[AdamIsAdam]

Originally Posted by Simple Man

Sorry for your loss!

I know you have Haggerty, but shouldn't the other drivers insurance pay for this?

Hagerty will first pay its insured and then subrogate behind the scenes to recoup their money.

Originally Posted by Old Goat Racer

The summer of 85, rush hour, construction zone, 2 lanes down to one. He decided to switch lanes CRASH. His Ins. co. totaled the car $4000. I parted the car out made a couple $$$$ more. Then bought my 78 TA which I still have.
Things happen for a reason.


And I still have the trunk lid.

[David Jones]

Honestly, picking a shop to fix it is going to be interesting.

As far as the other guy's insurance fixing it, I believe Im going to call Hagerty and let them take care of making sure the other guy's insurance takes care of it.

This was about 2 minutes after the wreck. I took it then called my wife and the phone battery promptly died.

[Greg Reid]

Honestly, although it sucks, that could have been much worse. Looks very fixable to my untrained eye.

[Tripower455]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

Wow...HATE to see this David!
Get something out of it for your trouble...like the Verdoro Green paint job of your dreams. Maybe you could insist on sending it to Barr's Restorations. I hear they're pretty good.

That would be a great choice! They did my '66 about 12 years ago, plus they're local to me.

This BS is THE reason I hardly drive my GTO anymore. NOBODY pays attention to the road these days, and I get home more stressed out than before I left.

[wovenweb]

Originally Posted by Simple Man

Sorry for your loss!

I know you have Haggerty, but shouldn't the other drivers insurance pay for this?

Hagerty will go after the other insurer for the money. The process is known as subrogation.

[geeteeohguy]

Sorry to see this, but it's totally fixable by a competent body man and there will be no need to get rid of the original sheet metal. I've seen worse pulled and metal finished back to perfection. Good luck with the repairs....just another reality for those of us who actually drive our classic cars, and not a deal-breaker. It'll turn out alright.

[Verdoro 68]

Dang, sorry to see this. Looks very repairable, but I'm sure that doesn't take the sting out of it. Looking forward to seeing it back on the road in better shape than ever.

[David Jones]

I'll call Hagerty this morning. Pleasant Grove's PD says the report probably won't be ready until tomorrow (Tuesday).

I'm curious. The rear qtr looks like toast to my eye. It's creased up pretty badly and pushed in 3-4 inches. Basically the whole driver side will need paint. What happens when the damage repair runs into other, already there before the wreck, body issues? I know that there are rust issues under the vinyl roof. If the vinyl roof has to come off and it turns out that repair work is needed before that can be replaced, who eats the roof rust repair? If the whole car needs to be painted who eats making the rest of the body ready for paint....there are small rust issues here and there.
I am not looking for a trailer queen when it gets back from body shop hell.
Lots of questions.......

[dataway]

You know what I have seen happen to many nice, stand out car on the street. "Target Fixation" ... the car catches the attention of someone driving near by, they look at it, and they drive into it. Very, very common phenomena that is rarely taught in street driving training these days, but is included in every race driving course you will ever take. Very hard habit to break, even for experienced drivers. Something visual momentarily breaks your focus and your fixate on that object and often steer right into it. Watched it happen many times in motorcycle road races. A small object will be on the track surface, and half the riders will hit it even though they have an entire width of track to ride around it. How do they teach you to avoid this ..... by not looking directly at the object. It's about the only way to prevent it.

[dhcarguy]

I could care less what the person behind me is doing...I always know what is around me. I DO care about the a$$hole in front of me

[David Jones]

1st step done.

I called Hagerty at 8:30 Central. I don't know when they open but Diane (I changed her name, she was VERY nice) was there, once I cleared the telephone prompts. She took all of my info and 3 minutes later I was done, waiting on step 2. Basically what she needed was my policy number, updated my phone contact info, a brief rundown of what happened (not sure if she was curious or that was part of the drill) and when, where, the police dept that responded and she asked about a police report. My report will not be available until tomorrow, but I had an "incident" number which seemed to make her happy. She also asked if i had the other drivers name, which I don't have here but she said that was fine, the police report would fill in the blanks. She then explained what happens next. She'll write up the claim and assign it to an adjuster. She noted that the adjuster was an employee of Hagerty and that the adjuster was in Michigan. The adjuster would see me through from their assignment to me until the claim was settled and I was satisfied. I liked the "I was satisfied" wording. She noted that all this would happen within one business day. Then she asked if I had any questions and said that she hated that this had happened and that "we'll" take care of it.
Great start.

[Tempest]

That really sucks.

Take your time to get it fixed right, and don't be "pushed" into a shop/repair that you are not comfortable with.

Keep us posted on the progress, and it will all work out to be fine.

[geeteeohguy]

David, don't worry about the underlying stuff.....the insurance company will pay to have the car returned to pre-accident condition, period. Not worse, not better. Just as good as it was before it was hit. If other areas are brought into the repair out of necessity, not your worry. They are obligated to return the car to the condition it was in 30 seconds before it was hit. Good luck.

[Captainofiron]

MAN! that sucks, hope it gets fixed and back on the road quickly.

as others have said, this really scares me and makes me not want to drive my car in regular traffic.

a couple of weeks ago I drove my 65 Impala to work and I got cut off 3 times, and my commute is just 15 minutes....

[AdamIsAdam]

Originally Posted by David Jones

I'll call Hagerty this morning. Pleasant Grove's PD says the report probably won't be ready until tomorrow (Tuesday).

