Sounds like you're a hell of a survivor. Once the car is repaired, it will be a hell of a survivor, too. Kinda sounds like you and the car belong together.
So sorry to hear about what happened to you and the car. It's so rad that Jeff is going to restore it though. Jeff is a standup guy!
The only time I've ever had to deal with insurance on a car repair was when my wife's OT car got hit as she drove by some fool who swung his door out into traffic and fortunately only took off her mirror and bent the door up a little. We have Gieco and I called them to let them know what happened. They said see if the other guy's insurance (Farmer's) takes care of it, and if not, then contact them back and they will get on it. At first the other guy admitted what he did but then started to change his story and blame my wife for it. So his insurance said they needed to do some more investigation. I said fine, but the way I see it is he put his door out in traffic and it is his fault no matter what, seems pretty clear to me - and keep in mind my homeowner's insurance is with Farmer's and I'd appreciate a fair interpretation of the facts. They asked the guy for some photos of the damage to his door and he apparently wasn't cooperating, but finally sent it to them. After a couple of weeks, they let me know that they felt it was his fault based on the photos and they agreed to cover the repair. Got the car fixed, looked perfect, and our insurance didn't have to do anything. So, seems odd to me that the bus insurance doesn't cover this, especially with a likely injury claim. I'd think it would be some pretty bad PR for either the bus company or their insurance to not step up here and get it straightened out for both your car and yourself. Your arm looks like it was seriously whacked up. Did you ever even contact the bus company or their insurance directly. Damn, an apology from that piss poor bus driver who fled the scene sounds to be in order if nothing else. Leaving the scene of an injury accident is a pretty major offense here in CA, might even be a felony. I'd be thinking she might want to be worried about a little legal problem if I never got a face to face apology out of her.
That is how it works. Your ins co takes care of you, then they go after the other guy. It sucks that this happened to you, as it sounds like you have already had a tough go. You seem to be staying positive, which really counts. I hope everything works out for you. Keep us informed. Good luck.
@stude-trucks: like the post immediately above - that's how it works most of the time i suppose...and i don't want to say too much re-their insurance contacting me, etc...yeah they did but only recently, until then it was total incommunicado...however, if i have a good case against them worth a good lawyer firm's time and effort i might inadvertantly jeopardize it by misquoting a fact inadvertantly, or even by making a jest with a wrong choice of words/phrasing... hell, i might've said too much here already...i've heard/read stories where a shrewd lawyer managed to 'wag the dog' of an entire case and could actually switch the blame to the [obviously] victimized party using nothing but a manipulation of some previous carelessly uttered statetments on part of the injured party...the law ain't always about justice per se, often the more clever bullshit artist will prevail... };->
The Hirohata merc was 'totaled' once too... That car isn't done yet! Think happy thoughts and all that...
hehehe, i suppose...but i'm gettin' tired of all this crap i keep having to survive and now i really hope it's the end of the streak for both, my new ride and for me....i'll be just dandy livin' with it and drivin' it without any further sudden major potholes like that on our road...i could use a couple of years of just peaceful chasin' the whiteline on the tar... };->
Definitely doesn't look totalled, before i got too upset, i'd get it hard numbers from a good shop and go back to Grundy's with a supplement bill and take it from there. You probably won't end up much out of pocket at all. (hopefully)
Damn I considered buying that thing a while back. It would be safely parked in my leaky ass shed right now! I would drop Grundy in a heartbeat too if they screwed you over. Attention Philadelphia insurance: this agreed value thing on old cars isn't something to F$ck around with.
