Horribly thing happen to my yellow baby viper...

[YLW DRM2]

I had my long waited Viper, in exact color that I wanted - yellow, for 3 months. I really like the car, I found a very good deal on it back in October - bought it for $42K with only 7K miles on it. Flew all the way to Montana to pick it up and drove in back to San Francisco. In the last three months I put upgrades on the car exactly as I wanted them - Corsa with the high flow cats, K&N, DCPerformance programming, short shift, cross drilled and slotted rotors, and lastly just yesterday I put gorgeous brand spanking new Forgeline wheels with the new Kumho tires on them. The car is just perfect. However, an unthinkable happened last night. After so many winnings from my friend to give him car to drive it on the parking lot I caved in and gave him keys. Well little did I know that the guy will spin the car almost instantly and end up hitting light pol crashing right end of the car - rear quoter panel, bumper, spoiler, lights and off course rear wheel. Also something must have bended or broken off on the wheel support as it looks inward, like its turning in.... I am mad at myself, have barely slept through the night and now don't really know what to do ?
The reason I gave such a big and lengthy description so that you understand that I really, really like the car and put a lot of effort to make it nicer in a short amount of time.
What should I do, should I repair the car under my friends insurance or should I try and claim total? On one hand, it is really no big deal and easily fixable by a good body-shop, however, on the other hand I don't want to fix the car and end up with the dirty Carfax car on my hands and unable to sell when the time comes.

What is done is done unfortunately I cannot change the past and no matter how many times I or you will tell me how I should have been reacting to my friends request to drive the car it will not help me anymore .

What would you do in my situation now? Try and fix it and hope for the best that it will not show in the carfax or tell insurance to take the car?

 

[99 R/T 10]

Sorry to hear, I have said it before. Never let anyone drive your Viper

Where are you at in the Bay Area? If you want, I can get a look at it and give you my opinion.

 

[triblk6spd]

Wow! Sorry to hear your story. Seems to be a rather common story for new Viper owners. I would have to say there might should be a sticky in the Newbie section titled, "Never let your friends drive your new Viper!" I am sure by posting a couple pics the experts here would be able to shed some light on just how bad the damage is.

 

[voi9]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune;
I probably would wait to see if insurance will total it. If so, and it was a fair amount, I would probably take the offer and look for another Viper. Talk to Jon B. from PartsRack. He can help out a lot with the insurance company people. There are some good deals out there now. I don't know your financial situation, but maybe you could get a good deal on a new one. I had a sports car that had a good amount of damage after hitting a pole and although it was fixed correctly, it always felt tainted. Good luck with your decision.

 

[redtanrt10]

Soory to hear about this, your not the first to have this happen. Good thing no one got hurt. Hard to tell from the descrition without pictures how much damage there is? The insurance company doesn't give you the option to total, its based on the damage amount. If you bent the frame from the rear impact they may total it. Carfax isn't as detailed as many think, fixing probably won't show on Carfax. Estimate will give you more insight.

 

[triblk6spd]

Carfax isn't as detailed as many think, fixing probably won't show on Carfax.

NOT true. If the vehicle is repaired by a reputable repair facility with insurance money, you can bet there will be a detailed report on carfax.

 

[Kala]

Call JonB of Partsrack on Tuesday.

From his web site.
You can contact us at [email protected], or by phone at (360) 837-3937.

I had a car that was total'd. All the showed on the carfax was front collision, the car stayed with a clean title, no salvage. Even though the insurance company wrote total loss. That is probably the exception not the norm.

 

[RedEnuf93]

NOT true. If the vehicle is repaired by a reputable repair facility with insurance money, you can bet there will be a detailed report on carfax.

NOT true (always). Mine was involved in a accident and repaired with insurance money. Ther are NO records indicating anything ever happened. Carfax is useless or at the best you should not trust it 100%.

 

[YLW DRM2]

Yep, I will call Jon on Tuesday. I know Jon, I ordered my new beautifully mastered forgeline wheels from him. And this crap happened the same day I put my new wheels on what a ***** I am.
Hopefully I will talk into a few body shop guys look at the car tomorrow at my house since car is not drivable.
99 RT10. I live in San Bruno.

 

[BigJag]

What should I do, should I repair the car under my friends insurance or should I try and claim total?

First, I'm no expert on insurance matters but I would assume your insurance company will end up paying and not your quote unquote friends.

Second, what kind of "friend" takes someone else's car and abuses it. Not sure how good of friend you thought this guy was but he sure didn't show you much respect. Sounds more like a jealous friend to me.

 

[Martin]

Really sorry to hear about that - what a nightmare. One more day and the weather would have been too rainy to even think about taking the car out. Hopefully your friend has the financial means to make this right for you - pay the deductible and the difference between what you've put into the car and what the insurance company will value it at (if it's a total, which it very well might be...). Also keep in mind that your rates might go up. Not trying to bum you out more than you already are, but reality is reality. If it wasn't a really close friend, I'd be thinking about talking to a lawyer for advice if your friend gets squirrely about covering your out-of-pocket loss.

