensive on it again. I can't see where you benefit unless the rig is really really nice. Otherwise you may pay a ton of extra premiums for years on an old, worthless in the eyes of the insurance company, truck, and never get any good return.
I'm not sure about CO, but in OR you have some of your facts wrong. You have the option to take cash instead of getting the car fixed. You can even keep your "full" coverage afterwards. The policy is noted that there was existing damage and that damage will be depreciated if the car was in another accident (unless you fix it, then there is no restriction). Also, we will add comprehensive and collision coverage to a car with a branded title. We are only concerned with the market value of your car right before the accident occurred. Furthermore, in your example, a $1000 roof panel usually wouldn't total even a $4500 vehicle.
