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Elsie took a hit...your thoughts...

3K views 24 replies 15 participants last post by  108620 
#1 · (Edited)
May 05, 2019…the day after, requesting a little advice. (composed, posted 5/06/2019)

Saturday morning, the 4th, I was traveling to Gainesville, FL the same route I’ve used for over 30 years. State Road 16 West sisters with US 17 N&S for a jog in Green cove Springs and there’s an intersection with a left turn to continue on 16. The turn lane barely has space for three cars. I had my signal on to move into the third space. As I’m moving over, doing the mirror and head check there is the front bumper and tire of the tanker truck that was behind me down the road a bit, RIGHT THERE and the next thing I hear is metal crunching. I’d been hit. The sound was that organic cry a cat makes being crushed.

The car was drivable. At least I could move and steer so we made the turn when the light changed and pulled into the center turn lane on the westbound SR16. I could not open the driver’s door! At this point I did not know the extent of damage. Now I’m a skinny 6’2” old guy at 73 and a bit creaky. I felt like unfolding a grasshopper trying to get over the tunnel, brake level, cooler in the floorboard and open the door so I could tumble out of the car. I think it surprised the driver that we were both two gray beards and this happened. He said he could not see me. Where his rig was rolling is the lane of on coming traffic for the next turn going the opposite direction. Really no place to move over for the turn except where I was going, to get behind the two cars already there. The aerial view is an archive photo from google earth. I did not hire a helicopter.

Ok, so we got through all the license, registration, insurance info and were both glad it was not any worse and no injury. It did bend the lower passenger side step of the big Mack tractor. The Solstice did not fare so well.

She is a tough little car though. No interference with the suspension, alignment, tires, rims so still drives straight and true. Body damage is where I am concerned.

I drove on to Gainesville safely and had Kate help me get out of the car. Thank goodness for the DDM console. It’s a butt tough piece so getting over it was OK. I just do not fold up so well any more and have strength in only one arm.

Having time to do a more through inspection of the damage I could see it went from rear to front. Even the arrowhead on the lower fender has a cut on it. Aside from a scratch and being locked in place by the crumpled metal of the lower quarter, the door looks somewhat ok. Window and controls work. Gas filler lid is fine. as is the filler. Rear inner fender liner appears intact. There’s a dent in the fender but the torn metal is my concern. I don’t believe the quarter panel is available except at that place with the ones out in the weather. With my luck none will be driver side or “we just crushed those”. There’s even a scratch on the rear bumper cover and the mud guard is scraped. The door scratch goes into the lower fender and edge of the hood but did not touch the side marker light or front bumper (I think). Glad I did not install the NOS fender liners or front mud guards yet. You can see the slight bulge of the driver’s side of the trunk lid. Don’t know about that…buttresses deploy and re attach fine and lid opens and closes.

My insurance is Geico, $250 deductible. I called and went over the whole incident with all the info from the initial police report. The officer said it now takes 7-10 days to get a report and 3 or so weeks for the insurance company to get a copy. No ticket was issued. Seems this spot at the intersection is really bad for problems. I’m wondering how that will play out. Received a notice from Geico about my not being at fault. I’m pretty glad to be alright. Worried about the car. Geico rep asked at one point “Did the air bag deploy?” Of course, the answer was no. We know where that would have been headed had it deployed.


I'm open to suggestions, as I know of no place in this area I’d trust for body work, and am concerned about what may be involved and the integrity of the car afterward. My concern is getting the work done correctly. I’m pretty sick about this. I’ve gathered parts for mods to brakes, suspension and engine. Water pump was done last year and have gone through virtually every system on the car. Turned 70K in April. I plan to also speak with the parts guy at the former Pontiac dealership about repairs. He has been helpful and straight up with me.

See next post for image 5. Also I need to put the "circles and arrows" on the intersection aerial. My path of travel was to turn left on to the "T". Up is North, down is South and left is West...

Thanks,

Richard Snipes
 

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#4 ·
Can you take the car to the bodyshop of your choice or do you have to go w/Geico's recommendations?

I'm right there with you on finding a good body shop. My wife was recently driving down a street following a police officer looking for an address, the cop stopped, my wife stopped, another car stopped behind my wife. And then the LEO put the car in reverse and hit my wife's car. Even after telling the bodyshop my concerns about it being repaired correctly, and that quality of repair was more important than speed, I'm still unhappy with the quality of the repair.
 
#5 ·
well... you have to find out if the frame got bent in any way...

The other parts may be hard to find, but that is what body shops do...

taking it to a body shop that your insurance deals with should be ok to evaluate the body frame.
Let them look at the whole car as if they are going to fix it, and go from there...
You do not have to authorize the work if you feel uneasy about the place.

you do not have to wait for a police report to get an evaluation from a body shop... ( at least not in NJ )
 
#6 ·
From the damage shown I doubt the frame was affected.
The hardest part of the repair will be the quarter panel section that is glued in place.
Not a lot of shops have experience with that kind of repair.