it's really kool to see such solid support guys...but please bear in mind, thus far the only thing i have against grundy is the lowball amount of the check they cut me, as the cost they estimated the repairs to be at ... they DIDN'T deem the car a 'total loss' and i'm quite sure they'll supplement the funds once jeff can do a full appraisal of the cost of re-doing the car, and starts working on it... on the other hand, they were quite fast with paying the funds, easy and accessible to talk to thus far so i can't complain about them...yet..... as i've already posted previously, i'll keep you all updated on the progress of the car as jeff'll work on it and what happened...either myself, or jeff might want to post updates himself... thanks meanwhile....to be continued.... };->
Dude, that flippin blows! I truely hope you can get your baby back to her former glory asap. Best wishes for a recovery on your injury as well. Take care!
finally i'm able to post a long awaited [at least for me] update.... the fairlane has set out on its way back to jeff's shop in kansas today.... i used 'BenD' for transport [ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/member.php?u=96 ], a trustworthy hamb alliance vendor member and a friend of jeff... there had been some major delays, due to either some bad luck and/or simple logistic issues but it's finally on its way for repairs as of earlier today.... a couple of pix from earlier in the day..... to be continued as work on it progresses..... };->
You're a tough bloke...hope you recover well and the car too.....and hopefully the $ gets sorted. Love that car.......was amazed to see it built cos it's almost the same colour as mine, same wheels etc.....but mines a less cool car.
thanks for the kind words man... it's been a loooong waiting time but finally it'll be in jeff's very talented and capable hands for a resurrection.... my injuries are somewhat worse than i originally thought but that's what happens to a beat-up 45+ year old body that's been paralyzed for over 22 years and gets hit like that.... money issue is still up in the air but once i have the car back in pristine and driving shape, i'll feel much better.... dude, never say that about your ride.... if it's yours it's never 'less cool' than others' rides.... plus the car can sense that ya know.... };-> once jeff starts on the fairlane i'll try to get him to snap some photos of work in progress regularly and will post them here once in a while....
i never saw your post until now when i got back here to post an update... thanks man.... it's now all up to jeff to bring the ride back.... gotta practice patience but all i wanna do is to drive the crap out of the tar in it.... hopefully all ya guys who dig this kool ride will be able to see it live/on the road soon.... i'll be out there chasin' the line....
As an insurance appraiser, this whole thread lacks context. What was the car insured for? What is the amount of the estimate? The problem that has probably added to this is the quickie 15 inpection. I usually allow at least an hour to inspect even small fender benders. I will say though that if left to his own device and no guiidance on what changes were made, these can be missed. At a casual glance, the car needs to door and quarter panel. If the gaps are off on the right side of the car, the frame is probably bent like a banana. Depending on how low the car is, it may be more difficult to inspect the underside of the car. How do you inspect something you can't see. These type of vehicles should really be inspected at a repair facility so they can be put into the air. As for paint time, was the builders information given to the appraiser? I've written many estimates with pearls, candies, etc. This isn't rocket science. As for the car being a total loss, no company writes a check for 100% of the value and walks away. Keep in mind that total losses will usually go to the auction. If Grundy thinks they can clear 30% of the agreed value at auction, that will be the buy back. If the car was insured for $50K, it'll take $35K at least to total the car. Keep in mind that an insurance companies are a business. If they think they can get $15K back at the auction, that is what the buy back will be. They don't owe to put more than that into the car. There is no spending until it's fixed. Once the car gets to Kansas, an appraiser out there will work up the supplement. If it goes past 70% it's a total loss. And they will not put 100% into fixing the car. At that point, the owner will have to decide if he wants to buy back the car or not. If the repairs and refinish end up costing $60K and the buy back is $10K, the insurance will pay $40K and the owner will need to come up with the other $20K. And you won't be able to go back to the other vehicles insurance company. You don't get payments from multiple companies. Odds are they would have a problem with paying more than what you paid for it, regardless of what Grundy has it insured for. Again, keep in mind the numbers are guesses and are for example only.
What you said is all fine and well for the car, but there was also an injury involved so I'm guessing MUM is the word on details at this point.
I get that, but there is also a certain amount of bashing of the insurance company when the facts are not known. Hard to hear complaints about the car being totaled (or not) when half of the facts are not known.
