I was parked on a residential street and a 20 year old girl, on her cellphone tagged my right front. +1 Rav4

Now I need to decide what to do with the car. As it stands all the mechanicals are perfect and new. fresh 2 liter 71 car, ran great no rust.. What I would like from you all is your advice as to where to go now. It seems as though the frame is tacoed. I say this cause the right rear is sitting real low and the car is at an angle now at rest. I cannot turn the wheels straight. I may just hang it up and grab a Boxster S though I hate to do it..
Save me from myself and merry christmas gang.
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Oh and to add insult this week was me and the paint shop. materials where in the front trunk...

Merry fu%#(*_() Christmas! sorry for your loss.

Man that blows...I thought my day had a bump! I guess its how much you get paid VS how much time you got. I hate to see a teener go away but enven my ride sat for a few years at one point.....best of luck man.

Maybe God was saying here I will save your life by wrecking your car before you do the next time out?

Man, that sucks!


I've got two words for you:
Celette Bench

I've seen much worse getting pulled back to factory specs. That, and some creative welding should do the trick.
Andy

Wow... really sorry about your car.

I didn't realize that you guys are so close to where I live now...I will be checking into a frame shop soon. If anyone can recommend a good close place for the physical straigtening , well let me know. Thanks for the kind words and in the meanwhile I will be looking for some fenders and a light assembly.

Yep, Cellette. Oh, get ready for her insurance appraiser. Because the car needs paint the insurance company will likely lower the value and total the car.

I think that should pull out no problem. Sorry to see the accident...

Show him that it was all ready for paint, and that the paint was in the front trunk. Don't let him think it was just a beater...

It's only a flesh wound!

One of these and some rubbing compound and it'll be fine




But seriously, sorry about your car. Believe it or not California is just now passing a law making it illegal to 'text' while driving!!

Years ago I had a simular accident with a restored Dodge Challenger. The lady that hit me paid the body shop bill for bring the car back to my standard. No insurance, no questions about what I was having done. I was honest with her and didn't have them pay for anymore work that what it took to bring the car back to where it was.

You might contact the girl and tell her that you'll give her the option of making it right.

I agree with Billy,

Give this a shot, I ran a stop sign when I was sixteen, T -boned a guy at about 25 mph. My victim said he would let me pay it off to him weekly.

I paid him off in full, very painful but it didn't go on my already poor record.
I learned a very valuable lesson, I haven't had to pay anyone since.

Otherwise fix it, they're not building these any more.

Sorry for your trouble.

Sorry dude! That sucks, but fix it. Yeah a Boxster S is a cool ride, but you'll wish later you hadn't. Take everything you have in this car and keep it going....

To you, it's worse than t looks; to a body shop, it's a walk in the park. Get your broken parts from the classsifieds and let the pros straighten that puppy. I seen a 914 hit by a snowplow and brought back to new. Hang in there.

You guys are great. Honestly I fully intend to bring her back just in due time. Hoping that the German Auto place near me has a good lead. metal work doesn't scare me anymore...My biggest concern is the Ins Co. playing their games. Any ideas on that one?

So how many years do you think you will get for beating her senseless and forcing her to eat a cell phone?

If I were your judge I would dismiss all charges. I am sure it was temporary insanity due to duress.

Sorry for the loss, I was rear ended in my daily driver by someone looking at there cell phone. Seems like more and more accidents are caused by this, sooner or later insurance companies will have policies regarding cell phones in cars.

Don't worry that will buff right out.
CCLINAFTERDINNERATXMAS

I had to read that twice till I got it.
You shall all bear witness to the "Phoenix being reborn from the ashes again after catching aflame in mid re-birth"

Or something.

There is a guy here in Richmond that I use when we get something that needs to be pulled. He is VERY good, but he isn't cheap. I probably have most of the pieces you need. I have a metric ton of headlight parts, a front fender, a bunch of bumpers ( no chrome ones though) Let me know if you want the frame guys number or any of my parts.


Oh and you should make her eat that phone.....SIDEWAYS AND BACKWARDS

Scotty, I will let you know about what parts I need and such. A for bumpers I wil be going to glass. Seems that steel didn't do much for me at all on this hit anyway. If I find that time is on my side during this break I may come see you about those parts, Its only two hours afterall.

