They totalled my GXL-II
 

2 years, $6,000 later, I got to put 400 miles on the car, and now it's totalled. I think I'm going to be sick. What do you guys think? The guy said something about 'structural rust' so it was 'unrepairable' or some shit like that.

http://www.sonicrat.org/~rat/cars/rx...3/DCP_0880.JPG

http://www.sonicrat.org/~rat/cars/rx...3/DCP_0881.JPG

http://www.sonicrat.org/~rat/cars/rx...3/DCP_0883.JPG

http://www.sonicrat.org/~rat/cars/rx...3/DCP_0884.JPG

the guy is on crack. That's fixable by a reputable body shop...anything is fixable.

-Markus

Well, if it does get totalled, make sure you buy that bitch back. Did someone hit you Rat? if they did couldn't you get recipts and what not and make them pay more for the car since it had all the turbo goodies?

Go to body shops, get some quotes, and fight it.

Most insurance companies will negotiate. If you can convince them that the value of the car is more than what the insurance believes it to be - they will repair it.

The guy already knew how much it was worth, he said it was unrepairable, regaurdless of cost. Ahh well, time to kick some ass. I still don't get this 'structural' rust crap he's rambling on about. Oh they're going to have a hell of a bad day if they total this, because I'll prove every damn penny of the $6,000 that went into that car!

since your car was origionally a GXL the insurrance company might try and just pay you for the value of that. Saying that the new engine doesnt add to the value of the car, when my car got totaled I asked them a lot of questions and they said anything performance related doesnt add to the value of the car. But try and fight it.




Ira

Well if they do total it, like someone above said, make sure to buy it back from them! You can always take the insurance $$$ and find yourself another FC and start the long process of swapping stuff over to it! :D

Damn double post :mad:

Too bad you didn't get the car appraised by a specialists. They deal with exotics, muscle cars, and street rods as well as any other car that has had some money dumped into it and give you an official document stating what the car is worth. Then they give that to your insurance company saying how much its worth, and then they have to give you that amount if, God forbid, the car gets all screwed up. I know this cause my dad's getting somebody to come out for his car (low 11 second '74 Dodge Charger 400 wedge :D )

If performance parts don't add to the value of the car, and the Turbo engine doesn't make it worth more, then I'll be god damned if they're going to total the car with those parts on it, or that engine in it. If they don't increase the value of the car, then there's no reason why I can't take them back freely, since it won't 'effect' the price of the car. It's depressing.

Dont take it in the butt. Fight them to the death. Good luck

I don't see any thing bad here. the damage is fixable. if they want to total it, fine. just buy back from them from *a buck*, and use that insurrance money to fix it!

I knew a guy here bought a modified(turbo charged) civic Si from insurrance company for only $300, cuz they stupid to total it. the guy just spent $800 to fix it. and the car is worth about $5000 with all mods.

Shit happens. Just buy it back and find another clean GXL with a blown engine.

-my $0.02

It's not easy to find a series 5 around here, hell it's not easy to find a damn series 4, I had to drive 13 hours just to tow the first GXL home.

damn sorry to hear, hope it works out for ya

Well, we just called back and they said there's too much rust on the rockers & quarter panel to safely repair it (wtf?) I have no idea what the hell he's talking about, there's some surface rust on the underbody, but there isn't anything that's bad at all, we removed all the surface rust on the quarters and that was limited in itself. I have no idea why they are saying there's too much rust to fix it, but whatever I guess. Anybody just replace the entire quarterpanel or have that done, who has any input?

Still fighting it, working on figuring out the value at which they want to 'total' it, and the cost to 'repair' it regardless if it exceeds cost of car, and as well, to get another estimate ;)

Call a lawyer.
I was able to get $$ for everything that I added to my car. Certain things(tires/brakes) were prorated. But, the insurance company paid for the book value, plus all recent maintenance, plus prorated on non recent maintenance. Sometimes, only a weasel attorney can help.

Also, you should be able to buy back your car. There are no laws that force you hand it to the insurance company. They will deduct their auction value from the check and issue one of those salvage title thingies. Every state is different.

I would've got the car fixed and send them the bill.

tell them to eat your ass and dont take this structural crap laying down

Anyone know anything about replacing the quarter/things to look at to decide if it's possible/worth it?

In Florida we have an excellent Dept of Insurance.

Try http://www.state.ma.us/doi/

whatever you do, go get the car back. you'll be able to findone eventually. and you could try to fix it yourself somewhat

and yeah, you should be able to replace them, I replaced a quarter panel that was dented in, and all I did was weld another piece over it, and it looks good. good luck man, this has to suck, because they will only give you as much as the car is worth, not the mods, which really sucks

Take the car to several good body shops and have them put their opinion in writing then call a lawyer.

That repair would be a walk in the park for any half assed body shop.... So go to a really good one :D

yeah, thats what I'd do

Have you considered a different body shop?

The pillars aren't buckled, so I can't see why it shouldn't be fixed. That dmage is nothing compared to what Tina went through when rear-ended 2 years ago...

The insurance guy is just looking at the book value of the GXL. A replacement engine increases the value of the car. Things that are "routine maintenance" do not.

Insurance guys just try to bust your chops.

Your repair estimates probably won't help--especially if they are high. A high repair estimate just helps the insurance guy prove the car is a loss (repair > Fair Market Value (FMV) of car).

Your goal is to increase the FMV so they repair, or at least cut a higher check.

What insurance company are you dealing with? I'll bet it's Allstate or State Farm. They are both sh1theads.

If any of you guys have Allstate, change companies immediately. They are crooks IMHO.

http://www.allstateinsurancesucks.com/

take it.. let 'em salvage it and get $6000 for it. Then when they value it super low, buy it back for $500, and you got $5500 to fix a $1500 problem, and you're up $4000.

