For those of us that drive our cars on a regular basis, do we take an assumed risk for minor damage knowing that's the trade off?

Case in point, I drove my '72 Supreme to work today. Beautiful crisp fall day, so why not?

I got home, and when I got out of the car, I noticed a small chip in one of the black stripes on the hood showing the white paint underneath that wasn't there before.. I thought "no big deal, I'll just touch it up."
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Then I noticed two small pin head size chips in the windshield, and was not happy. Original glass with a new defect. But then when I rubbed my fingernail across them, they weren't that deep..ok, I can live with that. My concern is, however, will they spread? I don't want spider cracks and have to get a new windshield, so should I be worried,, or am I ok?

 

I would not worry about it. If is is a small surface defect I think there is little chance it will spread/ crack. If you are really concerned about it, you could take it to a local safelite glass shop. If it is deep enough to crack, they have a resin it can be filled with, but I would not bother. The more you drive the car, the more chips you will get. After 15 years of driving my 66 chevelle convertible, it probably has half a dozen or more cracks across the front of the hood that I have had to touch up.

 

The assumption of risk exists for anyone who operates a vehicle - the more valuable the vehicle is to its owner, the more sensitive they tend to be about them. If your car isn't pedigreed, touch the paint up, replace the windshield when it cracks and keep enjoying the ride! Your w/s may never get any worse on its own so if the chips aren't in your sight line, maybe seal them with one of those auto part store kits and leave it alone.

My '72 Cutlass ragtop comes out in good weather as much as possible and I'm resigned to the risks that come with that - but I can enjoy it more knowing it's not a numbers car that demands preservation.

short of total or outright economic destruction, just about anything else that might happen to it is fixable.

 

If you want a pristine car park it in your living room. Otherwise, enjoy it.

 

Norm how did you know that's what I do?

 

LMAO, Mike.

 

The risks are the same as driving a late model car. Rock chips are inevitable, how ever you can eliminate some of the risk by driving a bit slower down gravel roads, don't follow to close to the car in front of you, and be cognizant of the cars and hazards around you. Repair as required.

 

Same here, my car gets used as a daily driver as often as possible. It has sustained multiple paint chips, and there's been a rock divot in the windshield for at least a decade now. These are things you have to accept if the car will be driven regularly, and as mentioned above you can do things to mitigate the risks and make repairs as necessary. Just think of it as a regular part of maintaining the vehicle.

 

However pristine we might like to have them, the cars that get used as, uh, cars will take some damage. Hopefully insignificant, but sometimes not. At least we know where to go to find parts and learn how to repair them.

Thank you Classic Oldsmobile.

 

^^^I do all the above...but have yet to take it on a gravel road😁

 

All good comments. Make no mistake, I have no problem taking my Cutlass out every chance I get...after all, it's not a "trailer queen.". So I expect some minor damage and/or chips. I was just wondering how the rest of us feel when those things happen.

 

The same as you...

 

My car has had 4 windshields replaced in all the years I have driven it, she is a rock magnet. The rock chip paint thing has taught me how to do a respectable job of chip repair and it's not as stressful as it once was anymore. Just part of the game of owning a classic car and driving to places you would like to see or show the old gal off..... Tedd

 

I feel bad.

 

don't feel bad.i live on about 2 miles of gravel road.i just painted my 66 in my back garage.when i am done it's first road is gravel so i am screwed any way i look at it.drive it and don't worry about it.

 

When looking for my vehicle one of my criteria was a driver, when going to local cruise ins I kind of envy the 1-10 # 10 paint jobs, I would rate mine at maybe a # 6-7 it had a few scratches and chips when I purchased it, (no dents) I anticipate it will get a few more and while I will be disappointed when it happens nobody will be on suicide watch. she's 64 years old and a little patina is ok, everybody has seen the WWJD logos on T-shirts etc... my logo reads WWDE Wash, Wax, Drive, Enjoy.
as another poster suggested if you believe the windshield is a issue ck into the resin treatment, a reputable glass shop will tell you of its required, I did have it done once on my 64 and it was almost undetectable and I'm sure the technology has improved since then. DRIVE ON !!