My condolences, I know just how you feel. In 1988, after 2 years of making my my first 914 cherry...a, um, girl, rear ended me at a red light. I was at a stand still waiting for the light to change, minding my own business. I happen to look in my wink mirror (remember those), and saw a, um, girl, coming at me at about 45 mph or so - APPLYING HER LIPSTICK IN HER MIRROR! She never even braked - OBLIVIOUS, and I didn't have enough time to shift into gear to get the #$%^& out of the way. Needless to say, both cars were totaled - and I was in the street with my fists balled doing my best to contain myself from killing her. She was crying (literally) about how her husband was going to kill her cause the Jetta she just ruined was only 3 weeks old. And I was screaming 'not if I don't first'! 20 years later, the only funny thing about that is - when the cops showed up and looked at the cars, then saw the lipstick line all the way up the side of this girls face, they pretty much knew what had happened. They wanted to laugh, but I was WAY too pissed.

if it's solid, get a good shop estimate and FIGHT your insurance with as many qualified estimated values of it's worth. the insurance will slap a cheap $ value on it and say it's not worth fixing.

ours pre-repair and after quality repair... of course it wasn't insurances preferred choice, we went rounds

don't settle if you feel it's salvagable, sorry you have to deal with some dingbats on the road, we all wish the best for you and your 914

our 73 before a drunk/stoned crankster ran a stop sign and blindsided my wife and kenny.
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after
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I heard from the Ins. company today. Will 4k do it right? I don't want a crazy frame killing me one day...How will celette bench time and straightening of the metal run me. My only goal is to have it back to where it was and to be safe.

4k seems really low to me. You need to get your car to a body shop (or find one that will come to you) and great a proper estimate that you can present to the other insurance company. It's just guessing otherwise, and I think they're really low balling you.

Frame work isn't cheap. My teener got dinged in the passenger side and needed a little pull work, a door and paint on the one side. Total estimate from an average body shop was over 3.5k.

Good luck and don't let the insurance jerks push you around.

What resources do I have to get this rolling again? I am told that I can send them my own research and that we could go from there. They already consider it as totalled which is only due to an adjuster coming out for some pics. I guess I need to instill upon the company that they have been ill informed? Also on next friday my rental is due to expire, that does not sound right at all either. What resources do we have for valuations? I have been unable to find any thus far.

Get the article from Excellence on valuation. I think it was the Oct issue. Push hard for a proper valuation, and make sure the body shops you talk to know what they are doing. It's not just about having a rack to pull it with, it's also about having the right fittings for a 914. I guess they're kind of special and not easy to get.

I would get the last 3+ issues with 914 market eval's in it to show the values continue to go UP on these cars. You can also take it to some local shops that do quality work and get written estimates on the frame and body time. You probably won't get alloted a lot of paint time since your car wasn't pristinme before the wreck.

Rick Ollah would be the one to step in here since he has alot more collision experience than I do.

P.S. I have all of the Excellence mags for the last 10+ years. If you want me to photo copy the evaluations from some as evidence let me know.

Take Scott's offer for the Excellence Market survey info if you don't have have it yourself. Find three 914's for sale in sold shape that fit within the current pricing as outlined in Exellence. Present this to your appraiser for his consideration. If it gets stinky pm me and I'll walk you through a couple things that may help you.

Are they offering you 4G's to repair the car?

Or are they offering you 4G's as a total loss?
(make a difference on how you proceed)

I'm not current on collision shop pricing, but it seems to me Toast had damage from a truck backing into her. It looked about the same and it was 4 grandish...

Remember, your offer could be less paint.

Give us more details.

Rich, the offer on the table is 5k as a total loss, with a 1k cost to me to keep the car. So the 4k number is remainder of their offer. I am expecting the research/findings that the Ins company has in the mail on Tuesday. Until that time I am just waiting.

Scott, If you could send me those copies it would be great. I only have the last few issues around. I would also like to get that number of the guy/shop you mentioned for the celette bench above Scott.

Thanks for the advice guys. Its a big boost to motivation.
Is is legal for the company to pull my rental prior to this being resolved?I have yet to be presented with documentation regarding that point either. USAA is their co. BTW

You may find some useful info here:

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...totaled+dr+evil

I would focus on two things.
First, justify a higher valuation on the car...use the advice above.

