For about two years I've been saving for an IROC convertible. Two saturdays ago, I looked at one and put down a deposit, and took it home the following monday. This thursday night, I was stopped at a red light and someone rear ends me. The quarter panels are pushed up past the doors, the top won't close because it overshoots the top of the windshield by and inch. I'm pretty sure it's totaled. It took some self restraint and a lot of physical restraint to keep me from busting the kid in his grill. My question is what the hell should I do now? Has anyone been through this with their convertibles? How much should I expect to get from the guy's insurance company? Even if it's possible to get the car fixed, I really don't want a car that's been in that bad of an accident. Should I try to get the car back from the insurance company and take all the hard to find convertible parts and other valuables? Any advice would be appreciated. What sucks even more than losing my dream car less than two weeks after I bought it, is that another one of these awesome cars is gone because of some moron who wasn't paying attention while driving.

Thanks,
Larry

 

 

You DID get the police involved, RIGHT?

------------------
1992 Pontiac Firebird (stock)
- 305ci V8 TBI / Automatic Trans / Every option, excluding leather
- Killer car audio system:

• Aiwa CDC-MP3 head unit
• Rockford Fosgate 360a2 amp
• pair of 12" MTX Thunder 5000s in a custom box
• Pioneer 3-way 6x9s, soon to add more more more!

 

Normally, with thirdgens, rear end collisions are very difficult to fix and get right. Same thing happened to a friend of mine in his 85 Z w/TPI and the best body guy in town could never quite get it right.

 

I didnt wanna hear that, my 85 IROC TPI was hit rear left corner before i bought it - and im attempting to ressurect it...

------------------
Arthur-
1985 IROC Restoration In Progress
http://www.thirdgenfbody.com/projiroc/
Member # 98 of The Las Vegas F-Body Association
www.lvfbody.com

 

The police came and wrote up a report. I should get back what I payed for it. It feels like my puppy just got run over. The car wasn't even my daily driver. I wasn't that pissed when my daily driver, a clean, before it got hit, 75,000 mile 79 malibu that should be getting a 350 and TH200r4 in a few weeks, got hit by some senile old bag. I was walking around like a mental patient friday after the IROC got hit. Now I have to go throught the search all over again to find a clean one. Maybe it will work out for the better and I'll find a cleaner one. There still is the remote possiblitly that it's fixable. A friend of mine owns a top notch collision shop. I'll see what he says when I bring him the car on monday. I've seen them fix a 300M that was T-boned so bad that the B pillars were like two feet apart, so maybe there's hope.

 

I know a friend who spent over two years and $25,000 building a kit car and on its first ride he got hit by some guy running a redlight. Totaled it. I think he only got $2000 back.

 

That makes me so mad.. insurance companies can Suck It.. grrrr

I can't even get full coverage on my car because it is over 10 years old..

------------------
Third Gen Project
1989 305 tbi Camaro RS Red/Red
Ram Air II Hood
Centerline Champ 500 Rims
Edelbrock Open Element
MacEwen White Faced Guages

"Stock?! Theres nothing "stock" about a stock car."

 

IMHO, totaled/wrecked cars are worthless and should just be taken to the junkyard...

sad as it may sound, id collect insurance money and go get a new thirdgen...

*psst* take as many parts off yours first

 

My condolences to you BigL350. When my 2nd gen got hit in the rear, I almost did cry. I wanted to rip the guys head off but he studies karate and the accident happend in front of the place where he studies. All his karate brothers came out to see what happened so I was outnumbered, and a broken man with a broken car.

------------------
88 White Formula 305 TBI With A New CD Stereo and Abolutly Nothing Else Done To It!

 

I've had my car brought back from being total 3 times. The first two were in the front, people running stop signs. For the third one my sister borrowed my car some 15 year old with out a licence ran a red light and tagged the right rear corner. The body shop in town fixed the quarter, rear bumper for about $800. And then I got a hatch from the junkyard for $100. Looks like the day it rolled off the showroom. In my opinion and experience from past cars anything can be fixed for the right price.

 

I'm sorry to hear about your car. I know what it's like to be taken away from your car. From what you have described though, I would guess that the insurance will just total it, and you'll get about $5k from them. As long as the repairs themselves will cost close to or more than the actual value of car (not much for thirdgens ) it will be totaled.

