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I hate that this is my first post, but unfortunately I'm in need of advice regarding a totaled RS. I've only had the car a few months. I was hit on my way to work Friday when someone turned left in front of me and my mint-condition RS has been deemed totaled by the other drivers insurance.
I'm not sure I buy it. An adjuster has not even gone out to look at the car. They are basing their assumption on age alone.
The car has 30k miles and is all original, no restoration. Even the paint is completely original.
I'm just disgusted! Someone help me out- should I fight to hang on to the car and repair it myself/have it repaired or should I accept my fate and take whatever the insurance company offers me? Realistically, any ideas on what the cost of this repair would be? Windshield is cracked on passenger side, airbag deployed, both headlights are shattered, radiator is, I'm sure, completely destroyed... Worried about front end frame damage and salvage title implications. (Sorry the pics aren't very good, took a couple at scene of accident and wrecker yard.)
Also included a pic of it like a month before the accident, for reference.
I'm a painter at a body shop. Your car is totalled...no question about it. I'd concentrate on figuring out a replacement value, and be able to PROVE your dollar amount. Recent sales numbers of similar cars, etc.
What a bummer....I'd be sick. Looks like you had a super nice, original car.
Also, why I instantly said the car is a total loss...is because the front of your entire inner structure appears to be moved over to the right about a foot. That is huge. You'd basically have to cut off the entire front of the car and install one from a donor car. What would it cost to have a shop do all of that? You'd probably spend $20k, easily. A collision shop probably wouldn't want to touch it. You'd have to find a restoration shop to do something like that on an old car. And, unfortunately, your car would never be the same again. I'd do what I could to get the best dollar amount that you can out of the car, and just replace it.
Agreed. The whole front end is shifted to the passenger side quite a bit. That means all the structure under there is similarly displaced. Between metal cut, removed and replaced, straightening time for what's left, painting to blend/match 30+ year old red paint...it will just be too much.
It's a damn shame. But I agree with everything dagwood said, especially about getting your ducks in a row and being prepared to fight for a proper settlement. You've already been screwed once on this deal...don't let it happen twice.
Then, find yourself another clean F-body to enjoy, and put this mess behind you.
The left and right side unibody comes up to the bumper. From there, there is a steel beam that connects the left and right side of the unibody. that beam is the "real" bumper and is covered by the plastic bumper. if you want to prove to yourself you have issues, see if you can open the hood and see if all of that section was shifted over. you should see some pretty good bending going to, to prove to yourself if it is totaled or not. If by some miracle it is not bent, it could be salvageable.
That sucks!!! Good news is there are many clean examples popping up on the internet all over the country that you could go and purchase. Best of luck getting what it's market value is. Fight like hell!
............But you will need some deep pockets to fix that....
I say take what you can get out of it.....Maybe buy it back and then strip it for the mint interior / rear parts doors back etc.. and save them for another camaro. you find.
Also, tell insurance their client is a crappy driver....
It's a total shame but I agree its beyond economical sense to save. Buy it back and part it out. With so few miles you have a goldmine of parts. Your car can live on through others.
Wow, sorry this happened to you. My car started out looking just like yours but hasn't looked as nice as your before picture since before I got it nearly 15 years ago. Good luck getting the most you can from it
and moving past it, Damn shame...
Unless you have an 'agreed value' insurance policy, you're only going to get 'book value' for a totaled car, and that amount won't be anywhere close to what the car's actual value in the real world was. Good luck squeezing even another nickel out of your insurance company.
Imwoild get a appraiser that deals with these older collectible type cars. Most insurance companies will give you the wholesale price. Here cars have gone up in value a lot. I have a 1989 GMC pick up a d I’m getting offers for 4/5k and it needs a good amount of work. I woke,easily say a pristine 30,000 mile 3rd gen camaro would have a value in the high high teens or low 20s at a minimum.
I wouldn’t hesitate to get info on the rarity and value of these cars. They are really gaining value.
sorry to see this happen. While pics are great to get a idea, yiu really need to pull the car up on a rack and look underneath at the subframe and structure. My buddy bought a 2018 F350 that was in a front hit and it looked awful. The frame was never touched. Just the 2 feet of grille core support bumper headlights and various coolers fenders and hood. Has a salvage title but he drives it daily.
im. It saying yours is not totaled I’m just saying without really looking at it you don’t know. You may b able to sale a lot of parts off of it if you buy back and maybe get a project or find a good shell and swap it all over…….or part it out. The interior has to be absolutely pristine.