 

[pteam]

Sorry to hear that. His insurance should pay if not you should take him to court. Hes not your friend if he trashed your car like that and he is responsible.

 

[99 R/T 10]

Really sorry to hear about that - what a nightmare. One more day and the weather would have been too rainy to even think about taking the car out. Hopefully your friend has the financial means to make this right for you - pay the deductible and the difference between what you've put into the car and what the insurance company will value it at (if it's a total, which it very well might be...). Also keep in mind that your rates might go up. Not trying to bum you out more than you already are, but reality is reality. If it wasn't a really close friend, I'd be thinking about talking to a lawyer for advice if your friend gets squirrely about covering your out-of-pocket loss.

Good post, and I was thinking the same thing. I doubt his insurance will cover it, but if you can file with his company, do it.

PM sent.

 

[PhoenixGTS]

I just cannot get over people getting into a kind of car they have never driven before - probably after being warned to be careful - then flooring it? ***? Are these people who have never driven a car in their life that can spin the tires? I just don't get it. I drove my Viper like a wussy for months after I got it until I felt like I kind of figured it out - AND IT WAS MY CAR, not someone else's.

 

[Martin]

Generally when things like this have happened in my past, beer was involved...

 

[ViperTony]

Give JonB a call as he seems to know how to handle the insurance claims and how to get the most for your damages. I think Bernie at BJ Motors is well versed in these situations too. I would not try to hide anything about the accident. If its a total loss well its total loss. If repairable, I would take detailed pics of before/after the repair and get a good documentation trail together. Prospective buyers will want to know about any damage and, more importantly, want to see how well the repair was made. Pics, QUALITY work will go a long way here. Be honest. Worst thing to do is to try and hide the accident only to have a buyer find it during inspection.

The only thing that can make this story worse is if your friend sues you for any injuries suffered in the accident...people ****. Let's hope your friend does the right thing and helps you out with your damages. Whatever the insurance doesn't cover he should pony up. Suing him would be interesting...after all YOU gave him permission and YOU put the keys in his hand...I hope if a lawsuit is necessary that you don't get shafted.

Please keep us posted on which insurance actually covers this and how this plays out for you.

 

[2001 GTS]

I caved in and gave him keys.

Oh man, so many horror stories start like that!!

Good luck with a speedy repair.

 

[mike & juli]

So sorry to hear about this incident..."friends don't let friends drive"...doesn't just apply to drunks.
Lesson hopefully learned, so no lecture. Good Luck with your decisions...I'm sure nobody is tougher on YOURself than you are right now. ALL our best....juli

 

[Warfang]

Forget schooling... the only lesson worth learning is how to tell who is a friend and who isn't. This guy is NOT a friend. He is obviously jealous of you, and even if he didn't intentionally wreck you car, he had no fear of doing so. That shows a lack of respect for you and your possession. If you handed him your newborn son, will he sport a blindfold and see how high he can toss the baby? That's basically what he did with your precious Viper. Best advice to you... make your friend pay or beat down his whiney @$$ then never speak to him again.

 

[mike & juli]

Warfang: PLEEEEEEEASE don't compare newborns to cars...even if they ARE our precious VIPERS...no, they're not human~! DUDE! ~juli

 

[ledfoot]

I'm afraid I'm with Warfang on this one

 

[mike & juli]

I'm afraid I'm with Warfang on this one

Be VERRRRRRY afraid .......juli

 

[99 R/T 10]

Forget schooling... the only lesson worth learning is how to tell who is a friend and who isn't. This guy is NOT a friend. He is obviously jealous of you, and even if he didn't intentionally wreck you car, he had no fear of doing so. That shows a lack of respect for you and your possession. If you handed him your newborn son, will he sport a blindfold and see how high he can toss the baby? That's basically what he did with your precious Viper. Best advice to you... make your friend pay or beat down his whiney @$$ then never speak to him again.

Well said, but when are we gonna play some tennis?

 

[plumcrazy]

dont bet on carfax ever knowing about it. i personally know of 2 vehicles that were close to totalled and never a blip on carfax after 4 years and 2 years

CARFAX = BS

 

[Lowdesert]

Unfortunately, you will have to go through your insurance. In California the insurance follows the vehicle. Your insurance will be primary. Hopefully he will pay your deductible.

 

[YLW DRM2]

Unfortunately, you will have to go through your insurance. In California the insurance follows the vehicle. Your insurance will be primary. Hopefully he will pay your deductible.

Hm, that is the thing, the guy is willing to claim his insurance if he does that why would I need to claim my insurance?

 

[dave6666]

No one has called you a ***** yet, although you did seem to self incriminate with that term there briefly.



*****.

 

[jc411]

i think i met you a few weeks ago... i had the black GTS. sorry to hear about your loss. at least no one got hurt. sell the parts....get the insurance money and buy another one... they are dirt cheap right now.

 

[eucharistos]

Be VERRRRRRY afraid .......juli

whoa....a juli flame



1st time for everything

 

[GTSRboy2000]

any pics??