My Acr Was Totaled Last Night!

[jpa99acr]

A friend of mine who has driven my Viper on many occasions took it out last night with a new girl he was dating, and totaled it... I got the call at about 10:30. He says he was traveling 60 MPH on a country rd with a 35 MPH limit, and topped a hill when the car began bouncing and he lost it. Flipped it at least once, went off road, took down a tree. both airbags deployed and the vehicle came to rest upside down. Roll bar and seat belts saved them both according to the police.

What now? I have full coverage (and have always) through GMAC. Unfortunately I also have about $5500 in mods, Belanger catback/headers, and Avic N2 stereo. I guess that's just lost?? I called the insurance company last night and they will start the claims process Tuesday.

I am going to the wrecker yard later today and will add photos (it will be hard!). It happened at about 10:30 last night and the lighting was too difficult to get photos in.

 

[jpa99acr]

Anyone know of any good GTS's for sale? I like Black/Silver... I want to get another one when this mess is settled!

 

[dave6666]

Dude... Glad to hear all of the safety features worked and everyone is OK.

What to do now...

1. Buy an '08.

2. Kick the drivers butt just a little?

 

[Mccarlin]

NEVER EVER let anyone drive your beloved Viper. Not even my own family has driven mine.

 

[jpa99acr]

yeah my wife really let him have it when we got there and saw it in a heap. She was really upset with him (and me). Last time I let anyone drive my cars again! I was just reeling from it all and it really didn't sink in until this morning. Didn't sleep very good last night

OT, I used to live in Burleson! About 2 miles from the Coors plant.

 

[jpa99acr]

Anyone know what I should try to collect for it? KBB says $42,840 in excellent condition. It had 42k miles and was in mint condition.... Like I said the mods may be gone but I will find out if I can salvage them before the sell it to a junkyard.

 

[dave6666]

yeah my wife really let him have it when we got there and saw it in a heap. She was really upset with him (and me). Last time I let anyone drive my cars again! I was just reeling from it all and it really didn't sink in until this morning. Didn't sleep very good last night

OT, I used to live in Burleson! About 2 miles from the Coors plant.

You mean you slept at ALL?!?

And it must have been a while since you lived near here. They've been making MILLER at the south Fort Worth plant for the 17 years I've been here...

 

[dave6666]

Anyone know what I should try to collect for it? KBB says $42,840 in excellent condition. It had 42k miles and was in mint condition.... Like I said the mods may be gone but I will find out if I can salvage them before the sell it to a junkyard.

Do not settle for KBB value. Only cars in a divorce settlements sell for that. If needed, do research on line about recent sales of similar cars. Print them and hand one copy to your insurance with the following footnote:

cc:my attorney

 

[XXX BLK]

Sorry to hear about your car and hope all works out. *** BLK

 

[VENOMAHOLIC]

My deepest sympathy for your loss. Glad everybody survived and are hopefully wiser. Is it possible that if you get the same year Viper that you could transfer some of your mods to the next one? I would also consider an 08 at this time but I bet you could get a killer deal on a Gen II right now. Hope all goes smooth.

 

[99 R/T 10]

Call JonB, he has helped out MANY witht he valuation of their cars for the insurance companies. It's still your car at the moment, go take off what you can salvage and NEVER, EVER, EVER LET ANYONE DRIVE YOUR VIPER!

 

[jpa99acr]

Thanks for the input. Partsrack is closed today no doubt due to labor day. Guess I'll have to call him tomorrow. I'm hoping he can help me because eBay sure can't, there is hardly any GTS's sold with 40+k miles... NADA shows 42,800 in exc condition.

 

[Lee00blacksilverGTS]

I totaled my original GTS a year ago April, GEICO gave me $62,000 after JonB coached me in how to handle it. Calling him is a must.

 

[Limit]

Yeah. Never settle for KBB or anything like it. The way they process the value doesn't work with other cars. I think mine was kbb valued at $39,000, but it cost $45,000(which was realistically a steal).

 

[grcforce327]

Aways use a "set value" to cover the costs of mods when insuring your car.My 94 will be set at 60k when it comes home, to cover the twentieth letter in the alphabet x2!

 

[AFL in NJ]

So sorry to hear of your loss, I'm glad you're okay and your friend and his girlfriend too! Value-wise it's always hard to argue with insurance, but whatever they offer make sure you ask for more. I think I have mine set for agreed value of $75k.....so that would cover any mods I'd done.

