Well we had 3 Fieros at a car show today and my wife had just finished washing hers to bring it out. I got a call from her and she is crying so hard I couldn't understand a word she was saying. I instantly knew she had 1been in a wreck. I get on the scene and I see about 3 police cars, an ambulance, and a fire and rescue vehicle all in the parking lot of the Chick-Fil-A they had pulled into afterwards. Luckily the damage to the Fiero wasn't THAT bad but I am worried they may try to total it. This is the before shot of the Fiero.
Here is the damage to the car.
My wife was in the center lane on a 3 lane road driving 45mph, which was exactly the speed limit, when three people pulled out in front of her. The first one went right and the second two turned left in front of her. She wasn't sure how she was able to miss the second car or WHY the third driver thought they had enough time to get past her.
She gave better than what she got, here are pictures of the car she hit which was a newer model Honda.
So if anyone has any tips for making sure they do not Total my wife's Baby I would appreciate it.
No advice on how to keep them from totaling it....but it really doesn't look too bad. New bumper, fender, hood, and headlight assembly and you will be pretty close to done. Doesn't look to be too much metal bent (although pics don't always show the whole picture). Unfortunately, those couple things are enough for most insurance companies to call it a loss.
Yes they were on there. Toying about stealing them for my 86 GT...
My wife is fine. She was a little sore after the shock wore off. After calming down and looking at the pics again I wonder if the front bumper could be salvaged....
The spaceframe appears to be intact, nice!! Looks like you just need to inspect the bumper support and pull the bumper/ replace it and the eggcrate should be alright. Apart from that its the headlight assembly/ cosmetic pieces so your wife made off well overall. I don't think there is anything you can do to help your car not get a salvage title, maybe when the insurance adjuster comes out try to feel him/her out.
For comparison, here was mine when I was t-boned and hit a parked car as a result- could've been much worse (messed my back up somehow from this impact):
I hit an SUV so the wheel went under the spaceframe and destroyed my freshly rebuilt suspension. Damage from the t-bone on driver's side, door was mashed in. Car was totaled and received $4500 for it.
Yes they were on there. Toying about stealing them for my 86 GT...
My wife is fine. She was a little sore after the shock wore off. After calming down and looking at the pics again I wonder if the front bumper could be salvaged....
It likely ripped all the mounting holes as it came off. I think you would be better off looking for a new one. Perfect opportunity to do something custom.
That really sucks!!!!!!!!!! Drivers are so stupid at times!!!!!!! I hope you can get the Fiero fixed. I wouldve gone to jail if somebody hit mine. You have something nice and some a#)*^%$ screws up. She is not hurt and thats all that matters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't think there is anything you can do to help your car not get a salvage title, maybe when the insurance adjuster comes out try to feel him/her out.
Forgive me for being ignorant about salvage titles. I'm not sure why it would matter with something like a fiero. Can you legally register and license a salvage car?
When I lived in Texas, I had an '81 Firebird. Some Jackwagon ran a red light and I hit them causing me to run into a third car. Both front and rear bumpers were trashed. The insurance company totaled the car and I bought it back for $400. I don't ever remember the title changing hands or anything. They just gave me $400 less than the total insured value of the car.
Not sure if things are different now since this happened about 20 years ago.
Sorry to hear about the car, but more importantly, I'm glad your wife is ok. You can always find another Fiero, but finding a wife who loves them as much as you would but a lot more difficult.
On a side note, looking at the before pic of your wife's car, a great name for the car popped in my head all of a sudden. Something about that pic makes me want to call her car "Chicken Salad". Not sure why.
------------------ 2002 Audi Allroad. Tip. 100% Natural. (Daily Driver) 2011 VW Golf. (Wife's Wheels) 1984 Pontiac Fiero. 2m4(My Fixer Upper) 73K miles. Soon to be the proud owner of my very own 88 GT.
[This message has been edited by Dotrenrew (edited 03-03-2013).]
My S10 was totaled and I bought it back. Had to send the title in to have it changed to a salvage title. Been driving 6 years now after fixing it. I think in Indiana, you can get the title changed back to a regular with an inspection, but I never tried to do it. . Another thread a few years ago, indicated some other states were different.
I'm not completely sure, my car was "totaled" and I was told I'd have a salvage title. They didn't try to take the car from me, they gave me an offer along with keeping the car so I took it and sold the car for parts.
Do you have full coverage ins or just liability? If not full then there's nothing for them to pay so there's no way they will total it. Even if it's full coverage ins, I'm sure you can argue the case with them. Get some prices for replacement parts and argue the case with the adjuster for doing it yourself. Worst case is you 'absorb' the cost to the repairs and don;t claim on your ins (which is why I only have liability on my Fiero's, can't see the point of full coverage n a car that's worth maybe $1500).
------------------ Anything I might say is probably worth what you paid for it, so treat it accordingly!
Do you have full coverage ins or just liability? If not full then there's nothing for them to pay so there's no way they will total it. Even if it's full coverage ins, I'm sure you can argue the case with them. Get some prices for replacement parts and argue the case with the adjuster for doing it yourself. Worst case is you 'absorb' the cost to the repairs and don;t claim on your ins (which is why I only have liability on my Fiero's, can't see the point of full coverage n a car that's worth maybe $1500).