Second, find another 914 to buy. It will be faster, cheaper, and a better way to go in the long run.
If you have alot of good parts on the car, but it back from the insurance company...
If not, let it go.

Rich

That really dosen't look too bad from what you can see. Definately have the bodyshop you want to do the work provide the estimate. The fact that they want $1000 for the salvage vehicle means you should have a higher value on the car. You do not want it totaled if you can avoid it, because you would have a salvage title when the damage (in my opinion) may not justify a total. Just remember that if they think your offer is unreasonable they can replace it with one of equal or better condition. They don't want to do this as it takes thier time and there's a million things on your car that may be (or have been better). If they do total and you have it fixed you may want to think of diminished value. It's not worth as much as it was without the accident and insurance is to make you whole again. Also, you should ask them to authorize a rental car to replace the vehicle thier client hit. This will keep the clock ticking and place some pressure for them to be more reasonable.

Hope it works out, just don't be in too much of a hurry.

A rental car is not a chess piece. The insurance company has the right by law to cancel the rental once they have made an offer to settle the vehicle damage as a total loss. Some companies give you a couple days to shop for a replacement, some play hard ball and cut you off the day of the offer. Like it or not the law is on their side in this.

On the other hand, if you have your facts in hand and show them the error of their ways, you may get a few more days. Read through the info I posted in the link above.

If you choose to not be pro-active you will loose a lot of money in a settlement offer on these cars.

Why don't you remind USAA they settled a 914 total loss for alot more than they offered you less than a year ago.

Tony

Sorry for your problems. I went through a total with USAA in August and September. It took 6 weeks and a lot of time to settle it.

I live in Washington and I don't know what your laws are in your state but, here is what I found. Washington only requires 1 method of valuation. Some states require 2. USAA chose to use a service called CCC Valuescope to put a value on our car. I suspect 2 services would be better cause CCC Valuescope are snakes. Their choice of like vehicles was arbitrary and they used a large sample to pull the value down. I finally had to do Carfaxs on all of the cars, make spreadsheet and literally shoot holes in their valuation. The field adjuster bowed out early and I finally ended up with a supervisor. By the way, all of the people were nice, polite and open to consider my arguments. My feeling was that they slide a lot of offers through by being pleasant and steamrolling people with a large difficult valuation document. Be prepared and stick to your guns. Give them a lot of information back because I think that quantity may be more important than quality comparisons. My work got me an extra $1700 and I felt it was fair in the end.

In Washington, the rental car end 3 days after an offer is made.

Good Luck

Dave

If this is USAA, I had my car settled for 3x the offered (converted to a 6) amount last April when I wrecked it. If you dont get the valuation info, let me know as I have copies on disk as well that were given to me here and I used to get my value up to reasonable. I think $4K is low if they intend to total it. Finding a nice straight body is a huge PITA, I know this from recent experience. Scotty B can maybe help you with deciding on keeping and fixing vs finding another tub and having it done by him, possibly.
I have recent experience with this and would be glad to help with info if you cant get it somewhere else (I will be unreachable for the next 2-4 days).

Dude,
If you're in Alexandria there is a fantastic guy in Fairfax. Eric Wills of Wills Werks. He does mostly 356s, but ask about your car. Tell him Mike Meer sent you. He may say something like "1971? Porsche Didn't make cars after 1965"

Bring piles and piles of cash. He has a Celette bench and mad skills but he's expensive. His neighbor is an awesome tech as well. One of those guys should help or at least get you headed in the right direction.

Good Luck!

willswerks.com

My 1.7L 71 was rear-ended and totalled. I tallied all of my receipts, got FS ads for concourse, nice, and ok 914s ($17K, $9K, and $6K), and totally detailed my wrecked car which was in my garage (wax, cleaned wheels, tires, trunk, interior). Also got Excellence Mags valuation on 914s. Insurance Co offered $7800 minus $1K for keeping the car.

I kept the car and pounded out all the damage. Only replaced the rear bumper and taillight. Car is still on the road.

Good luck with your car.

Tony I'll still photocopy these and mail them if you want but the pics actually came out pretty good


2001

2002

2004

2005

2008

If for some reason they want more let me know. I have many more to copy if need be. I am pretty certain these 5 should be enough to show the values keep rising

Thanks for digging those out Scott. I will be recieving the info the company has gathered on Tuesday and will then be able to see just how educated or ill informed the Co. may be. At that point I will compile my own research and fax back to them.

