My vette of 17 years took a hit this week, which may be terminal! A driver in a Lexus going the same drection, 2 lanes to the left, decided to make an abrupt right turn (yeah, crossing a double white line & 2 lanes, with no signal- she REALLY needed that Starbuck's fix, apperantly), right in front of my daughter. The vette t-boned the right side of the Lexus, removing most of the long nose's front end. All people are OK, but I am waiting on a final appraisal of the original car's value, to see if the repairs will be too much. My bet at this point is the car is gone. Grrrrr!

This has been my daughter's daily driver for a year, and with her surprising passion for that white car, I don't know what was worse for her, when she learned it was probably totaled, or when my wife suggested taking the money and getting a reliable "normal" car- you know, a used Camry or Accord! THAT is not going to happen on my watch!

So, this being the first time in 17 years without at least one fiberglass bodied vehicle car in the garage (not counting the motorcycles!), it looks like I am in the market for a 75-81 C3... I just can't let my baby girl lose that 'vette dream because of someone else's stupid move.

Interestingly enough, at a high school soccer game today, a good friend came up & told me he saw the entire accident- he was behind the Lexus before its abrupt turn. In fact, he called 911. He stated clearly that, with the tall curb on the right there was no way anyone could have avoided the accident.

 

I'm so sorry to hear that. A man did that to me years ago and told the cops "I'v always turned here". Guess I should have just known that lol. Maybe it won't be a total and you can get it back on the road. If not, another will call your name. Best of luck.

 

Well, just look at it this way, youll have the opportunity to buy a better C3. That means more bonding time with the daughter.

As bad as it hurts, post up some pics, maybe it wont be totaled out! If it is, and you can buy it back, let me know if you decide to sell it, I might be interested in it.
Thanks!
Ben

 

Sorry to hear about the Vette but glad your daughter is ok... It sounds like the wonderful drivers in Houston drive the same as they do here in San Antonio, they wait till the last second then decide to cross 2 or 3 lanes to take their exit that's coming up in a couple hundred feet and at 65 to 70 that's pretty darn soon! ****' me off

Anyway, sorry for the rant and you're a good dad to not let your daughter drive a camry or some such ricer

 

Sorry to hear about your car; that sucks man. The silver lining of course is that everyone's ok; although if the Lexus driver had spilled her hot coffeee in her lap nobody would have cried.

 

Well that sucks. Glad she is okay. She sounds like a pretty cool girl.

 

Glad no one was hurt, and you are doing right standing behind your daughter, I'd do the same thing. That's what Dad's are for.

 

Right on for the replacement choice! Let's see..Camry or Accord and be bored to tears or a Corvette? Not a tough one for the lovers of shapely fiberglass of any gen!

 

Always sad to see a great car go because of stupid people. How hard is it to look before doing anything. Seriously people. Foxworthy had it right, stupid people should be labeled...."here's your sign".

 

That really sucks.
I hope everything works in your favor.

 

I have a 78 that I'm going to sell this spring. I'm in the process of putting all new suspention parts under the front end. I've gutted the interior and have the interior bought waiting for install. Paint is new but just fair. Message me if that may help.

 

That sucks, but atleast it should be deemed the other driver's fault. Don't discount the 82s.

 

If it gets totaled, work out some kind of deal to get the car back. Your daughter was in the car, so you have a little leverage to get it back. Fix it yourself, that takes the labor costs out of the estimate.

 

Glad that your daughter wasn't seriously hurt. Many of us feel her pain if the car gets totaled and hopefully, there's a deal to be had shortly after you start looking.

Good Luck and keep us posted how this untimely event, turns out.

 

You may be surprised at how much your vette might be valued at.

The fact that the accident was someone else's fault also helps your cause.

I would arm my self with the highest NADA value possible. that you find listed in print, and go to town...

Try to get as much as possible.

A friend of mine, recently totaled his 73 vette.

As the NADA valued the car at over 30k (believe me, this particular car was nice but not 30k nice), he presented his case to the insurance company,that that was the amount he needed to replace the car, and got almost 35k!!!

I would politely state my case, and hope for the best..

Make sure you mention the sentimental value of the car. Every little bit helps.

Good luck.

 

Wow, what a month... here is the l-o-n-g update, and it has a happy ending, although it is tbd if we all live happily ever after.

Turns out there was more damage to the '81 in the accident than first appeared, and insurance totaled it. Being a good, well respected company, they were also nice enough to offer me about $7k for it. Yeah, that is where the fun began!

It is hard to argue with someone who refuses to use logic, and if they told me ONE MORE TIME that the money they were giving me was based on the value of the car, and not what it would cost for me to replace it with a similar vehicle, I was about to reach through the phone!

For those of you who have insurance with agreed upon value, I applaud you. Unfortunately for me, with 1) driving this car every day, and 2) allowing my daughter to drive it, prevents that option. Yeah, I am setting myself up again if it is wrecked, I know.

The good news is that in the end, I got the insurance up to a fair value and put the old car to bed.

During this time of insurance fighting, though, I had been scouring the gulf coast for a good replacement C3, and had no luck finding anything decent for a driver at a believable price. After several weekends driving several hundred miles, I was about to give up & spend the insurance money on a late model Cooper S for her, when my dad, across the country, came through with a friend's car that was perfect & reasonably priced. After quite a bit of inspection and haggling, we are now back in the fold with a beautiful red 1979 L82. Sure, I spent ~$1.5k more than the insurance gave me, but I got a car worth probably $5k more, based on the condition of the mechanicals.

If you heard a loud noise yesterday ~3pm, that would have been my daughter screaming as she found out the car was ours. Trust me, we all heard it around here.

Let the next adventure begin!

 

Sorry that you had such a battle with the Ins. company, they sure don't mind taking your money do they!

Glad you were able to get your girl a good replacement and all is well.

As for insurance, we have AIG (or I guess the auto insurance portion goes by framers now), anyway, when we insured my vette that is considered a DD even though in reality I don't drive it everyday, we agreed on a value of 10K, so that's what it is insured for.

 

Well....that is awesome for you !


Now.......how about some pics of the wreck AND some of yer new baby ?!!!!!

 

So that's what that delightful scream was...?

Congrats and look forward to pics of the replacement ride. Did you keep the old one or the local wrecking yard get it? Just wondering what was salvageable, if anything worth your time.

Inquiring minds wish to know.

 

All the good parts ($!) of the car were perfectly usable: glass T's, wheels & brand new tires, perfect interior, perfect glass, all rear panels, drivetrain w/correct emissions, etc. The only damage was to the front clip, front frame, and left front steering/suspension.

I thought about buying it back, but am in the middle of a huge project at work & am very invovled with both kids in high school- I do not have the time or room to mess with parting it out myself, so I let the insurance make their $$$ on salvage.

I will post pcs when the new car arrives.