As far as bashing Grundy, I'll only go this far. I have been with them 9 years, premiums always paid on time and with all the different changes there in the past 1 1/2 years I never got a renewal this year. Their loss, theres plenty of others, but as far as I'm concered , kind of a unprofessional way of doing business.
it's good to get an appraiser's point of view... the car was insured for $30k... i wanted to upgrade that to at least additional 20k considering all the quality mods/work that went into it but at the time i couldn't afford the extra $100 or so thus i was going to upgrade the amount in a couple of months... didn't have time though before the accident... the appraiser was advised by me on all the vast custom work that went into the car and - since i purchased several copies of the back issues each - i also showed him the full articles/features in all 3 custom magazines from 2010 that the car appeared in [jan. 2010 issue of rod & custom, spring issue of traditional rod & kulture incl. cover shot, and the 2010 kustoms illustrated feature]... i told him that the paint is one of a kind custom mix and shot professionally... and that even not many pro painters could do such a sanitary job given the intricasies of pearl, flake, etc.... i told him - and he should know this - that to replicate a paint job like this alone would cost more than 10k in most local custom shops around here.... he took about 30 minutes to inspect the car and i told him that besides the visible external damage, there has got to be structural/suspension and mechanical damage based on the way the car sounded and responded while i limped back in it to joysie after the accident... i described to him those symptoms.... i've mentioned those elsewhere in this thread already, as i did most answers to your questions.... he [appraiser] was of the opinion that it'll likely be deemed a total loss since the damage appeared to be well over $22k and he told me so before he left... then i received a check for $15k soon after with a letter that stated that additional amount might be considered, pending the estimate from the rebuilder of my choice.... as i've already mentioned elsewhere in this thread, a total loss would be more suitable for me and jeff as far as costs to rebuild it goes, because even after buying back this car back from the insurance after a total loss verdict, it would still leave us with more bucks to fix the car instead of the measly 15k... just the paint/paint job is worth little less than that.... anyway, jeff should be able to get those additional funds that the letter from insurance mentioned once he starts working on the car... if he can't he'll be working for free for mostt of the rebuild.... as far as the insurance of the tour bus company i never considered charging them for car's repairs since - as i've quickly found out post accident - it's my own insurance company's [grundy/philadelphia] job.... and to then take recoup their costs [including my medical bills resulting from the accident] from that other insurance themselves... thanks for the input....
indeed there are injuries that turned out to be more malignant and complicated than i thought they'd be at first... please understand that i'm not at freedom to talk about it as one poster already noted.... i never bashed grundy/philadelphia here....at least not yet and although i very much appreciate the solidarity of some who stated that they'll drop grundy if they prove to be short changing me, i've also made the point to not jump the gun until i'll know whether the insurance will cough up the additional needed funds for repair costs or not.... thus far i'm only disappointed with their initial check they cut me as surely even the visible damage amounts to more than this.... however, it'll now be up to jeff to request additional funds for repairs from them.... whatever will happen i shall honestly share it here as it happens.... thanks people....
that must be hugely disappointing.... i have to agree with your beef against them if there aren't any serious other factors responsible for this.... as for myself, i can't complain yet as the philadelphia rep assigned to me is very good and swift in covering my med bills for example and always available.... only the check amount is way low but that might change too so i'm unable to pass judgement on them yet , either way....
Yep no claims, or tickets and the car has been in heated storage ( zero miles ) the past five years. Makes you wonder..... Sorry for the semi-hijacked thread thing, just venting. Good luck with the rebuild.
it's very much on topic re - insurance so no hijacking commited anyway.... thanks i'll be updating the rebuild progress as far as jeff will keep me updated... but for now i gotta hit the rack for some zzzs... been living on pain killers and sleeping pills for the past few months... i hope i'll be able to post pics of the car all pretty again and me drivin' in not TOO long.... };->
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