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Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:41 am

syncrodoka wrote: Damage to the roof? I would almost expect the insurance to try to total it right out the gate.
Good luck :cry:

Nothing really to report yet, but as time passes and my despair grows, I'm beginning to think this is what I should expect.

I know not to take their first offer, I know to buy the rig back from them, and document everything in writing, but I fear I'm only going to get enough to pay my creditors and be left with a bum truck.

Your all right, Vanagons are too expensive for my broke ass blood.

OK that is my rant of despair, will wait to see what happens before I pull my hair out and curse the gods.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 10:52 am

hang in there bman, youre in a high stakes game of vanagon poker right now, dont show your cards or tip your hat too early dont forget if you cant come to a ACV settlement value you can always consult your state insurance dept and request a third party arbitrator....again i hope it works out ...i am redoing my appraisal this weekend mines 5 yrs old....getting 79 picture appraisal done for $350 agreed value 25k thru hagerty little less then 700 year, no winter layover

Thu Mar 15, 2012 1:41 pm

Bman wrote: syncrodoka wrote: Damage to the roof? I would almost expect the insurance to try to total it right out the gate.
Good luck :cry:

Nothing really to report yet, but as time passes and my despair grows, I'm beginning to think this is what I should expect.

I know not to take their first offer, I know to buy the rig back from them, and document everything in writing, but I fear I'm only going to get enough to pay my creditors and be left with a bum truck.

Your all right, Vanagons are too expensive for my broke ass blood.

OK that is my rant of despair, will wait to see what happens before I pull my hair out and curse the gods. Just seeing this today, WOW. Sorry for your losses. Good luck on the claims. I know you are aware of other claims and threads on this, but, here are the links.
Keep us updated and start printing out comparable vans/doka's. I ended up giving up on my first 1991 Westy as I had a horrendous insurance adjustor and could never get the van fixed right. I took so much time off dealing with my van that I ended up losing my job a few months later. Hang in there.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:25 pm

I already have my folder building of comparable Dokas and Vanagons for price comparison. When I get home tonight I will have to pull out the original ad and Classic Car Appraisal from last year when I purchased the Truck. That appraisal says the vehicle is worth $19,500, however there is a shortage of Dokas currently for sale on the Samba, and not many for more than $12K; I also have a print out of GW's most recent $57K Tristar Syncro that sold.

I also have my current emails printed out of parts inquires that I have made and they are cheaper than the body shop's estimates.

Feeling a bit more prepared and confident to negotiate. Waiting to hear from the adjuster for a meet up. Thanks again for the community support, your shared knowledge is much appreciated.

On-On!

Thu Mar 15, 2012 2:58 pm

For what it's worth = when I got a USAA loan to buy my van, I sent them a link to the GoWesty "sold vans" webpage to show them what the replacement values are. They approved my loan the same day. They may be a good source for valuation of your vehicles.

Keep your chin up!

Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:15 pm

I would try and fix the gates, and porta power the roof back til I could hammer it good enough to bondo. push the door out til it's good enough to bondo.

seems a shame to trash the gate. not saying it'd be easy, but a week pushing cutting hammering welding...and a week in paint ? seems doable to me. maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:41 pm

Crankey wrote: I would try and fix the gates, and porta power the roof back til I could hammer it good enough to bondo. push the door out til it's good enough to bondo.

seems a shame to trash the gate. not saying it'd be easy, but a week pushing cutting hammering welding...and a week in paint ? seems doable to me. maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

That would be fine for someone with the metal working skill set. If you have to pay a body shop to do the work, buying the components (when still available) is cost effective.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:35 pm

I know. you sound like my boss. I can't think "cost effective" looking at a doka gate. even if I could buy a new gate I would not toss that rear gate.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:54 pm

here are some side gates:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1184317

Good Luck!

John

Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:11 pm

I bought an engine hatch from him, good seller. forgot to mention the tax fees to me though. FedEx pays border duty and passes that bill to you. it was just 14 bucks so no big deal.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:18 pm

jerrydog411 wrote: here are some side gates:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1184317

Good Luck!

John

Except Brian needs a tailgate. :wink:
Rod is advertising side gates only.

In case anyone bothered to look, VW Classic Parts is selling the early military style tailgates which has a hole for the tailligts to shine through when the tailgate is down. My Doka was cable stays which keeps then horizontal when open.

Fri Mar 16, 2012 7:43 am

I've already been in contact with Rob (CdnVWjunkie) who is selling those gates, he does have rear tail gates too (civilian). He also has a side door for me as well, the total cost with shipping is high, but if I can't utilize VWclassic parts or something closer it will have to do.

First thing is to get a go ahead to start work from my insurance company.

Trust me no matter how banged up any part I have is, I will not be tossing anything. Maybe able to adequately fix for use in the future.

I contacted VWclassicparts and put a request in for everything from a roof, gates and door. They sent me back an order/bill and requested my CC number. No mention of needing a VW dealer, even included a $287 shipping fee for a lot of parts from Germany. Maybe as easy as sending them $$ and waiting for the new original equipment to arrive.

Fri Mar 16, 2012 9:50 am

Bman,

Are you saying they will ship the roof, door, and gate for just $287? I can't imagine just packaging the items that cheap let alone ship them. That is unless they are shipping from a US warehouse.

I've never inquired but wondered if the door in their site is for entire door or just the outer shell.

