Why Me ? Garage Burned Down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry for your loss bro.

Be careful about hiring a "Public Adjuster". Most people have a pretty basic insurance policy, which means that your shop was only insured for 10% of whatever your house is insured for. If your shop was only insured for 15k, the Public Adjuster would get $1,500 of that money. Wait and see what your insurance company offers first before signing a contract with a Public Adjuster. It may very well be that your Adjacent structures and Personal Property coverages will max out, and it would be a shame to have to give part of that away to a "fire truck" chaser.....

You'll have to file a separate claim with your auto insurance co for the car. Your homeowners will not cover it. It sounds like you have an "Actual Cash Value" policy on your car. That does not mean that you will only get bluebook. The insurance company may offer that at first (the average insurance adjuster really has no idea what a 55 Olds is worth) but if you can document that your car is worth more (hemmings, ebay, autotrader classifieds) they will pay more.

A note to the rest of us....Check your insurance policy. Make sure your home and property is properly insured. Many people who get "screwed" by their insurance company simply did not purchase enough insurance.

This reminds me, I need to up my limits, I just built a shop in my yard....

 

I agree- GRUNDY is good for stuff like that and they dont have a mileage restriction. ANother suggestion ( And I speak from experience here) get the Ride APPRAISED for a stated value appraisal.

A Stated value explains what the car is worth, not just what the blue book value says. It can really save a hassle down the road.

Its a legal document(at least in MA) that the insurance company HAS to honor when dealing with a loss. Appraisers in MA are licensed by the state so we have to actually know what we are doing to. (yeah we do them at my shop)

My own ride had one and if it wasnt for that piece of signed paper, my car would have been totoalled out for a $1500 dent in the chrome years ago. The car is worth about $65K now. (and yes I have been offered that) I still shudder when I think of it.

 

Sorry for your loss.

 

so sorry to hear that.

 

Sorry for your loss Mike, that really sucks. Fire is my biggest fear. Thankfully no one was hurt and your house is okay. Hopefully everything will work itself out and you'll be able to start fresh with a new shop and tools and a new project. Gotta keep moving forward...

 

Being apart of the bike community for many years and now the car community the one thing i've found is they are always willing to help. How bout you guys in the Austin area put a rod run together to help get some tool money and back on his feet. I know it won't come close to replacing what he lost BUT it can do a hell of lot for his attitude and out look on what the future can hold. Let me know and i will make a road trip to show my support.

Big Tony
Lewisville Texas

 

The appraisal is a good idea.....

My insurance adjuster also strongly suggested making a video of all tools, parts worth money, guns, etc, and then store that videotape in a safety deposit box or somewhere safe. Makes it a lot easer to get reimbursed.

Oh and another thing. I found out after looking though my 1st policy that they sometimes don't give you replacement cost for your shop. my original policy had something like $10k for any outbuildings. My shop would cost 3 times that to rebuild, so we had to beef that up. Something to check anyway...I'm sure some ins. companies are different on their standard policies.

 

One of my worst fears, sorry to hear about your loss. I know it don't help but you still have your health and family, there will be other projects.

 

Sorry for your loss. If theres anything I can help you with please give me a holler. That is the one thing I worrie about when welding/cutting. I usually babysit my garage a good hour or so after doing anything like that. Hope things get better soon.

 

I know day late doller short right but, American National Insurance has a program called CHROME that gives you full appraisal value of you classics ,customs ,hot rod or what ever fall in that cat. and its only like 200$ every 6 months (thats cheap, i'm in vegas). Im sure some of the Coddington style stuff some of you have will be a little more but you get the point.

 

sometimes when im grinding i think of that happening.....i better watch my sparks now....sorry to hear that happened....next project???

 

Yeah Mike, don't sweat it, you'll be rolling before you know it.

"One piece at a time..."

 

Some great advice is being offered through the HAMB today. Very sorry for your loss. Best thing to do is go ahead and feel bad for a while, but then take a deep breath and count your blessings. No loss of life or health would be a good start. What everyone has said about the insurance companies is true. Fight for you rights and question everything that they say. I'd be willing to bet that you'll feel alot better soon. Good luck.

