help with insurance claim...worst day ever

[zingercustoms]

ok so, I have been working night and day on a project i have designed from end to end for the last 7 years to get it ready for the detroit autorama and i was doing great...worked through the night and was gonna leave at noon yesterday.....8am....car was being moved back into booth for some touch up of the stripes. we backed it up and stopped, put into drive and snuck forward and the brake pedal dropped to the floor, 500hp motor took me for a ride, so quck i couldn't get to park with the ratchet shifter....slammed into the recently finished waiting to be delivered $50k restoration tbird......here is a link to the car I built....and the wreck..here[/URL] everything was custom made on the nose...the headlights, everything...I have molds for the parts but the 100s of hours spent getting all the parts to fit and shine....just crazy, the fender is custom, the scoops are molded into it with grills and everything...the tbird was a high end paint job, my best work....can just blend the clear like a collision job on that car.....not one body break.....only the doors, hood, deck lid come off, all factory solid seams. plus this blue is sooo touchy with coverage and hue change under clear.....and all the hours spent hand sanding it.....
so my question....
anyone have experience in dealing with insurance on custom work? how to get them to understand the amount of time spent to do it? not just a collision type claim? any help would be great.

[johnparts]

Wow that is horrible. You have me seriously considering hagerty or Grundy insurance on my car. I can't even begin to help you with info but I'm sure you have documented all the labor hours on the t-bird. Your car on the other hand I'm sure you can show them what was done and they will work with you.

[shmoov69]

Can't help, but oh my!! I'm soooo sorry for you man. Tell us what happens.

BTW- what else "broke" after the accident?? Or was it just tears of disbelief?

[Chris71RS]

Damn... sorry for the misfortune. I can only imagine what you're feeling. I've been an independent insurance broker for 23 years. Getting the insurance company to step up to the labor and materials of a custom job is going to first depend on which insurance company you're dealing with. There are some that are very fair and there are others that are strictly by the book. My first concern would be if they look to total the vehicle. Insurance companies have a rule if the damage to the vehicle exceeds 70 or 75% of the vehicle's value, they total the vehicle and can take it for salvage. You're first task is to have documentation as to what the vehicle's value was before the accident. Next concern is how the vehicle was insured. Classic car policy? Regular auto policy? Garage Keepers Legal Liability? Each of these is going to have their own valuation and set of rules. if you let me know who the company is and how it was insured, I might be able to provide better direction.

I think you'll find most insurance adjusters will understand the proper repair process for this type of vehicle but they'll be limited to a set of rules and a labor guide provided to them by their employer.

Next, you mentioned the brake pedal went to the floor. Is it possible you purchased a defective product? If so, the manufacturer should have products liability and you might be able to pursue a claim against their insurance.



Give me some more details on the insurance.
Chris

[MrQuick]

Next, you mentioned the brake pedal went to the floor. Is it possible you purchased a defective product? If so, the manufacturer should have products liability and you might be able to pursue a claim against their insurance.
Chris

thats a whole 'nother "can o worms" there.

I'd hate to say it but you might be better off eating the damage and chauk it up to major misfortune. It would suck to go through all the drama then have them salvage title the car and your premiums go off the charts.

I hope Chris here could find a solution.

Damn lucky it didn't happen on the road when some serious speed was involved.

[Todd in Vancouver]

So sorry to hear, but I glad you didn't get hurt and nobody was injured. I can't imagine the heart break you are feeling after all you heart and soul goes into these projects we all love so much. Sucks when things like this happen and I hope you are able to get it fixed up for next years show.

[mpozzi]

Need more information ... who owns each of these cars, you or a customer? And are each insured? Depending on the answers, this may be easy or difficult. If you are operating as a business building and restoring these cars, your carrier for garagekeepers liability insurance should also be contacted.

Good luck,
Mary Pozzi

[greg5436]

On my last twin turbo build,when I first started to drive the car, the brakes had been working fine rolling around and idling the car for a year,my brake pedal went straight to the floor like it wasn't even hooked up and then would come back to a full pedal all by itself. If you pm me I will give you all the details and I did have a post about this problem but never figured anything out. Still have master cylinder sitting on my bench. I am curious if we have same M/C. Greg

[TheJDMan]

Has the link been taken down? I get nothing when I click on it.

[Larry Callahan]

Try this link http://www.lateral-g.net/forums/show...=14804&page=18

[zingercustoms]

Been a long day...got my son out of hospital and went to the shop and looked over the cars real good. OK to answer some question. My garage liability is 75k per incident...this is considered one. I am insured by Selective insurance. The owners have both been contacted and have been great...one is my brother so we are sharing the pain. I talked to them and they are sending an independent adjuster out Monday. They said I have to come up with some sort of figure...that will take some figuring...my deductable is 500 per car so that could have been worse. I have both builds documented as we did them with detailed daily ledgers and hours for the tbird...I didn't do that with my bros car...but I do have extensive receipt and picture history on them both. I mentioned I wouldn't do s blend on the tbird and they didn't seem too worried bout that so maybe they will be a good company...that was the adjuster not selective so er will have to see. Thanks for your help

[zingercustoms]

Update: I got with the adjuster, he let me write my own estimate to repair myself and then didn't argue with one single minute of labor...amazing. They did knock my hourly rate down, but I expected that...I get a check for each car minus my $500 deductable in full sometime next week. wow!!!! worked out so smoothly, selective insurance is awesome.

[Chris71RS]

Glad to hear it worked out in the end. More importantly, glad to hear your son is out of the hospital. Selective handled a lot of our Hurricane Sandy claims and really stepped up to the plate when they were needed most. - Chris

[MrQuick]

Thats great news about your car and even better news about your son.
Does this mean you get to make changes that you had thought about?