Insurance/body shop help needed

[Bob K]

My advice is limited to my personal experience. I have had the front and rear of my '03 painted just as normal maintenance. I cannot see any difference in color. I would not have accepted the work if I could have. My '03 is the Anniversary Special and requires 3 different coats and is time consuming. The body shop didn't have any problems.

Each of the panels have to be removed from the car otherwise they will start peeling. They cannot be masked off. I would take the car to another body shop that comes highly recommended and stay far away from the dealer. Try and Google 'Corvette painting' and I'm sure you'll find much more info than I've given you. Arm yourself with a little knowledge and you'll be much further ahead than you are now.

[Shadow]

Post #8 and #7 are great!
Absolutely spot on

The only thing I'll add is this:

The main thing to pursue is you paid a premium for insurance to restore the vehicle to "Pre-accident" condition. If your bumper paint and quarter panel paint didn't match before then they don't owe you a match, if it did match then they owe you a match, no more no less. If you want it done you have to stay on them, work up the food chain and when all else fails use this beautiful phrase that no carrier wants to hear, "State Insurance Commisioner's office" that's where you file a complaint against an insurance carrier. Use this as a last resort but when your reasonable complaint falls on deaf ears then this should help or confirm that you'll need to request your right to demand appraisal since you and the insurer have not come to an agreement on the damages and the repair.

The above is dead on...except the part about the Insurance Commissioner's Office.

He's right that insurance companies hate to hear the words, but auto carriers have no fear of the office.

I've been down this road 2x before, and found our States Insurance Commissioners Office to be one of the 2 most titless organizations in State Government!

As with the Dept. of Agriculture, they're mostly concerned with $$$$, what they can get, not what they can do for the consumer.

As well, thier primary focus is on health and life insurance. They do little with auto insurance.

I was told on 2 occasions, that they could send a letter, but there wasn't much more they could do to unravel a claims complaint????

If I can offer anything, it's this tidbit of advise when working with the state.....don't bet on them!

Something similar happened recently with some members vehicles.

Most depended on the State DOAC to do something toresolve the issue.

Instead, several months were wasted waiting for them, nothing was done, and eventually, those involved ended up, right where they would have anyway, placing them months behind in repairs, and much aggravation

My advise, if you can't get any satisfaction from your company (and you should be able to if you "squeak" loud enough, go ahead and write the letter to the Insurance Commissioner to let the company know you're serious.

But, if you really want to get the companys attention, mention "BAD FAITH."somewhere along the line, later in the negotiations with the adjuster and his/her supervisor.

Now that's a term no insurance company wants to hear
I wouldn't waste too much time messing with the insurance commissioners office and waiting for them to do something.
As with DOAC, they're slow to react, and generally, are not very proactive.

The advise to lawyer up, is good advise.
The only thing I'd add, is to wait until you've exhausted your appeals process within your contract parameters, then do it.
Otherwise, you may spend money you don't needto spend, and a lawyer can slow things down a bit on occasion.

I work with attorney's and insurance company adjusters in my business, and have dealt with this on many occasions.

In summary:

1) work with your company and the adjuster or thier supervisors to resolve the issue timely.
2) If not being resolved, mention "bad faith" and attorney in the same sentence(It's cheaper for them to make this go away than fight you)

Then, if nothing happens:

1) Write the Dept of Insurance and make the formal complaint.
2) Contact an attorney and get the ball rolling

It can be tedious, but with the right information (as that provided by Jesse & Palm Beach Vette), you should prevail rather quickly and with no additional $$ being spent.

Best of luck.

[dementeddigital]

Thanks to everyone! I've been pulling my hair out for a while on this one.

I'll let you all know how it turns out!