Regards,
Aaron

 

[MTGTS]

NEVER EVER let anyone drive your beloved Viper. Not even my own family has driven mine.

agreed, never. Sorry about your car.

 

[Vic]

If anyone has read this site for a while, they would have heard dozens of stories of valets, relatives, teenagers, dealership mechanics, etc, totalling borrowed, test driven, or stolen Vipers. How many more times does this need to happen? Doesn't anyone pay attention to these posts?

I had a mechaninc try to take my Viper for a test drive without me, (Drove right past me) so I ran after him and stopped him cold. None is going to take my Viper out, certainly not without me in it. I let my son take it on track once, but that was after considerable training and lecturing. OH how I love lecturing....."Now hold the steering wheel steady, use the throttle to adjust your steering angle"

Sorry about your loss, hope you find another one you like.

 

[puma]

i am in the same situation as you, see thread below.

the insurrance will want to resolve it quick because they are paying the towing company where the car is stored now.

what i did is i took the car back to my buddy's body shop so i could remove my mods and told the insurrance, take your time, it doesn't cost anything here to store the car until you pay me.

As long as they didn't pay you, the car is still yours, you can do whatever you want with it. You just need to give them back a car that looks like a car, meaning you couldn't take off the engine and such, just put back your stock parts and you are done. Try to bring the car back to your place, this is your best bet.

 

[Tusc]

I don't know if this could be a factor at all (not a lawyer) but would you, as the owner, be liable for any damages sued for by the driver or his passenger? Terms like "vehicle modified from factory condition" are bouncing through my head, and the passenger at least could have a field day. Even a nuisance suit could net her $50k if she has a weak lawyer.

Just thinking to myself that this is why I pay extra on my USAA insurance to get the $1M coverage for medical and liability, just in case.

Sorry about the car, though!

The headers I'd leave, but you could probably yank the stereo components at the yard and toss in a base Dodge head unit and leave it unplugged. The car is a wreck, it won't matter to anyone but the guy who buys it off the insurance company and his expenses will be focused elsewhere.

 

[85 of 200]

I know of a black/silver that isnt really for sale but the VCA member has been thinking about selling it. I believe it has full exhaust, hre wheels, wing, customs stereo. PM me. Way to many mods to list

 

[HARDVIPER]

what year was your ACR?

 

[AviP]

I'm glad no one got hurt.

Never let anyone drive your Viper. I don't give it to my brother or anyone. And you gave it to someone for a date. That's an ego display waiting to happen. And it did! On your part, it is absolutely reckless. I guess you just couldn't say no. Now you have learnt your lesson. Remember that if your friend had injured or killed somebody, you would be facing some of that liability.

Call Jon @ PartsRack. Unfortunately, too many board members have been in your situation and have had success on their insurance claims thru' him.

 

[2000_Black_RT10]

I am skeptical he was only doing 60 mph on the county road. I've driven quite a bit on county roads, the off camber ruts in the road (caused by heavy trucks), etc.. can be a handful at a higher speed. Either in our Corvette or Viper I've reached speeds in which the car just start acting completely erratic, and the only thing you can do is keep the steering wheel straight and slow down until the car settles down, otherwise on these type of roads which start tossing the car left and right due to the off camber ruts, if you try and counter steer when it happens, you'll definitely spin it out. I've had my share of lessons on county roads, and they are not fun with wide tires.

It's a similar feeling to a front tire wobble on a motorcycle, all you can do is ride it out until the car slows down, and it sounds like the guy didn't expect this, and simply lost control.

Glad to hear nobody got killed. Shame on the driver for injuring a passenger. Cars can be replaced. I hope he learned a lesson.

Now get a new car!

 

[Ricketts]

Sorry to hear!!! Glad everyone is ok, and hopefully things work out with insurance co.

 

[Asp Man]

Some might say: "I hope that they try to fix it for you, and not total it. That would teach you to lend it out!" Some might, not me, but some.

Good luck with insurance.

 

[MarkRx]

Sorry to hear about the car. Hope everything works out and glad to hear everyone is ok.

 

[jpa99acr]

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Here

http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a389/jdorule/?action=view&current=DSC_0377.jpg
are the photos, I made the difficult trip to the tow yard today to take these photos. I am going tI have learned my painful lesson. It really hurts because I had given him permission to drive it many times in the past, and we were close friends... I never though he would do something so careless and hurt me this way. I know it wasn't intentional, but it still hurts.

 

[jpa99acr]

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[jpa99acr]

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