shoepolishsmelling

the fact that you head hit the other car makes it sound pretty bad did you have the windows up? anyways looks like everything is coming back together for the car good luck with the rest of her

RPM3DINC

Sorry to see that man, Glad you are ok, and that you are fixing her back to new...

Had a guy almost do the same thing to me the other day, I jumped out of my car so fast and gave him a piece of my mind that I blocked the intersection for a few minutes... Then I after I was done, I walked back to my car and burned out on his a$$ just to make my point a little clearer...

Anyways, looks like a bad wreck, but if the frame was not damaged, then I don't think any body place will have a problem... Bad part is like everyone said, its now a "Wrecked Used Car" at best as a trade in... and people are leary of those... I know when I bought my used Mustang that is the first thing I get info on... the previous owner, the history of the car, everything...

You would be better of keeping her and or selling to a family member or grandchild or something... even a friend...

I am firm believer that all accidents can be avoided 1 way or another, but its because of certain "Pressure Points" that the accidents happen... One person or another hits those and goes over them causing or in act helping cause the accident... Cause and effect...

Good Luck!

itchy5

Look into your state's Diminished Value Laws. I was rear ended after having the car for 6 months. After the repairs I filed a diminished value claim with the other insurance company. They fought me pretty hard. Out right lying to me at times. I had to go up about 3 levels in management before I finally won.

I hate Progressive Insurance and will reach through the computer and strangle anyone who is one of their agents.

Based on my experience here's what I would do:

1) Find out if your state allows for diminished value claims. if yes continue.

2) Tell the insurance company that you intended to file a claim and you want them to provide IN WRITING exactly what you need to provide to them. I made the mistake of just asking them. I had originally planned to get a dealer to run comparables for me. (i.e. what the car was worth before accident, what it was worth unrepaired and what it was worth after the repairs)

3) The insurance company told me this was not acceptable and that I had to get the car appraised by an independent 3rd party. After paying $300 for the appraisal and sending them a letter requesting diminished value payment. I was again ignored and then lied to. I was told that the appraisal was not good enough and they disagreed with it and would not pay.

4) I filed a claim with the Maryland Insurance Administration (you should probably find out if your state has something similar)

5) Long story short ... be persistent and keep after the insurance company, they are going to do their best to ignore you and hope you go away. I finally got about 73% of the appraised diminished value and the appraisal cost.

On another note. If I am ever in an accident again, I will pay my deductible and have my insurance company recoup the cost from the other party's company. The repair process was a nightmare. The The progressive agent took her time getting down to see the car and fought with the shop, and finally won, to use a non OEM bumper. That really chapped my A$$

essexdan

DV claims really only work if you're a claimant. In many states if you're seeking payment from your own insurance company DV is irrelevant because the policy only covers direct physical loss. Careful with the numbers you're playing with though. It wouldn't be to hard for the insurer to agree to your DV claim and then turn around and force a salvage title on the car if the DV claim carried the damages above the revised total loss threshold (even though the car is already fixed).

If you're a claimant, also don't forget to ask for reimbursement for the fuel in your tank. In 10 years as an appraiser I paid it every time I was asked (which was once). It's personal property that's not part of the vehicle or its attached equipment and they owe you for it.

itchy5

Yes, obviously, DV only applies in cases when you are not at fault.

I'll have to check on the second statement about forced salvage after repairs. My wife is an attorney; she is the one who did the legal research and got me to pursue the DV claim.

Interestingly enough, the court case establishing DV as a legal precedent took place in Maryland, which is how I knew the people from progressive were liars when they originally denied my claim because "Maryland was not a DV state"

essexdan

I think DV is not recognized per se but is a common law claim in some states. I was an appraiser in Connecticut where it was rarely paid on ordinary cars. I listened to some people ask for it but I never heard a convincing argument. I was always of the mindset that it's not really a valid claim since no dealer prices cars according to how many accidents they've been in. The market value for a properly repaired car is essentially the same whether it's been wrecked or not as long as the title is still clean. Here in Ohio it's basically the same. I can see paying it on something like a high end Ferrari where the pedigree and history of each car is generally documented and known, or on some rare or low-production vehicles, but on a five or ten year old car it would be considered unusual if it hadn't been damaged at least once.

Being a claimant is golden if you have collision. If you don't like the claimant carrier's offer you can always go back to your own company and have them price it. They don't really have any incentive to jack you around since they're just going to go to the other carrier anyway. You can then just take the offer from whichever one give you a higher number. You're still free to pursue DV or whatever else against the claimant carrier.

Coming to an agreement on a value on totals was easy since most of them were priced right when they popped out of the computer. I paid some crazy money on things like Jeep Wranglers that always seemed to be valued at twice what the person paid for them. I didn't pay for very many total losses that I thought I could have sold for more myself. I'm selling a car right now and I know I'd much rather hit a deer with it and have the insurance company buy it than get what I can sell it for myself.

Mustangs and heavily modded cars like rice-burners owned by high school kids were sometimes a pain. People get this weird idea in their head that if they spend thousands (hundreds) of dollars on aftermarket crap individualizing their car that it somehow makes it worth more. In reality it usually devalues the car since the more you make it appeal to yourself the fewer other people it will appeal to.

Sorry to hear about your aftermarket bumper. The aftermarket fenders actually fit pretty well on 05+ Mustangs. I'm not sure why Ford only charges $150 or so for the factory fenders. The aftermarket was $125. I haven't used a bumper yet. I've never understood why the manufacturers don't imprint trademarks all over their vehicles. Beating an aftermarket rear bumper on a pre-05 mustang is easy since it says "Mustang" across the back, which of course the aftermarket doesn't. If Ford was smart they'd stamp the running horse trademark right under the "GT" on every fender and charge $500 for it.

06Slicks

I feel you bro. Good to hear your ok, cars can always be replaced.

abarker8541

[/QUOTE]

man it really messed up your license plate. j/k glad to hear you are okay. cough gt500 cough.

buster

wow, hope everyone was ok. I know its your baby but fix the car and sell it.......you are probably going to have tracking problems

thedrod

Mine would've said "My car was creamed by a douchebag d1psh1t not paying attention."