I busted my car up tonight

thehueypilot said:

Glad your to hear your "OK"......I'm concerned about your news about your seat belts failing. They looked like they were cheap quality and you just proved that they are indeed not up to standards. What seats did you have? After you get healed can you show us pictures of the equipment failures?

Click to expand...

When I got the car, I posted here asking about three point seat belts. I got some suggestions and went with the most expensive ones at $199. I took some flack for it but I figured that these were the best, hence their premium prices. I guess I figured wrong. The seats are stock. They look like they recline all the way back now.

As for 1320's observation about the rear valance, it looks like it tore and that under the paint it is white. This is what led me to think it is glass. It was dark and other than last night, I never paid it much attention. Once the car gets to a shop, I will pay it a visit, inspect the valance, get the low down on the damage, and take some pics. I think it is salvageable. At least I hope it is.

gsxrken said:

Jerry, you've had quite a run with this car! Sorry to hear about the mishap and it goes to show such a thing can happen to anyone in less than a second.
I had a new 85GT that SHOT sideways off the road as I was going around a turn up a hill. I had to down shift from 3rd to 2nd. It was raining hard, and those Eagle Gatorbacks sucked in the wet, but I was going maybe 25 MPH. My very first thought was "wow, that was fast".
Glad to hear everyone is OK.

Click to expand...

the damage appears to be severe and as I indicated, my dutch insurance agent never covered me for full collision even though I asked for it. All this time, I was under the impression I had full coverage. Last year, I put all my insurance up for review with an insurance broker. The broker quoted me a much higher rate for coverage for my mustang. When I pointed out that he was not competitive, he never once said that the reason for the difference in price was that he was offering me full collision with the new policy whereas I only had third party liability with my current policy. I just hope I can fix it.

Edbert said:

Regarding insurance...stateside (at least my state), you can get a policy where the car has a "declared value", you basicallly get to name your price, and they charge you accordingly. Photos and appraisal are usually necessary of you go over $25-30K (USD). I priced out a policy for mine at $30,000.00 declared value, it came with 5,000 miles a year, as a recreational vehicle on a policy with two drivers and two other vehicles. Price was about $100/month IIRC.

Click to expand...

The belt on the passenger's side appeared to have broken off the roof mount. If the car can be rebuilt, I will put in a cage and 5 point belts.

Regarding insurance, the agent told me that an appraisal would be required if the car's declared value was very high. I replied to this by stating that I felt that the car was worth EUR 30,000 at the time. She said "ok." When I got the insurance documents (all in dutch) I got a letter from her saying that "I made an indication in your policy that the car is worth EUR 30,000." This led me to believe that I had collision coverage. Now that I have done some further sleuthing, I have found out that with a EUR 750 deductible, full coverage would have cost me 8.25% per year of the declared value, or EUR 2,475 each year based on a declared value of EUR 30,000. If I can fix the frame and replace the broken parts for less than EUR 5700 cash out of pocket, my net financial position would be neutral as I would have paid that much in premiums since 2004 and the EUR 750 deductible. I would be proceeding as if I were self-insured. The low price I was paying did not tip me off because this agency is the insurance agent for my wife's company and we get large discounts. For example, the total price of insurance on my Sebring is listed as costing EUR 1900 per year but I only pay EUR 732. I have several policies with them: Homeowners, auto insurance, personal liability, litigation insurance, etc, and I get an additional discount because I have every conceivable insurance policy.

The ironic thing was that I was almost side-swipped a week ago by a guy talking on his cell phone. He drifted into my lane. At the last second, he jerked the wheel and avoided the accident. In retrospect, I would have been better off had he hit me as I would have discovered then that I did not have the coverage I thought I did and I would have immediately changed the policy.

And the whole thing happened just like that. I lost traction, went sideways, and went down the embankment. I was going less than 40 mph at the time. I only remember thinking "why aren't we stopping?"

Helmantel said:

Sorry to hear about your accident.

I understand that you live in Holland?

Click to expand...

Yes