This is what happens when you get to liking a car...

[DOCTORBILL]

Well, I just knew it had to happen...

Just about the time I got The Phoenix working well and all the fundamentals
fixed up, some bozo had to damage it.

Letting my daughter off at school for Cheerleading, while setting in the car with
the engine running and my daughter pulling her duffel bag out of the back seat,
some teacher backing out of a parking slot backed hard into the driver's side door and
crumpled it and broke the mirror off.

My left leg was resting against the door and bounced off the inside panel....
kinda sore.

Just thought I'd show what the damage is...







Her car has only some marks on the back plastic bumper. Pontiac G6

Now you watch as her insurance company tries to tell me the vehicle isn't
worth fixing and tries to give me a check for $600 or such and tells me to go
"peddle my papers!"

Damn....all that work! All last summer fixing the engine, Head, Rings, Fuel Pump,
Wheel Bearings the Fall before that, going thru the Pull-n-Save to find inside
and outside parts to make it look good...How much money I have into it and all
that time I spent.

I took pictures. Took an effort not to get really pissed off!
She didn't even look in the mirror!

You can't have anything good any more. It all comes to nothing!

Now I will see what Insurance Companies are good for - Her's is SAFECO.

DoctorBill

[Irk]

Man, That sucks. You put alot of time into this car, its a shame this happened .Take it to a couple of body shops for repair estimates and get the highest quote and give that to her insurance company. This way you'll get a bigger check than what the insurance company claims the damage is worth. Does the door still open alright? If it does you can probably pull the inside panel off the door and see the outside door panel. Get a block of wood and a hammer and pop out the dent from inside the door. Both of my mirrors broke off by people just bumping them. Geo put 3 short screws holding that mirror on and they just pull right out of the plastic threads when bumped, buy some longer screws and reattach the mirror.

[DOCTORBILL]

I am supposed to drive into Spokane tomorrow and have the SAFECO estimator
tell me what the damage is.....

I wonder if I go elsewhere, also, as you suggest and then submit those numbers
to SAFECO - what will happen?

They'll probably say "Eat me!"

How can some insurance estimator (a clerk) tell the Body Shops what they have to charge?

Takes a lot of Balls!

Like the Health Insurance dudes telling Doctors what they can charge....

You know, the GD Bean Counters have quietly taken over the whole world!

And we all quietly sit back and let them! Aren't we a submissive bunch?

We'll probably completely capitulate to the Fundamentalist Moslems that way.

What has become of us!?

What happened to "Kill them all and let God sort them out!"

I was going to say we've been feminized, but then what about Queen Isabella in Spain during
the fights with England, Golda Mier who led the Israelis and Margret Thatcher who kicked
Argentina's butt in the Falklands.

Right now, my Viking Ancestry urges me to pick up a sword and go pillaging...

Not really....I think I'll have a beer instead. Pillaging is such hard work. Especially when you're 64.

Oh well....I guess I answered my own questions.

DoctorBill

PS - I should just weld some "I-Beams" around the periphery of the car and when someone hits me
it will beat the crud out of their car! Just drive an old beater pile of dump around...

[Crvett69]

let them total the car and pay you for it then buy it back from them. if they total it and give you $1000 you should be able to buy it back from them for around $100. i can probably come up with a door of the same color that you just have to bolt on. if you have the reciepts for the engine work take them with you and make sure they pay you a fair price. you should be able to get a decent price since you did a lot of work to it then keep it and fix it yourself

[GM Line Rat]

Doc, when my 94 2-dr Metro got the hail damage beating BAD last summer, My insurance agency sent out an adjuster to look at the Dmg.....MAKE SURE You tell them you just installed a NEW engine in the car recently and tell them it cost you (Total price of rebuild plus labor charges). Then let them make you the offer (They Will) for just under the amount to total the car and you will get to keep the car (Totaled value minus approx 20%)......I got a check for $840.00. Then go to your local junkyard and find a good shape blue drivers door, Buy it and swap yours out with the good door and any good hardware on your door that it needs.....Then pocket the extra cash for any other upgrades you were planning on the Metro...... . I had a excellent shape 94 4 Dr Metro with a blown engine in it that was given to me Free at the house allready. Swaped the engine out of the Hail Dmg Metro into it, and it's what i've been driving since last year! Stripped the hail dmg Metro down for parts (E-Bay) and the shell went off to the Boneyard.

