My insurance company wants to write off 1989 Convert Trans Am GTA for $5,800.00 I need to find out the value of these cars. Any Posted for sale. Ours has 75,000 miles,Leather Factory Recaro Style seats, Convertible withL98 350, Steering wheel controls for radio plus performance option, All suspension is eibach lowered 2", Ronal Rims 17"x 9.5" same as Firehawk Rims.

 

Did you total it? Your best bet would be to get an appraisal. If you totaled it you will probably not get any more than the value of a regular coupe out of it since the vin probably doesn't show that the car was a convertible, unless you added some other coverage to your policy. When I told my agent that I modified my car he told me about additional coverage I could get to cover more of the value. But if yours is already totaled you will have a hard time getting money from the insurance company.

 

The top is torn, 2 top bows are bent, lower air extractor busted, lower left ground effects torn short one at front, sratched in paint. The car is far from being totaled!!! It drives as good as it ever did. My insurance company was aware it was a convertible. But its a debate what a convert 350 is worth over a standard GTA. Lets see 50ish produced vs thousands. I'm so sick of deal ing with insurance companies,they actually asked me who made FIREBIRDS.DOH !!!!!! At our local parts store chain the parts person asked me who made CORVETTE. Talk about hiring non car non educated people for the job LOL!!!!!!

 

Your best bet is to get an appraisal. Just make sure its from a company that the insurance company will accept.

 

So thats where all these questions came from...

The cheapest I have personally seen one sell for was 4800. Generally, they go for more than that. I have not seen one sell for more than 13000 and it was less mileage and basically pristine. 5,800 sounds like a typical first offer from an insurance company. I'd be willing to bet they will go 2,000 more than that if you stick to it and can wait it out.

 

Isn't that pathetic, This car was about $30,000 in 89 and is about the rarest 80s bird made. DOH!

 

 

Air dam, lower front spoiler, fricken lower black plastic piece that is under front of car. What the heck is that piece of plastic! LOL! Its 3 pieces of plastic! Correction on 1st post (Recaro Style Factory Leather seats)Style being key word! And yes Factory!:lala: :lala:

 

Umm. L98 and convt...didn't happen dude.

 

Ah Dude, Did too!!! Pontiac Not ChevyMy vin is1G2FW2188KL25**** which states a 350 L98!!!!! 50 Made 8th digit is L98 .No Raisin Pie For YOU!!!!LOL

 

Cool! learn something new every day!

 

If you accept a settlement check from your insurance company then they will take the car no???
I would ask them for the buy-back price on the car so you can keep it and fix it or sell it to someone who will fix it.
Your state may have diff laws concerning this.
Here in Illinois you can buy the car back even if it has been totalled.
Don't let that car go!!! I've also never heard of the 350/conv't.
But it does sound rather limited!!
Good Luck

 

Try running your VIN again. On this site, it says coupe/hatchback, not convertible

Here are the results for your query on: 1G2FW2188KL25****
Made in: United States
Manufacturer: General Motors
Make: Pontiac
Carline Code: F-Body
Carline Series: Trans Am, Formula
Body Type: 2 door coupe (hatchback)
Restraint System: Manual belts
Engine Code: 350 ci V8 B2L/L98 (1987-1992)
8 is the CHECK DIGIT
Model Year: 1989
Assembly Plant: Van Nuys
Production Sequence: 25****

 

The VIN shows it as a coupe because until 1991 Pontiac didn't authorize ASC to convert Firebirds. Any pre-1991 Firebird convertibles aren't factory convertibles.

 

What Drew said.

I have a pic of the RPO list off an 89 vert I took a couple weeks ago, along with some other pics of the car. L98 is clearly on the list, and theres no question ASC converted the car. There were L98 verts made, but factory authorized... even after seeing the Owners Manual for the top I still think what the sales manager told me (its not authorized) was right since the VIN doesnt say its a vert.

 

They actually were authorized by pontiac, but not as an assembly production. As I understand , if you wanted one you would buy a hatchback and pontiac would send them to ASC and it would come back as a convertible. This would cost around $8,000 more over origional price and all alterations were handled thru Pontiac.Pontiac still uses ASC on all Trans Ams when you order a Ram Air. They send your car to ASC and it takes 25 minutes to convert to a Ram Air.

 

So are you going to buy it back or let the insurance company total it??? Even if you don't want to keep it, throw it on eBay or something...someone else would love to have this car!! Way too rare to throw away...

 

Why would you let them total it??? My insurance company fought me like crazy to total my 83 L69 because of a $1600 rear glass that shattered. They said the value was to low. Well I fought for 1 1/2 weeks and after talking to the managers, managers, manager etc the agreed to replace it rather then total it. Unless you want out of the car I don't understand why. What was the cause for this damage? On my 93 Eldorado my friend backed into my dr. door. They wanted to put a used door on the car with used glass. After fighting with them for 2 1/2 weeks and going round and round with everyone I got a new door! I even invited the president of claims(who it ended up going to and who I talked to) to come down and see this 95k mile Eldorado. I pointed out yes it has miles but is flawless and why should I have to settle for a used part on my car when what I had was oem and perfect. Why do I need a bone yard door with bondo? Well needless to say they paid a Cadillac dealer to fix it perfectly. Then I had wind noise on that side. I fought with them even though they stated that wind noise was not covered. I got the body shop to explain that a window creates a memory with the seal and you can never get it perfect. Needless to say after a month and a few headaches they fixed everything perfectly with oem new parts! If you are persistent they will fix it and not total it. tell the totaling the car is NOT A OPTION even though they think it is. Good luck...

 

Not what I know. When I inquired back in 1989, I was told they were not authorized. The only thing GM did was send them off to ASC from the factory rather than going to the dealer first at no extra charge. The body wasnt warranted by GM, but ASC instead. They essentially washed their hands even though ASC was doing production Camaros. The added sticker on the car I drove was $5000 above the MSRP for the GTA. Sometime in the mid 90's, GM decided to embrace the cars converted in 89 only (there are 86's, 87's, 88's and 90's floating around out there) for some odd reason and called them authorized.

 

OH ! So your car is one of those "SPECIAL" cars that slipped out of GM with an l98, SUUURE!! Next you will tell us that it has the 1le package and came in some odd color like purple or something!

O yea what the hell is raisin pie?

 

LOL, so... you guys are friends. Ok...

*steps aside*

 

Hey DLP .My car came with twin turbo's, dual stage nitros, 490 cid modified L98, 8 sp trans that is semi-automatic, 4" dual exhaust with custom O pipe and 4 wheel drive package, 3" sway bar all from the factory. And yes it is purple,no blue , no purple , no blue , no purple. P.S T-Rams suck!!!! Hello Dave!