To get the point, I'm pretty sure I wrote off my Camaro yesterday morning in the rain.
I will not be attending the 'Invasion'.

I still need to meet with the adjuster and see what I'm going to get...

I'll tell the story and my plans a little later today. Got some work to do first.

Late

Chris

 

Holy crap - you alright?

 

Yeah, I'm good. I've got a pretty wicked bruise on my left leg going from knee to hip, but thats about it.

I was going down Strandherd on the new paved part coming up to the intersection at Fallowfield. They stopped paving just before the intersection and it created a little lip or bump...It was raining quite heavy at the time. So I'm going through the intersection at about 60km/h...hit this little bump and I can feel the weight of the car transfer up and then when it comes back down, the back end goes a little squirly...At this point I'm thinking to myself, 'This is F'n BS'. Then the next thing I know the rear bites real hard and swings up making the car perpindicular to the roadway. I can see a 40 foot steel pole - I dive across to the passenger seat with my lower body still in the driver side. And it was over. Get out right away and I'm pretty calm about the whole thing. I'm just like 'Sh*t'.

Damage assesment: Probably a write-off.
The pole entered the car at about the passenger side headlight and proceeded to fold the hood in half. The rad is sitting where the Serpentine should be...The Serpentine snapped off at its mounts and is sitting freely in whats left of the bay. The frame rail is bent. My exhaust ripped off from Manifold to the Cats...
The dash is still good, but the radio pillar and environmental controls have been relocated closer to the driver side. The tranny I'm not too sure about...it still goes into gear...but my stick is definitely not where it is supposed to be...I think the engine block got pushed into the firewall. The block looks like it still good though.
Rims are all still perfect? I don't get that. The entire front end would have to be rebuilt. The body guy said he would start at $8k but it was looking like it would be closer to $11-$12k. That is not including all of the mechanical aspects that would have to be replaced.
I'm pretty sure its a write off. My biggest scare is what is going to happen with insurance. I know what the book value of one of these cars is stock...I know I had my purchase receipt made out for $3k - $13k is what I actually paid for the car and I have done about another $10k of work to it in the last year and half. I never had it appraised.
I'm afraid they are going to offer me like $2k for the car and then I'm just F'd.
I'll add some pictures when I get home tonight...
I'll keep updating when I learn more.
So, I guess I'm in the market for another Z or Iroc...just don't know how much I have to spend yet.

Chris

 

Man that sucks! Can you go after the company that did the road work?If they only give you 2k try and buy it back atleast. This is why I hate driving my car in the rain

 

glad your ok, sounds pretty bad.

post pics when you can

 

Deleted

 

Good to hear your ok.Thats really unfortunate that,that happened,hopefully insc. goes in your favor.

Hope to see you back out next season in a new Z

 

That really sucks.

Don't take the first offer from ins. Hold your ground and you will get more. I've done that a few times and it worked for me.

 

That sucks big! I don't know how things are set up in the cold north, but here in the States, one of my friends got into a similar position (but CONSIDERABLY more complex) and the ruling in the end was either 1.) the local government for not properly maintaining the road or 2.) the company down the street which damaged the road -- I don't remember which one. In any case, indeed, HOLD YOUR GROUND!

 

Yes, I would file your claim with the city about the road conditions. Go take some pictures of the bump and take pictures of any signs or hopefully lack there of, of signs indicating construction, reduced speed, bump, etc.

If you go strictly through insurance, even no fault is not going to be a good deal for you as you will not get what you paid and have in it.

Black book is where you will start the fight from and it is a long way up from there. Then when you disclose what you have done to it, more than likely you will cross the boundary for customizing your vehicle and be up sh$t creek as they try not to cover anything.

Think the whole thing through in advance and have a plan.

 

Injuries probably won't breach the no-fault threshold so there's no claim - there's also a $30K deductible on tort claims anyway.

 

And simply having a lawyer present really makes people understand you mean business.

 

Insurance companies know that they can run you into the ground even on a $3mil claim where their exposure is 100%..lol

 

man thaz sux...but it is good ur ok

i work for a body shop...and if the car is as bad as u say...u really better be sure u want it if u buy it back...cuz it will take a sh$t load of work to make it rite again.

and as far as insurance goes...dont push to hard...becuse workin in a body shop i no what happines to those who do...u end up cancelled...which puts u on a special list...wich all the other companys have a copy of, and then they all tell u take take a hike 2...so u get sent to the one company that charges what ever they want...and u get it up the a$$

thaz just my 2 cents anyway...

good luck with what ever happines

 

Sounds like an industry of liars & thieves to me: they claim they're giving you "full coverage" and then, after years of paying in to their company, you make a claim and they give you a small fraction of what it would take to "fully cover" the damages...and I believe your story of being blacklisted when you fight back to be extremely probably -- I'd almost outright believe it except that I try to get firsthand proof of most things before I believe them myself.

Simon says: SIT ON YOUR THUMBS!