As far as legitimacy, they are about as good as any other vendor from the EU. They are licensed and endorsed by VW. As far as taking direct orders, it's my understanding that might be one of the reasons why some vendors are miffed with them. When they went around asking shops for info on what should be stocked, said shops were no made aware VWCP would sell retail direct.

Fri Mar 16, 2012 10:12 am

Ben,

So says the offer they sent me by PDF; I went to their sight did an availabilty check on all the parts I thought I would need, placed it all in a "shopping cart" and sent in a request. I used my auto body shop name and my own personal address, if that makes any difference.

A day later he sent me an itemized "offer" that included a 218,40 Euro shipping cost. Here is his email:

Dear customer.
thank you for your request. Attached you will find our offer, including information about prices and shipping costs for the requested spare parts.

Please consider our terms of delivery:

Customers outside of Germany have to pay in advance by credit card or by bank transfer.

Our bank data is:

Weser-Ems Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH
Volkswagen-Audi Classic Parts Center........

..........

If you wish to pay by credit card, we will need the card number, its provider (VISA, Mastercard etc.) and its expiry date. You can of course transmit this data by phone or by fax.

Please note: We will need your entire and correct postal address to be able to send the requested spare parts!

If you want to change your order or if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen / best regards
Peter Alt

I put this in out of curiousity and so far it seems legit and ready to pay and play. So.....

All these parts I found by using EKTA part #s. As for the door I was using ETKA part # 247 841 082 which states crew cab door right, but good question on whether it is a shell. I thought not.

Fri Mar 16, 2012 6:18 pm

The rear gate on my tristar was badly bent - but not as bad as yours - and many body shops said it can't be fixed. But I took it to a place in Redwood City (Liebes Autobody) and they made it good as new.

Their method was a bit caveman-ish, but it worked. They put the gate on the ground and drove over it. The crease in the top of the gate popped right back, too. Then they did some fine tuning.

I think your doka can be brought back. The roof should pop right back from the inside, followed by some fine tuning and maybe some bondo.

Fri Mar 16, 2012 7:37 pm

I think I sent you a pm about parts, I am in Santa Cruz and head to Oregon quite often,

Have a full set of near perfect gates, blue in color,

and may be cutting the top and door if you are so inclined.

shipping to OR from Santa Cruz might be way less, and no duty

prices may be close

but Portland is only a days drive and can limit shipping.

pm me if interested.

peter

Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:30 pm

2Dokas wrote: I think I sent you a pm about parts, I am in Santa Cruz and head to Oregon quite often,

Have a full set of near perfect gates, blue in color,

and may be cutting the top and door if you are so inclined.

shipping to OR from Santa Cruz might be way less, and no duty

prices may be close

but Portland is only a days drive and can limit shipping.

pm me if interested.

peter

Done, sent you a Pmail this morning.

Thu Apr 12, 2012 8:04 am

Bman, how goes the battle? Any word from insurance?

Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:08 am

Yes, thanks for the heads up. Yes I have gone through the whole circus with insurance and here is the good story:

Considering the age of both my Doka and Westy, both rigs were sent over to the total claims department, and naturally they needed to confirm the actual value of both vehicles. Here I was a bit anxious and maybe a wee bit over zealous as I inudated them with research, doka sales numbers and the Samba info; however; State Farm opted to send out an appraiser to do their own leg work.

The appraiser came on a day that was rainier than the last, and I showed him both vehicles, gave him copies of my research, and answered all his questions. On a side note, how these guys come to their appraisal conclusion is beyond me, for he took a bunch of pictures with his phone camera, asked the basic (4WD or 2WD?) questions and then left.

Either way, State Farm informed me of the appraisal results a week later: 1984 Transporter Doka, worth $21.5K; 1989 Westfailia Camper, worth $20K. :D YES! :D As soon as the insurance company had these numbers they basically released the checks for repair. Now the checks are dependent on the Auto Body shop estimate, which for the Doka now stands as approximately $8K, $1.5K for the Westy.

Now what if repairs go over? I've been assured by State Farm that supplemental funds can be considered. Key word here is considered, but we'll see.

I already have my 1989 Westy at the shop, delivering my OEM WS seals and an after market WS to the shop today. I had to move on the Westy as the WS was badly cracked and I didn't want any further leaking to occur into my dash. I still need to decide whether to go with new (VWclassicparts) or used doka parts. I am hoping to have the Doka in the shop by the end of the month, he will need to replace my roof, rear cab panel, third door, and two drop down gates. I am currently selling off my fleet of custom bikes to try to finance a full paint job when all body work has been done. Of course I shall document the whole process for you all here on this thread.

Compared to stories that I have read on these forums, I would say that my State Farm experience has been satisfactory, one recommendation I would suggest is to talk to your agent about a value agreed upon insurance policy. If you haven't already done it, get an appraisal, take it to your agent and discuss the agreed value of the rig and opt for that additional insurance policy.

As the old Native American story goes about the boy who's horse ran away; good? bad? who knows?

Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:02 am

I was in 3 separate collisions (none of which were my fault) in about 5 years up in Portland. I dealt with 3 different insurance companies, and found State Farm to be reasonably fair, though I had to put their feet to the fire once or twice.

Don't underestimate the prep work you did to help them make the decision; they're not experts on these cars, and you are. I look forward to the return of your excellent vehicles.

B.