I wrecked my pristine 67 roadster 6 weeks ago and am having all sorts of problems with the insurance company and body shop. I tried to get an idea of declared value but when I put in my 13 numbered VIN it says I need 17 numbers. Has anyone had experience with diminished Value issues? I had a shop put on aHolley Sniper on my big block just before moving to Arkansas. It was running poorly, maybe 100 miles since putting the Holley on, and I was going down the freeway at 70 mph the engine exploded and put me into the wall. Now I have an insurance company that says they will not replace the engine, it looks like it will be totaled and if repaired it will never be the same or worth as much as it was before the wreck. Any thoughts?

 

That bites bear *****!

Who is your insurance with? How bad is the car itself?

 

You say pristine roadster, but the picture above is a coupe ???

Cannot tell what you have and not sure why you'd expect the insurance company to do anything with the motor absent clear evidence there is collision related engine damage. There is no diminished value on a totaled vehicle. That's only relevant on a damaged and repaired car.

If it's not totaled it comes down to the quality of the repair and what the car was before the accident, as to whether there is a colorable diminished value claim. And you may need a lawyer to pursue a claim for diminished value. You can expect most insurance companies to say there is no diminished value on repairs done on a driver/resto-modded classic car.

 

Sorry I meant coupe. That is the problem at the moment, totaled or repair. If repaired surely the value would not be what it was before the wreck. My insurance is epithet Modern America. The body shop is estimating about $60,000.00. Regardless of the motor the frame is bent, transaxle bent, body has stress cracks away from the damaged left side and rear. Gas tank is displaced and body has shifted across the back and too the tight side. It hit the wall rear first and shattered the entire rear body and frame. Does anyone know why I only have 13 vin numbers not 17 that are requested why I try to get its value? The motor exploded for a reason, could it have been from the new EFI? I guess I understand about not paying for the motor, but what would happen if it was stolen would they not pay for the motor?

 

Time to lawyer up.

 

All Chevy vins before 1980 or so have 13 digits. Not sure why a insurance company would buy a engine The wreck is anther thing.

 

It is odd that the engine would be excluded regardless of the reason for the wreck, how do you separate that cost? Do you not pay for the engine and the car with insurance?

 

Yep this was not my fault, i bought the car with the engine, had a reputable shop put the EFI on , a month later it explodes.

 

Sorry to say with all that damage you state the car does sound totaled when the inner tub and structure gets damaged it takes a lot of man hours to fix. Can it be fixed. Sure. Would it be cheaper to buy anther car. Yes.

 

Where you tuning the engine at 9k rpm when it exploded

 

Those Engine Components have catastrophic damage.... Worse than I have seen with NASCAR or IndyCar. Can you tell us what RPM level you were running at the point of failure?

 

You have 13 digits in your VIN, because 17 digits didn't come into use until 1981. None of the modern vehicle price or condition trackers (like Carfax) are designed for use with the pre 81 VIN's. There are plenty of price guides for collector cars that you can use, the most popular probably being Hagerty Insurance's one. None of these require a VIN. There are also plenty of independent appraisers out there that can give you an appraisal of the value of your car, before the accident.

As boxter99t said, insurance doesn't usually cover mechanical damage, unless it was caused by the accident, but not if it was the cause. An engine removed from a car after being stolen, is part of the damage done to the car when it was stolen, and insurance would pay to replace it (the engine didn't cause the car to be stolen, it was part of the theft). If you slide into a pole in the rain, because you were driving around on bald tires, the insurance company is not responsible for buying you new tires, and if you blow an engine and spin in your own oil, they're not likely to replace your engine.

The first thing I would do is find a restoration shop, or even better, a restoration shop that specifically deals with Corvettes, and get your car out of the body shop. Body shops are not use to dealing with collector cars, and rarely do a satisfactory job of repairing or restoring them, when compared with what a restoration shop can or will.

I'm not familiar with Modern America insurance, but if they provided you with collector car insurance, I would assume it was stated value coverage? If so, what is that amount, and why do you need to find a value now?

Unless the car ends up with a salvage or similarly tainted title, I don't see how a properly repaired and restored car could be subject to a diminished value claim. In your own heart, it's value may be diminished, but if the repairs are done properly, and the title is not tainted in some way, the value of the car should not be effected in any way if you decide to sell it. The world is full of cars that have sustain some kind of damage or repairs, and rarely does it have a bearing on the value (the exception is modern cars with a Carfax that shows an accident with an airbag release).