- Mike

 

I'm sorry to hear of your situation, especially sorry to hear that it happened so soon after your long quest saving and searching for it ended successfully. I recommend walking away from it. There are still plenty of other good ThirdGen 'verts out there. They regularly pop up for sale out here in So Cal. So you might want to consider a trip to So Cal, AZ, Texas or Florida (where they are more plentiful) to find one. My 'vert isn't the first vehicle I have developed a sentimental attachment to (and had taken from me). It is scary to think how easily it can happen. I'm glad you are OK. The car can be replaced. Best wishes, Lon.

------------------
90 RS Convertible
Owner: Top-Down Solutions
http://www.sc3gfb.org/members/lonsal.html
http://www.taskerinc.com/gs3/profiles/Lon_profile.htm

[This message has been edited by lonsal (edited July 03, 2001).]

 

Thanks for all the sympathy guys. I got the accident report today. Turns out that the kid didn't have a license. I have to wait until thursday to find out what the deal is from the other insurance company. I don't know if I have the heart to stip it and junk it. If anyone know's a clean, red, 88-90 Iroc convertible, preferably with a 5-speed, I'm definitely interested. Hey pookey, if you want to even things up with the karate kid, I'm down. I can't post it here, but if you want, I'll let you know how I evened things up with the bouncers at Dicey Rileys. They should know not to f*&k with anyone who went to Mount VernonHS. Anyway, I'll let you guys know what's up as it happens. Thanks again for all the consolations.

Larry

 

really sucks man... i almost got my day (and possibly much more) wrecked by some idiot talking on a cell phone (imagine that) in a chrysler lebaron GTC when i was taking my car out for a test-drive after they finished getting the headers in. she whipped around the corner at about 35 mph (!) and almost slid right into me. i would've been beyond mad :-P good luck findin' another ride man.

------------------
'88 WS6 Formula - LB9, Auto

1 5/8" SLP Headers, Power Flo Catback, CatCo Cat

 

Sorry to hear about the car I almost lost mine twice in a two day time period. First day, I almost got hit in the drivers side door when pulling out onto a street. My view to the left was blocked by idiots that like to park along side the road. Started inching out trying to see if it was clear and wouldn't you know it, some lady driving a 3rd gen firebird was coming lol I gunned it and got out of the way. Second day, I was following a couple of fellow car club members after the car show and a person decided to pull out right in front of me out of a driveway. My guess is she was looking at the 57 Vette and 67 Firebird that just went by and didn't even see me. I locked up all 4 corners (never done that before) and missed the other car by inches. Dodged two bullets, hope my lucky streak keeps up.

------------------
'82 Z28
LG4 305 .030 over, performer intake, holley street avenger 670, xe 256 cam, tes headers, 3 inch single exhaust, spintech muffler, 14 x 3 inch drop base k&n.

 

Hey BigL350, I see your from Yonkers too. Glad to see someone from around here on the board. You may have seen my Formula (white with a primer door flying around town) Let me know what you do with the car, need seats and stuff. By the way, haven't been to Dicey's in years, and from what I remember, they always had a'holes for bouncers

------------------
88 White Formula 305 TBI With A New CD Stereo and Abolutly Nothing Else Done To It!

 

Damn! Sorry to hear about your accident and the (possible) loss of your 'ROC conv't. I KNOW how attached I am to mine.
I hope you get it straightened out and that you can save her - if not, do your best to save some of the hard-to-find parts.

:/
Ken

PS! Shoot me an email if you end up saving the parts only..

------------------
Bright red 86 Iroc-Z Choo Choo Customs Convertible
17x9.5 TT II's w/ 275/40x17's, BMR stb, Lakewood APR, Jamex 1.5" Lowering Springs
ChevyKen's Cars (ALL new!!)

Administrator @ ChevyWorld.net (Now in a BRAND NEW Design)

 

I am sorry for your loss. Insurance companies in general will total a vehicle if the repairs will exceed 60% of what "they" value the vehicle at. Sounds like in your situation they will total it.

I do not the know conidition or miles on the vehicle you had, but it may help to keep this in mind.

If they know you have only had the car two weeks, they may ask you what you paid for it. If you paid less than Kelly Blue book try to avoid telling them they may use this informatin to lower their offer (becuase why would the car be worth more than you paid they will say) Naturally, if you would be happy to get back what you paid after looking us the value on kelly blue book's web site (they seem to be the highest)take it but don't forget to try to recover sales tax if you have that in your area.

