Advice please! I was rear ended in my 2015 Z51 coupe. The rear frame member and quarters are damaged plus the "basket" of the car was separated from the chassis. Not sure what the "basket" means. Needless to say there is extensive damage. Can someone tell me what the "basket" is? The insurance company insists on repairing the car. They maintain that there is not 80% damage to the car which would be necessary for them to authorise
a total. I feel owning a Corvette is an "all in" circumstance and my vette will no longer be track worthy much less be the same in my mind. Am I wrong? Can it be repaired to as new condition with structural integrity to equal new? Any one have success and ideas as to how to deal with the insurance company? My view is to walk away from the car.
Thanks,
Alan

 

Not sure what you mean by "walk away" from it. If it doesn't meet the ins company's criteria to total it you likely have no choice. Yes it can be fixed. You definitely have reason for a Diminished Value claim because of the extensive damage.

 

Ah, diminished value claim sounds interesting. Walk away means trade it in or sell.

 

Always worried about the tailgaters. Lots of close calls. All I need is a distracted tailgater! Sorry for your trouble! I hope you get a satisfactory resolution.

 

You can see what the insurance company is offering for $$, and the see what a salvage yard would pay you for the car. If the dollars are there that the ins money and salvage money and "walk away" pay off car.


my 2 cents

 

I own my car outright so I get to keep the ins money plus sell salvage. Let's add it all up and see

 

Seriously let me put this as carefully as I can. You couldn't have come to a worse place for advice. Most of these know it all's are going to tell you that "I would MAKE THEM " do this or that and you can't " make them " do a damn thing. The best advice for you right now is to keep it off of this forum.

 

The "basket" as they called it is the tub that has the interior in it and acts as the "frame" for body support. The chassis and the tub ( basket ) are the two things that unify the rigidity of the car. As most body parts have to be aligned with something, the tub/basket came about to hang the parts on. Most of the tubs are of a fiberglass construction and can be repaired by simple "glassing" of the break. Check with a good body shop, as you own the car outright you will not be encumbered by the insurance company's choice of repair shops. I saw a Z06 ( C6 ) which had its tub cracked and the car was stripped from the dash back to get to the tub to do the repair, the repair for that car was $40,000 and the bodyman who did it was very good. When finished it looked like a brand new car, no misalignment of panels or gaps on the car.
Repairing the tub takes time, lots of time and precision. Never got to talk to the owner after the car was finished to find out if it drove well, but the body shop man said that it behaved well when driven.
My wife's less than 10 day old Sky was hit by a pick up and required having the tub repaired and although the car looked great, it was not the same car. We kept it for less than a year and traded it.
Neat side bar here. The repair never showed up on Car Fax, although we did tell the dealer that there had been some body work on the car when trading.
Although a good body shop will make your car look good I would doubt that it will handle the same as before.
The thought of get the insurance, go for the diminished value and salvage would be high on my list of considerations.
Best of luck to you. Sorry for this unfortunate incident.

 

 

Ditto.

Has anyone actually got $$$ for diminished value from their insurance company?

 

I thought the C7 tub was aluminum.

 

Have it repaired. Then determine how it looks and drives, keep or trade as applicaple.

 

From MY insurance company? No. From the responsible party's insurance company? Yes.

If you are not at fault, and the other party's insurance is paying for the repairs, AND you are well below that person's liability coverage, suggest working to get the car repaired as well as can be using the right shops, parts etc. THEN when the repairs are completed to your satisfaction, begin negotiation of the diminished value payment. If you sell the car at that point for less than full market value, the size of the diminished value is then well documented. If you keep the car, it can take some negotiation to come to a settlement.

The one thing you do have on your side at that point is they have already paid for repairing the car and they want to close the claim.

 

I agree. A good body shop can do wonders with a car that has been damaged so unless the damage is enough for a total loss, get the car repaired and go from there.

 

This probably the best advice.

 

Thank you for your thoughtful advise. My feeling is that a vette is an "all in" purchase and why would I want a repaired wreck especially with basket
and frame damage. I'd always know.

 

Sometimes yes
Sometimes no
Some wise guys
Many good guys

 

Correct. I come here for the daily entertainment. This place is hilarious!

Hopefully for the OP this is wax buildup and he doesn’t have to file a claim.

Next will be the guy asking for pics or it isn’t real.

And lets not forget “TAKE IT TO THE TRACK! Speed Kills!

 

My biggest concern driving today! Been driving for 55 years and never had an accident with another car! A few off the road excursions as I call them with my 260Z and CJ5 but only the cars were moderately hurt! I attribute that to always looking in my mirrors, knowing what's around, mostly trying to stay out of traffic, accelerating ahead of packs on the highway and luck!
However today I see many folks looking down at their cell phones or holding them while they talk and they are obviously distracted. I will not use a phone in the car, even blue tooth, so I can devote full attention to avoiding those who are! We recently had a young lady killed at an intersection near the house by a log truck. A police officer told me he sees it all the time. The light is green, there is no one in front of them, their phone beeps, they look down to see who sent them a message and don't see the light turned red and go thru it! In this case there is no way the truck could avoid hitting her!
I watch the grandkids and even daughter and it's like Pavlov's dog-its a condition response! They can't help themselves!






Conditioned response! The dog nor texters can't help themselves!

 

The driver was not as pretty. Don't want to mention if it was a male or female except the perp was 5 months pregnant with a cell phone in hand. Now that we've had some fun can we please keep this discussion on topic