From the pictures you posted, that engine suffered a catastrophic failure. Unless a part of the Holley Sniper dislodged and was sucked into the engine, I doubt the Sniper had anything to do with that failure. We've had engines in our race cars come apart at seven grand and not cause damage like that!

 

Sorry for your troubles. Based on estimate for repairs and damage, suspect that the insurance company will call it a total loss. Conditions of the policy will determine your compensation. Always a net loss when dealing with insurance companies. Body shop says 60 G to Fix it, internet says 75G to replace it. If compensation offered by the insurance company between is those values, take the money and run. You could lawyer up. You would have one working on your behalf, the insurance company will have many representing them. Hopefully you were not injured, sounds like a significant impact occurred.

Did a recent EFI install cause the engine to self-destruct? Doubtful in my opinion. Fuel / air ratio and timing............... Worst case would preignition / knocking motor that would cause an uninformed driver to lift and park long before chunking rods. I am assuming it dumped all of the engine oil and compromised control of the car?

 

[QUOTE=PRL1941;1605807350]Sorry I meant coupe. That is the problem at the moment, totaled or repair. If repaired surely the value would not be what it was before the wreck. My insurance is epithet Modern America. The body shop is estimating about $60,000.00. Regardless of the motor the frame is bent, transaxle bent, body has stress cracks away from the damaged left side and rear. Gas tank is displaced and body has shifted across the back and too the tight side. It hit the wall rear first and shattered the entire rear body and frame. Does anyone know why I only have 13 vin numbers not 17 that are requested why I try to get its value? The motor exploded for a reason, could it have been from the new EFI? I guess I understand about not paying for the motor, but what would happen if it was stolen would they not pay for the motor?[/QUOTE]

Well, let's start with insurance coverages. A normal car insurance policy has coverage for collision, comprehensive, and fire/theft. Your car was in a collision. The motor blew and you lost control. Insurance will pay for damage caused in the collision. Unless you can show engine damage was caused by the collision the insurance company is not going to pay to fix the engine for you if the car isn't totaled but they should pay to repair or replace components (like the radiator) that are destroyed in the crash. The internal engine parts, no.

What would happen if the car had been stolen? The insurance settlement (whether the car was wrecked and totaled, stolen or destroyed) includes the value of the car with a working engine under the facts you have given minus the applicable deductible.

If someone stole your engine and left the car, the theft coverage would pay the value of a replacement engine because the engine loss was due to a covered theft loss, presumably. That's because they insured the car (and its parts) from theft. They didn't insure the engine from mechanical failure like what you sustained before crashing.

In other words, the loss (i.e., the engine) must be caused by the collision that occurred. An engine that blew for some indeterminable reason and thereby caused a loss of driver control, was not damaged/destroyed in the collision. That would be why the insurance wouldn't pay to repair the engine in the event your car is not totaled.

 

Based on you description, and assuming reasonable accuracy on your part....it's totaled. I hope you get some amount of insurance payment and then move on to something else. Dennis

 

Did this happen in Little Rock? Sorry for your accident, I hope you were not injured. I would tend to agree that although the engine may have been the contributing cause to the accident, insurance will probably not cover it as it apparently suffered a mechanical failure before the crash that destroyed the car. Two separate events. Modern covers many, many collector and antique vehicles with agreed value coverage. I hope that is the type of coverage you have. If the car is totaled then diminished values shouldn't be an issue. They should pay off on agreed value if the car is totaled and in theory, that value should cover the engine value too. Good luck.

 

In the grand scheme of things, *IF* insurance will fix the car itself for you, the cost of getting another motor would be comparatively minor. It's obviously going to be NOM from here on anyway.

You said you were going 70 in a curve. Looking at the condition of the parts, did you try to downshift to third, and go to first instead? That motor just plain grenaded!

 

mechanical failure is always excluded. Resultant crash is covered.

 

Back to what is important....It's very good that you are not hurt....A 60's automobile usually results in a 60's type Crash. And they often turn out badly........I feel your emotional pain, My 67 has been in repair for over 5 months. But, as I said "repair" so I'll get it back....I truly hope your loss is recoverable at least to a monetary degree.....and physically also would be great.... I hate seeing a beautiful Corvette lost!

All the best, and good luck!
Dcamick

 

PRL1941,
Did you have agreed value coverage? {if I missed it, I apologize}.