You may want to search the internet for comparable vehicles to show the insurance company what they real value of your vehicle is. Also showing them how many were produced (not many) may help.

If your car was a low milage in excellent condition and they are really trying to low ball you, you can try to get them to agree to have a third party experienced collector appraiser evaluate the car and give a before damage appraisal.

It gets tough with cars of this age. Not new, not quite old enough to be collector vehicles.

As far as parts any of the top parts you can get that are O.K. would be worth taking as well as the interior side pannels by the rear seats.

------------------
Patrick Malinowski
1991 Z28 Convertible
25K original miles.
1998 Honda Accord Daily driver (hey it has got a 200 hp V-6 and is better in the snow)
2000 Impala (wife's)

 

I wish somoene would hitmy car in the front so i can at least get a new engine mine is old lol and i kninds want a new car my car i dont know why but its not as fun as it used to be ya know what i mean.

 

If I were you I would let the car go as long as the insurance companies gives you enough money for it. Its gonna be a huge pain in the *** to fix and even if someone can fix it, chances are it wont be like it used to be. People who run red lights suck, I had my old celica on the road for a month and some lady turned in front of me and ruined my car. Luckily though insurance gave me almost 3000 for my 100 dollar special :P

 

There's an 88 (I believe) convertible w/ 305 TPI for $1800. Probably in pretty sad shape. I can get more info if you're interested in 'er...but that'd be quite a haul for an $1800 POS...

MILT

 

Up here in the great state of michigan (no fault laws) it is kind of nice because you can force the insurance company to fix the car. That sounds like it may need a new rear clip though which is a lot of work... Good luck.

------------------
1987 Firebird Formula
305 LG-4
GM Vortec heads 2.02x1.6 valves
Crane CompuCam 2030
700-R4 Trans
4 barrel quadrajunk remained by holley (this carb stinks!!!)
edelbrock performer intake
Hypertech Thermomaster Chip
Open Element Air Filter
No Cat with flowmaster coming soon to replace the open pipes.
Accel H/P Coil has been replaced by a low dollar autozone because it was dropping ignition pulses. I am going to kill them!

- Soon to be installed
383 stroker (built and ready)
NO MORE COMPUTER CRAP
700R4 Lockup kit
Edelbrock TES
Stall convertor

 

Damn, got pics? How bad is it? Mine was totalled before I got it and you can't tell it was (with the exception of the trashed fender and bottom GFX) so it may be restorable. It was missing the entire left side.

I would buy it back from the insurance company and sell the parts to make up any loss to the actual value and what insurance will pay you.

I'm a vulture also. Email me if you have parts left over (nssnpulsar@hotmail.com). I really want the nose gfx and the driver's side front fender.

------------------
Member of the Jersey F-body Association (JFA)

1989 Camaro Convertible RS
dark silver w/black top
305tbi, auto, 2.73 posi soon to be 3.73
SLP exhaust, 16x8 black GTA Crosslace Rims
Check out Phil's Rice Boy Page

 

Sorry to hear about your loss. I think you should definitely buy it back and part it out (should get it for less than the motor is worth). If your interested I have a Black 91 Camaro Convertible RS 5.0L Auto I will sell you for $6000. It has 116k miles and doesn't smoke or leak oil at all. I have close to $2000 spent on it (cost of parts no labor) in the past 6 months. Check out my signature for mods. In addition to the mods I have done the following repairs. New tan cloth top to match tan leather interior, power steering pump, alternator, waterpump, thermostat, electric radiator fan, 3 row radiator, heater blower motor, passenger side power window motor, driveshaft balanced with new universals front and rear, bearings and seals in rearend, idler arm, rotors, pads, calipers, brake lines, wheelcylinders, drums and shoes. Car is mechanically very sound now. Nice rust free body (NO RUST at ALL). Paint is ok (all original except someone painted the bumpers at one time). The drivers seat shows wear but is not shot or anything. I just have my eyes on C5 vette. If you don't want it I have no problems continuing to tinker on it.

