Crashed 56Buick

Wanting what to know to expect. A college girl destroyed my 1956 Buick while it was parked at work.Of course she has insurance but, I want to know what to expect for a car that on the outside looked worn. But, all new mechanicals underneath.
Having to much fun driving it to get it painted.
Has any one been in my boat? I'm sure this has happened.
What were your experiences?

 

You can go to the NADA site (link below) and plug in you year and model to get an idea what the retail value of the car is and then negotiate with the insurance company from there. The guide has values of cars all the way back into the mid 20's

http://www.nadaguides.com/?gclid=CInGyNPE-LoCFSbNOgodXyoA8Q

 

Read advice on this thread:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=847456

 

Yep, check it out ^^^. My lesson so far is that you have rights in this situation. Learn what they are and know how to use them. It is the insurance companies job to restore you back to the point where you were before the accident. Then it is just a matter of determining dollar wise what exactly that point was. That is where the fun starts...

 

Having receipts for everything you spent on the car in the past couple of years might help a lot. Otherwise start hunting the sale prices of similar Buicks on Ebay and in Craigslist adds and other adds lik on Hotrod hotline and other online car add spots and get an average for very similar condition cars.

You can probably figure that these two on Ebay right now 301021550616 & 121214487841 are on the low end of the scale pricewise for 56 Buicks.

 

Good luck, a friend of mine got hit and has a Packard street rod that had rough paint but was mechanically street rodded .the insurance co screwed him big time because it wasn't painted beautiful.They wanted to total it as a junk car. Don't let them jerk you around. They will try to low ball settle for as cheep as they can.Since it is her insurance co responsible you can raise hell. Tell them since you drive it daily you need a rental car until they settle up with you.Get estimates from body shops that work on classic cars and present the estimates to them.