We have Liability but my wife was not at fault. She was driving the speed limit and someone turned left in front of her. I'm prepared to do all the work myself except the paint and any welding that may need to be done if it comes to that.
No advice on how to keep them from totaling it....but it really doesn't look too bad. New bumper, fender, hood, and headlight assembly and you will be pretty close to done. Doesn't look to be too much metal bent (although pics don't always show the whole picture). Unfortunately, those couple things are enough for most insurance companies to call it a loss.
This. It does not look bad at all. I've seen worse Fieros get repaired / salvaged. If its a no-ruster I would do my best to keep it.
Totaled? No. Even if by some chance they do, just keep the car and fix it up. The other person's insurance will pay you the value of the car and you can put that towards parts.
it doesnt matter if they want to total it or not. its your car the damage could be 10k to fix it and if you say fix it they have to thats why they are there. dont let them BS you into totaling it out for pennies of what its worth (sentimentally) to you. but on a good note i dont think that they will try total it.
My wife would probably rather her baby wasn't hurt. lol She was screaming and crying after the wreck because she was so upset about the possible damage; she hadn't gotten out of the car yet. After seeing the damage, she sat on the pavement next to her baby crying.
Pretty sure her mother sold it for parts and told us it was stolen from the mechanics shop. So if anyone purchases a silver 85 V6 auto in great physical shape with a blown up engine, thanks to Jiffy Lube, in Cary North Carolina that was hers. Only defining characteristics of it was it had stickers ALL over the back bumper. had an I Heart my Marine sticker behind the passenger side rear window, and had Sail Panels with the Pegasus on them as well as on the valve stem caps. We would love to find that car and pay anything we could to get it but we don't know the VIN# and it was in her mothers name.
If it turns out that it gets totaled, check Donster's wife's car. I know it might be a little drive for you but it's a decent car. They have an 85GT that's been converted to the bumperpad body style. They're moving back to Germany and it's up for sale. It also has the 4-speed Econo transmission in it.
We drove to Tallahassee and side tripped to Daytona in 2011 to pick this one up. I have 5 others so one way or another this one is getting back on the road.
Ben
Edit: But thank you for the link, I checked it out and it is a sweet car!
[This message has been edited by Marine1981 (edited 03-05-2013).]
Glad to hear your wife is OK! To me it doesn't look that bad either. I'm sure that could be fixed. You know, the great thing about minor accidents and insurance is you get fresh paint! I've had my entire truck repainted over the years because of one front end and one rear end collision that were relatively minor.
Damn that's a shame man....that was a very sweet looking bumper pad Fiero. Like the others I echo the sentiment that we are glad your wife was not injured. It sure looks fixable,, is it driveable and does it go straight down the road if it is? Good luck either way. Those bumperpad notchies have a clean sharp look to them and whenever I see one it reminds me of ferris' sister's car LOL....peace
Pete
------------------ "May the grins begin when you turn the key and hear the engine roar over your shoulder" ......Gall57 (slightly modified LOL)
It drives fine. No pictures but true to my heritage I duct taped the bumper and fender to keep it in place and drove the 84 up to Round Rock to Atomic Garage to get an estimate for the repairs. Still drives great and the broken headlight still lights up! Just didn't aim in the right direction..... Atomic Garage is featured on the show Texas Car Wars so might be able to get cheaper paint somewhere else but would also like someone the knows what they are doing and they worked on a fellow members ride down here. Ben
I would not worry. They may total it but you can still settle with them and keep the car.
Mine was hit much worse than this in the same corner back in the 80's. Form what I can see here there is very little damage here and it should not be difficult to fit.
As for that Honda it is Fd up. That one will take at least $8,000 to fix with the air bag. If the center post on the doors is moved much they may even total it. I saw a Mazda here hit in a similar fashion and it bent the center pillar and part of the floor enough they totaled it.
Not much to a Honda as I have seen some really messed up ones in light accidents.
You should be able to track down her old car with just her mothers name. DMV logs all titles that have been in someones name I believe and from there you can retrieve vin ect.
Well the good news is we spoke to the insurance company the other day. We had to call them and they didn't know WHY no one had called us yet.. but they ARE taking responsibility for the accident so we need to take it in to have the damage assessed on Tuesday.
Well the good news is we spoke to the insurance company the other day. We had to call them and they didn't know WHY no one had called us yet.. but they ARE taking responsibility for the accident so we need to take it in to have the damage assessed on Tuesday.
This is good...but be aware that third party claims are not a walk in the park. Since you are not their customer they don't owe you anything, (as if any insurance company owed their customers anything anyway, but I digress). So their first offer will probably border on ridiculous. Since you are already prepared with an independent estimate you already know how much they should owe you. But more likely than not they will try to total it out. Not that it's a big deal, as pointed out numerous time, but be prepared.
Well took the car to the insurance company today and they took some pictures. Still waiting to get a ballpark estimate but looks like a rough estimate of the repairs is going to be $2288.89 but that's just a ball park. So who knows what they are going to think the value of an 84 Fiero is going to be. They estimated the cost of parts to be $939.32, body labor $316.80, paint labor $576.40, and paint supplies to be $350.00, and 106.37 for Tax.