David Mattera's 1998 Mercury Mystique sits crumpled outside his home in Ipswich, Mass., the car's insured value still unclear nearly nine months after the accident that left it totaled.
The insurance company of the driver Mattera alleges caused the accident offered a settlement of $3,600, but Mattera said his research found the Mystique was worth $4,600, and possibly as much as $7,100.
A small claims court magistrate called in by Mattera to settle the matter sided with the insurance company, deciding it owed nothing. It's a bizarre tale that illustrates how negotiations over a car's value can quickly become contentious.
Many companies are in the business of estimating what a used car was worth prior to it being involved in an accident, but their approaches vary and their numbers often differ, sometimes significantly.
Consumers are often at a disadvantage in negotiating with insurers over the value of a used car because they typically don't have access to as much information.
"They can come up with any value they want," Mattera said of insurance companies. "They're holding all the cards."
Most of the pricing guides familiar to consumers - including the Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds.com, and the guides issued by the National Automobile Dealers Association - provide national average retail prices for vehicles in good condition.
But a host of other companies - including CCC Information Services Inc. of Chicago, Mitchell International Inc. of San Diego, and Audatex of San Ramon, Calif. - cater almost exclusively to insurers and repair shops and customize data for specific regions of the country.
The difference in approach between the consumer-oriented pricing guides and the databases used by insurers almost guarantees conflicts.
Michael J. Stanton, vice president and chief operating officer of the NADA Analytical Services Group, publisher of the Official Used Car Guide, said differences also arise over the condition of the vehicle being appraised.
After his car was totaled in October, Mattera, consulted the NADA pricing guides with the help of his insurance agent. The guides indicated his car, with 77,000 miles, had a retail value of $4,600. The Kelley Blue Book's retail value was slightly higher - $4,730.
Premier Insurance of Worcester, the company that insured the driver Mattera says caused the accident, referred the case to a wholly owned subsidiary called Precision Damage Control Services. The company bases its estimates on data supplied by Audatex, a subsidiary of Solera Inc.
Audatex bases its price estimates on ads for the same car or similar cars in the area. In Massachusetts, an Audatex spokesman said, the company reviews 1.4 million vehicle ads annually from 300 sources.
Precision Damage Control estimated Mattera's car was worth $3,300, a figure that was increased to $3,600 once he produced repair receipts from the last two years for such items as a new transmission, brakes, catalytic converter, alternator, and tires. The data indicated cars similar to Mattera's Mystique had sold in Massachusetts for well below $3,300.
Officials at Premier and Precision Damage Control declined to comment on Mattera's case.
Mattera had never heard of Audatex or Precision Damage Control and was skeptical of the price estimate. He pressed for the higher NADA price and says a supervisor at Precision Damage Control ultimately agreed to pay him $4,600.
But by that time Mattera was so angry that he decided to push for more money, a decision he said he now regrets.
Mattera filed suit in small claims court, but the magistrate ruled in favor of Premier and held that "the defendant does not have to pay the plaintiff any part of the claim or costs in this claim."