Thanks for all the support. I have been . . .

[gastephens]

Thanks for all the support. I have been pretty down about it. His insurance (Allstate) has not contacted me yet but I am armed with lots of comps and receipts. The car has won concours events and I regularly drive it on high-speed vintage rallies so it is a very nice car mechanically and cosmetically. It won't be easy to replace or rebuild to the level I did the first time around (bare metal respray, all trim removed, etc.) This could get ugly.

I made sure he understood that he had destroyed a car that had gone 30 years without being hit and that someone (me!) had spent years and lots of $$$ restoring. I hope it made an impression.

Hopefully I can rebuild it and I know the perfect source for parts since this forum helped me so much when I did the original restoration.

Here is a picture from happier times.

[PSloan]

reciepts = good. Allstate = bad. Got a good lawyer?

[gastephens]

Not yet. I know how the game is played. Time is on my side since I have other cars to drive.

And you know what? My neck is starting to hurt and I think I may have PTSD.

[PSloan]

what did the kid say about it? I guess at least you didnt get your 02 ruined by a drunk driver like i did. mine was nowhere near repairable.

[HarryPR]

Good to hear from you again, even if the circumstances are rather unfortunate. I know well the amount of work you did to make your car one of the nicest '02's around. This really sucks...

Hopefully you'll be able to rebuild it and get it back to where it was.

I'm glad you're OK. Hope to talk to you soon!

Best,

[RayC911]

Did you ever get it appraised? You have a long fight ahead of you. The important thing is that you didn't get hurt but it's still painful. Good luck.

[H_Krix]

Glenn,

I live inside the perimeter in Atlanta, just off N.Decatur Road. If you need any help at all getting her back together, shoot me an email, I'd be glad to help. I also may know someone with some spare body panels, but i'll have to ask him first.

[Jim_75Sahara]

Good luck Glen. That car was (& will be again) beautiful! I had never seen a Pastelblau in showroom condition before. Like any 02, it can look pretty sad when abused. I had only seen abused Pastelblaus til yours. I was out in mine yesterday & nearly got smashed by an SUV in a tight parking lot. A#*hole did not look where he was going, boring right into me, swerved away just in time. Keep us posted on the rebirthing process.

[winstontj]

Remember:

Insurance companies are in the business of not paying claims.

The person who wins a negotiation has the best alternative to no solution.

Bet you'll get an agreed upon value policy for your next car. It a shame but on the bright side total beaters are opening on eBay for thousands and decent restos are pushing the $20K mark. All of these things are in your favour. Just pile up the receipts and turn them in. Opening offer from them should be around 25% of what you need to cut your losses and consider yourself not raped. Feeling whole is a completely different story and you'll probably need about 10 times the amount they initially offer. Hold out on a lawyer as long as you possibly can but say things like "my brother's an attorney - maybe I should talk to him about this"

Best of luck!

[Benz02]

Sorry to see such a nice ride crunched. I want to add to the other comments, and this may be rhetorical since it sounds like you know the ugliness that lies ahead. If and when the kid's insurance decides to pay, assuming they don't total it, I highly recomend going to one of the shops on their "network". Even though it may not be your first choice for a shop, they usually put a garauntee on the work for the insurance company. So, when you get it back and you see all the things they did wrong, you can take it right back and say, "fix it right, please", at no cost to you. If you cash settle and then go to a shop of your choice, or do the work yourself, you'll probably end up getting the short end of the stick (again). Best of luck to you and the 02...

Ben

[SteveJ]

Was this YOUR fault? No.

Should you be compensated and have your car returned to the condition it was in before the accident? Yes.

Do not settle. Get what is due to you.

When it came time for me to show the value of my car, I ended up sending about a 50 page fax to the appraiser. It was filled with hand scribbled notes and reciepts as I do all my own work. I also included a list of car events we attended and photos and magazine articles where our car was in the shots. I included a few of the ebay cars as well.

I told them if they needed more information that I would be happy to fax over the entire file. They responded that would not be needed. They ended up hiring an outside appraiser to come by. The guy knew his mustangs and camaros, but had no clue on anything made East of Detroit.

Ran his hand over my dash-mat covered dash and said that the interior was in really good shape.

With the help and support of FAQers, I got a fair settlement on my car and kept it out of a salvage title.

[Mike Self]

Dayton--I nearly got merged into by a clown in a Chevy Cobalt yesterday afternoon on my way home from work. My air horns woke him up in a hurry! My philosophy: the smaller the car, the louder the horns...

Stick to your guns with Allstate. Remember, you're the wronged party, and the law says they have to make you whole again. And don't forget that aching neck and back...

Remember, 2002 sheet metal can be replaced; 2002 enthusiasts can't.

cheers

mike

[jgmgti]

Sorry about the accident.I hate seeing damaged labors of love.

One year ago today an idiot jumped a stop sign and the result was a totaled "resto-custom" 1978 German Spec. GTI.

I had and have agreed value coverage well documented with an appraisal.

My insurance co.sent an appraiser out who turned out to be a real motorhead,actually big-block muscle head and he was able to see the time effort and $$ that went in to the car.Additionally the car was magazine featured 6 mos. before the accident.My insurance co.paid my claim within $1,000 of the value...depreciation??I agreed and bought my salvage back and more than made the difference up.

Be patient and request an appraiser.Let the insurance companies fight it out.

Best of luck Jonathan

[jgmgti]

With my tii I drive with great caution and expect the worst from most drivers.

Jonathan

[dubois]

with Allstate. My personal and professional experience during 13 years with them is that they are extremely fair. The problem always lies on the fact that outside of this group, not a lot of people know much about 02's. So YOU need to educate them. Do your homework, start getting comparables of what this type of car in similar condition are selling for. Use Ebay ads, auction reports, paper ads, autotrader, etc. Of course the asking price and the selling price is two different things, but you can show order of magnitude, ie, we are taking 10,000 not 1,000. The bigger the pile of papers the better. Allstate has a fiduciary responsibility NOT to overpay this claim, it is completely understandable. Get ahead of the game and tell them what you expect as a settlement in advance, it makes their job a lot easier and you will get results a lot faster. Like anything else it is a negociation process too.