 

HOLY COW!!! Glad to hear your alright, but you still gotta be suffering about the car. If they give you nothing, or next to it, buy it back from them. Use what you can off it, or sell what you can off it. Bring all your reciepts for the car along with pictures (many), they may see your reciept of purchase for the car at a low price, but they don't know what work went into it since you bought it. How do they know you didn't put major bodywork into it after you bought it, doing most of the work yourself? They don't. So you have to fight every and any way you can with the insurance companies. A buddy of mine had a mint Monty SS years ago, had to go through insurance over an incident, car was wrote-off by them, so he took the money, didn't want to buy it back, frame damage. Anyway, he had reciepts for rims, tires, and a few other things, Insurance gave him money for these as well. In the end he got a fair check. Went out and bought a Buick GN.
Small lesson, always have your prizes appraissed. For resons just like this.
Sorry man.

 

Cars can be replaced, lives cannot.

Glad to hear you're OK...i cant imagine having that happen, but at least you're around to take on another project.

 

Wow, i'm glad you're ok. You should still come to the Invasion thing.

 

Hey man sorry to hear what happened. Good to hear you're o.k though.

I would think you have a fair $ dropped into that car, so definitely try to savage back anything you can. By the sounds of what happened that car is unrepairable (I wouldn't even try it it'll never be straight again).

Good luck.

P.S Then you get some here who think it's allright to race in the rain

 

Ya... lives are irreplaced.

I saw almost the same thing happen to a guy in a Lexus in the rain, but the lucky SOB swung around in an intersection. Hit the curb with his back passenger side wheel pretty bad. Rain can be a killer.

Good luck with the pending insurance crap.

 

Sorry to hear about that man... glad you're ok tho...

 

Ouch, thats gotta hurt.

Like Carm said, as long as you walked away, it's really just a car.
You can always do another one.

I had to threaten a lawyer to belair direct before they cashed out, they're almost unbearable to deal with, good luck with that. You could always buy it back, salvage whats good, and drop it into another project.

As far as the Invasion, you should still come out for sure.

 

Sorry I didn't post over the weekend. Didn't have my user info at home, so couldn't access the site.

Anyhow, here is a link to one of my sites. It has pictures from a few days before and the day of the accident.

Here is your warning: You will cringe. Especially if you saw the car when it was all done up, it was just so gorgeous. And now, well...its not no more.91Z Before and After


I went through all of my documentation. On my insurance application it has a purchase price of $14k...and I was able to dig up about $10k in receipts. Still waiting to hear from the adjuster.

Chris

 

Have you contacted the city yet?
My mother-in-law received a good amount of cash from the city of Ottawa afetr hitting a pothole and bending the front suspension on her car....just start freaking out and call them back every hour for a few days. They do have money for these things!

 

that looks pretty bad, very lucky not to be severely hurt.

 

complain to anyone and everyone.

 

Wow, I can't see the car not being written off

Did you ever get new tires? You may have a problem if you didn't.

 

He brings up a good point. There gonna be looking for anyway to get outta this, and worn tires= drving an unsafe vehicle

 

Chris! I'm in shock! Glad you are okay but I cannot believe those pics. You had that car looking great! Hope things work out with your insurance company. You should come out with us this weekend anyways.

Hylton

 

So finally got my deal done with insurance. The guy was actually pretty cool about the whole thing, not at all an ahole like I was expecting.
Of course I did not get 'my value' for the car...
However, considering that I did not have an independent appraisal, I got a really fair settlement.
I get to keep my car, they are going to give me a check for about $10k, and the car is getting a salvage title. Meaning that I can fix it but have to go through a mechanical/structural safety.
I'm not quite sure what I'm doing just yet. I have a few options that are open to me right now but I don't want to just jump right into it for the sake of having a real car.
I do intend to keep my car - you guys are thinking thats a bad idea - but it isn't as bad as first appearance would have it.
So I'm going to:
a) rebuild my car as it was, with a few upgrades or a lot
b) find something solid and transfer all of my good stuff over and a few upgrades
c) find something really built well, already modded in the direction that I like and just part out the good stuff from my car, maybe swapping a few things here and there
d) getting a half decent IROC and still doing one of the first two options from above.
Anyhow, it was not a good experience, wrecking never is...
but at least I'm here to tell you about it and the positives in the outcome.

Thanks again for the good wishes...

Chris

 

I think you should just find an iroc, and swap the parts over. What insurance company do you deal with? they sound pretty good

 

if you have the means buy a southern car and transfer everything from yours over. then make sure you get it appraised.

 

Almost all of the older cars I've seen that lived their entire lives in Texas & Southern California are rust free.

 

kEEP IT AS A PARTS CVAR, AND BUY ANOHTER, AND DO THE SWAP. tHE'YRE NEVER THE SAME AFTER AN ACCIDENT. ESPECIALLY ONE LIKE THAT. IT'S NOT ALWAYS JUST ABOUT THE FRAME BEING STRAIGHT, YOU MAY NEVER GET BODY PANELS TO LINE UP AGAIN.

 

I agree with these guys, and I know where you can get a mint 88 IROC for cheap........

 

Glad your OK Chris and insurance didn't yank you around. I agree with the other guys by a good shell and transfer your parts. I think you'll be farther ahead.

 

I had some people razzing me about wanting to dump 10 or 12 grand into my car. My response was that as long as it's not stolen, I can move basically everything over if anything were to happen. The only parts which would probably need replacing would be: paint job, maybe radiator, etc...

Do it and hopefully have some fun in the meantime. It sucks what happened to you, but I hope you'll have fun working on a new car.