[vettejack]

This is one reason why I insure my Vettes with Grundy. They know the collector car business and that body shop correctness that is needed when dealing with cars like ours. When my '82 was hit in the nose (twice, and both times breaking the paint but not the neoprene), the whole car was painted the first time since the color has to match across the board, and then spot painted the 2nd time. The 2nd incident, Grundy paid to have the front nose pulled since the car was previously painted. The 2nd time I paid the difference to have the whole car spot painted...to eliminate the road rock chips that continually happens. I then had my paint guy 'clear' the entire car. So, I have a car that has been painted completely once, spot painted the 2nd time, and 'cleared' twice, etc., and u could never tell the difference...up until me telling all of u now about the '82.

Grundy has no deductible (or at least I'm paying for no deductable ). Bottom line? Collector car insurance is actually cheaper than regulars like State Farm, Progressive, etc.. For my '06 (which is insured for 75K (my choice to insure it for that much), and the '82, (which is insured for 25K (again, my choice of coverage), I pay @ 1,230 bucks a year...full coverage, no deductible. I tell them where I want the car restored as well. It takes about 2 weeks for the coverage to be granted when first initiating contact...that is to work out how much u want covered...and for u to take a front, rear and 3/4 photograph of the car, then having them approve your policy, then getting your insurance cards sent and u paying in full. The only drawback is no monthly payment plan...but with all the collector car types, I find this the norm. Hope this helps!!!

Moral of the story? Either way, u need an insurance company, and a body/paint guy, that knows what it takes to bring cars like the Vette back to 'new'...and no hassle in between either the insurance or the shop.

[dementeddigital]

I just wanted to say thanks again to all who responded here. My issue is resolved, though not quite how I anticipated.

I got a call from a sales guy at the dealership a few days ago, and he told me that they had a 2009 Z that just came in. I told him that I wasn't buying another car from them until this issue is resolved. (...and depending on how it gets resolved, I may never do that!) I reluctantly went there to look at the car, though. While I was there, I told him that I had an appointment with a professional photographer and also with a shop that does post-repair inspections (both true). I said that I anticipated that this was all going to escalate, and that I was preparing for that.

To make a long story short, the sales guys and the management were really apologetic, and they did more than I expected to help get me into the 09. Soooooo... I bought it.

My wife is a lawyer, and she was chomping at the bit to get this set right. I never gave her the "weapons free" directive, and I kept it to myself throughout the process. She is still pissed about the whole thing, and she said that she'd love to help others who get pushed around when they are trying to get their cars repaired. If any of you ever need help, PM me, and I'll send her the message. She has a friend who deals with insurance companies all the time, and his opinion at the beginning of the process was that we had one of the least cooperative ones in the industry. In my opinion at the end of the process, it proved to be true.

At any rate, I think that the dealership (Crest Cadillac in Venice) recovered fairly well. I'll buy another car from them. I will not EVER give it to them for body work, though. The body shop manager there seems to prefer "done" over "done right."

The insurance company (Allstate) lost two customers that they had for 15 years. They also lost the business of several of our family members who aren't going to renew with them. Their local folks don't seem to care about making someone whole again, and the $20K+ I've paid them over the years didn't seem to matter to them at all. I'm checking out Grundy's and Chubb, and I"m moving away from Allstate ASAFP.

Anyway - thanks again for the help! I'm curious how it all would have turned out, but I'm glad that I don't have to deal with it anymore.

[Shadow]

Looks like it all turned out well in the end

Stick around and enjoy the site. We're more like family here than most websites, and we try to help each other out whenever possible.

We may be starting a section for members with specialties who can assist other members.
It's always nice to know who knows what and whom when dealing with an issue, be it car related or personal

Tell your wife to feel free to post up when that section comes on line.
We'd love to have her expertise in these and other matters.

BTW, we're having a little (about 20 people at present) get together at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill on Clearwater Beach in about 2 weeks:
http://www.corvetteflorida.com/forum...775#post128775

We'd love to have you both join us if you can make it up.
It's a family event and should be a great time with good people!

Take care

[fletcher4u]

If you are N C M member they have an insurance program and it saved me 450.00 a year on my Z06.