Dart is totalled.. now what ?

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DartThis74 said:
..................so I can see where all of their numbers are being supplied from.
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I GUARANTEE YOU that as low as these numbers are, this insurance company has already decided that you and your car is worthless. The ONLY thing these people will understand is a court case. Your problem, realistically, is that they can afford lawyers all day long and you cannot.

Forget their numbers, they are irrelevant. What I'd do is find a third party appraiser and have him estimate the value while ignoring the damage. Make SURE that he does a thorough job, looking at rust under the rockers, in the quarters, back window in the trunk. AND TAKE PHOTOS if it is a clean, rust free body. This alone is worth thousands of dollars for a restorable car. Show him your receipts and point out the obvious, IE wheels, intake manifold, new radiator, etc, etc. Obviously he cannot document engine internals, but you have the receipts.

And you need to come to a realistic figure for your labor. No court is going to pay you 20 bucks and hour for doing weekend work on your car, but your work IS worth something. If you payed shipping, as I did on a rear axle, etc, or drove as I did on an all -day outing to retrieve a disk brake front end car, THEN junk it out, THEN haul it to a scrapper, THIS IS WORTH SOMETHING. It was YOUR time effort, and money that YOU put into that car.

IF you do not have insurance to cover this, it's time to start sniffing a lawyer

Your receipts are VERY important. I would immediately find them organize and photocopy them, and NOTATE them if necessary by such things as "sticky notes" alongside the invoice in the copier, to document "what stuff was."

Little late now, but do things like when I find something on Craigslist, I save a SCREENSHOT of the ad, and if I talk to the guy with notes, I impose a note over the ad so I've got my notes all right there
 
Yep I agree. NEVER accept the first offer from your ins unless of course it's what you want! My Toyota Corolla station wagon was in really great shape. NO rust,ran like a top and 4 brand new snow tires (4wd version). Almost the same thing happened to me and it was the other driver's faiult. Ins still low balled me. I kept driving the car,and told them I would keep driving it unitl they came up with a better offer. It was my daily driver at the time,and you could not find another same car for what they offered,so I went and researched the replacememnt value myself.Based upon my evidence they raised the write off value by almost $1400 and cut me a much more appropriate cheque. Ins companies Damn well know your car is worth more,but it's your adjustor's job to save the ins company money.FIGHT!
 
I can almost guarrenty the frame is bent on the front of that car. Not hard to fix on a frame machine if you got one. I'd get a lawyer and fight for a better settlement and get the car fixed. It's not that bad. It will probably cost more in labor than in parts to fix.
 
Dang, that hurts. A couple of things you've got going for you. You have lots of receipts showing how much you have in the car. Hold out for that amount and lots of labor to repair it. You'll need estimates from the best body shop around your area so the insurance company knows what it is going to take to repair it properly. The second thing is that it sounds like the other driver is at fault. His insurance company wants to settle for the lowest amount and get it done fast. The ball is in your court to get paid for what you have invested or to have it fixed properly. Also if you decide you want to keep and fix it don't settle for getting the car back and the cost of replacement parts. Like dbphemi said, the parts are the cheap part. Finally, don't sign off on any medical forms. That's a power play for you. They also don't want to pay out tons of medical bills either. I've gone through what you're going through with my 73 Challenger years ago. It doesn't hurt to be hard nosed to get what you have coming to you. Good luck, toolmanmike
 
Sorry about your car! That looked like a relatively hard shot. Plus, the weight of that Ram on your bumper isn't good. Like it has been said, get that frame checked out 1st. If it were my car, I would be breaking out all my receipts and gathering prices on what needs to be replaced. I would keep the car, unless there is extensive frame damage.
If you don't have the willingness or ability to work on it, get a couple estimates. You need some ammunition when you counter their shitty offer, which needless to say, I would not accept. Good luck and keep us posted!
 
fight it ive been through this before its not pretty but tell them you want more and you should not have to worry much your insurance should be going after more anyway
 
Here in Michigan if you have no collision insurance the most you can get is $500 for the car damage, no ifs or buts about it.

But it was cool in my case, I had minor damage, was a little Sunbird I T-bone, pushed the car sideways, ha ha Got an estimate of $750 cause the chrome was chip and the header needed some painting--which I just brushed some paint in, AAA just sent me a check for $500 which went up in smoke, lol

I would fix the car and yes you need a bump shop, not sure you need a frame machine, when I worked in a shop in the 80's the floor had hooks you attached a chain to and then to the frame. Then on the other end we pulled it out. You need to find the measurements to see how much it needs to be pulled out and not over do it. The body guys I knew said the old cars could be repaired without a frame machine, that was just needed for the pos newer cars --like the 80's K cars
 
67Dart273 said:
You need to sue this guy AND his insurance company. You will NEVER get anywhere by talking to them, being nice, or asking.

If you have anything more than liability on the car, you need to get YOUR insurance company involved.

FIRST thing you need to do, if you have not, is GET THE CAR BACK from the tow company or insurance company and IN YOUR POSSESSION. This is YOUR car until the day you get a settlement.
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X2. If you have the money, I would fix it and send them the bill. If they don't pay, sue the other guy for it. He'll contact his insurance company and put pressure on them from his side. You don't have to talk to his insurance company at all if you don't want to. He's the one that ran into you, not them. If you don't have the money to get it fixed, then a lawyer along with all your reciepts and info you can gather is the way to get that offer up to where it needs to be. If you can get it driveable, you can drive around and get some estimates for the repairs. Find several shops that do good work to get a concensus of what a quality job will cost. You don't need to accept an Earl Schieb job.
 
