Preface:

My sister's car was wrecked thanks to a certain Ms. Byers at SMU. The car's been at a bodyshop for about a week and a half. Lots of trouble with the insurance people -- the bodyshop's estimate was $3700 and the insurance adjuster for the crappiest insurance company in America -- Nationwide -- appraised the damage as $2500 (Nationwide will only pay for salvage parts and will not pay for paint matching). So they had a battle and I can't remember the compromised price.

Long story short, the bodyshop said that they couldn't even get the car fixed for several weeks, so we had them send the car to our favorite Chevy dealership instead.

Story:

Unknown to us, the bodyshop had taken apart much of the car and just PILED the parts into the car's interior -- tail lights, speakers, etc -- and the interior is damaged (to what extent I don't know). Not only that but my sister went out to the dealership and it appears the bodyshop or the towing company damaged the car further. They wrecked the front end of the car (the license plate and mounting bracket are bent), the rear bumper has several areas of damage on it that were not there prior, and the tint on one of the windows is damaged.

Who's taking responsibility for this further damage? No one.

Who's going to pay for the damages? Hell if I know.

 

Sorry to hear it man. Sounds like it just got towed to a shady shop. I know we'd never get away with that. The only parts they should have removed would be whatever was in the way during the estimate, ie tail lights and spare tire to check the rear structure.

Insurance adjusters take a ton of pictures, it's basically their job. Maybe the additional damage was done after the initial estimate and you can bust them. Just be ready for a fight with Nationwide, all insurance companies want to get out of it as cheap as possible. They just seem to go a little farther then most and additional damage may pose a problem.

BTW what is the year, model, and mileage of her car. That could be why Nationwide will only use salvage parts. If it's close to total they'll do that.

 

Thanks for the reply eddie, you seem to know a lot about insurance and body damage! The body place DID remove the taillights and the spare tire was removed (and misplaced) as well.

The car is a '95 Z28 coupe, every single option except CD changer and t-tops, excellent condition prior to accident, automatic, 74,000 miles.

I took several dozen pictures of the damage (and of the rest of the car) before taking it to the shop and emailed them to the Chevy dealership as well as the insurance guy for Nationwide. Nationwide is a ***** to deal with. Those guys don't cover their clients well, or the people they hit.

Oh, and I made a mistake when typing the stuff in my first post. The bodyshop's estimate was $4100, Nationwide's was $2500, and Nationwide compromised at $3700

 

Nationwide was the carrier for the woman who pulled out infront of me. It was nothing short of a nightmare dealing with them, and they ended up screwing us as well as our insurance company. Good luck.

 

Glad to have read this. Here is one for you... reguarding Nationwide.

I was borrowing my buddies car while mine was down. (They have 3, so it was no skin off of his back). I end up getting in a wreck... and was INITIALLY sited at fault. I receive a call from Nationwide a week or so later, and speak to one of their representatives reguarding the claim. I tell them the story and what not. The lady tells me that they will be covering the claim. Shortely thereafter... (It was decided before this) I purchased the car from my buddy because I need a second vehicle, he doesnt need it, and I wrecked it... lol.

About 3 weeks later, a "Supervisor" goes over the claim, and calls re-investigating it. He calls me, and then tried to tell me that since I bought the car from my buddy, that they are not going to pay the claim, and they are going to come back after me for the $. Im like **** no. Hes asking me for copies of the bill of sale, title, everything trying to pin this on me.

My buddy and I did a handshake (this caused a butt load of problems, not with me and my buddy... but the insurance company.) for $400 a month for 6 months... but he signed the title immediately that way I could get new tags and insurance on it. If it wernt for the fact that I owed him $1600 still... then Nationwide was going to pursue me for over $12K. Since I still owed my buddy $1600, then I technically didnt own the car, and Nationwide had no choice but to pay the claim.

 

Brangeta, HOLY COW MAN! When it rains it pours! That is a terrible story. Although I have have a lot of bad things happen to me concerning my cars, none are as tragic as yours concerning damage! Good luck man, I would reccomend a lawyer.

 

If your sister was not at fault she is entitled to a complete repair with new parts and paint matching. I know that is the law in cincinnati and probably a federal law also. I would contact a lawer and get a review of your situation. You nor she should be paying a dime if she wasn't sited for the accident.

P.S. if anything else you can contact her insurance company and explain the situation if they are a good company they would help you.

 

Around here most insurances use Kelly Blue book as thier source to get the value of a car. I just looked up your sister's car and well 4100 should not total that car. Unless they are still following the 70% rule. If the repairs are more then 70% it would be totaled. Even then, I didn't do the math, I doubt 4100 is 70% of 6800. So using used parts shouldn't be needed and they should paint match. You'll have to fight that one. Unless it is a color other than factory they can't deny it.