I lost one, but the decision was easy. Send it to the scrap pile.
 

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#7 · (Edited)
I hate to say this Richard, but they are most likely going to total the car. You are looking at a hood, fender, door, quarter and bumper to be fixed and painted. My guess is somewhere near 6,000.
I bought a totaled sky about three months ago that was hit in the driver side wheel area, almost identical to your pictures. It did break the spindle, but that was the only mark on the car. Did not hit the door, or rear bumper.

These things are not worth much any more, parts are expensive. You will have to fight them to get them to fix it. What ever the actual blue book is on the car is what they are going to offer.

Sorry to hear this.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Well...let me chime in here. Many moons ago I worked as an assistant body shop manager. And let me first say, Geico is one of the worst insurance companies out there as far as paying a "good" shop for repairs. Let's just say, we had a car come from another repair facility. It was a newer Lincoln. Geico had paid the backyard shop almost $15k to do the repairs on his car that they didn't do right. We told the adjuster to total his car as the repair shop did things that illegal. But, he didn't listen. $25k later the guy drove out with a "fixed" car.

Now onto your dilemma. First, TELL Geico where you're taking the car. You have that right!!!! DO NOT let them tell you that you can't!!! DO NOT take a check for the estimated repairs from them!!! (I'm assuming you own the car outright) 99.9% of the time, they will short you about 20% of what is truly needed and when you go to them, they tell you to pound sand. Tell them to pay the shop directly!!! Do research in your area as to who is recommended. I know here in my area there is one shop where all of the exotics (Lambo, Ferrari, Mercedes, Porsche, etc) because they are incredible. Takes a long time, and they aren't cheap...but it's worth the wait.

Second, the damage front of the door is an easy fix. But, the damage rear of the door is bit trickier. Try to have them save that panel...it can be done!! Most shops would rather slap a new panel on it if labor is pretty equal. Let me give an example:

Labor to fix panel: 20hrs (cost at $100/hr=$2000 plus paint time, etc)
Total: $2000

Labor to replace panel (10 hours at a cost of $100/hr=$1000
Cost of new panel ($800)
Total: $1800


The shop I was at, we would rather write the hours (first repair) because a good body man could do it in 8 hours and they'd get paid for 20 hours. Where the type of repair might take a good body man 8 hours to do and only get paid for 10 hours. So, if you don't want pieces welded, cut, spliced, etc....try to have them straighten what's there. They might be able to save it, they might not be able to save it. It depends on the bodyman and writer. Looking at it, they would probably cut and weld in a new piece just above the damage....

Now, if you want it totaled, I believe Geico is 80% of black book (yes, black book, different then blue book) value. I believe the in front of the door can be fixed and done rather inexpensively. I think you're looking at about $5-$7k in damage. If they do total it, make certain to grab cars from autotrader, kbb, dealers etc, within 200 miles of your zip code and make sure they are about the same mileages and same equipment. They will try to low-ball you and probably come back with about $6k for the car. FIGHT THEM!!!! Print off all of the cars you find around you and show the adjuster and give him an average price!!! This usually will net you a bit more. Good Luck!
 
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#9 ·
Good thing you were not injured. It dont look all that bad to me. It could have been worse. At least it did not mis-allign the front hood or the trunk cover. Geico is no good in my book. They cant be any good, as much advertising as they do. I bet you money the frame is not bent. If it was me I would insist upon a top notch repair. I made that "Total it" mistake once. theres a big market in Totaled cars from insurance claims. They total you for 7,000 abd take posession of the vehicle and sell it for 5,000 and Viola! Abracadabra! Presto Change-o" they only put out 2,000 net. I used Geico years ago but since they opened out to the general public their customes service has been reported to have suffered. please tell them: "I want this car repaired!"
 
#10 ·
Thanks...

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate your insight. I've been to war with Geico before. Had an adjuster tell me he was going to total my 2006 ZG1000 Concours sport touring bike. It had a host of high end mods and I said no. He said you can't do anything about it and I said would you like to bet on that. It's my bike. They repaired everything to my specs which meant buying the parts, etc. I hope this does not turn into a problem with getting the work done for the GXP.

Special thanks to The Ghost, good advice. More as this develops. I know one man who could do it to my specs. Terry is not inexpensive and is a one man operation for high end restoration. He's kinda like Norm, so I may not live to see the work completed, much less afford it. He will know who is 2nd tier though.

This car is very special to me. I have a lot of me invested in it. Owning it has opened conversations with some very good folks around the continent and overseas. I've the original window sticker and every bit of paper on the car from birth. It has every available option except the 6-CD radio and automatic transmission. Won't go into the mods I've done to date. You know the search for the GMPP brake reservoir so there are plans...