Please don't accept the insurance company's RIDICULOUS offer :wack:. Find a couple cars on the internet for sale that are in similar condition and send them the links. Gather your receipts as other members have mentioned.

You have to play "hard ball" with insurance companies or they'll roll you over :angry2:

Find a cheap beater car if you have to while you're negotiating with them. They're holding the rental car deal over your head to get you to settle.
 
Coming from the guy (me) that welded on the back half of that car from a donor car...I'd vote for kicking the guy's *** who ran over your car.


But seriously, that wont work. You need to take a strategic approach to having the OTHER guy's insurance cover the damage to your vehicle for a wreck that was HIS fault. Ask everyone you know to help you thru this, you're gonna need it. I emailed your father about getting all the parts you need (which my Father In Law in Waco Has), but you'll need to work out the details of having transportation while your car is being repaired
 
shanker said:
Coming from the guy (me) that welded on the back half of that car from a donor car...I'd vote for kicking the guy's *** who ran over your car.


But seriously, that wont work. You need to take a strategic approach to having the OTHER guy's insurance cover the damage to your vehicle for a wreck that was HIS fault. Ask everyone you know to help you thru this, you're gonna need it. I emailed your father about getting all the parts you need (which my Father In Law in Waco Has), but you'll need to work out the details of having transportation while your car is being repaired
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haha Hey man long time no see ! Wasn't aware you were on this ol' website. Yeah I'm definately not accepting the crappy offer they are wanting me to settle on. It's not enough to repair the car with and get repainted, let a lone find a replacement car with the same options that are on it. I'm hoping things don't have to go down the bad row of hiring lawyers and such to get what I need done appropriately, but geez one stupid person with bad attention to driving can really screw up things for someone haha.
Thank you everyone for your best wishes and condolences, I sure hope things will work out good in the end ! I would hate to take this vehicle off the road :sad2:
 
Someone else said "fight it tooth and nail". I agree.

So many people in so many different business' at all levels expect others to not stand up for themselves. I see it first hand at work all of the time. And have had to deal with it from insurance companies. Threaten to get a lawyer untill you get the value of that car from them. Have a lawyer write a letter on their official letterhead....or if you know a secretary in a law office have one of them do it. Insurance companies in my experience have almost ZERO respect for customers or people in any way and give less than a rats ***. They respect money and lawyers. Its all a game, just have to play.

P.S.
I know only of one instance personally where an insurance company did the "right" thing.......insurance backed up my Grandpa on a fraudulent hit and run, they put up their own lawyers when he was personally sued by the plaintiff and layed the smack down for free.
 
Been there, done that. Get a lawyer to write them a letter detailing your justification for the higher settlement and threaten a lawsuit if they don't pay you what it's worth. It was THEIR driver that caused this situation, not you. The lawyer will cost you about $150, well worth it, and it will demonstrate to them that you are serious. Then they will weigh the cost of what you want vs the time and expense of fighting you in small claims court and will make you a higher offer.
Being in the insurance business I can tell you, the folks in the 'total loss' department are vicious, and they are bonused to minimize costs in situations like this. They don't care about what is right, they only care about paying you as little as possible on a totaled car. You will get nothing from them unless they know you are going to be a bull dog. They will be very convincing in their arguments that your car is only worth 2800, but I assure you, if it's worth more, a legal threat (from a lawyer) will get more money for you.
 
Typical insurance companies when they need to fork out its a different story,I would keep it and get onto his insurance and state of what it is as its a classic not a shitty Japanese $300 special.There just giving you market price, not for what it is.Bunch of A#%holes! Start throwing your weight around some one is bound to come to the party.Good Luck man i feel your pain.
 
tell them at least 5000 grand and u keep the car thats where i would start .. remember u run the show on this not them
 
I dont know what insurance company you/the guy has but State Farm used to be good at reimbursing you for the parts you can prove you had on it. Here lately they have got tougher.

You should be able to find an attorney that shouldn't cost more than a couple thousand that can get you taken care of for sure. If your car is truly worth more than 10k I would be willing to pay for an attorney. Just make sure you can prove your car is worth what you say it is. Receipts and comparable vehicles that have sold at auction or classic car dealers.

I know it isn't right but just cause a car is worth what it is doesn't mean the rest of the world or a judge and jury will see it that way. Without the documentation to prove it they will probably come up with a similar number to the insurance company. People like my wife never can understand how desirable some of these classic cars really are, supply and demand makes them valuable.

A good example of this is a goofy little SUV I want to get my hands on.. The Isuzu VehiCross. They were made just over 10 years ago. Bluebook values them at like 3000 but since so few were made they sell for 8K and more. Ive seen ones with salvage titles listed for 5k. Thats only a 10 year old vehicle that doesn't have a huge demand. Now add you have a performance 35+ year old vehicle that has much more interest.... Much more value. A good attorney, especially one with an interest in classic cars could drive this point home much better than me and make this whole ordeal right I'm sure.

Keep us updated.
 
Just remember the other guys insurance company has no obligation to pay you anything.
Their only obligation is to protect their costumer. That being said you have no obligation to accept anything they offer.
If you have 13k in receipts on the car then you can sue the owner of the suv for 13K or more and their insurance company has to protect them against the lawsuit.
Ignore the insurance company, get an appraisal on the car and an estimate to fix it and threaten to sue the driver and the owner of the SUV for the lessor of the 2.

Good luck.
 
Tell them, if they say your car is only worth $2500. Tell them to take the money and go fine you one in the same shape. They will give you more money and or have it fixed. After all, it was his falt, you hold all the cards.
 
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