I'm curious. The rear qtr looks like toast to my eye. It's creased up pretty badly and pushed in 3-4 inches. Basically the whole driver side will need paint. What happens when the damage repair runs into other, already there before the wreck, body issues? I know that there are rust issues under the vinyl roof. If the vinyl roof has to come off and it turns out that repair work is needed before that can be replaced, who eats the roof rust repair? If the whole car needs to be painted who eats making the rest of the body ready for paint....there are small rust issues here and there.
I am not looking for a trailer queen when it gets back from body shop hell.
Lots of questions.......

I'm curious to hear body shop owners reply to this one. To some extent I think it's part of the repair to say that you can't put back a bad part or that you must repair surrounding areas. Specifically how would they handle the cost of roof rust when the repair requires a new vinyl top is interesting and I await a qualified reply there.

They won't pay to paint the entire car, at least I don't think so. They'll say a qualified shop can match color. And they can. I know my car has newer, modern paint, which I'm sure made things easier, but you cannot not tell where they blended new to old paint. And my paint is "Viper Blue," which my shop owner told me has its own base color and stuff. He showed me his entire room of color mixing and said he doesn't have the supplies to mix my color in stock. The room was big! And despite all this, the job was done to perfection and with no cost to me (aside from the upgrades I did "while I was in there" like relocating my MSD box and hiding wiring, etc. All totally unrelated to my damage. I have no problem paying for that stuff.

So if you want to paint the entire car while it's in the booth, go for it, but expect to pay a little more for it.

In the end, I think (and hope) you will be totally satisfied with Hagerty and hope you find a body shop that also makes you feel that way.

[PMD1969]

Originally Posted by David Jones

1st step done.

I called Hagerty at 8:30 Central. I don't know when they open but Diane (I changed her name, she was VERY nice) was there, once I cleared the telephone prompts. She took all of my info and 3 minutes later I was done, waiting on step 2. Basically what she needed was my policy number, updated my phone contact info, a brief rundown of what happened (not sure if she was curious or that was part of the drill) and when, where, the police dept that responded and she asked about a police report. My report will not be available until tomorrow, but I had an "incident" number which seemed to make her happy. She also asked if i had the other drivers name, which I don't have here but she said that was fine, the police report would fill in the blanks. She then explained what happens next. She'll write up the claim and assign it to an adjuster. She noted that the adjuster was an employee of Hagerty and that the adjuster was in Michigan. The adjuster would see me through from their assignment to me until the claim was settled and I was satisfied. I liked the "I was satisfied" wording. She noted that all this would happen within one business day. Then she asked if I had any questions and said that she hated that this had happened and that "we'll" take care of it.
Great start.

I got a quote from Hagerty and bc of your descriptions of what has been happening I might make the switch over to them.

[bird72]

I might let the chosen body shop know I preferred to see the work a couple of times "in progress". One, you can have peace of mind as you see quality of work. Two, a polite way of putting them on notice you are a vintage car person and quality is part of it.

Man, you are all of our biggest fear, pride and joy hit. As said, drivers out there are whacky, some of them. I see your car as very, very fixable by a good shop. What I have wondered on is at what point one can say "it is too far hit for me to want it anymore". Regardless of fixing, it is not the structural virgin it once was, and "you can fix it and sell it, but I don't want it"..... that scene is what I would not want to be in.

Good luck and I have faith in Hagerty....

[hurryinhoosier62]

So sorry, David. It should be a straight forward repair with no reason to replace the skins IF you find a body shop with an old-timer that knows how to use a hammer and dolly

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by bird72

I might let the chosen body shop know I preferred to see the work a couple of times "in progress". One, you can have peace of mind as you see quality of work. Two, a polite way of putting them on notice you are a vintage car person and quality is part of it.

Man, you are all of our biggest fear, pride and joy hit. As said, drivers out there are whacky, some of them. I see your car as very, very fixable by a good shop. What I have wondered on is at what point one can say "it is too far hit for me to want it anymore". Regardless of fixing, it is not the structural virgin it once was, and "you can fix it and sell it, but I don't want it"..... that scene is what I would not want to be in.

Good luck and I have faith in Hagerty....

I will assure whomever works on it that I'll drop by from time to time. Not enough to be a bother but enough to keep me going.

The car was something less than virginal before it got hit. One of the 1st things I noticed about the car when I bought it was a flat spot on the drivers side front brake rotor. That's probably not easy to do. There is plenty of filler on it and a $200 Maaco (or the like) paint job. I can see part of the car being painted by the insurance and me eating some bodywork and the rest of the paint for an all over spray. I'm good with that but don't want to get carried away making it a show car.

I've driven it 40,000 miles in the 15-16 years I've had it. I want to add some more miles to it.

[David Jones]

Step 2 done.

A.J., Hagerty's adjuster called about noon. Again, a VERY nice person. He introduced himself, explained his part of the process. He explained that he'd need a recorded statement and prepared me for what he'd ask. Basically he asked my name/address/etc and then asked for a brief description of the accident. You could tell he was looking at a map of the location because he knew road names/locations. Once he finished with his questions he asked if I wanted to add anything to the recorded part of our conversation. Once he was satisfied he said the recording was done. He is sending me an email outlining the next steps and said once he got the police report and my return email he'd put me with a local adjuster and we'd make plans for a body shop. I did ask if Hagerty had a list of shops in my area and he said that he'd put one together from claims worked in the area in the past and that he'd add that to my email.
So far Hagerty is 2 for 2. Nice folks, seemed to care and very informative.

Waiting on step 3.