Car Accident = car gone

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1970PAValiant

1970PAValiant

master of the break down
Joined
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so yesterday I got in a rear end collision with a guy on his cell phone. I was stopped at a red light and he didn't noticed me stopped, slid under my bumper, bent it, bent the tailpipe and slammed into the rear fender. My passenger fender is all warped and has chunks out of it everywhere, the inner fender is now inside my trunk. Both insurance companies are telling me they want to total the car and give me a check for $500, and I'm telling them where the hell am I supposed to buy a car like mine for $500. I am just so pissed, this car is my daily driver and I put 18-20,000 miles a year on her and for the past 3 years has never left me stranded from Boston to DC.
 
im soory for your loss. tell the insurance company to shove it and get a lawyer.
 
Screw that If its a daily driver it has more then a $500 Value. If I were you I would get some apprasials (spelling). Im sure you can use the current state of the car and photos to show what it looked like before. Don't settle...
 
How does your neck and back feel.....?

No way would I settle for $500. I agree with getting an appraisal.
 
Anybody want to guess why a person would want to stick it to insurance co? Sorry you are on the recieving end of this but this is the way they operate.
 
Start searching the internet for cars for sale like yours print them out and fax them to the insurance company. Tell them instead of a check they can send you a replacement.
 
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onig44Cj_L4"]Neck Injury Lawyers in Atlanta - YouTube[/ame]
 
What kind of a car are we talking about?? if it was a Geo Metro with 250,000 miles maybe it is only worth $500.00 post up some pics. It's bad enough if YOU hit someone, but man it REALLY sucks when you are just sitting there and BAM there goes YOUR car.. sorry for your loss.
 
They will take your car and sell it or the parts and pay you for free. They know the value of older cars and where to sell them. Get an appraisal and some prices on cars like yours in similar condition. They owe you the actuall cash value the car was worth less any deductible not something they pull out of thier ***. Scrap is high, most cars are worth $200 just fro scrap. If your value is not too high you can even use small claims court to fight them.
 
yea I am trying to get quotes and have to goto some body work places for my 1970 Plymouth Valiant. it sucks since I have the origional motor/tranny in it and it's a factory A/C car.
 
furz4 said:
They will take your car and sell it or the parts and pay you for free. They know the value of older cars and where to sell them. Get an appraisal and some prices on cars like yours in similar condition. They owe you the actuall cash value the car was worth less any deductible not something they pull out of thier ***. Scrap is high, most cars are worth $200 just fro scrap. If your value is not too high you can even use small claims court to fight them.
Click to expand...

They "owe" whatever his policy says they do.
 
The dark blue one in your gallery? Tell them find you a comparable replacement or 6K...

I don't know how much plastic was/is under the paint, but 6K is a good start point for you to come off of.

Is the front clip solid? That will be worth a bit to someone with a Duster provided it's not rusty in the doglegs..
 
That is all it is worth to them.......that is why you get Collectors insurance and let it sit in the garage......From what I was told insurance companies don't go by Kelly Blue Book or NADA so what NADA says might be irrelevant.
 
Sorry to tell you but I got hit last year and the insurance company will pay you what they will pay you. Same thing happened to me, girl talking on cell phone ran into the back of my Neon, they offered 1900 and thats what I got. They pay on a scale, its complete BS since you cannot replace a nice car for what they pay you. Good luck but your screwed.
 
I had a cube van catch fire and burn back when I had my mattress company. I had full coverage on it and they wanted to pay me chump change. It did have some rust in the box but it had a rebuilt motor and transmission. They offered me about $1100 for it and that wasn't close to the value. I had about $6,000 in it and that was too much so I knew they would never pay me that. I had spare trucks so I wasn't in a hurry so I told them to go buy me another one that matched mine. It had to have open out doors and at least a 15 foot bed with a 351W small block like mine. They shopped the local Oklahoma market and couldn't find one. Then they expanded to the surrounding states and couldn't find one. They gave up and paid me $3650 and I kept the truck. Luckily I found another truck for $3500. Cube Vans were pretty newly added to the Uhaul and such companies fleets so that wasn't an option to buy one. Back then there was no way to search the net like we have now and there just wasn't many cube vans to be found. Stand your ground and tell them you need a rental car until this is settled. Make sure you aren't injured because sometimes it takes a few days to show up.

I know of a 64 Valiant they paid off on at the real value of around $2,000 and the owner got to keep the car. It wasn't hurt bad and is still on the road today.

There is a thread on here from a member that went through the same thing as you are and he won in the end.


Someone help me out here. The car above was like a 73 to 75 Cream/Tan 4 door Valiant or Dart that is owned by a member on the upper west coast. He has a picture of that car and a 1940s model 2 door car in his avatar. His advise might help the op in dealing with the insurance companies.
 
As I said, they will pay you whatever the policy says. If there's no predetermined amount such as "stated" or "agreed" value, then they are bound by the contract to pay as the policy states. All those spouting something different have no clue what kinda insurance you have. Usually, collector type car insurance has restrictions on driving and you cannot use it as a daily driver. I am not familiar with Hagarty, so I don't know how they operate. The bottom line is, NADA value is worthless because you have a contract with the insurance company and THAT is all they are required to fullfill. If I were you, I would get that pup out and read EVERY SINGLE WORD. You might can catch them with one of their own loopholes.
 
If the other sides insurance company is responsible for paying for your property damage loss they should put you in a position that is the same as before you got hit. If they think the car is worth $1 and it cost 10K to replace it, then they are on the hook for 10K or if the policy limits PD coverage to that limit. Then your company should take up the rest if you have adequate coverage, usually collision.

If you accept what the adjuster tells/offers you right out of the gate, you might just get the short end of the stick. Knowledge is power in this case. Ebay, hemmings, nada, whatever you can find to substantiate your value, GET IT and print it out.

Get as many comparable autos and prices. The adjuster wants you gone FAST! The longer it draws out the worse for them. They want claims closed quickly and most of the time with minimum outlay of $.

I went through the same thing when my mothers 66 FB mustang got killed. Insurance offered $600... she got $7500 back in about 1985.

It takes a bit of legwork/time. The better informed and armed you are the better your outcome is likely to be.
 
crackedback said:
It takes a bit of legwork/time. The better informed and armed you are the better your outcome is likely to be.
Click to expand...

Nailed it Crackedback!

OP, it sucks to say this, but you're going to have to put in time to negotiate and fight with the insurance company. There are a lot of good ideas above to assess the value of your car. Find some "for sale" examples, NADA, start putting together a file that shows the true "street" value of the car. Heck, if the insurance company doesn't offer you anything closer to its real value, tell them...NO...DEMAND for them to have it fixed. It will cost them more to fix it than it's real street value. Bottom line: Put up a fight.

I worked in rental years ago. I can't tell you how many times a customer came in complaining about the insurance co pulling the same BS you are going through. In all fairness to the insurance co adjusters, their job is to minimize the losses. We all have jobs to do.

BTW...how's your neck and back? (don't answer this).
 
Oklacarcollecto said:
There is a thread on here from a member that went through the same thing as you are and he won in the end.


Someone help me out here. The car above was like a 73 to 75 Cream/Tan 4 door Valiant or Dart that is owned by a member on the upper west coast. He has a picture of that car and a 1940s model 2 door car in his avatar. His advise might help the op in dealing with the insurance companies.
Click to expand...

That was JR's car.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=69816
 
One thing I feel is in your favor is that car values in general are so much higher these days, so insurance companies are paying out larger amounts, so the amount to fix or repair your car isn't such a big deal to them....but you will have to fight them to get it.
 
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