Sad day in the life of my GN :(

[savage6]

Well I figured it would happen sooner or later. Yesterday I was driving along the side of wal-mart on a basically empty road when suddenly my life (and car) took a drastic turn for the worse. Anyway I was driving along...............BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My '87 was SMASHED in the driver's side by a damn mini van!!!
Luckily neither me or my brother were injured(physically) by this stupid B!tch. Although I am extremely and understanably mentally menaced by this. She had stopped at a stop sign and then she pulled right on out, I guess she was just hoping no one was in her way............NOPE, I was!!! After crawling out the passenger side door and talking with this woman I was saved the trouble of strangling this rhino to death because she said she DOES have insurance. But that is not gonna help much if my baby is totaled!! The value is approx. $8000 and I have about 12K in it. I will try to save the car AT ALL COSTS!!! So here in the next couple of weeks I will be more than likely buying ALOT of parts!!
I will update later. Untill then, Drive carefully!!!!

Evan

P.S. Does anyone have a gun for sale????

 

[Russ Merritt]

Sorry to hear it man! Hope you guys are ok!

 

[whitehot84]

Did the bitch at least bump her head?????????

 

[savage6]

Nope, she filled out the report and drove off in her Kia babbling on her cell phone to her husband something like "He just came out of nowhere and I hit him..... blah,blah,blah.....no, he's in some old Monte Carlo....blah, blah,blah..."

 

[milehighGN]

For my insurance company, i had a guy appraise my car for $16,000 so i wouldnt get jacked by them if someone happened to total it. These cars easily book NADA classic for around that amound. You should fax them that info so you can get what you have in it out of it.

 

[OneLethal87GN]

Another option people I know have tried is to get the biggest check for it you can, then buy it back from the insurance company for a small amount. This way you can buy another one with the check, plus have your old one for spare parts. I'd check with the insurance company first to see if this is an option.

 

[TURBOV6]

Sorry to hear about that. I hope you get what you car was appriased for

 

[gn85]

Very sad season is upon us. The season when the weather finally breaks, all the nice cars come out to enjoy and all the stupid drivers are STILL out and about.

We all have these close calls... and some of us (myself included) are so unfortunate to have that golden BB get us...

Stay safe everyone. Keep an extra eye out for these people. Remember, no matter HOW GOOD of a driver you are, they are just that much worse!

 

[TurboJunky]

The question is did YOU have insurance???

 

[77tech9]

I would have destroyed her kia, and buried her in it.

Some lady in a kia 4 wheel drive sport type pos almost hit me as i was pulling into my own driveway, and she had the nerve to honk at me. After getting out and scaring her half to death no damage was done.

 

[6APPEAL]

Been there, Done that. It took me aver 2 months to settle on the value of my 86 GN. The insurance company I was dealing with would not honor classic/collector car values. Said cars listed as classic/collector there were over valued.

Savage6,
First make sure you have all your documentation together for the car. Including all the receipts for any aftermarket parts.

Second, be patient. Since you were not physically injured the insurance company knows you will lose a great deal of money by hiring a lawyer. You will then lose over 50% of the value of the car between the insurance company low balling and the lawyer fees.

Third, pay attention to you state laws on what is required to put a totaled car back on the road.

I was lucky. I received close to what I thought my car was valued at. I also bought the car back as salvage.

Good luck,
John

 

[TurboJunky]

This is why I have my GN valued at $25,000 .

 

[ThikStik]

She needs to be KIA'd. Killed in action. Bad judgement in choosing car brands and in driving.

 

[69GS400s]

DO NOT file through YOUR insurance Co. - File through HERS if it was written as her fault by the police.

This way, if they pay what it takes, Your Ins. doesn't go up, and if not, you can still file with your Co. for the remaining amount.

Also, If you file with your Co. and the "total" it, they will confescate the car. Her Co. can not.....

Best of luck - sucky situation but try to get the most out of it

 

[Robert Kastle]

I agree with 6APPEAL. My Ttype was hit by somebody with ALLstate. Allstate refused to list the car as anything but a regular 6cylinder NA Buick. Their offer was only 3,000 dollars. What did not help was that I believe someone at the bodyshop that was working with the Insurance company wanted my car for themself. Each time I said to go ahead and fix the car the bodyshop increased the cost of repairs. In the end the bodyshop had raised the price of repairs from 1,200 to 4800 dollars over a 6 month period.

