Classic Auto Appraiser

Not as promisedI was seeking an independent appraisal of my [redacted] for diminished value after someone hit my vehicle several months ago. I met with [redacted] in a parking lot (his address is that of a mailing store) on December 12, 2015 to complete the evaluation of my vehicle. He was very nice and asked some questions . He took several photos, explained that he would create a thorough report and email it to me. He also stated that he would discuss with the insurance company if they did not agree with his appraisal. This latter part is what led me to choose his services before even meeting him. I wrote him a check for $300 at the time of evaluating my vehicle. I had an extensive discussion about how he is qualified to perfom appraisals, at which time he told me he used to work for a car rental service and would negotiate prices for the cars they sold. I submitted the report to insurance and the discrepancy was $1400 between what [redacted] felt my diminished value was and what the insurance feels it is. I have contacted him via email over a month ago (April 7) requesting his assistance with going back and forth with insurance as he promised he would wgen I chose him to complete the appraisal. I have not heard back and so now I will likely have to find an attorney to help me with this. At this point, I just want my money back since it is clear he is not qualified to be marketing himself as a qualified appraiser. I also want to prevent others from wasting their time and money with this one-man business. Desired SettlementI would like a refund. Initially, I just wanted assistance from the business in dealing with the insurance company to avoid having to get an attorney. But now it seems that insurance will not even accept this report, so I would like a refund for the total amount I paid of $300. Business Response I am sorry to hear that [redacted] is not pleased. I understand that she is frustrated with the process of dealing with an insurance company. As she freely admits, I did perform the service requested. I did meet her, inspect her vehicle and provide her with the promised appraisal report. Her frustration is that there is a discrepancy between what my appraisal value is and what the insurance appraisal value is. It seems she is more angry at the insurance company. She states, I am not a qualified appraiser, when she already established that I provided the appraisal. As far as not contacting her, I do not have a copy of the email that she states that she sent. I would be more than happy to assist her. Did she try only that one time? My phone is on 24 hours a day. If she were to work with me, I could work with her to help resolve her suit with the insurance company. Also, I do not market myself as an attorney and there are certain cases that do need attorney assistance that are beyond my control. I am an auto appraiser and performed the service contracted. There are NC Statutes that pertain to Diminished Value that I can certainly guide [redacted] through to help her settlement.Consumer Response I have reviewed [redacted]'s response and find it to be condescending and deflective. My frustration is not with the insurance company, but instead that he told both myself and my mother that he would deal with the insurance company on my behalf if there was a discrepancy in the amounts believed to be a fair assessment for diminished value. This is what factored into our decision to utilize his services for my appraisal. He provided me a PARTIAL service seeing that he has not followed through on this case with me. In his response, he states, "She states, I am not a qualified appraiser, when she already established that I provided the appraisal." Just because someone provided an appraisal does not mean that someone is qualified to do so and since the insurance company I'm working with will not accept this, I have to question his qualifications for presenting himself in this role. I find it concerning that he does not have a copy of the email I sent on April 7 at 3:16 pm when he quickly responded to my previous correspondence when trying to coordinate the appraisal with him. The below content is the text of the email verbatim. "Hi [redacted],You appraised my 2008 [redacted] back in December 2015 and provided me a detailed report for diminished value. You estimated my diminished value to be about $1800. I submitted that to Nationwide and they are just getting back to me saying that they will only offer $400 for diminished value. I'm not sure how things work from this point. I can say that I won't accept that, but if they won't pay anymore, what would the next step to progress it forward be?" This was, indeed, my only attempt to contact him, which I believe to be sufficient before filing a complaint with Revdex.com. I do not wish to call Mr. [redacted] as I would like to have all communication in writing for this very reason as it is difficult to dispute communication in writing versus that which is verbal. The only aspect to my case was diminished value and I discussed this with [redacted] upon meeting him. This seemed to be a clear cut case that he could provide the service for as he told both myself and my mother that my needs were within his scope of practice, now he seems to be suggesting an attorney is needed. At this point, why would I wish for him to help me negotiating with the insurance company when he has already received his money and has no incentive to advocate wholeheartedly on my behalf? Perhaps he is better suited to provide appraisals on vehicles simply for trying to calculate what to price it for when selling by owner, but regarding diminished value, insurance companies are unlikely to accept his report. For that reason, I would steer others away from utilizing him for this purpose. Final Business Response I am just disappointed that this situation has come to this. I am more than happy to assist [redacted] with her claim against the insurance company. This is what I do full time every day. I assist customers with situations like this all of the time. From my experience, the insurance companies will not speak to me directly about a vehicle, as I am not the owner of the vehicle. Due to confidentiality reasons, the insurance companies will only speak to owners and or attorneys acting on the owner's behalf. I can assist and guide a customer with their claim, but I can not act as the owner of the vehicle. [redacted] stated "This was, indeed, my only attempt to contact him, which I believe to be sufficient before filing a complaint with Revdex.com". I apologize, if the email did come and I missed it, but I do not recall receiving it. I am just disappointed that there was not follow up. If I did not respond back after 1 attempt, I would hope that someone would try to contact me again. I have sent emails in the past that recipients did not receive and things got cleared up with a quick phone call. I was not aware of [redacted]'s situation with the insurance company and was not given a chance to assist her. A claim with the Revdex.com was immediately filed after 1 attempt. Like I said, I am still willing to assist [redacted] with her claim. I was just never given an opportunity to.