Shit dude that sucks to hear :( Buy the salvage rights, slap on a honda sticker, and call it custom modifications.

Just kidding... hope you find a nice virgin s5 t2 to replace her with.

I know it's repairable, the funny part is, they aren't letting me take it to another body shop, which is bullshit. The one it's at right now just made some lame-ass excuse about the rocker panel being rusted (which it's not) and too much underbody rust (there's none in that area, only a problem area near the front of the drivers seat), but I think he just couldn't replace it. I know it can be done, so i'm not giving up easy. And yeah, it is state farm... It sucks. I'm about ready to complain about the fact that this is property damage, and not standard accident, and etc, I can come up with a pretty strong arguement :) Oh well, they will fix the car, or they're going to regret it. They're DEFINATLY not getting my damn engine. That's my first rebuild!

That really sucks. I suggest going along with what others have already said, and getting an attorney. You'll probably have much better luck with them that way.

Alright, as it's kicking right now, they're still trying to say it's totalled and screw me on the ACV. Anybody got any details they can give me for a S5 TII freshly rebuilt, body in good condition (minus two rusts spots), street ported, rebuilt turbo, and etc? They're trying to only give me $2k for it :( Anybody have any advice?

When my 88 GXL was rear-ended by a semi last year, the insurance company tried to give me $2500, but I got them up to $2800.

You're getting screwed, and it's time to put the pressure on.

They want to give me $2824.83, and they ignore the fact that it's a damn turbo, even though i told them they can pop the fucking hood and look. I can't even find a damn RX-7 for sale within 400 miles of here, what the fuck. Why the hell is insurance based on what your car would sell for instead of what it would cost to replace your car? This shit is pathetic. They're asking for receipts for all my car parts, and etc, and it's like, jesus christ it's been almost a month!

Shove the receipts in their face and also find listings of rx7s in autotrader and such that show the true value of the car similar to what you have invested. I believe some insurance companies will at least pay for 50% of what you put in for mods if they ok it.

Yeah, but if that impact had damaged the chassi and I know there are shops out there "FIX 'EM", I would'nt want to drive it.

Buy it back from the insurance co. and part it out and sell it.

When I got my 510 stolen with over $5000.00 with SSS engine and other mods and rims, etc. The insurance company was going to give me $1,800.00 for the car, so I told them I don't want the money I just wanted the car just like what I was insuring (I often updated my vih with my ins agent as to anything that I put into my car with all the receipts saved and pics of the car).

They finally settled with more $, but, it still was a loss.

when I totaled my 38 they gave me $300 :\ becuse that's how much I could buy another one from a dealer (if you could find one LOL) blue book. they dont count mods becuse they are consedered "luxury add ons" thus my 10K 38 hotrod I got $300 for some ins comps will insure the mods with a declared value or for a higher prem. but all in all your car is worth 28K you can buy anther 7 to mod for that and that's where they get ya. it sucks. buy your car back and find another frame for $20 and swap everything over. I did that with my 38 then sold it for 12K :) screw the ins comp they just want the money off the prem.

well, too bad, in this case they have to cover mods. So far I'm up to about $4,000 in mods alone.

Hey Rat, I hope things will work out for you.

P.S. Very saaaaaaad pic, by the way.

Yeah, it is a very sad pic, i had the car for 2 years, *FINALLY* got it running properly and on the road, got 470 miles on my break-in and WHAM! it gets totalled! :( $3,000 and counting in receipts for parts

The cool part is, since it was hit while it was parked, my insurance isn't responsible, and I can put up a hell of a stink for them totalling it and not giving me a fair value to replace it (which I can't do with what they're giving me)

just keep fighting them, they origionally wanted to give me $1,200 for my care, but I ended up getting $2,400. And that was for a stock '86. You have to just keep fighting them. And thats BS that they wont let you take it to another body shop, I would fight that as well. But def. get an atterney.



Ira

Holy christ, I just went and looked at this 'rust' and 'rot' they were talking about. They're so full of shit it's sick! The inside is clean except for two tiny spots where there's surface rust, and the bottom is just fine except for the pinched line that runs next to the fuel rail, which again has surface rust. How pathetic.... I'm taking it elsewhere and *THEY* are paying for it.

Rat,

You CAN take the money, AND buy the car back. Anyone of us can find another car for you, and shipping to your area would run in the hood of 500 dollars. I would take the 2800, buy the car back, take all my mods out, and start over. They probably wont charge you more then 300-500 to buy the car back.

Jarrett

in the state of NJ you have 30 days to find a replacement car if its more expensive they have to pay you!

i just ran into this problem my FD is totalled after $30k into it :(

get an appraiser, it might cost you money but if they know about RX7's you will get hooked up. Call around. similar thing happened except that MY appraiser did not know shit about rx7's and thought my 88 GXL was a TII. I got $$ from the insurance of the guy who hit me.

I'm working it fairly well now, they've got the ACV all the way up to $4,000 with just the fact that it's a turbo, not including anything else (Such as the new engine/injectors/etc) The car is *EASILY* repairable which is what pisses me off the most. I guess I just love this car after beating it senseless for two years before I could drive it! :) IT WILL RUN DAMNIT! :)

Read you insurance agreements. In short, anything you signed with them. It will take a while, and it will be tedious, but it will pay off. Somewhere in there it should say that you can at any time in the appraisal process have the car evaluated at several shops, even if they are not the ones your company reccomends. Look for that, then shove it down their throats (make a copy first).

I haven't signed anything with them. They are NOT my carrier, they are the ones responsible to pay for the damages done to MY car as a result of their INSURED hitting my PARKED vehicle.