They need to replace the car bottom line and don't let them give you that crap about how they have found a comparable car in the area for such and such. It'll be BS so ask to see the car. Than again that's only for a total.

You are going to have to play hardball and not back down. Make them pay for a rental and the whole nine yards because since she obviously wasn't at fault you have that right. Just don't allow your sister to buy into their bs and if at all possible keep the car close or with someone you trust, do not authorize anything without speaking directly to the agent. If it sounds fishy it is.

You could say I know a good bit about how insurance works. I've been involved in two collisions, 1 my fault and 1 not, and was jerked around when i wasn't at fault. Basically let them steal my car. I had to deal with nationwide when my wife's car got hit in a parking lot and the only things that helped us there was that it came to our shop and we let State Farm handle the claim and go after Nationwide. Oh yeah did I mention I work at a bodyshop?

 

thats why i havent switched from statefarm. im sure they have horror storys but everytime ive had an issue they cut me a check asap and most of the time they give me more than the body shop wanted so i useally dont even pay a deductable

 

I think Kelley Blue Book only holds so much value. I think when a car is meticulously well-maintained, it can't be valued as such a depreciating item. For example, according to Kelley Blue Book, if our '95 Z28 had only 100 miles on it, it'd only be worth $7,220. But I've seen LT1 Camaro Z28s on ebay with very few miles (and no mods) sell for a $18,000 to $22,000. So Kelley Blue Book isn't a very good source of info, and we've argued this with the insurance guys.

The paint color is the factory stock Sebring Silver Metallic. Actually, the entire car is factory stock (and GM sourced replacement parts) except for an aftermarket passenger-side front quarter panel a Chevy dealership put on. We don't go to that dealership anymore, because in our opinion, they ruined the car with a cheap fender... (It was put on because someone vandalized the car with a sledgehammer a few years ago when it was parked behind our house).

In my personal opinion, and I'm definitely not a professional, prior to the accident, I'd say the car was worth at least $11,000 to $13,000.

One thing I didn't mention in this topic is that the car was parked at the time of the accident. My sister was sitting in the car while parallel parked and this Jeep Cherokee backed out into her from across the street (and across 2 lanes of traffic at that). Fault was already placed on the other girl and such.

We have State Farm as well, and the car is covered with full coverage and $500 deductable. When the car was vandalized in the past, State Farm was very helpful and got us the check ASAP. Nationwide is a horror to deal with however, we still haven't even received a confirmed estimate.

Today's Update:

My mom and sister have been handling the majority of this issue since I'm always at work or school, but I talked to the Nationwide guy briefly today. He was arguing that because the wrecked rear quarter panel has touch-up paint on it, that our coating/sealant we paid $600 for a few years ago will not be reapplied. I told him we have a lifetime guarantee on that sealant and it WAS applied over the touch-up paint. He said he'd have a hard time convincing his boss that the system was applied over the touch-up paint and that the touch-up looked fresh. That's when I countered that that touch-up paint was applied over 8 years ago and the whole damn car looked fresh! "Oh"

What a headache. These Nationwide people are a bunch of jerks.

 

Try contacting your insurance agent. Usually when there are problems like this, a good insurance company will pay for your repairs then go after the other insurance company themselves.

 

I agree with your assesment of blue book totally. I was just saying that's the Insurance standard. By all rights your sister's car is worth more then what they are listing, IMO.

I think you should contact your insurance and talk over the options. It'll cost you the deductable at first but I believe when we went through our ordeal over my wife's car, we were reimbursed. And remember you are a state farm customer, they'll take care of you a whole lot better than Nationwide. Just tell the adjuster that if he doesn't start giving you some decent answers and works with you then you'll contact state farm and he can deal with them.

And just me being curious could ya post up some pics of the damage?

 

Sorry, I thought I already had. You can see pics of the damage here:
http://rides.webshots.com/album/554164129UczmBX
Obviously not perfect even before the wreck, but pretty good.

I don't have any pics of the extra damage the bodyshop or towing company did to the front end, rear bumper, and other parts yet.

 

Unfortunatly, even perfect condition LT1 cars just aren't worth that much anymore. Sure, some may try to sell them at inflated costs, but honestly your sisters car is probably worth $7500 at best. Kelly blue book may not be accurate, but it is the rule of thumb for insurance companies and car dealers. In more cases than yours though, it is not accurate.

Look at a 95 Toyota Supra TT for example. If it is in perfect shape the most value the Kelly blue book will give you is around $13,000. But if you find a good shape 95 Supra TT for sale anywhere (even car dealerships who price usually around or just above Kelly Blue book) you will not find one for less than $22,000!

At any rate I would highly reccomend a lawyer because I really think your sister is getting the shaft on this one. Being on the shaft end of lots of different ordeals myself, I don't wish it upon anyone... well maybe mustang owners.