[77 Canamman]

Originally Posted by NeighborsComplaint

People laugh when I tell them I have State Farm but I have an agreed value policy just like Haggerty and am covered anywhere I choose to drive the car. My recent hood pop-up carnage is an example. State Farm is covering it with no deductible even though a mechanical failure caused it. While waiting for the hood, the shop held up it's estimate for the claim, not knowing what incidentals would be incurred (cut out scoops, install hood pins as recommended by the manufacturer, etc.). State Farm has been up their butt issuing letters requesting estimate paperwork to be filed and the claim to be resolved post-haste. I can't say enough good things about State Farm.

I too have the exact same policy with State Farm. I have never ever had any issues with them.

[scott70]

Yikes,,,after reading this I didnt realize having body work done on our classics could be such a challenge. Luckily the guy that is doing mine does it on the side at his house ,,is fussy,,and does one car at a time. He'll have it all winter.

[Tempest]

David,

I am really sorry to hear the news..... Wow, almost a year now.

Hang in there, and hopefully all will turn out OK.

Good Luck,

[David Jones]

It's been well OVER a year now.
My basement is still plugged up with my brother Jason's Cutlass. It's ready, we're just having issues getting together for him to drive it 60 miles home. Once it clears the basement I'm going to call PG Collision and ask for a completion date. When he tells me he doesn't really have one I'm going to tell him that this isn't working out for either of us and how do I get it back.

At that point I should probably be bending over.......

[Greg Reid]

It's enough to make you shy about taking your collector car out on the streets any more.
You hear the term 'distracted driving' but it seems to me that driving IS the distraction for most people on the road now.
Three people were killed in two seperate car wrecks on the interstates in Atlanta yesterday in less than 12 hours.

[Fullsize455]

Having dealt with this before on a couple of classic cars, there is a reason why I tell people to never, ever have any classic car repair orchestrated through an insurance company. Get accurate, detailed estimates from multiple shops for the damage, get a good appraisal done of the car to establish its value pre-damage, find examples of comparable cars for sale to establish its replacement value, and learn how to argue with insurance companies when it comes to post-damage value adjustments, as well as demanding rental car and other compensation. Use all of that to get a settlement from them that will absolutely cover whatever it costs to repair it PROPERLY, then take the money and handle it yourself. You will be much happier in the long run and you will be far less likely to end up in situations like this where the body shop jerks you around forever.

I dealt with this on a '70 Cadillac convertible that I had that was smashed up good by a moving truck. Took five months of back and forth with their insurance company, but in the end I got a check from them that was about equal to the value of the car pre-damage and was plenty to properly repair it, and I got to keep the car and figure out exactly how to handle it myself. When you're a cash paying customer and the only person involved that they have to answer to, it is MUCH easier to get body shops in line and get your car done. Of course you still have to keep pressure on them though. You can't just let months go by without contact, you have to get them to agree to deadlines and you have to hold them to it. If they won't agree to reasonable and realistic deadlines, find someone who will. But once you establish that you're just going to let them take forever without keeping pressure on them, you're screwed, you'll never be effective at putting pressure on later because the precedent has been set.

Obviously this is all too late for your current situation, but it's not too late to put serious pressure on everyone involved and make something happen. Whether it be getting the car done, getting the insurance company to take it to another shop, or simply getting a payout on the car instead and letting them keep it.. you may very well have zero intention of exercising that third option, but you can certainly play the bluffing game to force them into action.

But, the very last thing you should do is sit back and wait for something to happen. The precedent has been set. You MUST put pressure on them, continuously, or this will continue on forever.

Edit: And when I talk about post-damage value adjustment, I mean getting compensated for the fact that your car has obviously been repaired, and that will affect resale down the road, so you must be compensated for it. Few people have ever even thought about this, nor understand that it is something that you will get from insurance companies when you establish your case. In my case, I had a car with a very nice older enamel paint job in a bright color, and there wasn't a body shop in the world that could match the color and finish on the quarter panel repair to the rest of the panels on the car. Thus, you either need to paint the whole car, or you need to compensate me for the end result of just repairing the quarter, being that it will be obviously that it had been repainted to anybody who looks even remotely closely at it. Thus, if your GTO has an older enamel paint job on it, you have a prime case for arguing for a value adjustment, as the repair will be obvious when all is said and done. That's what made the difference in my case, the extra 30% they added on to finally cut a check that I would sign off on. Plus three weeks(15 days) worth of rental car compensation. You have to argue for every little bit, but when you do, you'll be surprised what you can get if you do it right.

[MUSLCAH]

I can match an old enamel job....I get out my best paint roller....

[hurryinhoosier62]

David, there is no way this repair should have taken over a year. If the body shop owner isn't willing to give you a FIRM date as to when the vehicle will be completed, you have the LEGAL right to reclaim YOUR PROPERTY. If you choose to go this route be sure to take a police officer and your title with you. Some irate shop owners have been known to claim auto theft against owners who reclaim their rightfully property. I hate to see this, but it's becoming more prevalent. The body repair industry has lost decades of experience as technicians have grown older and left the industry. They're been replaced with "parts replacers" who have no idea HOW to use a hammer and dolly.

