A rising storm chased us off the golf course Thursday evening. I drove the cart to the clubhouse and decided to wait inside for a while before returning the clubs to the trunk. I didn't want the wind ripping the deck lid off. It was dark as night but it seemed to be calming so I ran the clubs out to the car and returned the cart. When I got back to the vette things were changing in a hurry. I sat there wondering whether I should try to drive with the wind as violent as it was. It was seriously getting scary. Something cracked against the side of the car and I was sitting there thinking, "crap! damage to my vette!" when the driver's side window exploded. I laid over the center console praying while it sounded like a jet engine was blowing in my window. I seriously thought a tornado was going to take me for a ride. Obviously someone was looking out for me because with the window exploding right beside my face, I had only a couple of nicks on my arms. there was glass everywhere in my vette. After sweeping the glass out of the driver's seat I managed to drive home where I spent the rest of the evening cleaning the glass out of the interior. All told, I had to replace the driver's window, (exploded), windshield, (cracked), and the rear window which looked like a shotgun had grazed it leaving a bunch of little chips. While there is no major damage to the left side of the car, the paint is obviously peppered pretty well all along that side. Now for the fun part. The Geico adjuster I spoke with on the phone says they may total the car because they won't want to pay for an expensive corvette paint job! Plus it's MY which is a more expensive treatment. He's coming to my place of business on Wednesday to look at it and I foresee a major confrontation. Obviously I'm heartsick over the paint. Other than the usual road rash on the nose and wheel wells, the paint was pristine and gorgeous. I don't really have faith in anyone matching and blending a paint job that's as good as the factory paint. Oh well, I hope I haven't given any of you nightmares with this story. I know that most of you spend considerable time and effort keeping your vettes beautiful just like I do. I'll let you know how it comes out and try to keep reminding myself that it's just a car.

Update: The adjuster from Geico looked at the car today and there was no mention of totaling it. In fact, They are going way beyond what I would have asked for! I hadn't even considered the wheels but I'm getting the left wheels replaced because as he pointed out,"they are pitted from the sand blasting they took." Nearly the whole car is going to be repainted. He even indicated that he was having the right side mirror painted where he found a couple of chips. When I told him that that was just a bit of road rash that was already there, he said "that's OK, we'll take care of it anyway." (The damage was to the LEFT side of the car.) Needless to say, I'm very happy with Geico right now. All of the glass hasn't come in yet so I'm still driving around with no driver's side window but they're supposed to replace it Friday morning. Fortunately we've had no rain since the incident so I'm able to get around. So it looks like when all is said and done, as long as the painters are any good, I should be one happy camper.

 

Pics of carnage?

 

Sorry, I thought about that later but I was a little too shook up over the whole affair to think about pics at the time. The paint damage isn't anything you could see in a picture. Just a whole lot of little chips in the paint from being sandblasted by 90mph winds. Most of what hit it are still sort of embedded there since the only way to wash it will be with a power spray, (hand washing would just cause more scratches as the bits became dislodged), and I still have no driver's window. They were only able to replace the windshield on Friday. The other two are coming in on Tuesday.

 

Yikes, glad you are alright. It is just a car, but I think they materialize into something a bit more since we pour so much time, effort and $$ into them.

That really sucks to hear though. I'm sure she will be back to perfection in no time. The "I LOVE vette pics" thread wont be the same without ya! Good Luck

 

Sorry to hear about the damage to your car and glad you were not seriously injured. If the insurance is paying for the glass replacement, I'm sort of surprised they have begun the process of replacing it if they are considering totaling the car. Hope it doesn't come to that and they'll just repair it and you can continue to enjoy it.

 

Sorry about the damage, but at least you are alright.
Hope things go your way with the adjuster. Good luck.

 

Glad you are ok! Little lesson...dont use Geico! Stick with a company that will do stated value! I hear so MANY horror stories about Geico!

 

Man that had to be a scary and depressing experience.

I got caught out in a massive Hail storm with high winds last night about 12 blocks from my house while returning home. Finally got to an underpass and that helped for about the last 3 minutes of the hail coming down. I have been caught on the highway with other Corvettes in the past and never suffered any damage, but this was my first in my C5 in 13 years.

When I got home, I wiped it down and did not see any hail damage, but the clear coat took a pounding with all the dust and crap flying past in the wind. Should all buff out though - might have got lucky?

I just can't get over how much paint jobs cost these days - seems like everyone now makes the same amount of money - only thing different is what the do (or don't do) for it. In 1972, I paid $1,200 for a radical custom paint job on a Corvette and in 1972 my new Corvette was $6, 125. A regular paint job was about $600 (or 10% the cost of a new Corvette). Now a repaint is more than the car it worth! Even on a new Corvette it could be as much as 20-25% the cost of the car new... unbelievable.

 

Being a golfer I would have thought you knew how to deal with heavy storms - pop out the targa top and standing on the seat hold a 1 iron high over your head.....even God can't hit a 1 iron.

Your safe and good luck with the repairs.

 

Good to hear you survived the ordeal...now what to do with the Corvette. IMHO I have had different body panels painted on my car (due to vandals) and have no issues with matching. (Maybe black is an easier match) If you are not happy with the match have them re-do the paint job. Good luck. Rob

 

Gotta hate that! Good luck with the ins.

 

Glad you're OK. The only thing that could possibly have made you feel at least a little better was shooting par for the course.

 

Couldn't agree more! I have my own horror stories with that company Jay

 

Thanks guys. See original post for update.

 

They are going to repaint the entire car? Wow, for a 12 year old vehicle that's not bad for an insurance company. You are a a better man that I am. Id let them total it in an heartbeat and go buy a C7

 

I had a Geico claim back in college. They were absolutely fantastic to deal with.

 

Make sure its a shop you choose, not one of theirs!