------------------
91 Camaro RS 5.0L Black Convertible 700R4
** Added so far **
*GM Wonderbar,Alston SFC's,spohn LCA's and Panhard rod
*Turbo City Inj Spacer
*Dual Snorkel Air Filter
*March Performance Pulleys
*GM 3.42 Gears with OEM Zexel POSI
*Edelbrock headers
*3" High Flow Cat
*3" Dynomax Exhaust
*Walbro 255 lph Fuel Pump
***Future 330hp Vortec Crate with LT4 hotcam and 454 TBI

 

I had a 79 Z ( was two weeks away from getting a new paint job and ahd a rebuilt 350 sitting the garage for it ) When I got it it was nothing bt a bucket of rust all new sheetmetal and interior in it and I was ready to get the apint. going down one of the major streets a Ford f-150 failed to stop at the stop sign and t-boned my car right at the passenger side the car was totalled and the insurance company only gave me $3500 for it when I put about 6 into it. talk about pissed.

 

i had an 89 rs convertable that i totaled and got about 7 grand for it i had full coverage but that is more or less the going price for them out here in cali. good luck with getting what you should for it insurance companys suck and just mostly try and screw you

 

not the verts, parts are a pain in the *** to find. If it is not totaled but close, you should see if you can keep the car but get close to the value for it. You can get some good money for the vert interior parts and the top if its not wasted. What color seatbelts did it have, if black I will buy them off of you right now.

------------------
Jeremy
91 rs, convertible, K&N, Edelbrock open element cleaner, 3.73, B&M mega-shifter, goodmark cowl-induction hood,tinted windows,MacEwen Overlays
Coming soon...non red interior with 4th gen charcoal/grey seats

[This message has been edited by jm91rs (edited July 15, 2001).]

 

Might be a hike but this is always an option...

http://www.buysell.com/showad.asp?id=8707748
http://www.buysell.com/showad.asp?id=6179017
http://www.canadatrader.com/trader/r...4000&pa=8&pr=2

Can't see it being worth it, but you never know. All prices are Canadian... so US money is worth a mint.

Good Luck finding a new one
L8r,
Jay

 

Hehe, Damn, NY.

Nevermind, not only is it all the way south of the states... it's on the other side of the country. Vancouver BC is just above Washington... so unless you want to add a couple thousand extra m/km no point in going this far

L8r,
Jay

 

I've also gotten very close into getting into a few accidents but I always manage to save myself. My cousin found a 91 Formula WS6 in damn near mint from the dealer for only $5k and one night coming home from work he gets drunk and locks himself out the car. He breaks the window and drives anyway and wrecks with a semi! OW! Hospital for 2 weeks. The car was bent in half! I was like hey let me get a few parts for my car hehe.

 

You guys may want to talk to your insurance agents. Mine referred me to a seperate insurance company that insures cars like ours to the point that I get a minimum of $10k if my car is totalled. It's kinda like supplemental insurance and it's pretty cheap. I decided to get it when I only got $5k for my last Z28 that was well worth a minimum of $7k.

 

Ok, here's the latest news. My insurance broker called the owner of the car, also the retard responsible for giving birth to the kid who hit me. She gave us the phone number of the rep from gieco handling her claim. Now we're waiting for the rep to return our phone calls. Slowly but surely, right. Hey, KS91Z28, do you have a name of an insurance company or something? I don't want to go through the same crap twice. All of us with 3rd gen's get screwed because of the low book value of the cars, so any info would be great. Once again, thanks for all the advice. It sucks that you guys had to go through what I'm going through. I'll keep you guys informed.

Larry

 

I second the buy it back idea. The insurance company won't want and most junkyards won't give them much.

If the front of the car is in good shape, you have quite a few parts to sell (ditto the car's interior).

Juan

------------------
1987 Pontiac Trans Am
1994 Nissan Sentra E
1999 Daewoo Leganza

 

yeah, i hear ya man, just last spring an old man like in his 80's ran a red light and i mean totally like 5 seconds after the change. he slammed into my back end and f-d up my whole back passenger side. the only good thing, was my mechanic, a buddy of mine, called a friend at a body shop, and they fixed the whole thing for $500! you couldn't even tell afterwards. just find a good shop, and anything is possible.
sorry, later

 

My hearts with you man! (Very rare car to!!!)

------------------
Colin Finkle
87 Sport Coupe Camaro, 5.0 L V8

 

I know your from New York, but I just wanted to show you this car. It has 34000 original miles. If I had the money this car would be mine.
http://www.ocautotrader.com/html/oct...op=1&curpage=1

------------------
Jeff
92 Camaro V6, mods: K&N, modified air box, JET chip 2,high performance muffler.
www.camarors.4t.com


[This message has been edited by Jiffy (edited July 19, 2001).]