 

Unless it's a trailered trophy queen, drive it and enjoy... Also, true it's only "original" once and are reluctant to change major parts, only you can decide to take the risks, hopefully minimal at best, and enjoy the fruits of your labor/investment...

 

I have a very nice 87 Mustang LX 5.0 convertible that my dad bought new (I converted it from a 2.3 auto to 5.0 T5). I don't even carry collision on it so my 17 year old daughter can drive it. The only way I can carry collision is with an agreed value policy and no agreed value policy will allow a 17 year old. The car is only worth about $5k but if she (or I) wreck it I want whats left of it anyway.

 

In today's world you take a big risk driving any vehicle you are fond of, but what are you going to do. Someone hits you and the insurance company is going to pull out the blue book and pay you a fraction of what the car is worth. I had someone cut me off clipping the front corner of my car. Since the car was old they wanted to total the car and take it to a junk yard. While fighting with them I had the car repaired and showed them the car so they settled with paying a fraction of the damages and let me keep the car. Not at all right but it's the way they do things.

 

I've always wondered what I would do if this happened to me. As long as the car can be safely repaired I think what you did is a textbook example of how to handle it. I suppose if they refused to pay you, you could threaten to sue them in small claims court.

 

You guys are missing the whole concept of insurance. The purpose of auto insurance is NOT to fix your damaged car. The purpose of auto insurance is to REPLACE YOUR TRANSPORTATION. The insurance company cares nothing about sentiment, nothing about how much you love the car nor how long you've owned it, and it shouldn't. As cars get older, it often costs more to fix collision damage than the car is worth. It would be fiscally irresponsible for an insurance company to pay $5000 to fix a 2005 Honda Civic that was worth $3000 before the accident. Instead, the insurance company will hand you the $3000 the car was worth with the idea that you can go out and buy another, undamaged 2005 Honda Civic to replace the damaged one. The insurance company has thus fulfilled its obligation to replace your transportation. The insurance company will take your damaged car in the process and most likely sell it for scrap in an attempt to recover as much of the $3000 they paid to you as possible.

It should come as no surprise that insurance companies will often want to "total" a car damaged old car. It happens all the time. Even the most minor-seeming of damage can cost thousands of dollars to fix these days.


As far as taking the insurance company to small claims court, that probably is a non-starter as most small claims courts limit the dollar amounts in the cases they hear to no more than $1000 (hence the term "small" claims). Most of these insurance company issues involve far more than that.

 

The small claims limit in NY is $3000. Given the choice of paying the totaled value of my $500 car or being taken to small claims court the fiscally responsible thing for an evil insurance company to do would be to settle for $3000. At least that would be my hope.

 

That doesn't work either. The insurance company pays you 40% of what your ride is really worth isn't replacing your transportation. I know there is too many careless drivers out there but that is downright crooked. They are sure collecting the premiums.

 

I do enough body work I could have fixed the car myself but I had it professionally done for the paper trail. They did an excellent job of hammering out the fender. You can run a magnet over the area and can't detect bondo at all.

This little bit of damage is what they were going to total the car for. It doesn't show but the headlight assembly is broken too. I bought one off ebay and the body shop did the rest.

 

Jauntys on the right track, but to sum it up the insco isonly in itto make money. Thats it the easiestcheapest way out is their goal.

add to this insurance fraud, bad body shops etc the list goes on.

when my 10 yr old vw was in an accident caused by the other driver turning left across 2 oncoming traffic lanes, the insco offered me 1500 and they would total it. No airbags went off the car had fr end damage sheet metal only. I had bought the car new and it was never in a prior accident and i drove it home 30 miles after the accident so i knew it was fine. I countered the insco offer w i need 6000 to replace the car and sent them some overpriced dealer ads for similar cars. We agreed at 4500 and i bought the car backfrom them for 200. I straightened the hood and fenders glued the grill and had to buy new headlights $400. I drove the car another 2 years and sold it for $1500.

point is its your ptoperty you dont need to take the inscos first offer, in my case it took about a month of backn forth but i received a fair payout.

 

Called Hagerty. Safelite is coming tomorrow to repair my windshield 😀

 

My dad was so risk averse with his collector cars that he never drove them. They just sat in their garages and slowly deteriorated. Time is going to get it either way, either through normal wear and tear or dry rotting over an extended period of time.