Also, Since I have some time this week I will visit some of the recommended shops in the area and get some info about the repairs. What type of data that a frame guy could provide, would be helpful towards resolution?

Ahem, body shop ringing in here, and that a walk in no park. The celette is only good if you have the jigs, and to my knowledge the only jigs are at a place in Chicago. I have approached Euro Car Bench here in SoCal and we are attempting to get a price from Celette to reproduce the jig-set for us. From what I can see, that is a $6000.00 to 7000.00 repair job at our shop. Their offer seems weak. FAIR MARKET VALUE is what they have to pay you. Do your homework and show them what it is worth. Get the most you can, because my advice is to strip the goodies off of it and start over with a fresh car. So start shopping and make them pay for that fresh car!!!

Well I got my valuation report from their Ins Co today. It was done by Valuscope and the summary read is as follows..

1971 Porsche 914 Targa 2 door Coupe, Zip 22060, rec'd settlement based on loss vehicle desription is $6127.47

Local market value 6250
minus condition -300
+ taxes +178
adjusted amount = 6127.47

compared to typical vehicles in the marketplace, value was adjusted based on mileage (72K) +$1490, radio +$12, stereo +$24, Ally wheels + $48.

Title checks OK, no abandoned reports found
No damaged reports found
No fire damage found
No grey market record found
No hail damage found
No insurance loss record found
No junk records found
No rebuilt records found
No salvage records found
No crash test vehicle records found
No frame damage records found
No major damage records found
No manufacturer buyback lemon records found
No Odometer probs. found
No recycled records found
No salvage auction records found
No water damage records found

Autocheck shows no historical events that indicate a sig. automotive problem.

No history present on Autocheck

Local market definition:
CCC maintains a database of 670K vehicles at 3171 dealerships and 4,547K vehicles in local papers.
CCC identified 2 cars based on nearness to loss vehicles location,
similarity of model, equipment, and odometer. Precision(lol) of the data, inspected/advertised.

When USAA requests a Valuscope Market report, they provide the VIN to find vehicle info, decoding this VIN identifies the exact vehicle for local market value. See the VI Nguard Vehicle ID section (No VI Nguard info was found)
Also provided is owners ZIP to find local market value.

Total condition deduction is $300

The two vehicles selected for valuations were a pair of 71's, one in Pittsburg listed for 5K back in September, another in AZ listed for 4200, The owner of the Pittsburg car (i spoke to) replied that in doesnt run well and shifts poorly...also No Rust. (lol) ... AZ owner wasn't home to comment. Both had unlisted mileage.

Adjusted value with options was 6600 and 5800 respectively based on miles, equipment and such.
_________________________

So, That's what I got back..feel free to start shootin holes in it..

I found these online and they seem to track the Excellence articles fairly well.

I notice that the valuations from NADA remained consistent regardless of the early small bore cars regardless of year, whereas the 2.0 engine is the only factor that affects the end valuation.

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The low values I think fit mine well as on top it looked run down, though the mechanicals , engine, brakes , suspension was all great.

Next time I do a project I guess I should do looks first and then the other stuff since thats what ppl see..Then scratch it all up as I rebuild the real stuff.

Links,
http://www.nadaguides.com/default.aspx?LI=...=22060&da=1
http://www.nadaguides.com/default.aspx?LI=...=22060&da=1
http://www.nadaguides.com/default.aspx?LI=...=22060&da=1

I was told by the company that NADA values only serve as a guide to set dealer pricing and that Ins Co's do dont normally follow those guidelines. I attempted to contact the NADA offices for clarification of this but have yet to have my call returned.
The items I am told I should include in my "rebutttal" are examples of adds that reflect my own and I will include scans of the Excellence market value sections.
Question: In my reading of the market update section, I was unable to find documentation of where the values were derived from, Where are they derived from?

As I was, I need to include adds and the above. The estimate from their adjuster placed damages at $8200 which is of course using NLA parts like 1800 fenders and hoods. I do not want this one totaled as I just finished the de-rusting. Truly was ready for paint. I do not want a new body, or to have the title read totaled salvage or whatever. What is the best route to go here?