DUB

Insurance companies will not pay for gelcoat UNLESS the car was previously gelcoated. AND as we know..the factory did not gelcoat. If you can prove that it was applied...then they HAVE TO pay for it. I knwo this because I have had to repair some of the Corvettes I restored that were hit...and I can get the insurance company to pay for everything that the owner paid for initially.

The use of gelcoat on factory panels seems to be debated here quite often. I prefer to use it on those bodies that it can be applied on. Some do not like to use it or want to use it.

This is entirely different than an over all paint job. I can get new panels versus repairing cracks also.


EXACTLY. I KNOW THIS ALSO...because I have also had situations much like this where the insurance company did not want to do an all-over and when the customer refused to take the car...they paid me to do it all over again. Granted...in 30+ years...this only happened once....due to the CRAP I went through...I LEARNED what to do so I was NOT painting a car twice. I rather spend 5 hours getting my point across to those who can make the BIG decisions....than get hassled by an adjuster who wants to make my life a living hell.


If it were me....I would make the call. There is NO REASON why a person should settle for a sub-standard repair...ESPECIALLY when they were NOT at fault.

DUB

'Bochawa72

I had the repair work done two hours north in LA at a place J&D Corvettes. All they does is Corvettes. The rear quarter panel on the drivers side was replaced and the rear tail panel was also replaced. The entire back of the car was repainted and blended into the doors. The color is right but the tint of the pearl coat is slightly off. Again this was someone's custom respray from before I owned the car. It's not obvious but it's my car. If I didn't tell you, you probably wouldn't even notice. I was told going in by EVERY body shop I went to that it would be close but not perfect unless they repainted the whole car. I did have the option to pay out of pocket to have the whole car done but don't have the funds right now. I need some body work up front and was quoted around 7K to get the body work and the rest of the car done. He said just for paint they charge 9500.

I'll have to get someone over to appraise the car and see if I can point out the flaws and hope that makes a difference. I am very happy with the work that was done. It's not the shops fault that insurance wouldn't cover everything I thought should be done. They did go to great lengths to get my whole quarter panel replaced due to an old repair that wasn't done right. He even paid for the re-chroming of the passenger rear bumper as a thanks for bringing the car up from San Diego.

I do NOT have collectors insurance because I did not qualify. While my Harley is my daily driver I do drive the Vette at least once a week to work and that disqualified me from collectors insurance. They also asked about autocross and I said I have not yet but I would like to try it. Timed events are also a big no-no. Looks like collectors insurance is only for weekend cruisers and garage queens. It's not a low number car. It was a rusty beat up PS only car that I have been restoring and bringing back to life in the past ten years. Qualifies as a resto-mod I suppose. I'll never be able to sell it for what I have in it. I imagine most of us are in that club. I was just unlucky enough to get rear ended at a stop sign by a girl that was texting. I suppose I'm lucky I wasn't on my Harley.

7T1vette

If you don't have collector car insurance, you're VERY lucky you even got the car repaired. The cost of the repair you described is WAY over the average wholesale value of your car which should have made it a Total Loss, according to your policy. That would have been all they were required to pay on a 'regular' car insurance policy.

Unless by some stroke of luck you actually have an "Agreed Value" policy, you might have received a check for a few thousand dollars and the insurance company could have kept the car to repair and resell at THEIR discretion.

jim2527

There's a forum member who specializes in diminished value claims. I believe he's an attorney (maybe not)...you'll have to a search. Last time I read one of his posts was in OT.

jim2527

Contact info? I have a '75 Ritchey road frame that needs work.