Hey guys,

Hit a deer with my 89 last night. Head of it hit the front driver's side, and then I guess it whipped around and hit the door, not sure what happened.

I have full coverage through GEICO on this car. Not sure if I should file a claim or try to fix it myself. I am NOT knowledgeable about body repair and do not know how fixable the hood and door are, or what to expect if I get the insurance company involved.

Pics coming...

 

More.

 

More..

 

Last one..

 

Oh man that sucks. Depending on the condition of the car they may total it

 

Judging by that .... it shouldnt be too bad. For the most part the dents should pop out. Since you are not skilled in body work, I would definitly suggest a body shop. (Not a run of the mill one though, choose one that does older cars)

 

$20 says it will be totaled by your ins company. It's almost pointless to carry full coverage on ours cars as the ins companies would rather total it and give you a check for a couple thousand than deal with having somebody fix it.

 

I had someone hit a classic Oldsmobile that was parked outside of my house with a rental a few years back and "total" it badly enough to render it completely inoperable. It was a 3800 lb car and they hit it hard enough with a Pontiac G6 to push it over 25 ft from where it was parked.

Driver of the rental fled the scene on foot and reported the car stolen, so the rental company (Enterprise) refused to cover damages to my car. Driver's personal insurance policy they presented to the rental company was expired, so they refused to cover it. Driver address and contact information were falsified so I had no means to take them to small claims, and in fact Enterprise tried to bill ME for the damages at first because they couldn't get anything from the driver. Contacted the police, state attorney general, etc....got nothing from anyone because I only had liability on my car. Just lost the car and had to part it out.

Freak circumstance, but that's why I have full coverage. At least if it's totaled I get something for it.

On this situation, I was worried they might total it if I filed a claim, and I don't think I want that. How much would a shop charge to fix this?

 

After looking around, I'm going to file a claim.

I read 92GTAs thread about his car getting totaled with GEICO and I think I will do OK here. Low NADA value on this is $3600 which would break me even (also what they offered 92 GTA) on purchase price if they go that route, and I've spent almost $2k in upgrades to it in the last year (steering box, DUI ignition system, tires, etc) which I think I could use to negotiate my payout higher.

 

Receipts for your upgrades may help. But watch, if they total it and you decide to buy it back to repair, you're into that "salvage?totaled" title.

 

True, if you ever plan to sell it the salvage title makes it junk. But if you are keeping it forever it won't matter for a hill of beans.

I say if they write you a fat enough check, buy another car with a clean title and start again. Unless this one has sentimental value like a parent or family member left it to you or something.

 

If they fix it, I'll keep it.

If they total it, I probably won't keep the car. I'll buy it back, yank the drive train, do my best to pop the door dents and sell it as a roller (I won't part the rest out, don't have the heart to do that). And then buy another IROC. I'm thinking stab the T5 in my 442 and not sure what I want to do with the LB9, but i would keep it for now.

IROCs are VERY hard to find in my area and I wouldn't have any difficulty selling it as a roller. For someone with a different financial situation I think it would make a great project. For me, I think I could take the money and find something out of state in similar or better condition to what this was when I bought it. I've already spotted a few.

Win-win, to me at least. Lots of people in this area fix a car like this up nicer than I could afford to right now and do street/strip, and probably won't care about the salvage title. They just want a good body to start with. Better future for the car in their hands than mine and I can find something more practical for now.

 

Seems like a solid plan to me.

 

I basically have the lowest insurance I can on my 88 for right now since it is several shades of primer and still a work in progress. I daily drive it and its only left me stranded twice which both times required me to get it towed. If for some reason my camaro was in some sort of accident, it would depend on how bad it was for what I would do.
I bought mine with very slight front end damage, and basically me and a friend fixed it. It was just to the hood latch assembly and the hood, and it's not perfect now, but when we are done, we are the only 2 that will ever know. I am not an expert with body repair either, however I did work on helicopters in the military and learned some stuff there, and a little form what I have done already on my caamro, but it's not hard to learn at all. If you don't want to learn, then I would go the insurance route and see what they say. If you aren't afraid and want to learn, I would probably avoid it, because looking at those pictures, all you need is new door and a new hood. Probably a little bondo on the front bumper around the headlights, but otherwise I think that's all you will need, based on the pictures. I only recommend a new door and hood because if you can find ones without dents and bondo, that is always better than having bondo. You could probbaly fix the hood and door you have now, but it will most likely require some amount of bondo.