308 accident. I could use some advice.

Clyde realy sorry to hear what happen i'm just glad you are ok, I don't know what I'll do if that heppen to me probably cry for months. Well if you said your insurance is #1 in the state and your car is fully insure then I would not worry about it too much but make sure you choose the shop thats going to fix your 308.

 

Sorry to hear about this, glad nobody was hurt. Don't talk yourself into a battle though. It sounds like you might need a good mechanical shop as well as a good body shop. Ask around and find out who does the best work in your area and go see them! Ask for what you deserve and don't settle for less!

 

Tell them No El cheapo no puede only el originale parts only and maybe certified ferrari body shop.

 

Sounds like it could be enough damage to "total" a 308. Start considering Plan "B". You may want to do a search on another recent "minor" 308 crash and review the outcome.

 

sorry about your car clyde, i know you really love your ferrari but im sure she'll be back on the road before ya know it.

 

Find a repair facility that specializes in exotics that has the same view of how the car should be repaired as you and shares your standards.

Let them deal with the insurance company, they do it all the time and know how the game is played.

For example. If the car is close to a total the estimate can be lowered to allow a repair. After the work starts additional damage may be found that needs to be repaired.

I have done insurance jobs where I just flat refused the insurance companies estimate and diplomatically told them to haul the car out. In every case they instantly saw it my way and approved my estimate.

They have a great deal more respect for what the repair shops say and are far more likely to listen to a shop than a car owner.

Best thing you can do is to come to an understanding with a shop and butt out.

 

Clyde, sorry about your incident this morning. Get in touch with Jay at Ferrari Wide World Body Shop or try http://exoticars-usa.com/. And follow Brian's (RIFLEDRIVER)advise to a 'T'

 

+1 (or, +100 if I could do that) - Absolutely 100% awesome advise (all points of course) - A buddy of mine (honest!) recently had a big incident - The repair shop prepared a pretty think 'dossier' not just of part #'s required but 'reasons why' they were required etc etc - The total $ caused the ins co to s**t - UNTIL they saw the dossier....

Good luck,
Cheers,
Ian
PS - The 'bad' news is be prepared for a *long* rebuild time :-(

 

I actually do this sort of thing for a living. I had a client with a Lotus Elise not long ago who I referred to a exotic repair shop that was undoubtedly not on our list of shops. The department of insurance regulates the contract you have with you insurance carrier, which states that the insured vehicle must be brought to a pre-loss condition (standard lang in policies), so rest assured that your car will be repaired properly. Every major carrier I know of knows little to nothing about exotic auto repair, so they pretty much leave it up to the insured to have the vehicle repaired correctly. Did they open your loss as a collision loss or a comprehensive loss? When it comes to blind objects in the road around bends on highways, some carriers tend to be pretty awful about coding people "at fault" and raising their rates. I hope they did not do that to you. Send me a PM if you have a questions I might be able to help with.


good luck- john

 

Sorry to hear about your accident Clyde, hang in there, there are some really great shops out there, she'll be as good as new oneday. My friends 308 took 2 years, but she's platinum now. Anyway, thought you might be interested, theres a set of 308 QV wheels on this site on ferrari ads. it's not too soon to start collecting parts. Good Luck. mark

 

Clyde- You know, this problem is so endemic in New Jersey that they are considering passing new legislation to deal with what are euphemistically referred to as "bed frame" chuckers. Add them to the latte sipping minivan cellphone yackers- who should see hardtime in my estimation for repeat violations- and NJ is like Calcutta, with exits.
Sorry, dude.
I know how attached you are to that car to begin with, and then there's that pride thing. Too bad they don't make repair shops for the latter. YOur car will be fine. I'm glad you are.

 

Clyde,

There is only 1 shop I would take my car if there is any chance of chassis damage and that is Classis Coach in Elizabeth NJ. They have 2 frame machines with the jigs already built for the 308. They did a fantastic job on my 308, within budget and within the estimated time frame. You will not get a better job in this area. And they know how to deal with the insurance companies. Feel free to PM me with your phone # if you want to talk about it.