[DanMan7]

Yeah that's the best thing to do. OR if you can't find a blue drivers door, you can get any color door, and if you get enough money from the claim, you can just have a paint shop repaint the door the same color as the rest of the car...can't be too much money just to repaint a door.

[DOCTORBILL]

I put quite a few receipts in my Metro file, but did not keep EVERYTHING since
I was not anticipating having to prove to some "clerk" what I spent to fix up
an old banger Geo Metro.....

I had not much faith, back then, that this Valve-Ring repair job (done myself) was
going to work...let alone have to PROVE that I did it.

Jesus!

Should I start saving my dumps to show my Health Insurance clerk that my
behind worked back in November of 2006?

I cannot believe how much each of us has to be his/her own personal accountant
these days!

I have to spend time going thru my saved paperwork now for Federal Income
Taxes to show my son went to college, how much I paid for tuition, books, etc.
and when....Damn!

Thank God for these Income Tax Programs like H&R Block and TurboTax
that you run on your computer - asks questions...even some of the questions
are incomprehensible!

But...they make going thru Income Taxes bearable.

Has anyone tried to read and understand the Federal Income Tax rules in the
books you get at the Post Office....Gibberish!

Everyone should get a quarter/semester of "Personal Accounting Practices" in High School or College -
Federal Government Required!

I have to get ready to go into Spokane so's the "Insurance Adjuster" at SAFECO
can look at The Phoenix's owie at 8 AM....

I don't quite understand this "Totalling" the car business and buying it back....

If they Total the car, as I understand it, they just give you a check for what
they think its worth and say goodbye to you.....

What you do with the car is your problem! No?

DoctorBill

[GM Line Rat]

Originally Posted by DOCTORBILL

I don't quite understand this "Totalling" the car business and buying it back....

If they Total the car, as I understand it, they just give you a check for what
they think its worth and say goodbye to you.....

What you do with the car is your problem! No?

DoctorBill

Doc, when they total the car, they have estimated that the amount of $$$ it will cost to repair the vehicle has exceeded the amount the vehicle is worth in blue book value so Yes......they just give you a check (Minus approx 20% appreciation) for what they think its worth and say goodbye to you. In my case, they said they would to take the car at FULL totaled Dmg or I got a check for $840.00 and I got to keep the car.

[idmetro]

DOC;
Sounds like you have dealt with insurance weenies before. All they know is numbers (and their numbers say to give you as little as possible). I doubt one of them could even change a flat let alone do any actual work on a vehicle. DO be sure and get some other estimates first so you will have an idea what it would actually cost to get the work done on the open market.

My suggestion is that you not only gather whatever receipts you have for the work done on the car but comb the want ads in your region looking for Metro's that are "comparable" to yours. Basically similar age/miles. Gather half a dozen or so of the highest priced ones you can find (even better if you can get dealer ads as they charge more). This will allow you some basis to argue the value of the car with the adjuster. I had a Subaru wagon that I put much time and effort into (similar to your efforts with The Phoenix) before it got crunched and the insurance company claimed it was worth a grand total of $200 before their client crunched it. I finally complained loud enough and long enough which combined with the want ads I had gathered allowed me to get $1500 out of them which was much closer to replacement cost. These guys will not do any of the needed leg work they will just look in their "magic book" and tell you a ridiculously low value is all you are entitled to. THEY ARE WRONG!

[GM Line Rat]

Originally Posted by idmetro

My suggestion is that you not only gather whatever receipts you have for the work done on the car but comb the want ads in your region looking for Metro's that are "comparable" to yours. Basically similar age/miles. Gather half a dozen or so of the highest priced ones you can find (even better if you can get dealer ads as they charge more). This will allow you some basis to argue the value of the car with the adjuster.!

Hell, they didn't even ask me for reciepts. I looked the "Private Party" and retail value of the car up on KBB.COM Before the adjuster got out to the house. He cruntched some numbers on a laptop PC He had in his truck and came back with the $840.00 Figure for me....He was right on the money compared to the research I did.

