Alright I'll try to make sense with my high blood pressure right now. I just had some retard back into my '87 FC and crushed my nose cone and dented the body near the lights. I need A new nose, Body work on the damaged parts & a respray because they aren't gonna be able to color match it. Unless they can and then forget the respray.

1.) ROUGHLY what does a nose cost with some dents pulled and paint (At least the new nose).

2.) What is the REAL value of an '87 RX-7 Not Blue Book.

3.) Basically the entire front end is new minus motor/tranny. I understand depreciated value and all but I am NOT letting them total it out and try to just cut me a check for BB price. If anyone has dealt with this please speak up.

This is the second AAA vs. AAA claim I've had and it a F'ing NIGHTMARE! They have no incentive to help you because no matter who's at fault it comes out of their pocket. Is there any oversight board for insurance, like their OSHA equivalent?

Thank you in advance.
~Doc

 

An S4 nose from the junk yard is what, maybe $50, and the paint should match pretty well. I am guessing the dent and labor for the nose would cost about $1,000 or so. You would need to take the car to an auto body shop for an accurate estimate. I don't see the crisis here. In the worst case, they will total the car, give you the money, you can scarf the totaled car from your local junk yard for a fraction of the cost, fix it yourself and pocket the extra cash.

In this case, the real value of the car is the blue book (NADA, etc.) or the cost of the repairs, whichever is less. If this is really stressful for you, then next time get collector car insurance for a stated value rather than a regular policy that only has replacement value.

 

If it is just minor damage and only the panels need replaced it can be done for less than $50 if the same color panels are found.

Check you local craigslist for part outs. The value of fc's are very low I can find running ones for 1500 all day long.

 

get an estimate at a repair shop, i'm not sure what the issue is.. are you trying to just fight them out of the gate?

 

I would let them total it then I would buy it back and fix it myself for cheap or buy another fc.

 

The "crisis" is that I DON'T want them to total the car and then have to change the title to a salvage and re-purchase it from a dismantler. The damage is not extensive enough to warrant that.

The other problem is my insurance, I already have ANOTHER case pending where someone backed into the passenger door and squished the person getting out. A insurance company versus itself is always a mess.

Another issues is I live in a small town and I am trying to get a recommendation from some local friends on where to take it. Grass Valley is notorious for bad workmanship.

 

Check your state laws. When my car was totalled, I was able to keep the car and get a check for the amount of the car minus the "salvage value" which is basically what the damaged vehicle would fetch at auction. In my case, salvage value was $250 for my '92 Eclipse GSX. The state law in Nebraska doesn't require that the title need to be changed in this case, so it kept a minty fresh title.

 

Thank you, I talked with my agent and they said over the phone that they are accepting responsibility and that I had a few options. All the options were "lets sweep this under the rug" kinda deal so I refused to pick any and said I'd have to have a few independent shop give me quotes. I know in my state that there is no law that says how I have to spend the money so I may just take cash for the damages based off the estimates and then got to a dismantler and try to find myself some inexpensive parts.

 

Here are some pics:

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I doubt that's enough damage to total the car out. KBB value for an NA coupe is somewhere around $2-3000.

5 years ago I had an idiot in a lifted F350 back into my parked car. The guy had no insurance (welcome to Southern CA), and I had AAA insurance. A police report was filed, and I claimed on my uninsured motorist coverage. I went and got quotes from local body shops, and when I found one I wanted to use, I called my AAA agent & had them send someone out to do a repair estimate. The estimate guy used the same program the body shop used to give me a dollar figure, and they then wrote the body shop a check for the amount to be covered.

AAA was willing to cover pulling the dents, and to repaint about half of the car. The check written to the body shop was for about $1400. Since the red paint had oxidized over the years (previous owner did a cheap respray), I opted to pay for the rest of the paint job out of pocket. At the time, KBB for an '88 convertible was as much as $5000. Everyone assumed it was worth nothing being an 80s car, but it was easy enough to prove via the KBB site.

The damage:

 

Just tell the auto body guy that you don't want the car totaled so he needs to make an estimate just under that.
My buddy has an old Toyota that his new girlfriend wrecked three times in 6 months. 18 years he kept it straight and clean. So the estimate guy agreed to low ball it.

Easy

 

True story that MAY be applicable in your situation. About 4 yrs ago I lived in a downtown condo that came with private parking in the downtown parking garage. While driving a mint 88SE I owned at the time, a drunk driver leaving the garage gave me a low impact tap causing very similar damage to what you experienced. The insurance company wished to total the car.

I asked the insurance company for an estimated repair value + keep the car. I believe the total check was going to be for like $3200 but to keep the car I negotiated $2200 for repairs.

$50 front bumper + $30 left front fender and I was good to go again. Even if I had painted it I estimate I would have come out ahead by $1500 or so.

See if they will let you keep your car with a clean title and give you the estimated repair costs.

Good luck.

 

The real value of the car is what somebody will actually pay for it, not some book. In you case, it looks like the value is $1,100, which is what you paid.

 

i'd just get a used bumper and used fender and change it. not hard at all. of course, after you settle your nightmare with your insurance company.

 

if you are worried about a salvage title check local laws, in NYS if the vehicle is 9 years old ( I believe its 9 ) you can get up to $1 below value and not have a salvage title or have to buy the car back to keep it

with used parts I cant see them stretching that into more then a $1500-$2000 job, maybe kick the extra bucks in and get a full paint. You can actually get new aftermarket fenders for $100. Your front bumper is already a ( poorly ) re-sprayed red bumper so its not like your car wont be "original" anymore

 

I'll upload a pic of the quote that I got from a local shop but I think that it was unreasonable. Here is the synopsis of the info:

Parts $1527.66
Body Labor $1250.60, 16.9hrs
Paint Labor $740.00, 10.0hrs
Paint Supplies $ 330.00, 10.0hrs
Misc. $13.00
Sales tax on $1865.66 = $156.25
Grand Total $4017.51 = Ludicrous IMO

I need some other quotes and don't need NEW parts like the horn & nose cone. Are nose's really $50 used? If so then I need to buy one for an '87. I believe that it's the SE, not sure since the tags are gone.

 

KBB only goes back 20 years so there isn't any info on it. Also it has like 230K mi. on it and they are trying to pull the same old song and dance of "it's an old car" but the previous owner paid to completely replace the radiators, front suspension & steering, converted the AC to R134a, and some other stuff that I can't remember.

That's the whole reason I bought it was because it handled like it was brand new and I test drove it with a friend & at 120mph it felt as smooth as glass, there wasn't any shutter or anything. I wanted to do the work & TLC it needed because the body was perfect when I bought it... But I live in a town of old people or 16yo girls that barely pass their license test so people drive CRAZY.

 

You can use a '91 NA to get a reasonable estimate. The parts cost and body labor cost in your quote are ridiculous. Source your own replacement parts, and install them if you are able.

 

Well the insurance want's to total out the car for $2,100ish and I think that's after I can buy it back for $120. I'm thinking of just trying to find another FC and using this for parts. What do you guys think?

 

if it wont have a salvage title sure, if its going to have a salvage title ask them about what I told you our local laws are, that is paying within $1 so that it doesnt have a salvage title.