• Hello there guest and Welcome to The #1 Classic Mustang forum!
    To gain full access you must Register. Registration is free and it takes only a few moments to complete.
    Already a member? Login here then!

My day just went from great to bad

janschutz

janschutz

Corn Hauler
My wife just called to tell me that the lady across the street just backed into one of the stangs.

My biggest concern is that the fenders are modified for bigger wheel and I will insist on a new drivers quarter (the panel is cracked). Will the insurance pay for the custom work to bump it out? I also do not even know what shop to take it to since the place that did the work is out of business.

Damage2.jpg
 
Do you have any paperwork showing that they did custom work? That should help. Find a good shop that you trust to do the work. Let the shop deal with the insurance adjuster.
 
David67 said:
Do you have any paperwork showing that they did custom work? That should help. Find a good shop that you trust to do the work. Let the shop deal with the insurance adjuster.
Click to expand...
That was almost 20+ years and a move ago. I am not sure I can find it. But I will be looking tonight.
 
I have collector car insurance on my Stang. They say they will cover to have the car put back like I had it and came out to photo document the car and its mods. I suspect if someone ran into my car, they would fight or represent me to get the offender's insurance to cover it.
Modern collision shops often don't know how to do custom work so it may be a case of finding a reputable rod shop and have them work with the adjuster to argue the finer points of making the car right.
 
Most states require insurance companies to repair the vehicle back to pre-accident condition, regardless of whether it was modified, bone stock, whatever. The insurance companies also have lists of shops that guarantee to do the repairs for the amount listed on the appraisal. IDK if many have shops listed to do repairs to custom work, but you are not limited just to their list anyhow.

With that said, besides the obvious civil suit should you start to get screwed by their insurance company, you also have the state insurance commission that can step in. All you have to do is contact them and file a complaint. The commission is my state is a joke and cares more about the companies than the customers. To demonstrate HOW bad they are, a former commissioner retired....and went to work as a lobbyist for the insurance companies. I'm quit sure he never "padded his nest" before retiring<insert sarcasm>!

From personal experience though, Texas used to have a GREAT commission. My '86 GT was only 8 months old and got urethane paint overspray from a contractor painting buildings nearby to my workplace parking lot. It was white paint all over my new black car. The contractors insurance company first tried to give everyone the run around for months. Then they offered to have the cars buffed out. I pointed out to them that I had a large satin grey decal on the hood and all of the trim was satin grey. They couldn't buff the decal and buffing the trim would make it glossy. More run around. When I complained about how long this whole thing had taken the insurance adjuster told me she was overwhelmed with more than 50 (gasp!), claims to deal with. I called the TSIC and talked to them. The guy I spoke with was extremely helpful. When I told him about the adjuster's "work load" comment he replied "50?! Is that all?!? That's not anything for an average adjuster". I knew that because my father was a claims adjuster! The result was first getting a call from the insurance adjuster whining and bitching at me for calling TSIC (which resulted in ANOTHER call to them about that!), and tada....an appointment to have it repaired WITH depreciation included!

I would hope they haven't changed much through the years, but they are there John. Just something to keep in mind if you have problems.
 
Just got back from a custom rod shop. They took lots of pictures and asked me a lot of questions about what I wanted. Should get the quote in a couple days. They need to look up parts and stuff.
 
The insurance company has to put you back in the same condition their insured found you in. That means custom work and all. Take photos and get a quote.
 
Boy do I need to vent. Still dealing with this issue. ( my goal is I just wanted it fixed right and not cost me a penny)

A custom car place said $7,000 to repair and paint which included a new quarter.

State Farm says $2100 to fix dent and repaint. BTW; both the person that hit me and also me, have State Farm.

I went to Caliper Collision to see about the repairs since they were on SF's preferred list and they are the shop that painted my car in 2012. They would not touch it, they said by policy, they will not work on car older that 10 years old.

Now I have SF not wanting to pay the rate of a Restoration shop and any other shop will not touch a classic. Also restoration shops do not want to have any dealing with insurance companies.

I am kind of at a lost of what to do next.
 
The first thing to do after this is all settled is to dump State Farm and insure your vintage ride with Hagerty. Hagerty is zero deductible, way more reasonable with regard to settlement and rates, and they work off an agreed value rather than a stated value. With State Farm you probably have a stated value policy which means that, should you suffer a total loss, you'll have to prove up the value of your car to State Farm despite the stated value in your policy. With agreed value policies that value is what they will pay you in the event of a total loss.

To settle things with State Farm, demand a point by point copy of the $2,100 estimate they arrived at and then go to a shop that does Mustangs and have them give you a similar estimate, in terms of detail. I'll bet that you can demonstrate that the State Farm estimator 1) didn't address all the things necessary to repair your car and 2) badly underestimated the amount of time necessary to perform the repairs he did identify. My '69 vert got sand blasted on the road in Wyoming several years ago. Hagerty sent out one of their contract estimators and he looked the car over and submitted the results to Hagerty. On that basis they cut me a check for $3,100. I went to a body shop where they worked on vintage cars and their estimator came up with an estimate of $7,200. I did a nice little Excel spreadsheet comparing their guy to my guy, item by item and they sent me another check for an additional $4,100, no questions asked. While it will probably be more difficult with State Farm, who insures my daily driver too, it will still probably yield a higher settlement for you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top