The founder of Vehicle Value Experts, Robert McDorman, has been involved in every phase of the car business, from car washing as a teen to owner of multiple auto dealerships in his 20s, to receiving national recognition as National Quality Dealer of the Year and Certified Master Dealer by his early 40s.
Based upon his years of experience witnessing insurance claim settlements, he formed a theory that there exist systemic errors in the way vehicles are valued in the claim settlement process. However, it is not insurers who conduct the valuations. It is required of insurers to utilize independent appraisal firms for this task. Their product is titled Market Valuation Report (MVR), and the values from these reports are what insurers offer for settlement in total loss claims.
Based upon Mr. McDorman’s theory and experience, Auto Claim Specialists was formed as a Public Insurance Adjuster Agency in the State of Texas in May 2017 to help the public deal with the frequent errors in valuation. Mr. McDorman, who had already earned his license as a Public Insurance Adjuster, became Managing Director. Auto Claim Specialists developed relationships with the most expert vehicle appraisal firms in the country and chose a preferred appraiser for each state. For most states the preferred appraiser is Vehicle Value Experts. Vehicle Value Experts was initially purchased by Auto Claim Specialists but has since become independent. Auto Claim Specialists and Vehicle Value Experts have a working agreement with a fixed charge per appraisal depending upon the purpose of the appraisal – desk reviews for a quick estimated value range, or formal appraisals with Actual Cash Value settlements.
Anyone who drives has likely been involved in a minor vehicle accident and knows how the claim process works for partial loss settlements. An estimator from the insurance company makes an initial estimate for the cost of repair. However, in almost every case one or more supplements are submitted by the body shop to the insurer for repair costs above the initial estimate. The reason is that, once the body shop dismantles the damaged area, they gain additional information about the extent of the damage and required time and remedies for repair.
The same is true for total loss cases. As explained in the first entry — “Why do auto claim settlement offers from insurers often contain errors in valuation?” — on our Frequently Asked Questions page, Market Valuation Reports are really only rough estimates for vehicle values based upon algorithms designed to produce values quickly to meet the huge demand from insurers across the country. As conjectured by Auto Claim Specialists after working thousands of auto claims and unsuccessfully attempting to automate our own valuation process, these algorithms are the true source of the systemic valuation errors noticed by Mr. McDorman while working in the auto industry.
At Auto Claim Specialists, we take the time and expense combined with a personal level of attention to effectively dismantle the MVR and determine the true value of the totaled vehicle prior to the accident. In fact, once the correct valuation is established, it is not uncommon for an insurer to reclassify a case from a total loss to a fixable vehicle. This is because the value of the vehicle is the most important input into total loss formulas. Erroneous valuations result in wrongly totaled cars.
Insurers are bound by their duty of good faith and fair dealing to fully indemnify policy holders for damages suffered. Although as Public Insurance Adjusters we work solely for the benefit of the insured, we effectively service the insurance industry as well by correcting the inevitable valuation errors contained in MVR estimates and establishing the true value of losses. It is only by utilizing accurate valuations that insurers can correctly employ total loss formulas and faithfully and completely indemnify policy holders for losses suffered.