1950 Suburban W/ Door Damage

[Russ_b_10]

I just bought a 1950 Suburban, a nice solid car from out west. During shipping both doors flew open and caused damage to the lower and mid cowl. Everything seems a little tweaked. I was able to get the doors to open by loosening the door from the hinge on the inside of the cab. I want to get the Board’s thoughts on how to repair this and an approximate cost. Is this a pull and hammer type of repair or should it be reskinned? Replacement cowl sections are available aftermarket.


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[junk]

I would assume that when those doors flew open they not only dented the cowl, but also sprung the cowl hing points. I would assume right now if you have all the hinges bolted tight and try shutting the doors that they close hard or not at all. I would assume the front edge of the door hits the cowl before the door shuts? If so I would say you would need to use a board and wedge it into the front opening from the inside when closing the door to rotate the cowl back into position. Do it in small increments. You don't want to over rotate the cowl and make the door gap too small at the back of the door where it meets the quarters. Once you get the doors working pretty good I would pull out the cowl with a stud puller. Then final fit the doors in case the cowl sides being pulled out affects the hinge area. In my mind no parts are needed, but it will take some tinkering to get it all working right. It's too bad the door got the louvers on the one side.

Hope that helps. I'm no professional, but that's how I would attack that. Jeremy

[Len]

I just bought a 1950 Suburban, a nice solid car from out west. During shipping both doors flew open and caused damage to the lower and mid cowl. Everything seems a little tweaked. I was able to get the doors to open by loosening the door from the hinge on the inside of the cab. I want to get the Board’s thoughts on how to repair this and an approximate cost. Is this a pull and hammer type of repair or should it be reskinned? Replacement cowl sections are available aftermarket.


Suburban 003.jpgSuburban 029.jpgSuburban 007.jpgSuburban 021.jpg

Straightening that sheet metal is a stud welder job if I've ever seen one. If the post got twisted you might try putting a block or hammer head near the hinge and close the door until it hits the block then press on the door to twist the post back into position.

[Russ_b_10]

Thanks Jeremy and Len.
I had a Guy I found on Uship move the truck and he is the one who caused the damage. He’s not wanting to file an insurance claim but would rather work it out one on one. I think he is under the impression that this is an old rusty truck and the cost would be minimal. I think that the repair is a little more involved and could be quite tricky, for me anyway, to get the door post twisted back in place and still have good door gaps.

If someone could give me a ballpark estimate on labor hours and cost to perform this repair, excluding final sanding and painting, would be real helpful for me. I really don’t have a clue on the repair time but if I had to guess, Id say somewhere between 5 and 10 hours. Am I close?

Len, Would you move this post to the Collision section?

Thanks All

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[Len]

Thanks Jeremy and Len.
I had a Guy I found on Uship move the truck and he is the one who caused the damage. He’s not wanting to file an insurance claim but would rather work it out one on one. I think he is under the impression that this is an old rusty truck and the cost would be minimal. I think that the repair is a little more involved and could be quite tricky, for me anyway, to get the door post twisted back in place and still have good door gaps.

If someone could give me a ballpark estimate on labor hours and cost to perform this repair, excluding final sanding and painting, would be real helpful for me. I really don’t have a clue on the repair time but if I had to guess, Id say somewhere between 5 and 10 hours. Am I close?

Len, Would you move this post to the Collision section?

Thanks All

Suburban 048.jpg

Those louvers are going to be tricky. In my area those two repairs would probably cost at least $2000 and probably more depending on how distorted the hinge pillars and door jambs are.

[MARTINSR]

It all depends on how far you wanted to go, they do reproduce the cowl sides and I would put at least 10 hours on each side to replace. On top of that R&I (remove and install) the fenders running boards and doors, I'd say another 6 to eight for that. Then replacing the hinges and repairing the doors which likely have some twisting too, another few hours a piece.

There is about 30-40 hours here plus the parts as I see it.

Brian

[Russ_b_10]

Well, I finally got someone to give me an estimate on this repair. Three other shops wouldn’t even touch it. The quote was just over $2000 plus replacement hinges. The shipper also failed to properly secure the hood and that blew off somewhere during transport.

So in total we are looking at around $2700 total claim. I have GREAT FEAR that the insurance company will consider this 62 year old truck totaled, put a salvage mark on my title and pay me only a small fraction of the damages. It took me awhile to find this truck and it is going to be fixed but instead of spending, lets say, $20,000 on the body; I’m having to spend $22,700 which covers the additional damage.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this or suggestions on how to deal with the insurance company.

Thanks everyone

[Bob K]

Insurance companies don’t brand titles as salvage without your consent. They also don’t pay out clams that exceed the value of the vehicle. You can’t expect them to make it better than it was before the accident. If this was a derelict vehicle with reparable cowls and a repairable hood you should expect it will be the same thing after the work is done. I am guessing they could be persuaded to pay you for a used hood and the labor to straighten the cowls but not to paint them. Clearly the hood wasn’t properly attached to the vehicle when it was loaded so they aren’t going to pay for that work. After all that is what you started with isn’t it? If the accident didn’t happen you were still going to put work into the hood and cowls, probably a lot more work than you estimated. Let’s hope you have photos that show the hood was in good repairable condition before the accident or you may have trouble getting that included.