Sure wish that driver's door opened. Again, thanks and good night.

Richard
 
#13 ·
A good shop should be able to replace the quarter panel as a routine repair. Many cars have similar panels. You can get replacement panels from recycle sources. Hoosier has them from time to time and can probably find one for you.
 
#15 ·
Richard,

Contact Hoosier GXP. He might have the parts you need. I know he just bought some body parts, but not sure if there are any Pontiac parts in the group.

Yes a good body shop can fix it, but will the insurance decide it is not worth that amount, and total the car. Here you are looking at a minimum of 4500 in paint. Every part of the car has to be blended. Hope it all works out for you. I went with a declared value on my car. Pay a little more, but it insures they will fix it or I get at least close to what it would cost me to replace it.
 
#16 ·
back in the '90s I saw pics of LS6 Chevelles that had been in the woods for twenty years, bent at right angles. They were fixed. Saw another pic of a car that looked like the Titanic, including bow and stern separation and being underwater.

It was fixed.

Depending on what you want, Ghost has excellent advice: fight it if you want the car. That's not actually a hard fix. It's a PITA fix. But pros are paid for that sort of thing.
 
#19 · (Edited)
back in the '90s I saw pics of LS6 Chevelles that had been in the woods for twenty years, bent at right angles. They were fixed. Saw another pic of a car that looked like the Titanic, including bow and stern separation and being underwater.


Don't want to ruffle any feathers but as the owner of both a Chevelle (a documented SS 396 car ) and a Solstice the Chevelle is probably worth 3 to 4 times what the Solstice is and I have an agreed policy on the car for $18000.00. An LS6 Chevelle restored can go anywhere from $85000.00 to $ 1.15 million that's why people are restoring them add in the fact that you can buy any part for the car from the aftermarket hell you can build one with just aftermarket parts . Unfortunately that cannot be said about the Solstice and unless you have some type of special insurance ie: agreed value and a ton of documentation it's just a 10 year old car that's not made anymore .Add in the fact that an adjuster takes into account the Blue Book value and in the long run he's working for the insurance company the owner usually receives the sort end of the stick . One other thing that comes into play is most adjusters are people who have worked in the auto body repair industry so they know what they are looking at one of my best friends is an adjuster. I wish you well with this issue but again the cards are stacked against you if they decide to total it .
 
#17 ·
While it is true that virtually anything can be repaired, it is not always true that the repair can be done for what an insurance company is willing to pay. The question might be whether you are willing to pay the difference between that amount and what it is going to cost.
 
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#18 ·
Nobody's arguing against that John.

However what insurance companies routinely consider 'totaled' is, as you know, a sin. And I don't mean becasue we like a certain cool car.

The nonsense and wool being pulled and outright deceit in the insurance industry- from customers and purveyors and repair shops alike- has turned the whole thing into a game in which the industry wastes and rewards based on perverted standards, the wrong people benefit and the customer too often is forced into feeling he or she 'must' settle for less than what's right- or even legal.

I have had a body shop- Factory Collision in Weymoth MA- take my insurance company to court not once, but twice, for two different cars, because my insurance company was breaking the law regarding the money owed for my repairs. They (and I) won both times. However the car was in the shop each time for months on 10-20 hour jobs as a result.

The rock and the hard place owners are caught between is shameful and wrong.
 
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#22 ·
I think you are wrong here Chris. And I hope you are no longer paying premiums to an insurance company that acted in that manner.

Any owner with any sense should know, and can certainly find out, exactly what his or her insurance company is going to pay for their car if they file a claim. It is not exactly a secret. Knowing what they will pay, you have options regarding what you want to do about it. You can buy a different insurance, or you can pay only for the (usually) mandated liability coverage and self-insure for the rest of it. This latter course precludes borrowing against the car, but if you have to finance a car you can't afford to self-insure anyway.

I have encountered more deceit in my dealings with the body shop business than I have dealing with the insurance business. As I said, I know going in what my insurance will pay for any of my vehicles if I have to file a claim. I have had body shops fail to properly prep damaged areas, I have had them use sub-standard used parts when they were paid to use new, and I have had them use aftermarket parts when they were paid to use OEM. Clearly I will not use those shops again, and I have my insurance company to thank for standing with me to correct the deficiencies.
 
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#20 ·
That sucks. Glad you're okay, Richard.
 
#24 ·
Look I love my Solstice but had I not taken the time and effort to have my car registered as a collector car with pages of documentation and photographs I would not have qualified to have this type of insurance and if something happened to my car all I would get is blue book value . How many members upgrade their cars and don't notify their insurance companies than when something happens they get a base value for their cars that's my point .
 
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