 

Ok guys, here's the latest news. On friday, my insurance broker got through to gieco and put me on the line with a claims adjuster and we made an appointment for saturday morning for me to take the car to their shop. I go to the car saturday morning and it won't crank, seeming like a VATS problem. Read the resistance across the pelet in the key and put the same resistor across the vats wires under the dash, wait 15 minutes, nada. I jumped out the starter and it cranked, but wouldn't start even with the key on. I called gieco and they said they'd send someone to look at it during the week, then went to work. I go back to my friends house sunday to get the car started. Rechecked the vats resistance, checked the neutral safety switch, then decided to check the fuses again and realized that the vats fuse is gone. I guess some Ahole needed a fuse, but what I don't get is that my friend who owns the garage is the only one with keys to the car. At 7:15 this morning I get a call from the claims adjuster and meet him at 8:00. He thinks it will get totalled out, but thinks it's fixable. Turns out he's owned 3 third gens and said he'd do his best to make sure I'd get payed what it's worth. He also says that they don't go by the kelly blue book, they use a company called CCC that uses the market value of the car, so maybe I'll get payed without having to make a federal case about the value of the car. Now I have to get my car to the body shop to find out how much it's really going to cost to fix it. The saga continues.

Larry

 

Ok, here's the latest news. Gieco is giving me a check for a little over 5 G's and I keep the car. Hopefully I'll have the check some time this week. I still have no clue what I'm doing with the car. I'm finally taking it to my friends collision shop this week. I'll have pics of the car this week also. I think I'm going to sell the car whole, as is. I don't have the time or space to part it out right now. Hopefully I'll know more by the end of this week. Thanks
Larry

 

let us know

 

i wouldnt say anything nice about geico insurance until you have the check in your hand. they b.s.ed my brother around for about 2 months before he finally got any kind of payment, and thats only because he got a layer and sued them when one of their drivers rear ended him. they tried to tell him that his car wasnt messed up that bad when it had several thousand dollars worth of damage, and even when he tried to call and talk to them, they would say they were transferring his call and hang up on him.

 

[This message has been edited by BigL350 (edited August 05, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by BigL350 (edited August 05, 2001).]

 

 

Hey Larry, let me know what you are going to do with your car. My engine recently blew so I need another one. I don't really want to get rid of my car but I may have to.

------------------
88 White Formula 305 TBI With A New CD Stereo and Abolutly Nothing Else Done To It!

 

I'm really sorry to see such a nice car messed up. I worked at a chevy dealer for a couple years and saw some F-Bodys, both 3rd and 4th gen's worse off than that repaired well. Just find a good body shop, somebody I-Car certified, and a modern frame rack. It'll cost some pretty serious money but it can be ressurected. If not, like others have said, there are plenty of them in the Phoenix area, in boneyards not a piece of rust on them. Good Luck!!

 

My car looked and was worse than that when I bought it. Take the bumper cover off and the bumper, go to a frame shop with like 500 bucks and have them pull the car straight. Then you pull the door, and rehang it with some new hinges and go to the junk yard and get the bumper and cover.

That rear quarter panel will need 2 gallons or so of bondo and if you are half decent with it you can make it look good.

BTW here is what mine looked like when I bought it


------------------
Member of the Tri-State F-body Association

1989 Camaro Convertible RS
Gunmetal gray w/black top
305tbi, auto, 3.73 posi
SLP exhaust, 16x8 black GTA Crosslace Rims
For pics of my cars click here

 

That looks fixable. Pull the bumper cover and have the rear frame checked and straightened if neccessary. Then fix your door and have a new quarter skin zapped on and put on a new bumper cover. Looks like the actual bumper in back my need replacing too. Should be OK, spend the rest on mods! You should be able to do that for well under $5k. Don't part that car, it's cherry (otherwise)! I should post some pics of my old '89 GT convertable (sold it to buy my IROC). It had ragged paint, a crunched RF fender, crushed RR quarter, bent LR quarter, tweaked rear top frame rail, and a broken top frame. Mild roll-over. I was a fool to fix it, but I bought it and fixed it. It was 300% worse than your car is. Look into it, I'm sure it can be fixed. I would just hope they don't issue it a salvage title.

 

Ok guys, the car is up for sale, as is in the classified section for $3500. Take a look at the ad and email me with any questions or if you want some more pics.

Larry