Sometimes an insurance company will actually do you right. Last December, my daily driver, a 2011 Impala, got rear-ended by a drunk driver—at noon on a Sunday. To expedite matters, I filed a claim through my own insurance company and let them go after the drunk's insurance through subrogation. My company, Amica, declared the car a total loss although it was still perfectly drivable. They were also surprisingly generous in their settlement, giving me more than what Edmunds.com showed as its (admittedly conservative) retail valuation. Given my previous experiences, I thought I would be lucky to get something just north of wholesale value. Of course, Amica knew the drunk's insurance company didn't have a leg to stand on since he'd blown a 0.24, which is three times the legal limit, and totaled three vehicles, including his own. I'm sure his company was just happy to avoid the cost of litigation. By the time the drunk's insurance company called me to try and make a settlement, I had already replaced the car with the 2013 Buick LaCrosse I'm driving now and it felt good to be able to just refer them to Amica and not have to listen to their BS. Although it was not my intention at the time, going through Amica turned out to be a good strategic move. The most i had to lose was a $500 deductible, which I got back when I signed the Impala over to them, and I feel confident that I got a much better deal than the drunk's company would have offered. The Impala was a nice car and I miss it but as one of my students said when she saw me get out of the Buick at school one morning, "You won!"

 

I have USAA and have made two claims on my truck, one with USAA and one with Liberty Mutual of the guy who hit me. Both times I had to chew them out on the phone as they kept trying to give me aftermarket cheaper parts. The first time, I had to show them I could get a service replacement rear combo lamp for cheaper than aftermarket. Then the *** informed me they were giving me a new OEM bumper because they're nice (when there weren't aftermarkets available, said so on the paperwork.

Second time, dude had no insurance, so I dealt with USAA, they tried the aftermarket bumper ****. I tore the guy a new one after I told him I would put no aftermarket bumper on the car, and he asked me how I knew the OEM was better. Stated my occupation, explained quality control, then berated him for a good couple minutes for passing unsafe **** onto their customers. He then said they would only pay for aftermarket; so I said fine, but I want a premium reduction to reflect that I am only insuring for that. Haven't received that yet, hah.

Insurance, like usury, and jurisprudence, is a loathsome occupation practiced by primarily a certain kind of person. Even the Lord Christ knew what to do with them.

 

This thread has gone way sideways...can we get back to the original point?

 

The real solution to this story is get agreed value for your for your classic car. I know about the dailey driver issue and some companies have mileage limits and it's harder to work around if your not retired but for some of us this is a less expensive way to drive our classic pretty much on a daily basis without the risk of loosing a older car for the low end of someones Blue Book..... Tedd

 

Original glass in a 72? Really Dave? Glass is cheap so I'd rather replace a windshield than worry about it. As far as getting small chips, yeah it's a bummer but not a darn thing you can do about it except touch up or keep it polished. I put Oldsmobile splash guards on my car to protect the vulnerable lower part of the car but that's not a guarantee. I also enjoy just taking the car out and driving it, but like you say there's always some degree of risk. Heck, same as with your modern car. Don't worry about it, just put that grin back on your face and enjoy the drive.

 

Oh trust me Allan, the grin never left. Hell, just looking at it is enough to make me smile😀. As far as the chips go, a sharpie took care of the hood, and Safelite took care of the glass. Took ' er out for a spin tonight...the big block is runnin' good😀

 

Glad to hear everything's good. I also love taking mine out for spins. Since I installed those 3.42 gears it really woke up that little 350 4bbl of mine. Still, don't think I'd want to race a 455 with it. Just out of curiosity did you get that rad cap figured out? I'm running a 16lb closed sytem (motorad) on mine and it seems to work well. I looked at the 15 lb closed system on Rockauto's site. It has the features you were looking for - the little arrows pointing outwards, but in their 'documentation' section it says that OEM rad caps were round without ears. Makes a fella scratch his head and try to dust off some cobwebs from the 70's file

 

I agree as well

 

I'm gonna try to use the cap that came with the kit, but apparently there is some "tweaking" to be done...will keep you posted.