Our Model A wreck in Austin, TX

[wildwilly]

Sorry to see the bad luck, Thank God ya'll walked or limped away alive. I was watching the post here from South Carolina, an was interested in your trip. If there is a will, there will be a way. Good luck boys. Sounds like Brent will be a great asset at this moment.

[SteveB31]

We had a 1929 Model A Pickup in a wreck a week ago here in Denver. Not his fault. On a 4 lane freeway, and a person in the left lane decided to exit right across 4 lanes of traffic. Everyone hit the brakes. All stopped OK, but the 18 wheeler behind them did not stop as quick and hit the Model A and several other cars. 9 cars total. All drivers OK. Model A repairable.

[heneste]

Sorry to hear about your accident. Good to hear that everyone walked away.

I hope everything goes good with the insurance company (especially since the other guy was at fault.)

[MAG]

Onlybackroads, if I can help, let me know. I can make room in my shop if you need temporary storage. I am in Austin. 512-762-1010 Paul

[pgerhardt]

Like all the others I am glad you are OK, but unlike the others I see your poor crunched coupe differently. As sad as it looks all that twisted and crushed Ford steel is your coupe absorbing energy that your body did not have to! Thanks Model A!

[pat59]

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So sad to here of the wreck.But glad to here that you guys didn't get hurt too badly. Hope to here you guys getting back on the road at some point.
-Pat

[Brian SATX]

One of our club memebrs runs a restoration shop and is certified for insurance apprasil. Call Ray if you need him to come up-- 210-445-8485

[Hitchhiker]

Oh man.Glad you guys are okay.

I have a lot of experience fighting with insurance company's as well.

A couple initial pieces of advice:

1) As soon as you talk to the others insurance company inform them you will only correspond through writing. This sets up a paper trail and is a first sign to the insurance company that you mean business.

2) would be to get an appraisal of the vehicle from a reputable source. They will be able to look past the accident damage and give you a replacement value with which to go by. ( for the time being keep this in your back pocket, it's best to let them make the first move.)

3) Start finding all the Highest priced adds for Model A's you can find. Their job is to devalue your car as much as possible, Yours is to make it worth as much as possible.

4) DO NOT TAKE THE FIRST OFFER. Realize it's the adjusters job to pay you the least amount possible. They are not your friend. Do not let them fool you. They can and will lie to your face.

I could literally write a step by step book on how to fight an insurance company.

Please if you have any questions feel free to PM me. I would be happy to walk you through the process and help you maximize the payout for your now totaled car.

[hardtimes]

Bummer, indeed !
Been watching you progress and what good times you guys were having.
Now, you are on 'another trip' ...into the insurance twilight zone.
Glad you two had seat belts on and fairly unharmed...especially when looking at the coupe pics...wow. Youth also helps in such instances.

[Onlybackroads]

Thanks everyone for your support, I am definitely a little nervous about talking to the insurance company knowing that they are gonna try and screw me over, but I will do my best to get what we deserve out of this whole mess. I have talked to my insurance company and gave them my story, and they said they will file a claim with the other drivers company, but I'm going to call them tomorrow and get the ball rolling with them.

Hitchhiker: Thanks for the advice about getting it all in writing, should I ask for them to correspond through e-mail?

MAG: Thanks for the offer, I really appreciate it! It's in a good spot right now, and hopefully I can get it up to Tennessee soon, and hopefully it won't be too expensive.

Brian SATX: Thanks for the number, I will definitely call him tomorrow.

Scott Mimms: I feel so bad about the new fan you just gave us!

[pooch]

Here in OZ, we have specialist insurance companies that give the wreck salvage back to the owner after payout of agreed value.

I hope you have same.

Buy another and have the wreck as a good source of spare parts .

[Hitchhiker]

Originally Posted by Onlybackroads

Hitchhiker: Thanks for the advice about getting it all in writing, should I ask for them to correspond through e-mail?

Yep! No problem.

Email is great.

I'm serious, if you have any questions, just ask. I'm happy to advise you on how to proceed.

Just to let you know how I learned all of this, I have a 1979 Ford F250 Supercab that my Grandpa bought new. It was hit while parked and was deemed "totaled" by the insurance company. I was offered $1500 dollars.

We settled on the truck not being totaled and them paying $6800 dollars to repair it....

Pretty big discrepancy if you ask me.

[Hitchhiker]

also I want to ad that it sounds like your insurance it going to go to bat for you.

That is good.

I had to fight the others insurance myself as I only carried liability on that rig.

[racer32]

Saw the pics of your wrecked car on FB tonight...been following your trip on here.

Hitchhiker's advice is spot on. Don't expect to be paid for your car anytime soon. Last time I had to deal with this kind of situation (modern truck) it took several months before we could reach an agreement just on the value of my truck. Thier initial offer was about 1/2 what the vehicle was worth. Also be aware than you and your travel partner's medical costs, pain, loss of time, and travel expenses need to be covered by the guy that left-turned you. Get a lawyer. You'll need one to get a decent settlement.

