So, long story short, some idiot who shouldn't have a CDL hit me in a tractor trailer while I was turning right. Screwed up my quarter panel, and most of my hopes of doing anything at all with this car.



1223151202.jpg


Not sure if I'm gonna bother fixing it, probably not, at this point, between it needing floor pans, all the suspension to be replaced, and the fact that the engine needs to be pulled and resealed means I'll probably pull the engine and find another car to put it in. It needs a front seal, pan seal, and maybe a rear seal. The car sat for several years so most of the seals dried up. It runs great, though, and I feel like the engine has a lot of life left in it.



Up in the air at this point, but this car is probably getting parted or otherwise gotten rid of. I'm not really that interested in fixing it at this point.

 

Give it a few days and maybe even a week or two to calm before you make any big decisions.

It could be a door opening to something great.

 

Is there an insurance claim?

 

How do you figure that? Unless of course, I find a good body to put the engine in, it's not the original engine, it doesn't match. But the car did originally have a 350 rocket, just, not this 350 rocket. The suspension is super sketchy under the front end, if my Subaru was on the road I wouldn't be driving this car. Make no mistake, what gets the engine WILL be an Oldsmobile.




No, I only have basic coverage and the car needs much more than just the quarter, it's really not worth fixing man. The shiny paint hides a lot of problems. I did inform my agency of the incident, and told them that the police officer could find neither party at fault, so neither of us where ticketed. Past that, nothing I can do. I'm honest about this, when I totaled my '77 back in august, that was my fault, 100%. This is 100% not my fault, even still, the car isn't worth claiming. In the long run it'll just affect my insurance negatively in some way.

 

It's not your insurance that matters, it's the other guy! HE hit you. It's HIS fault. HIS insurance pays. and they should pay to fully fix it. No deductible on your part. If he is following the law, he has liability insurance, because the law requires it, and this what that kind insurance pays for. Damage you inflict on the other guy.

The only issue might be that the cost to repair is more than the value of the car, and the other guy's insurance company decides to total it. In that case, you might as well take the money for the car, if it's at all reasonable, and let it go if you're not going to fix it, anyway.

The bottom line here, though, is that the other guy is at fault, and it is up to them to make you whole. This should not cost you a dime.

 

All I can say is that is my worst nightmare. Minding my own business and have some idiot plow into me. So sorry for your misfortune. That just stinks. Good luck.

 

Thanks, that's my fear too, I've done a lot of commercial driving, tens of thousands of miles, nothing CDL. I've seen all kinds of bad drivers, and unfortunately had a couple encounters with them.

Yes, I agree, but he works for a company, something that I want no part of making a claim against. I also don't want to lose the car for $1,000 or less, depending on what they value it at. There are more parts in it than that, I know of people on the forums here that could use parts if I decide to part it out.

At the end of the day, I'm probably just gonna keep the car around until I find another body. I'm just glad this happened before I spent money on all that suspension work I was planning. I've got the Subaru I can drive for a while when I get the money up sometime next month or February. So I'll just have to take it from there.

 

Why not? It's not your job to make the claim, it's your insurance company's job.

My '73 Custom Cruiser was hit by a guy driving a rental car. My insurance company went after them (Enterprise) and got my money for me. This is why you have insurance! Don't give up or be afraid just because it's a corporation you'd be dealing with. If they're wrong they're wrong. Your insurance company is big, too, and can fight them.

Call your insurance company and let them handle it. Otherwise, you're just shortchanging yourself. It may come down to the car being declared totaled, and maybe you don't want to go that route. But don't give up until you've reached this point and know this for sure. If you do nothing, you're just letting the bad guy win.

 

when another driver totaled my car i was able to keep the car for a small fee to the insco (in my case it was like $300) and they still paid out another 4kish to me. I rebuilt the car and drove it another year before selling it.