My Car Got Crushed

[gn85]

I read the topic and thought you meant you were beat in a race... not this. Sorry to hear.

My Buick was in an accident at the nationals the year it was held in Columbus ('99 I think). Some of you may remember. The other driver had USAA. As I said, this was in '99, but they did treat me pretty well. Unfortunately, since my car was an '85, the value wasn't nearly as high, but they didn't try to short me either.

 

[carkicker]

u have my condolences , if u plan on rataining the vehicle , i.e. purchasing the vehicle from the insurance co. , instead of letting them sell the remains to scrap yard , make sure you let that be known , as soon as you can get the cash figures from the adjuster , or they will sell the car for scrap for a few thousand and pay you the difference . you always have the right to retain the vehicle . its yours , until you sign off on it . dont let them do what they did to me with my 08 HHR SS . those insurance companies are only interested in one thing , $ , idc what they say . ask questions , find out all of your options . dont let them bumrush you . i found out the expensive way ... cant believe they didn't hear that horn . my 87 gn has the loudest factory horn i've ever heard in my life . glad your ok . still , it's hard to say ' its only a car ' about a tr .

 

[Raist103]

i have to see pics. thats crazy.

 

[87Turbo-TWE4]

i just sent pics to a guy for posting.

 

[Squid4life]

Sad to hear this man... Knock on wood, never had it happen to me (at least not this bad) and am always nervous about it. Hope it all goes well and they treat you right.

 

[INEEDAGN]

Got the pics, downloaded on my desktop, gotta go run some errands, be posting them this evening.

Honestly, doesn't look THAT bad. I can understand if you want it totaled, or if INS wants it totaled, due to lack of collector value. But man, that's a sharp 39k mile car, it's probably worth near 20k. If you sell it whole, SOMEONE will fix it, even if it means a frame job.

I'm looking for a donor LC2, but if I had that car i'd probably fix it

 

[INEEDAGN]

pics

 

[Squid4life]

Ouch... Looks fixable though. Best of luck with whatever happens or whatever you choose.

 

[INEEDAGN]

If you smash a tired rustbucket that bad, it's a parts car. But factoring the pre-accident condition, it looks to be worth fixing. People have done more work than that to save worse cars than that. It would require that some poor NA regal from the south would be getting a lot of spot welds drilled out

First you need to settle with insurance co. Odds are in your favor to buy it back reasonably.

Looks like it would still run/drive ok?

 

[Brad Conley]

While I'm not a bodyman, I will say, IMHO, that car is very repairable from the pictures posted. I would NEVER allow it to be totaled. I have been around damaged vehicles for over 30 years (in the insurance industry) and do know a little. Find a body shop and start buying parts. If you don't have a shop where you are, there are 2 in my town that would repair that and you would never know there was any damage done.

 

[counterman]

Easy fix. Regular collision damage that any body shop worth a darn should be able to handle. Looks like the rt frame horn is down a bit, but not mashed. Easier to fix a body on frame car like a Regal than today's unibody cars. Tolerances are way more forgiving on the Regal. Check into retaining the salvage on the total loss. You just might catch them sleeping on a car like this. You could potentially get most of your property settlement money and still get to keep the car. I'd play down the salvage potential of the car and hit them with a lowball offer to keep the car. After all, it's just another "old car", and how much could it be worth wrecked?! You never know, they might pay you 90% of the car's value, let you keep the wreck for $500-1000. Then, you could fix it, or sell it yourself if you don't want to screw with it. Good luck. Counterman.

 

[87granny]

That sucks that taht happend but i do agree with Brad and others that could be fixed i wouldn't let them total that either, good luck on what ever happens and sorry for the heart ach the guy gave you

 

[gn4u2c]

It will be fixed for sure. No way they are going to payout 21k to you and total that car. 6-7k get it fixed right.

 

[87Turbo-TWE4]

Well, since alot of you guys are saying that it can be fixed, I really don't have the proper resources to find donor cars or parts. Somebody here would have to that locally and the people around here aren't really up on these cars. Any help is appreciated.

 

[BlackBandit]

Well, since alot of you guys are saying that it can be fixed, I really don't have the proper resources to find donor cars or parts. Somebody here would have to that locally and the people around here aren't really up on these cars. Any help is appreciated.

Any of the gn specific stuff should be available from someone like gbodparts. The rest is just a regal. Pretty easy to come by parts. I'm just praying USAA doesn't try to say it's only worth 2k because it's a Regal! Like I said before I've had them tell me that and you just need make sure they are looking at a regal with the grand national option. If they low ball don't take the money, get a lawyer instead.

 

[Tom Tom Turbo]

dammit, 2 more black trim tail lights gone....the price just went up again!

Sorry to hear about your car, but like its been said, we can replace cars, not people. I see this every day as an insurance representative.

 

[chopped39]

Get on ebay and buy that rear tail light valance for $299 and some tail lights. That car is fixable. depending on the frame I would say 5-8000 in damage. thats if the frame is needed. way cheaper if you fix it yourself. good luck

 

[springer]

I just sold my GN at the Good Guys Car show at LP Field, If you can buy if back from the Insurance company and would like to make a few extra bucks let me know I'll take it. I have the resources to put it back on the road, while I had mine I only seen one other GN around Nashville and that was located in Hendersonville..... Feel Free to IM me I live in E.Nashville.....

 

[Dennis Kirban]

Just my thoughts....

As most have stated the GN is worth fixing...on the plus side the damage is in the rear rather than up front... in oher words cheaper parts required and less worries that internals are affected.

The best thing would be to locate a 1984-1987 Regal for parts as tht would give you most of what you need. Obviousily buy a good set of black taillites new gas tank but a regular rregal would serve up most of the parts.....bumper could be blasted and resprayed black.

My son could do the work and make it look like new as that is what he does...but we are in PA.
You would want to shop around for a restoration shop to do the work...back is a tough color to work with.

Obviousily whoever hit you has to pay and will surely understand they did not hit some run of the mill transportation car. My guess is its a good ten grand in damage to make it right again
assuming rear axle housing did not get tweaked.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

[Bruce Urie]

pics

OWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just saw your pictures!!!!! It hurts to see that more than my back is killing me now.....I didn't think I could hurt more, but I was wrong.....

I've been reading about this before you posted the photos....man, am I sorry this happened to you......though there's nothing I can do, I will extend my sympathies to you.....your GN looks beautiful.....I'd be pretty upset if this happened to me.....

Oh, man, sad to see, very sad......

Bruce '87 Grand National