First off, like a lot of you all, I baby my Vette. I just washed it two nights ago, in 20 degree weather, because it was dirty. I drive it from time to time in the winter out here, although not when the roads are slick.

Today, the roads were pretty decent, so I took it out to the gym. On the way home, I wanted to get a new california duster, so I could keep the car clean between washings.

Anyway, I go to the gym, have a decent work out, and start heading home. There's a Chrysler 300m in the middle of the parking lot, with the driver out.

...I'm sure you can guess where this is going. I always park way far away from everyone, just to avoid this crap. I still don't know how it happened because I didn't park near him. The way the lot is designed, there are many parking spaces, then a perimeter drive-way, then a few outlaying parallel parking spots up against the boardering wall. I park in those spots, to avoid being next to anybody. He must have come out from the lot, either didn't turn into the drive way, or just came out too fast, and nailed me. Either way, here's the damage that I saw (I haven't checked the whole car, it's dark):






Now he wasn't a total ***, he stayed there and gave me his information. He was actually pretty nice about it and seemed genuinely sorry. So I'm not angry with him...just about the whole situation, you know. I haven't even had this car out here a year yet. Such is life. Just frustrating.

Now I get to go and try to get it repaired. On a related note, if anybody knows how to contact State Farm to report this, I would be grateful. I contacted my insurance (USAA), it was easy. But I can't find a 1-800 number for state farm insurance on their website. Just their banking.

 

call your agent. State Fraud will contact the other guys insurance and hopefully have him pay for it.

 

People suck!

 

I have USAA, I already contacted them. But if I use my insurance, I might have to pay the deductible until they settle it with State Farm. I'll find out for sure tomorrow when my agent gets assigned and calls me. Either way, I want to make damn sure his insurance pays for it, which is why I want to call State Farm directly.

 

Get a new door. Dont let them fix it. Cant really tell condition of your paint, if its older and a little duller than new paint it may be hard to match the sheen. Sorry to hear about your vette, ive owned mine since new in 89. Dont know if I could restrain myself in a situation like that.

 

Fortunately he was the calming force. He was so genuinely nice, that it was hard to be upset with him. I was pissed at the whole situation, but it can be fixed. He was so upset over it, that it was really hard to get mad. I didn't want to get mad when he was so nice.

 

what do you mean, you'd break down crying on the pavement?

or what? didn't you read his post?

 

Just tell your insurance company you got his info and and can't figure out how to contact State Farm. They probably have the number handy. Your insurance will leap thru flaming hoops not to pay a claim if the other guy is at fault.

 

Your lucky he hung around.

 

I'd be pissed to. But be glad the guy did not flee the scene like most scumbags do.

 

Sorry to see and hear about your unfortunate encounter with a genuine nice dumb-*** !!
I think they will have to repaint the whole car now.

 

I think I'd just have them fix the door. Should be fairly quick and non-intrusive, and you keep the federal sticker intact.

 

this may be a blessing in disguise, couldnt have happened at a better time of year. You could be riding around this spring in a freshly painted vette, good luck

 

Been down this road before. They aren't required to repaint the entire car. and they aren't required to get a perfect color match unless the paint is fairly recent. If you can get them to fine, but the standard is back to the condition before the accident, not back to new. If the paint on the repair is better than the rest of the car, they figure they've met that criterea. Good luck with it.

 

Don't notify State Farm if the other persons ins. will fully cover it.
They will potentially raise your rates even though your not at fault.

I have State Farm and this has happened to me. I notified them about a minor accident I was involved in, made no claim to them (as it wasn't my fault, and was fully covered by the other guys ins.), but spoke to them about the rate increase that appeared shortly after, and was told that it didn't really matter that I wasn't at fault or hadn't made a claim, there was now another record that I was involved in an accident. grrrrrr.

btw, I liked how you both handled the situation. Nice to see things done civily anymore.

 

Any good body shop can color match and blend the paint to match the existing color. Also, I agree to let your insurance do all the work. Just pay the deducible if you have to and State Farm will reimburse you.

You won't have to worry if they'll cover it because it's an open and shut case since your Vette was parked and the guy admitted guilt.

 

I don't have State Farm, he does. I have USAA. They were really nice about it, USAA was. I'm calling State Farm in about 30 minutes, since State Farm doesn't seem to have a 24 hour agent line like USAA (at least that I can find).

And yeah, he was very civil about it, and since he was so sincere, I really couldn't get mad. I didn't even want to at the time. I mean it can be fixed, it's nothing too terrible, and it was an accident. Plus he stayed there, gave me his information, etc. I even managed to crack a joke about his sweatshirt. He had on a Washington State sweatshirt, and I went to U of Washington.

Now that I've had time to stew about it, I'm very mad. I mean the whole car was original, less a few engine upgrades and a new stereo system. Even with that, though, all the numbers match, all the paint was original and in emaculate condition, etc.

But even though it is my corvette, it can be fixed. And I'm mostly just afraid it will have scars when it's repaired...but I'm sure it wont. I'll obviously go to the body shop I feel is the best around.

 

I know here in Texas and found out a few months ago in Las Vegas (guy whacked my van in a casino parking lot ) that if it happens on private property and not a public road........the "at fault" drivers insurance will only pay 1/2 of the repairs. The damage to my van wasn't much (toasted Drivers fender and pushed the frame about 3/4") but as a matter of principal I've been fighting his insurance company on this since July. They are standing strong on it though. Even with the police report saying that the other driver didn't yield r.o.w. and was speeding (posted signs at 15mph and his aprox. speed was 30mph). Hope you are not in the same situation.
Good luck with it and glad that tempers stayed under control. The guy that hit me (totalled his car (Thank God for HUGE Ranch hand bumpers!)) was so upset that I actually kind of felt bad for him. Just couldn't get mad at him at all. I drove my van back to Texas with no real problems.....his car had to be drug up onto a flatbed.

 

 

Unfortunately, that's life. If you want to keep your car all original, don't put it on the road. It sucks, but that's reality. Get it fixed, and then drive the hell out of the car, enjoying it as much as possible.

Definitely pick a shop that will do the best job, so you won't worry about the quality of repair. If it were me, I'd ask them not to blend the paint on adjacent panels, though it may mean the color difference is more obvious.