Monte Carlo Meets the wagon!!!!!! HELP!!

Tonight my son began backing out of the driveway. He failed to look over his shoulder and swung the side of his car into the wagon. It did a lot of damage to his car. I imagine they will total it.....







It also did a fair amount to mine!!! And I will see that they will total mine also.







I need to find out how insurance handles two cars from the same insured. Will I pay two deductibles? Will they total mine? I have the trim, bumper cover, light. I will need the quarter and the labor. There is a twin to my car in the local yard I can have pulled. I am pretty sure they will total both cars.......

Any advice?

From the picture the MC doesnt look too bad. I have a '96 Lumina that got T-Boned a few years ago and they had to do a lot more work than this and they didnt total it. Lumina/MC parts are one in the same, and cheap and plentiful. Shame about the wagon thou, its a beut.

On another note, there is a pull a part about an hr from me with a 91 Caprice with surprisingly clean quarters. They wont cut just the quarters for me, but will sell the rear clip from the wheelwell back for $400. If I had the money I would, but I cant afford $400 for the whole clip when I only need maybe 1/4 of it. But if you need it, lemme know.

That's insane.

Somebody's grounded. <_<

Man Tim, bummer. I don't know what else to say.

thats a shame tim maybe you could buy the wagon from insurance co. the rest of your wagon is to clean to go to jy

First things first TOTAL THE SON.Probably wont total the MC but they will total your wagon.How well do you know your agent?
Before you even file a claim find out if your agent has the final say so concerning your right to buy the wagon back from your
insurance company.Also find out if your company will reinsure the car after its been repaired and now it will have a salvage title,
which varies from state to state.Whats your sons driving record like and how much will your rates change?
I have been with State Farm here in VA for over 35 years and my insurance runs 27.51 a month full coverage with a 500 buck
deductible and limited yearly mileage but once a claim is filed its out of my hands concerning my buy back options unless its agreed
upon before hand so be careful Tim! and get everything in writing!
Take Care
Jim

they should not total the wagon it not that bad. you can remove the inner panel and pop most of that out. if u lived in chi i could helped u out. there is a place out here that would fix it cheap and give u a guarenty


sorry to hear about that thoe

Woah....sorry man!! Do you really want the wagon totaled? Personally, I would try to get it fixed myself or you can do what my Dad did to me as a 16yr old. (I had an incident with the family minivan...'84 Voyager...and and rogue mailbox...lol)

-Have the son pay for the repair work on the wagon out of pocket over time.

-You and the son get jyard parts and fix his car, paint it later on. He can totally drive that right now as is. Fix the headlight and roll with it. It will build character.

Both cars are drivable. Is it worth the hassle with the ins co? They will total that wagon, then you have to try and buy it back...and it will have a salvage title. (hurting value if you sell it down the road)



This is coming from a guy that only carries 'liability only' ins on my wagons though.

Sorry to hear this Tim! Not sure what you're wanting to do but the upper portion of the quarter looks (hard to be sure from pics) like you can get inside and push it out. The lower part though appears creased. At least you've got some spare parts though!

On the quarter, the hardest part is finding the woodgrain honestly, paint and sheet metal are easy in comparison.

Thank you for all the info and kind words everyone. My son is 19 and a GREAT kid. He has not caused his mother and I more than about 1 days grief in his first 19 years!! ANYONE of us could have made this mistake. The punishment of coming back into the house and telling me about his mistake was punishment enough. He is more that forgiven.

His car is easy, the fix is not worth the deductible. We can go to a u-pull-it yard next week some time and get the parts to fix it for less than $500. If he does not want it anymore we will sell it.

DBeaSSt wrote:

Sorry to hear this Tim! Not sure what you're wanting to do but the upper portion of the quarter looks (hard to be sure from pics) like you can get inside and push it out. The lower part though appears creased. At least you've got some spare parts though!

On the quarter, the hardest part is finding the woodgrain honestly, paint and sheet metal are easy in comparison.

You are correct on my car Mike. I have a bumper cover (I just pulled from a JY) and the trim. The tough part is the quarter. it is even bent above the wood/polished trim under the window. I will have my guys pound it out and re-paint the lower quarter (they just did this a couple of months ago). They can paint the bumper cover, this may suffice Depending on the results or the expected results, there is a very clean wagon the same color as mine in the local yard. I can get the whole quarter and have it replaced. The other option would be to de-wood the car or re-wood the car (ie. Pat/Gonzo).

The tricky part is how to handle the insurance company..............

My insurance company would never know, lol.

i,m sorry for your lad,. the monte looks easy enough,.
the wagon can be fixed too,. as was mentioned i,d probably just fix it all myself(the two of you?) and leave the insurance out of the loop, probably cheaper in the long run,.
You are right that your boy was probably mortified to make a mistake like this,. he'll learn a lesson from this i,m sure,.
It,s good to see your forgiving attitude, it,s hard enough being a teen aged boy,
My at the time 14yr old was moving the blue wagon, and he backed up 40ft while making faces at his brother and ran into the black car,. I didn't have to say much, some lessons are just so obvious, and it makes you closer to your kids when you let them know you understand and you tell them about some of the colossal F**k ups you,ve done.
It,s only a car,. nobody was maimed, life goes on.

