[alfa] GTV6 Rear-ended

["Karl N. Matthias" <karmat@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Alfa Owners,

I would really love some advice from those of you who know insurance law
and/or have dealt with having your baby wrecked.

I was sitting at a stop light in my 1982 GTV6.  It was a long light so I
took it out of gear and sat in neutral with the brake on.  The light
turned and I had a little bit of trouble putting the car in gear.  I moved
about 10 feet and got just hammered by the jerk who had previously been
stopped at the light behind me.  I think he was on the phone and didn't
even notice that I was there, but rather noticed that all the other cars
had moved and he stomped on the gas.  Anyway the one body shop in town who
would write me an estimate says it's $4700 to fix it.  I believe it
because it's all frame damage.  The whole back of the car is bent under
and there are creases running up both rear quarter panels.  The spare tire
well is bent enough around the spare that it cannot be removed from the
car.  The bumper is about 1.5 inches closer to the car on the passenger
side than the driver's.  That's the damage.

So I claim it with this moron's insurance company (State Farm) and they
don't want to pay me more for the car than $1570.16.  They base this
number on "what two dealers said they would pay."  I have no idea where
they got that number or which "dealers" they talked to.  I have a declared
value on my insurance policy of $5000 which I think is fair (and I've paid
the premiums to prove it...).  I have over $7000 in receipts for parts
alone, since I did almost all of the work myself.  This car is in much
much better condition than most cars I could buy even if they did pay me
the declared value.  When I told them that I have a declared value on the
car and expect to get that from them they told me to claim it on my
insurance, they will pay my deductible and then my insurance company will
"subrogate it."  I talked to my agent, who is in the Alfa club, and he,
like I, figures that's not a very good way to deal with this.  State
Farm's client did the deed and they should take care of the damage.  Plus
there is no guarantee that my insurance company won't fight me tooth and
nail to make this go away.  Nor any guarantee that they will pay me,
either.  Has anyone dealt with this?!!  How the heck do I get treated
fairly when they are getting paid to not treat me fairly?  I either want
them to pay the $4700 to fix the car or pay me the declared value.  I have
a fund started already for a paint job on the car... and then it would
have been basically done.  Now I am faced with this mess.  So you can
understand the condition of the car, here's what I have done:

I've owned the car for almost 4 years.  I bought a 3.0L engine from
England (was cheaper at the time) and installed it in the car.  I rebuilt
the whole front suspension, driveshaft, and exhaust system.  It has nearly
$1000 worth of Stebro exhaust on it, Konis, Sport springs, the 3.0L 75
motor, hot cams, seats from a 2001 VW GTI which I custom fabricated
adaptors for, a new carpet set, new dash, new water pump, new tensioner,
new brake master cylinder, new clutch master cylinder, new rotors and pads
all around, rebuilt front suspension (ball joints, tie rod ends, etc),
urethane bushings all around, rebuilt brake booster, new coolant hoses
throughout the car, Milano A/C system (works great!), Balocco rear seat,
4.10 gearbox from a Milano (crunchy 2nd), new fuel pump, NOS gas cap, all
new rubber below the windows.  etc.  This car runs perfectly and is
practically brand new mechanically and in terms of the interior.  I am
running european computers as well.  The body is rust-free and (was)
straight.  The paint is pretty bad.  The car has stock 15" alloy wheels
with very recent Pirelli tires.

Help!  Thanks

Karl
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