Smacked! How should I deal with their insurance?

[68jimmy]

Well it's been awhile since I had posted anythig on my truck haven't had the opportunity to work on it much lately... So my truck is minding it's own busineess sitting in front of the house and out of nowhere someone just runs into the rear! No braking no stopping just smack into the left rear end... No one was injured, the woman driver was a bit dazed and confused but no worse for wear, unlike my truck.
The police finally finally show up, evaluate the scene take all of our information, by the way not only was my truck damaged but the force of the impact shoved the truck into the rear of another car I own which %^KJ*D-up my grill and broke one of the rear taillights on the other vehicle... So after it's all said and done the officer returns our paperwork and sends us on our merry way... And to top it off I don't believe that he cited her! But I'll know more when I get a copy of the report.
My question is, how do I deal with her insurance company? With it being almost 40 years old do I have any chance of getting anything out of it? For those of you out there who have experienced a similair situation any help is appreciated!
Here are some pics...

[68jimmy]

A few more pics...

[68jimmy]

and a few more...

[truckdude239]

make them fix both nof them don't take no as an answer don't let them total it or anything just make them fix it just saw that last pictures when i reloaded how fast was she going?? to do that much damage she better have got a ticket

[70rs/ss]

Holy Chit, and you didn't smack her around?! J/K you have every right to pick your own adjuster and if it doesn't have bondo in it you have the right to demand to have a new bedside put on it. I'd take it to the local chevy dealer and get an estimate and go from there (on both cars). She better have been cited, but that has no real bearing on the insurance part, you didn't do anything so they will pay. Keep us updated. As for the post above totalling it isn't the end of the world, the have to give you the option to buy it back so let them make an offer if they choose to total and then haggle if need be, then ask how much $$ to buy it back. Take the $$$ from the total check and fix it, then sendme the rest for my legal consultation fees J/K again, but you get the idea. I see you walking away with a fixed truck and $3-5k in cash to paint the truck, buy parts, whatever. Look on the brightside, because there is one!!

[Longhorn Man]

they are probably gonna total it. Do what ever you can to not get bent over. Either demand a low buy back and fix it back up, or start looking for local replacement value for a 68 SWB GMC in great shape. Be ready with numbers, numbers to repair, and numbers to replace.

Before you do anything, you need to look underneath the back and see if the frame is damaged. From the looks of that bumper (BTW...how fast was she going??!!?!?!) the frame is probably junk.

[boundstaffpress]

The words to repeat over and over are "Through no fault of my own..." Tell the insurance company "I had a great truck when I woke up that morning, and I will when you get done fixing it." The dealership is the place to take care of it, unless you have a trusted body man.

[StingRay]

A rust free New Mexico body is worth at least 3 grand by itself in my opinion. If the body was in good shape add what ever other good stuff the truck had to that and use it as a value for the insurance company. A true rust free cab and front clip like that will easily sell for 1500 Canadian by itself up here.

[Green Machine]

No excuse for hitting a parked vehicle. Make them pay and pay and pay until you are happy.

[72ironmike]

I'm with green machine. I also would get as many quotes on your vehicles value as possible & take it to a body shop or two to get estimates. Have them find the parts to fix it right. It will cost the insurance far less to fix your truck than if it had been newer and as Justin says: The words to repeat over and over are "Through no fault of my own..." Tell the insurance company "I had a great truck when I woke up that morning, and I will when you get done fixing it." The dealership is the place to take care of it, unless you have a trusted body man. They will try to outlast you. Don't settle till you are happy, not exhausted.

[Novaguy73]

WOW that sucks. Been there. Dont let them total it. Be happy she had insurance. 3 Octobers ago me and the girlfriend went to Burger King for a quick bite in my Nova, im putting down the middle of my street going about 15. You have to drive in the middle because there are cars on both sides. I go to turn into my driveway when my g/f yells "Nick watch it!!!" And as i turn right into my driveway i see some dumb ***** passing me on the right driving across my grass over the curb and across my driveway i had no time to stop and I actually catch her with my bumper and front fender. I flip out and some neighbors finally get me calmed down. Then after the police show up i find out she HAS NO INSURANCE!!!!!!!!!! WOW i was mad !!! I never got a dime from her and i only got 300 bucks to fix it from my insurance company. She on the other hand got $750 dollars in tickets!!....sorry to hijack the post i just thought id throw a "glass is half full" kind of thing in here and say at least she had insurance.

[71swb4x4]

68c15 had almost the exact thing happen to him a few months ago. A guy in a work van rearended his 68 GMC while it was parked on the street. PM him and see how his went. I think he did OK dealing with the other insurance company.

[curbyk]

Remember, you are the one in control. Don't let them push you into anything you are not comfortable with. The word "attorney" makes insurance companies uncomfortable to say the least. Listen to what they have to offer but make them do it your way.