Bob K

[James M]

I agree with Bob K. Like they say in all the TV court shows - The purpose of filing a law suit (or a claim against an insurance company) is to "make you whole, not to enrich your position". What that means is the insurance company will demand that that you show them proof of what YOU paid for the truck and any associated pictures of the truck before the shipper damaged it. If you paid say $800 for the truck then they will NOT pay you two to three thousand dollars to repair it. If the cost of repairs exceeds what you originally paid for the vehicle then they will issue you a check for what you paid for the vehicle. You are "being made whole" in the transaction and not being put in a better position than you were before the shipper damaged the vehicle.

[MARTINSR]

Just wondering here, I like to exaggerate a point in my head. When you exaggerate a point you can come to a more understanding answer, then come back to reality with that answer and put it to use.


Let's say he bought a 1957 Fuelie Corvette and had it shipped. He got a KILLER deal because the guy he bought it from was wealthy and decided to help out the little guy car lover. He sold him this 1957 Corvette valued at $60K for $10,000. In shipping the car the shippers folded the doors onto the front fenders. The repairs will be about $20,000. Because the repairs are more than the car cost him does he not get the money to cover the damage simply because he got a good deal on the car?

I would think it still comes down to what is the truck worth, what PROOF does the insurance company or shipping company have of what is the worth?

So again, let's exaggerate, what if they smashed the truck to bits when it fell off the back of the truck and rolled over a dozen times. I understand they aren't going to pay repair costs, they are going to pay "replacement" cost. So what does a 1950 Suburban like that cost in the open market? THAT is the number that needs to be looked at.

Depending on what that number is, the insurance company goes with a percentage of that value to deem it a total. Depending on the company that number can go anywhere from 60 to 80%. Things like this are VERY hard to figure and honestly, they will usually bend the rules big time as they don't have the numbers in their data base. YOU need to come up with a value of the truck to use in battle.

Brian

[Chevman]

Just pick up a copy of the Old Cars Report Price Guide
What you paid for the vehicle is none of the insurance companies business.

Condition #5 Restorable: Needs complete restoration but isn' stripped of parts. Not operable but is essentially all there and has only minor surface rust.
$3240

http://www.oldcarsbookstore.com/old-...FeUBQAodACj8WQ

You can get a single copy in most book stores and some drug stores.

[MARTINSR]

There you go and factor into it the shipping cost as ADDED value to the car. FIGHT for it, start out being nice, but when you don't get what you deserve be the kinda guy who when the guy you are working with cringes when he hears your voice on the phone.

Produce as many examples as you can find of others for sale. When you see one in another state you factor in the cost of transport into the value. The more you have documented the better. You hand them a folder with all this stuff printed out all nice and make THEM come up with a replacement if they want to total it and give you an unfair amount of money.

Brian

[Russ_b_10]

An update on the damage to the Suburban.

Apparently the shippers insurance only covers ”specified perils” and doesn’t cover any damage from improper loading and securing of cargo. A quick Google search list these perils as:

* Fire
* Earthquake
* Explosion
* Lightning
* Windstorm
* Hail
* Rising water
* Theft
* Riot or civil disturbance
* Falling or forced landing of aircraft or parts of an aircraft
* The stranding, sinking, burning, derailment, or collision of the transporting vehicle.

It looks like I’m going to get ZERO reimbursement for these damages. Does anyone know anything about shipping insurance and care to comment on this?

[Bob K]

All that means is that there is no insurance company involved. He is still responsible for damage he does unless your contract with him requires you to insure the load. It’s up to him if he wants to buy insurance to protect his business or if he wants to self insure. At any rate your next move should be to scare him with a letter form your attorney. The attorney should be able to tell him how much he should pay you in order to keep the thing out of court. He may not want to take his chances with a judge. I think that’s the best that could happen. If he owns nothing then he has nothing to loose. The attorney will cost you something but he will lay out the options on your first visit. That first visit should be free or nominal cost. The cost starts going up when you actually hire him to do something for you.

All that said, I think that the truck needed so much work before the incident that the damage added almost nothing to the rehab cost. At least that is what the judge will probably say. Sorry to be the one with bad news but if it were me I would forget about it and just start on the overhaul. Working with a law suit will be a job in itself and it could cost more than you get. You still have to win, 50/50 chance there.

Sorry,

Bob K

[MARTINSR]

I think it sounds like a day in court to me. Just what ARE they good for? Delivering the truck smashed into shoe boxes, would that be ok, it did get to it's destination right?

The problem with court is just where would you have to go. Now from a case I had at least in California I was told that you go to the court that resides in the country the business transaction was conducted. If you called the shipper from your home, the business was conducted in YOUR county.

I am thinking this is where it will go.



Brian