[idmetro]

Over the years I have dealt with adjusters from State Farm, Safeco, Allstate, Viking and several others. Only one has actually been helpful/pleasant/reasonable and he was from a company whose name I have forgotten (they only sell to folks who have had military service or their children; it's not AARP but the acronym is similar). In all other cases I have had to "joust" with them especially when I didn't have a new car involved. I should mention that in none of the above cases was I the party at fault. Perhaps I just attrack poor/lazy adjusters???

As previously mentioned you can "buy back" your car for approx 20% of the value that they give it. Be aware that if you ever intend to sell it the title will likely be "branded" as salvage or rebuilt. Not a big deal but many people avoid those vehicles like the plague so you could be limiting your market as it were.

In any case I'd do some homework ahead of time so you are ready if necessary. Good Luck!

[DOCTORBILL]

Here's my story today - I took The Damaged Phoenix (!) to the SAFECO adjuster
and she came up with $1,154 to fix it and said that that amount was at 95% of
the "Totalling Value" for the car (works out to $1,215).

She spent about five minutes calling two wrecking yards (on her list...?) and
couldn't find an "Insurance level" door. I found out later what that means -
one in excellent shape.

I have to wait until SAFECO admits that they are responsible....after they talk to
the woman who hit me. I am supposing that that won't go south. Knock on wood!

I went to a Body Shop I knew about. He didn't give me an estimate but said
that just getting the door painted would be $650 !

I found a Blue 1991 Geo Metro door "shell" (gutted out) for $40. If all the parts
(which still work in my dinged door!) are transferred, the body shop would charge
$170.

The Mirror would cost $145 NEW the Body Shop guy said...new!
He said that was a Chevy price! Can it be possible that Chevy still sells such
rear-view door mirrors!?

I am discussing doors with Crvett69 as I write this, so all is up in the air yet.

My insurance guy (FARMERS) says I should tell SAFECO to cut me a check and
let me do the footwork, etc....that I'll sign off on the car.

I think $1,154 is fair - say what?

What think you folks?

Personally, I don't think anyone can have anything nice anymore to drive.

People will trash it by their stupid careless behavior.

DoctorBill

PS - is this Forum becoming my "Father Confessor" or my "Daily Diary(a)"...?

Here is a side note on this experience - last night I realized that the way this
woman backed up into me w/o looking in her mirror, that had I decided to get
out of the car when my daughter was leaving it, the woman's 4,000 lb car
would have made the Geo's door into a giant shears and probably have cut
me into several pieces.

Feet sheared off. Head sheared off between the top of the car and the top
of the door!

When she hit me, it lifted my side up and pushed the car over enough to have
the car top hit my daughter on the bridge of her nose! She was bending over
to pull her bag out of the back seat....

She's seeing a doctor tomorrow - I'll never sign off on that!

[GM Line Rat]

$1154.00.....Take the loot Doc! A good drivers door can be found for $100.00 to $125.00 around here......Complete. The junkyard 2 miles from my house probably has 6 or more good drivers doors that I've personally seen in the last few months. A month ago...I could have helped you Doc! We stripped my 94 2-Dr down after the hail dmg and payoff on it....But left the doors on it before going to the crusher.....Both doors were dent free, rust free and Blue..... . I can get you a DS mirror from the junkyard Doc for peanuts......Forget the $145.00 for a mirror.....That's a RIPOFF! If you need a new one, As a GM employee, I get GM parts at Wholesale from the GM warehouses and shipped to me.....Let me know?

[DOCTORBILL]

I should go to our several local Pull-n-Saves to see if any doors are available.

It has been so damned wet here that the Wrecking Yards are muddy sink holes.

Crvett69 says any '91 - '94 door is the same.

If don't want to have to have a door shipped if I can help it - that probably
easily costs $100.....

The SAFECO agent will call today. I hope no trouble occurs.

If I find a door or buy the Blue $40 "Shell" after that is the "trim" which usually is
bad.

My outer Trim is about shot from Sun Damage.

Onward!

DoctorBill

[idmetro]

My suggestion is to tell the SAFECO adjuster you'll accept the $1154 with the condition you get to keep the car (without any "buyback" penalty) and you will stay in touch regarding you and your daughters medical expenses.

Then get yourself a replacement blue door and you'll be in good shape. Possibly you can find a replacement door with the mirror already on it.

Good Luck!