Nick

94Woody wrote:

My insurance company would never know, lol.

Yeah really. With the amount of damage and the risk of getting the wagon totaled. Id just not report it and take care of it on your own. Not only will your insurance go up, your son will have the surcharges for 5 years (atleast thats how MA state law has it) plus like you said, parts are cheaper than the deductible.

As for your wagon. The lower quarter and the wood grain should hammer out, its empty back there once you pull out the left panel in the back. I did that the other day when I as going to get some quarters off of a car in a junkyard, couple god blows and it came out. I've also done it on my wagon. A deer ran into it when it was with the old owners, couple shots with a mallet and it was good as new. You probably wont even need to replace the wood.

That sucks Tim. Wicked bummah. I'm sure your son was walking as slow as he possibly could back up to the house!

That's a tough call on the insurance though. If you can fix it easily/cheaply enough on your own, I think I'd leave the insurance company out of it.

94Woody wrote:

My insurance company would never know, lol.

Yup

tim if you are coming down to philly again i can check out the jy ahead of time for you. or pick up parts for u ahead of time let me know if i can help

John,

What we need right now is to find a clean 1995-1999 monte carlo with a good door, fender. front bumper and headlight. Must be Gold.

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

John,

What we need right now is to find a clean 1995-1999 monte carlo with a good door, fender. front bumper and headlight. Must be Gold.

I think there was one at my local pick a part. But I live in MA, sry

+100 on the insurance company knowing. What they don't know won't hurt you (financially).
Not like the other party is going to report you!

Total bummer. My ex-wife parked crooked once and in a hurry I backed my '69 lifted Blazer into her Toyota beer can. My bumper took out the whole quarter panel right at the top by the trunk lid. I know how your boy felt walking back into the house........

Looks fairly easy on the MC, the wagon quarter needs some skilled whacks from a body shop and should be fin IMHO.....

Some nice fresh paint for WF

tim i am going to the jy up by levittown i will check if i find one i will give you a call from there

Tim

As a father of 3, and the person who paid their insurance when they were in college, I can tell you this, you're better off taking care of it yourself. Believe me it is cheaper in the long run. Two out of 3 had reportable "incidents", I probably shouldn't have reported one of them, as my daughter scraped the side of the house foundation with my Grand Marquis, but she was on the way to church, so I couldn't really get mad, about $2000 damage. My son son totaled his car, probably had a $7500 value, and another car. But no one was hurt. The following week he was graduating from Wake Forest University, so I really wasn't upset. Then he goes to law school and I had to pay his insurance for another 3 years plus the surcharge. Boy, I was glad when he was done law school and started paying his own. A short time later my daughter had the incident.

Both of you fix them, it will be a good bonding.


Tom

I will not be putting a claim in on the Monte. I has $2 worth of damage less the $500 deductible so $1500 puts us over the $1300 PA surcharge level. Not to mention they would total the car. We will go to the U-Pull-It on Saturday and see if we can find a color match car.

The wagon estimated out @ $1665 (or $1200 after deductible. Putting a claim on it would not raise my insurance or my son's. But if he were to get into another 'issue' in the next 3 years it would could against him. I think we will have it fixed our selves. Not sure exactly how we will fix, but I am thinking a re-wood is in order.

Tim

A 2x4 some epoxy and some sweat. The MC fender is "straight" the light is back together and working and the electric mirror has been epoxied back together and is working.......

Redneck fixing at its best. I was a little disappointed that it went back together so easy. I really wanted to use duck tape and Ty-raps somewhere!!!!!

Tim

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

A 2x4 some epoxy and some sweat. The MC fender is "straight" the light is back together and working and the electric mirror has been epoxied back together and is working.......

Redneck fixing at its best. I was a little disappointed that it went back together so easy. I really wanted to use duck tape and Ty-raps somewhere!!!!!

Tim

Good to hear! How is your sons car coming?

That was his son's car, Justin.

toomanytoyz wrote:

That was his son's car, Justin.

Thats what I get for not paying attention

Update........





I will put her back together tomorrow and head for WF later that day.

Tim

Looking good Tim!

What did you do with the wood grain?

See you Thursday.

Tom

Looks great. Soon she'll be as good as new.

PS, where did you get that "save the whales" sticker. I love it!

silverfox103 wrote:

Looking good Tim!

What did you do with the wood grain?

See you Thursday.

Tom

They straightened the panel as best they could under the wood. It looks pretty good, but I may remove the wood at the Fest and have the body shop straighten the sides and then re-wood with something different.

Not sure just yet.....

Cadet57 wrote:

Looks great. Soon she'll be as good as new.

PS, where did you get that "save the whales" sticker. I love it!

Bewber make the stickers at WF last year. I am sure he will be at it again this year.

Thanks!!

Tim

I love that sticker. :lo!:

BigBlackBeaSSt wrote:

PS, where did you get that "save the whales" sticker. I love it!

Bewber make the stickers at WF last year. I am sure he will be at it again this year.

Thanks!!

Tim[/quote]

I so hope he has some this year too. Id love to get one for my car.