I know it's early for you yet, but IF you're interested in a '79 L-82 4 spd close ratio, Gymkhana suspension, sport mirrors, and a lot of new parts, including TOTAL rebuild of front & rear suspensions (using "the best of the best" components)....AND.....in a couple weeks it'll have a "locally built crate engine"...upwards of 400 hp, with the trans. gone thru as well..black on black.
I won't go into details unless you indicate you're interested or not.

IF you're wanting to know more, pls. send message to my e-mail:
vtwindog@gmail.com

 

Ouch. Sorry about the car, but glad you are OK!!

 

I agree with a lot of people here, always get agreed upon value. I use the Corvette Museum Insurance. Its pretty cheap and the people there are super nice.

 

I would call a lawyer. That doesn't make any sense. That would mean anyone traveling is basically an uninsured motorist. Unless the damage is less than your deductible and the damage wasn't deliberate by the owner. They really can't say no.

 

If you only had the standard coverage I would almost bet that State Farm is going to look at it as a 1978 Chevrolet 2 door coupe and go from there. Assuming I'm correct that your premiums were based on that, not a 1978 SAE Corvette, because you were trying to keep it affordable, you shouldn't anticipate a big pay out. Hope I'm wrong.....
​​​​​​​

 

I have geico not state farm if anybody is misinformed on that haha Ive heard a lot about state farm so I think people think thats my insurance company lol

 

Also they did take into consideration but the SAE and the 4-Speed option so hopefully they give me a reasonable price

 

The situation that I referred to happened over 40 years ago and I didn't have the money to hire an attorney back then . It was easier to just repair the car myself since I worked in the body shop business . The other incident happened recently when my car struck some scrap metal on the road at night doing a few hundred dollars of damage to my car which is fully insured and they again wouldn't pay saying if the scrap metal would have fallen off of the truck and directly hit my car they would cover it but since I hit the metal at night laying in the middle of the road , they wouldn't cover it. State Farm always has an excuse ready to use for every situation .

 

As explained to me by an agent about 10 years ago, most regular insurance companies will take an average of prices in the area for the same general car.

For example, say you have a 1995 Camaro Z28. If there are a lot of 1995 Z28s in the area, they will average those prices. If there aren't, but there are plenty of 1995 Camaros, they average those (V6 and V8). If there are not a lot of them, then they spread over the similar years, like 1993 to 1997 Camaro Z28s and then 1993 Camaros.

If only junkers are being sold in your area, the average goes down. This is where you can show that yours is in great shape and have receipts for work/new parts/etc. and then produce ads of equivalent condition cars to show price should be higher.

So in the case of your 1978 Corvette, you can bet there are few being advertised or in the local auctions. They will probably spread 1978 to 1982 or maybe 1974 to 1982.

The fact that yours has a rare option or is 1 of 3500 cars out of 40,000 cars means nothing to them and they will assume you are a hardcase and be tough on you.

Good luck with it.

 

That picture makes me a sad panda. I could easily see the repair cost going tripple what that car similar to that would retail for in good condition.

 

Just got the call from GEICO and 12k makes me one happy person haha. Also I bought it back for $1,100 so i'm extremely happy with their service and I think I got a very fair deal

 

Chandler, sounds like the transaction went well..Keep us posted on what,when and if you decide to work on another vintage car..Jim

 

Well for now i'm gonna be working on a few cars for my uncle, a 71 Chevelle, a 69 El Camino and a 69 C-10 ill send you some before and after pics one by one when they get done/painted.

 

Does anybody have any thoughts on me trying to fix my car? I miss her and don't care if I have salvage title after actually losing it I realize how much fun and memories I have with it within the 7 months I had it. The frame is believed to be bent and the body are the major issues. Anybody have any thoughts?

 

I would look for another one and part out yours. If you take the $12,000. and the money that you get out of parts that would be a good start to buying a decent chrome bumper car and you have the rest of winter to add some money to the cause.

 

With your insurance check and the money you get from selling parts you should be ok. There are some great buys out there right now. I would start searching for a replacement.

 

The car looks totaled & can be replaced.....You can't

 

My understanding is when it's been totaled that you can only get a salvage title- this means when you go to insure the rebuilt car they'll say that the value is next to nothing. You ever get in another fender-bender and you get NOTHING because your car's estimated value is nothing.


Part it out & buy another car.


Adam

 

SAE = Silver Anniversary Edition?

Sorry, this isn't a Silver Anniversary Edition, unless someone painted over the silver and gray with blue. ALL 1978 Corvettes got those emblems on the nose and gas lid to celebrate Corvette's 25th year.





I agree with the others, part it out, sell the rest, and move on. Yes, we would all like to have our first Corvette sitting in our collection one day, but you now have a boat on land. It will cost most of the money you got to get it back roadworthy. And then you have a salvage title.

I know it looks like it wouldn't take any time at all to fix it, since it only needs "a little" to look right, but ask anyone here, if it looks like an item needs $5 to repair, it will cost $25. Frustrating, I know, but that is how there gets to be so many old Corvettes laying around as hulks. It costs far more to fix them than they are worth, sadly.

You have almost $11,000 in hand. Look carefully and don't get in a hurry. Meanwhile, start selling pieces of yours. Don't sell the tops or doors and ruin the interior, sell the interior first or move the car inside for parting out.

Also, there comes a point where you can take it too far apart to do you any good. Very few want to buy a wrecked body with nothing in it. 1978 Corvette race cars aren't desired today unless they were raced back then, so no one is building a new one. So if you strip the body too far, you will be paying a junkyard to haul it off. Back 35 years ago, you could sell an empty body and rolling chassis to someone to build a race car. Today, there may be only one such person in the country, and finding him would be tough.

So if you begin stripping the insides out, you will need to strip it all. Every wiring harness, every piece of fiberglass, every interior piece, everything of any value at all until there is nothing.

Good luck with the project.

Take pictures along the way.

 

Not sure if you have a dry place to store it or not....? But if you do maybe consider keeping it and buying another one....Those parts off this one you sale now may just cost you double when you need to buy them later. Hats off to Geico....Seems they made you happy.

Good luck...
Brian