 

Hello Clyde - Very sorry to hear about your accident - I have a 1976 308GTB with original paint and cringed when I read your message - Thank you for this post - you are helping other owners understand insurance issues even in your hour of misery. You must be the best! Thank you for sharing your experience - I know I have learned from it. Good luck going forward and sincerely hope you and your 308 will be back on the road as quickly as posible.

 

Clyde sorry to hear about your car but I am glad your ok and walked away from it.

 

Clyde,

So sorry to learn about this. I know you are a good driver, and I trust that your driving skills secured your own safety, as I imagine these kinds of obstacles on the road could have caused another drive to do some spins and flips. The car will be fixed and will soon be as good as new.

It's just so awful that something like this should happen through no fault of the driver. Then again, the possibility of experiencing these kinds of events awaits all of us who walk off our doorsteps every day. We rejoice that a more serious fate did not await you.

 

Clyde,

Sorry to hear about the car, man. Yours was a cream-puff. You'll get it back in good shape, not to worry.

I saw the before and after on Paul's car. When we took it down to Classic, Rocco and I spent a good amount of time talking about the compound structural issues to straighten the car out. Paul did an off-road at WGI with his, and I'm sure took a lot harder hit than you did. He hit right front, spun and hit right rear big time. So bad that the rear wheel was cocked at an angle as if it was the front wheel turned all the way to the lock.

When Paul got it back, the frame was perfect. They did a great job. Straightened the whole body out, doors line up right, the car runs straight and true from what we've seen so far. I was impressed.

PM me and I'll give you a couple of tips on dealing with this. And if you need a little legal advice, I'm available if you want to discuss anything.

Regards,
Steve

 

Sorry Clyde,

I had a chat with my agent of some 35 years - a good guy. We were talking about deer in the road, a common porblem up here behind the redwood curtain.

He informed me that if the deer was standing still, it was "an avoidable" collision. Now, if the little mother was running or jumping into the road it was all together different, a no fault accident, so, was the bed frame still moving when you hit it ;-) ??? I think the rationalle is that if it is stoped in the middle of the road, you should be able to stop, kind of a basic speed law issue, whereas if the animal-bedframe slid, jumped or was thrown in front of you, how could you possibly avoid it??

Hope you come out of this ok.

best,
chris

 

In addition to all the info provided so far, I'll repeat what has been said before in the 308 section.

Start now getting comparables, recent sales, conditions, your out-of-pocket expenses on the car now. If you have all this prepared prior to "negotiations", you will be in a better position if the insurance company decides to "total" your car.

There are recent threads I think in the 308/328 section, try a search, cause I think there was someone who had this happen recently and had a very positive outcome because they were prepared.

I believe one of the colorado guys had run-in with a curb in his 308 quite a while ago and had State Farm. An FChatter ended up buying his "totalled" car and he got a 328 out of it. Here's the thread:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16274

James in denver

 

Agree on the choice of Classic Coach in Elizabeth, NJ. Excellent work, if a bit slow. They also do the new Ferraris for Ferrari of North America when they are screwed up off the boat, usually the paint.

Steve

 

Do I have to deal with "Loss of value" because of the accident?

Clyde:
In my experience, the answer is "yes". We t-boned a car that failed to stop for a stop sign, crunched the front end. But the insurance company and repair shop agreed it was salvageable and they repaired it beautifully. It was impossible to determine that it had been in an accident. It ran perfectly, tracked straight, had no creases or wrinkles, the paint was perfect. But, it showed up on Carfax as having been in a wreck. When we traded it in, the dealer gave us nothing for trade-in value. Zero. It seems they placed more value on its record in Carfax than the fact that the car was mechanically and esthetically perfect. It did not mean anything that the car had been restored to as-new condition. This was an eye-opening event for us.
Ed

 

And therein lies one of the big dangers of Carfax! - Further, I think it was Rifledriver who said he's seen "clean" Carfax's on cars that looked like they'd been painted with a roller by Ray Charles.....

Hopefully, you'll get a beautifully restored car and never have to worry about Carfax BS!

Cheers,
Ian