[byrd]

I had a similiar thing happen to me. I was driving down the road and a woman pulled out from a side street hitting the drivers rear of my truck in almost the same location as this one was. The adj walked up one quick glance and without even looking my truck over he said "oh its totalled" and told him to get his narrow a$$ back in his car and get off my property right now and that I would contacting his Supervisor.I had just bought the truck 3 weeks prior to this happening. The truck needed new swb drivers side bedside, bumper and new bumper brackets. A whooping $1800.00 in repairs needed and they were like dealing with wild animals. They paided dearly in time if nothing else as I hounded them EVERYDAY twice a day for three weeks til I got what I wanted, finally after me buggin the s$$t out of them they asked," what is going to take to make you happy?" and I the $1800.00 YOU OWE ME to fix my truck, and they finally came thru. Now a tidbit of advise to all, if you haven't had your truck appraised, DO IT, and if you aren't able to get it appraised at least insure it for what you think it is worth as that is a nice bargaining tool that helped me out a lot. I had my truck insured for $5500.00 at the time and had to use that to say that my truck wasn't totaled as it worth WAY more than $1800.00.Here is a pic of the slight damage and bumper and brackets have already been replaced, not much damage really, no way is it enough to total.
Good luck and I hope it works out for easier than it did for me. Randy

[68jimmy]

Thanks for all the input! Well the speed limit is 25 thru the neighborhood and she was a well dressed middle aged woman who just wasn't paying attention. Still not sure if she was cited or not...

After work I swept up the glass and other crap and tried to examine the under carriage . My exhaust on the left side is pushed up into the rear coil and theres no telling what damage it to my mufflers, (flowmaster 40's w/ 2" 1/4 pipes). Not sure about the frame right now as I do not want to move it into the driveway until their adjuster see's it. I can take some measurements later and see if things got twisted.
I contacted their insurance carrier (State Farm in this case) and gave them all the pertinent info. We'll see if I can speak to their adjuster today... I'll let you all know how it goes...

[nutsforchevys]

Well at least she has insurance thats a good start. Some SOB sideswiped my truck and ran off. Really pi**ed me off. I had a truck with no dents and no bondo when I bought her. Now I will probably have to replace the bedside. Well at least it happened before I have finished restoring it.

[powell72]

I know some of us don't have a choice, but that is why I never park my stuff in the street. Sorry to hear about it.

[whitesswj]

A person hit me head on in a grand prix when i had my 1st 68. They gave me 2400 for it and it was in MUCH worse shape than yours. Fight for it. Don't take their 3rd offer and threaten a lawyer if then think that they can get away with less than what YOU think it's worth. I should have gotten close to 4000 for mine but didn't.
Best of luck

[knsmodels]

I just did a quick appraisal of your truck on NADA website....they value your truck between 5600 - 15000 roughly depending on condition....all of the insurance companies will go by this.....hopefully the damage cost in inbetween these numbers and you can get her fixed up.....depending on state laws if the damage excedes the value you are fighting a losing battle...been there done that.....hope it all works out for you....

[72MARIO]

Be sure you get to Buy it back. If they write it off. Up here we have that option. I wrote off my dads Burban it was a 87 they said it was worth $6000 to replace. We bought it back for $500. and fixed it up way nicer thasn it ever was for under $2500.

I have been really scared of parking on the street before for the exact same reason. But some times the house does not have room to park all the cars and trucks.

Sorry that happned to your truck.

[Zonaman]

Be sure you have an idea what your truck is worth. You know it's pre-wreck condition (fair, average, good excelent, etc.). Look at one or all of the following:

• 2005 Standard Guide to Cars & Prices, 17thed (I think that's still the newest)
• A print copy of the Kelly Blue Book Early Model Car Guide,
• A copy of the online N.A.D.A online version (http://www.nadaguides.com/ClassicHom...wPr=0&wPg=2002)
• ads from CollectorCarTraderOnline.com

These would be some of the same sources an adjuster might use. This way you'll have a pretty good idea if you're getting low-balled. If you get an offer that's too low you can show them these sources to back up your claim that your truck was worth more. If you have recipts for recent work and maintenance that would show you kept the vehicle up, that might help too.

Good luck!

[PanelDeland]

When getting repair quotes make sure you let the estimator know that the other persons ins is responsible.Tell them you want an estimate to the high end.They will often give you a lower price to get you to let them do the work then add as they get into it.If you let them know up front they will quote the price it will really cost.

[68jimmy]

Well I got my first two estimates back from one shop, $4k to fix the truck and about $900 to fix the vw... This shop does quite a bit of paint work for a local restoration shop. I'm still waiting for one more estimate (the truck) from another outfit who is supposedly an "authorized" state farm repair shop. Funny thing is on the estimate for the vw they are almost $400 higher! So I can't imagine what they are going to come back with for the truck.

So this morning I'm going to fax the first estimate to state farm and see what they say... Wish me luck!

[OLDROCK&ROLLER]

Good Luck.

[edmonton72]

Originally Posted by 68jimmy

Well I got my first two estimates back from one shop, $4k to fix the truck and about $900 to fix the vw... This shop does quite a bit of paint work for a local restoration shop. I'm still waiting for one more estimate (the truck) from another outfit who is supposedly an "authorized" state farm repair shop. Funny thing is on the estimate for the vw they are almost $400 higher! So I can't imagine what they are going to come back with for the truck.

So this morning I'm going to fax the first estimate to state farm and see what they say... Wish me luck!

Some auto-body shops will estimate you higher because they will say that you need some parts replaced that don't actually need to be replaced. When I crashed my mom's Equinox we took it to this body shop that we have been using for many years. They estimated me for $3400 because they said the a/c condenser and radiator were dented. So then we took it to a local Chevy dealership and they said that the a/c condeser and radiator still worked and they did the repair for about $1600

Good luck with the truck. I hope everything works out for you.