 

Sorry for the loss.....that also happened to my neighbor a couple of years ago, but his garage was tourched!!!!! They know who did it, but cant prove it in a court of law.........we got our hands on him, and informed him if there was one more fire in our area, they would never find his body!!!!!! He moved out the next day!!!!!!!

 

Man, that sucks. I know it's not much help right now, but you will move on. I haven't been where your at, but I've been in some pretty bad situations. You just go on and start over. And don't just roll over for the insurance company, you paid the premiums, get everything you have comming.

 

:::damn:::

I was looking forward to seeing that car finished. That sucks.
Wouldn't home owners insurance cover the loss of tools or does it just barely cover the garage itself?

 

Man I reread over my first post and it sounded kinda cold. Dude when I read your post right after you posted it, I felt your pain man. I can't imagine. sorry the only things that came out of this feller's mouth was "damn dude that sucks."

I'm an inline guy, and I know you're not but if your next project has an inline motor let me know and I'll hook you up with some freebies.

 

Man thats heart breaking and I wish I was alot closer to ya to try to help somehow but seeing how unbelievably helpful so many hambers are across the country maybe we can help with some tool and parts donations to help get you started on another ride or at least with materials for a shop or something!!! Good luck man, my heart goes out to ya

 

Real sorry man. I'm way more attatched to my shop and tools than I am my house. To me it'd deffinately be worse than the house. I'd still feel like shit either way but I'd say the shop would be worse.

You know when a house burns, a community will alot of times get together and donate food, clothes & various other things but if a garage burns, most people don't realize that loss can be just as bad to someone like us anyway.

There should be a garage outreach program for guys like you. People could donate anything, one wrench, hammers, whatever. That'd be cool. I got a friend whose house burned and he was just talking about the loss of tools the other day. I think people really take that for granted. It'd be devastating to nearly anyone, let alone a car guy.

 

Mike, this is yours. We'll get you on your feet again and in a car again...

Anyone down to relay the car to Austin???

 

That`s gotta be the coolest thing I ever seen! God bless you seymour.

 

damn.
you sir, are one hell of a guy.
crushproof will arrange transport. least we can do.

We will be having a benifit here in the next week or so. stay tuned for details.

 

Cool, car is in Fort Worth at the moment. PM me when you guys have details and we'll head over to get it and I'll dig up the title.

 

Words...cannot...express...the pain...I feel...for your loss!!I feel the same way about my cars,pretty emotional.I truly am sorry,dude.Bad Bob

 

Been down this road before... 24,no insurance,and my whole life(or so it
seemed) up in flames. Took some time to get over,but you know what?
Everything that I lost was replaceable(except for some pics).All I really
lost was some time. Sure it sucks, just gotta remember it could always be
worse. You'll rebuild from scratch and it will be BETTER than you ever
dreamed,TRUTH! My now neighbor lost MILLIONS$$ when Andrew ripped
So. Fla a new ass. Noniinsured WWI and II aircraft, it broke my heart to see it
until a news crew stuck a mike into the owners face not even 3 days into it
and I heard him say,"Well everybody here is all OK, and most of these were
built from scratch." "We'll just build them again" And so he has...
BTW, Seymor,Your a ruler! Gotta feel the HAMB love.

 

Pay attention...Take pictures of your car,paint,interior,wheels,engine,trunk,etc.Give them to your insurance company so they can put them in your folder.So many guys fix their cars up and don't document their progress,or take pictures of their upgrades.As far as your Insurance Co. knows it still looks like the day you brought it home.I learned my lesson years ago after 5K worth of upgrades were lost on a VW that was stolen from my Apt.The photo my Insurance Co. had was of a $500. beater.Now if I get new wheels,new interior,whatever,I take it to them and update my file.AND KEEP RECEIPTS!

 

I've got a TH350 under the bench if you want to go that direction.

 

Sorry to here about your loss .Hope it gets better for you.

 

Well that just sucks Brother. I've worked as a firefighter for the last 15 years and seen first hand the devastation fire can cause. It never fails to put a lump in my throat.

Good luck getting back to wrenching.