[H. L. Chauvin]

Best advice I can give is to get something like a loose-leaf binder & begin documenting an "outline" of each event as it occurs with "times & dates".

Longhand written notes accompanying paper work of any sort & also detailing events will stand up in any court.

In a few weeks it may not be difficult to remember "what" happened, but it gets difficult to remember exactly "when" it happened & "who" said "what."

If this case gets involved, the aggressive, threatening opposing enemies will literally crap when you open your binder & begin spitting out "names" with exact "times & dates."

Like everyone else, thanks for sharing, & we are all most sincerely glad to see it was not worse.

[dumb person]

The fenders, hood, bumper and maybe the radiator shell looks like they'll straighten out (trust me, most sheet metal i start with is worse). Just buy a replacement fan. Bell housing looks like you need to replace it & from there straightening out & repairing the rest should be easy.

[Tom Wesenberg]

H.L. is correct about writing down everything in a notebook. After fighting my brother over the estate business for 5 years I learned you need to record everything, and if your attorney asks for your notebook, you better have a copy because I never got my notebook back. Each attorney said the other one had it.

When I first saw the picture, my first thought was that the other guy's insurance company will blame you, because your car hit his. In fact I've seen where they can blame you claiming it's your fault because if you weren't on the road, the accident wouldn't have happened. As dumb as that sounds, I was in court years ago and that's exactly what I heard.

[NCDave]

Originally Posted by H. L. Chauvin

Best advice I can give is to get something like a loose-leaf binder & begin documenting an "outline" of each event as it occurs with "times & dates".

Longhand written notes accompanying paper work of any sort & also detailing events will stand up in any court.

In a few weeks it may not be difficult to remember "what" happened, but it gets difficult to remember exactly "when" it happened & "who" said "what."

If this case gets involved, the aggressive, threatening opposing enemies will literally crap when you open your binder & begin spitting out "names" with exact "times & dates."

Like everyone else, thanks for sharing, & we are all most sincerely glad to see it was not worse.

This right here----excellent advice to follow. Dates, times, and details tend to fade from memory sooner than we think. I'd also go photograph that intersection from several viewpoints. Very sorry to see this incident--I was enjoying following the trip.

[Brother Hesekiel]

The car has frame damage, even if "oh so slightly" which requires to take it down to the bone and start from scratch. This translates into a total. In your case, and I hope you have agreed value insurance, you call your insurance company and tell them that you had an accident. They will want an estimate in writing and if it's a good company, you'll have your money within 2 weeks, minus the residual value of perhaps $500. Even if the other party is at fault, or partially at fault, you deal with your company, and let your company see how much they can retrieve from the other party's insurance company.

[lookin-backtexas]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

I guess my immediate advice is;
1) Get to the hospital and have Sean & Lane thoroughly checked-out by the hospital.

2) Obtain a copy of the Police Report which should establish fault and the other party's Insurance Co. info.

3) Get in touch with Fred Carlton in Georgetown, --or Ross Lilliker in College Station to start learning of options available from local shops/hobbyists.

4) Contact the other party's Ins. Company to determine how they want to proceed. Knowing #3 allows them to know the options too.

5) Let the Ins. Co Adjuster make the next move on how they want to proceed.

6) Explore the options on how Sean & Lane want to proceed, ...and then ask for help here.


Personally, I feel the car is hurt severely and it appears the damages are greater than the market value. With that said, I suspect it could be band-aided up with some outside help from locals and some perseverance where it could complete the trip, ...albeit crippled. Maybe someone knows of a replacement Coupe for sale in the area that Sean could purchase and be on his way??

Brent: I have had six phone conversations with Sean so far this morning and have provided him with the telephone number of a certified antique car appraisal firm in Austin. We'll take care of these "vagabonds" and hopefully get them to their original destination in time to perform. I have offered to store the "remains" in my barn until they can retrieve them. One of our local Lone Star Model A Ford Club members is also a bluegrass mandolin player and performs at venues like they were trying to get to in Louisiana so they have kindred spirits locally who can come to their rescue.

I told Sean his story reminds me of why we all love Model A'ing and how others become part of your "extended family". When I was editor of The Restorer I published an article about a guy from southern California who was driving his Model A from California to Virginia to attend his 50th high school reunion. He had owned an A when in high school and it was important to him that he show up driving a Model A at the reunion. He made it as far as Arkansas and had engine problems. He looked in the MAFCA roster (always carry one in your car!) and called a guy he had never met and told him where he was - in 30 minutes or so the guy showed up with a flatbed trailer, loaded the car and took it to his house. They evaluated the situation, he told the story of where he was going and why it was important to be there in a Model A and the guy said, "I've got a spare engine over here, let's swap engines." He ended up spending the night at the Samaritan's home, they installed the new engine and he was on his way. He made it to the 50th reunion and when he was enroute home, he stopped at the guy's house in Arkansas and by that time the Samaritan had repaired his original engine - they swapped engines and he made it safely back to California.

Fred Carlton
Georgetown, Texas (just outside Austin)