What I ended up doing was getting my Insurance company envolved ( State Farm ). My agent informed me that they had to give me the going rate for my car in the area in which I lived. A little more tham 6000 in 1995. My insurance company contacted the bodyshop and they again raised the price. They bodyshop had my car locked up and some how Allstate told them not to allow me to have the car. As a note I never took any money or signed any papers from Allstate so legaly the car was mine,,,,just some big company trying to push a little guy around. State Farm stepped in and said they would give me 6000 for the car and allow me to buy back the car for 350 dollars. I did have to pay a 250 deductable,,in which he said I would get back when they made Allstate pay them the 6000 that they should have paid me. 4 months later I received a check in the mail for 250.

In the end I purchased a recovered theft (NA car) for 200 dollars for the needed front end parts and horse traded with Dana W and some people in the Atlanta Turbo Buick Club for the rest of the needed parts and pocketed a good portion of the money. I have a car that is nicer than before and with a clear title all because Allstate tried to take advantage of me.

 

[TurboJunky]

Originally posted by 69GS400s
DO NOT file through YOUR insurance Co. - File through HERS if it was written as her fault by the police.

This way, if they pay what it takes, Your Ins. doesn't go up, and if not, you can still file with your Co. for the remaining amount.

Also, If you file with your Co. and the "total" it, they will confescate the car. Her Co. can not.....

Best of luck - sucky situation but try to get the most out of it

Wow, strange laws. Here one has insurance to cover your own car only. Thus the reason for paying insurance....to insure your property against damage. If involved in a crash here, you file a claim with your company, the other party does the same with theirs. The companies go after the at fault party to recoup the cost of damage repair, not the driver! Very simple.

 

[Blue87T]

Not saying anyone else's post is wrong...but becareful about the advice you take because insurance laws vary greatly from state to state. ONe thing though is that MOST insurance companies REQUIRE you to report ANY accident regardless of fault. If you arent at fault they cant raide your rates unless they pay out and cant recoupe their losses ( in a collision not a comp claim). That being said I ( having a job as an appraiser for over 4yrs ) would do this :

1) report the claim to your insurance company and tell them at this time you dont want to persue a claim ( if you have collison) .

2) talk to your agent . Ask him to explain what you are able to collect in your state and what the laws regarding estimating/valuing cars are. Also ask how your policy is written in regards to what your insurance owes to you if they pay you ( custom parts arent always covered unless you buy extra coverage which , although not great to hear , is to be expected)

3) Becareful in your wording when you speak with her insurance company . You will likley have to give a statement to them about how the loss occured. YOu are obviously upset and have every right to be... they will use every word you say in making their liability descision and being sacrastic can get you a percentage of fault assigned to you real fast ( not saying its right but it happens)

4) Liability laws are very different from state to state . As are the methods of evaluating cars . If you post the state your in I could comment further.

5) Your car may not be totaled .. what parts are damaged ? If its a side hit and the roof isnt buckled or anything like that you should be ok with it being repaired

6) Be prepared to document every thing about your car and print similar cars from autotrader.com and kirbans site if they help support what you think your car's worth. NADA Classic would have to be accepted as most states recognize that guide as valid form for evaluating. GN's dont meet the definition of a car with a "common market value " as they arent readily sold by dealers.

If you need more, let me know , I deal with this every day..

 

[Robes87GN]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your GN man! I know how it feels. Whenever someone is at a stop sign ready to pull in to the road, I make sure that nothing will happen. Foot goes off the gas onto the brake. Some people are just bad driver's and you can't get passed that. Good luck with the insurance company.

 

[1Qwick6]

buddy you ended better than me when my car got hit 2 years ago the young lady did not have any insurance, so I had to go through mine & to get a recovery & I had talked to my agent about a set price of $15K for a total loss but never filled out he paper work
but here is the kicker they offered me about $10k for the vehicle then wanted like $4k for the car so only leaving me with $6k at the end of the deal I ended holding out for another $2k then just took the check
So in my case my company knew exactly what I had & in my case I think the estimator wanted my engine which had just been rebuilt and had less than 3kmi on it at the time
& lastly I had just taken it out of storage for the summer

so good luck

 

[jake616]

I would of hit her for the Monte Carlo comment! SOrry to hear about your car man...I hope you can keep it and get it all fixed to her former beauty + some!