[MUSLCAH]

Originally Posted by hurryinhoosier62

David, there is no way this repair should have taken over a year. If the body shop owner isn't willing to give you a FIRM date as to when the vehicle will be completed, you have the LEGAL right to reclaim YOUR PROPERTY. If you choose to go this route be sure to take a police officer and your title with you. Some irate shop owners have been known to claim auto theft against owners who reclaim their rightfully property. I hate to see this, but it's becoming more prevalent. The body repair industry has lost decades of experience as technicians have grown older and left the industry. They're been replaced with "parts replacers" who have no idea HOW to use a hammer and dolly.

Can I get an AMEN.....for us old body men !!

[MUSLCAH]

Any luck David ??

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

Any luck David ??

In this case, no news is likely bad news

[David Jones]

Same old story.
He is pittling with it when he has little else to do. It's got some primer on it and after I mentioned a few times recently that he'd had it about a year and a half he noted that the slot it was in would have made more money doing normal insurance jobs over that year and a half. Which, of course, means nothing, but it sounds good...... The "I'm taking one for you" statement.
Basically, I'm along for the ride. If I move it, I'm screwed, as far as dollars go. Leave it and he gets paid by my insurance company and the $2000 agreement we have for painting the part of the car not painted by Hagerty.

[AdamIsAdam]

I think it's time for legal action. Lawyers and the sheriff. Lawyers for obvious reasons (in conjunction with Hagerty perhaps) and sheriff to help you peacefully get your car the heck out of there!

This sucks. Sorry to read about this. I'm thinking you can sue the person who hit you for pain and suffering now!

[The Boss]

Originally Posted by David Jones

Same old story.
He is pittling with it when he has little else to do. It's got some primer on it and after I mentioned a few times recently that he'd had it about a year and a half he noted that the slot it was in would have made more money doing normal insurance jobs over that year and a half. Which, of course, means nothing, but it sounds good...... The "I'm taking one for you" statement.
Basically, I'm along for the ride. If I move it, I'm screwed, as far as dollars go. Leave it and he gets paid by my insurance company and the $2000 agreement we have for painting the part of the car not painted by Hagerty.

This ^ David should be his incentive for getting it done & out of there!

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by AdamIsAdam

I think it's time for legal action. Lawyers and the sheriff. Lawyers for obvious reasons (in conjunction with Hagerty perhaps) and sheriff to help you peacefully get your car the heck out of there!

This sucks. Sorry to read about this. I'm thinking you can sue the person who hit you for pain and suffering now!

I can get the car back, that'd be no problem.


Then.


I'd get PG Collisions final bill. I cringe to think what that would be and how it would compare to the original estimate. Some things would need to be sent to Hagerty as a supplement. I'm sure he'd want some money for any prep work he did towards painting the non-insurance covered part of the car. So, I get the partially repaired car back and PG Collision gets most of the money I've received for the car. Now I get to go find another entity to take over finishing the car and Hagerty is now out of the picture. The new bodyshop looks at it and diss PG Collisions work and want to do some things different or over. Finish the rest of the car? Extra. Suddenly my $8k repair/repaint is 13K and a good percentage of that is out of my pocket.


No. It's just going to stay at PG Collision until he finishes it. My mistake on choosing who I did and I'll live with the time. If more money is involved, that's Hagerty's dept.

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by The Boss

This ^ David should be his incentive for getting it done & out of there!

My thoughts too Chris.



I suspect he's working on it as other jobs allow and any work done on it is probably billed into somebody elses repair and any money from the GTO repair simply goes in his pocket.

[Tempest]

Have you tried to get Hagerty to put pressure on them to get it done?

[68 461 Bird]

Originally Posted by David Jones

The one year anniversary of dropping it off is less than a week off. The sheet metal is hung and either the door skin or the qtr (both repop) is short, leaving a terrible gap. Ready to paint IF that ever gets fixed.

So this sounds like the major road block. I had to go back and see if I remembered the issue correctly. Has this been addressed? What was done to fix the panels and the large space or gap? If nothing, then don't expect your car to get completed until this is resolved.

[tempest1964]

David, I just read this entire thread from beginning to end for the first time. I'm sorry to hear this. This is everyone's worst nightmare as far as body shops go. It seems you're between a rock and a hard place. I hope your car gets completed to your satisfaction. The bad thing is all the time you have lost enjoying your Goat. Body shop purgatory sucks. A lot of us know. I am there right now myself. Almost the same timeline as you. I wish you the best. Please keep us all posted. Besides a couple of vile posts on this thread, everyone else is pulling for you.
Tony

[David Jones]

Originally Posted by Tempest

Have you tried to get Hagerty to put pressure on them to get it done?

I did. I spoke with them some time ago. I chose the shop. There is no time limit with the repair. I am disappointed with Hagerty as far as an adjuster is concerned. They hired a local adjuster to do the initial quote. He was a mile off on the amount and suggested a shop named Goolsby's Customs for the fix. At the same time he used something like $42 (actual number earlier in the thread) per hour on his quote. Goolsby's is a CUSTOM shop and the numbers the adjuster used wouldn't get you a place in the parking lot, much less repaired, since they aren't a body shop. Since the initial time, the local adjuster fell off the earth. Hagerty has since that time simply OK'd PG Collisions estimate corporately and told me any supplements would be approved via email. I believe a visit from an actual human adjuster would have been a help along the way. That obviously costs money.