Slowly rolling thru a construction zone when a complete idiot (probably texting) plowed into the back of my '07 vert. Learned that the back of a Vette is tougher than the front of a Jeep Compass, since her Enterprise vehicle left on a wrecker. However, she hit me hard enough to lift the back of the Vette high enough to punch a hole in her radiator with the exhaust pipes.
I drove it home (+/- 200 miles), but I now have to crank about 30 degrees of wheel into it to make it go in a straight line. Body shop est has not yet been completed, but they agree there is frame damage (rear wheels are not evenly located in the wheel wells either up and down, front to rear or right to left. Both door panel gaps are off a little bit. No front end damage.
I am expecting a value dispute with the Insurance, since I want to use the value from the most recent Corvette Magazine report, and they will probably want to use NADA.
All thoughts, comments, or suggestions will be appreciated

 

Man that sucks, been there...twice! Although they were light crashes, Any pics of the accident to give you a better answer?

 

Picture immediately after wreck

 

Doesn't look like much yet I know from experience that when mine happend it was over 8k to replace all parts that where involved...are you making an insurance claim?

 

Yes, I have filed thru my insurance (State Farm). My biggest concern is the fact my steering has to be about 30 degrees left to go in a straight line. The hit was slightly ff-center to the driver side of the Vette. I'll try to post some more pics later today. Did you get anything for diminished value? If so how did you make that argument?

Thanks for the reply.

 

Well let the insurance adjustors be the ones judging the repairs, just point out what wasn't there and let them come out with a check. As far as the DV my lawyer wrote a nice letter, just called them and send them the letter pretty much.

 

Carfax Report will show an accident!! Get rid of that car... Your not only going to deal with potential issues after repair... but the value is going to drop 5k easily....

Have someone torch it just to be sure...lol

 

First picture, straight edge pn left rear wheel, note gap to fender

[IMG]https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.corvetteforum.com-vbulletin/533x960/80-
image_39c65e3bec2e111c28c5b87c17487372aa 4df04e.png[/IMG]

Second picture, straight edge in same place, gap to fender less than a 16th of an inch

 

second picture same place on opposite side of car difference in ga is about 3/8 inch

 

That is probably a lot worse than it looks. If the wheel is off by that much, you are talking suspension/steering damage, maybe frame as well. At least everybody is OK, but I think the insurance company will total your car.

 

First off - Sorry to hear about the accident - always one of the biggest fears when you have a nice car.

There are two pieces of good news...

#1 - You are alright !!! The car is replaceable - you and your family are not!

#2 - You were hit from behind. When someone hits you from behind - it's basically their fault - not a lot of discussion on how much of the accident is who's fault.

No question - there is damage - but who knows how much to repair - there is a very good chance that the Insurance company is going to total it as the small stuff on a Vette can get very expensive very fast. And if they do total the car - that's not a terrible thing. I would ask about the buyback cost (the amount that you would have to pay to get your totaled car back) - it might be a good number to have in your back pocket.

Personally, I would also ask around to see if anyone knows a good frame shop in your area - and bring the car to them (since you drove it 200 miles - it's clearly drivable). They can tell you a lot by getting the car up on a lift and checking it out. Then you have some facts to either "discuss" with State Farm if you don't like their repair offer - or to make a decision with.

Another part of the equation is how you will feel driving a car that you know has been hit. If it will bother you in some way - then hope that it's totaled, and only consider buying it back to possibly part out.

Bottom line - it's always a good thing to have some info available should you not like how things are going with the Insurance company. Many years ago my Daily Driver was hit by an underage drunk kid while it was legally parked. I took some pictures, and took them to someone I knew in the auto body business. He noticed a roof pillar was bent - and said that you don't want to even try to fix that on an inexpensive unibody car. I spoke to the adjuster before he had a chance to put together an estimate, and made sure he knew about the bent pillar. The next day I found out the car was totaled - which was the desired outcome. Not sure if it would have been the outcome if I hadn't "helped the process along" - but I know it sure didn't hurt to have that piece of info in my pocket.....



GOOD LUCK !!!