For those who might be interested, here are the “naked” pictures of the damage:
Note that, although BBCat has a Dark Ivy Gold interior, it has a lighter headliner and a lighter overhead console to match. Anyone know what color the headliner is so I can be sure to get the correct one?
The headliner is typically called Parchmnet. I had the same color in my "67 GT and switched it dark green, as well as switching out the overhead console to match the Dark Ivy Gold. In '68 they went to the matching headliner color so it is available.
Since you are going to be cash in hand, this would also be a good time to think about putting a power sunroof in.
Man, talk about a One-in-a-Million shot. That is incredible (bad) luck!
Well, it makes for a good story 
Good luck on the repairs!
Leave it to the insurance company to take a happy ending and put a twist in it. I got an e-mail from the adjuster about 45 minutes ago saying that, following a conversation with her supervisor, the car is being considered a total loss based on the “threshold” in their database. I just arranged for a Prior to Loss Appraisal that will be done this coming Sunday morning. Hopefully, that will give me the necessary ammunition to convince the insurance company to fix the car rather than total it.
This just really blows… 
I don’t get it. You said she used the NADA average retail of $33k, and they were calling it under $8k damages. A total loss is 33%, so, $11k, no?
I really hope this ends up working out okay for you. If they are just trying to play games to not pay for your car to be fixed, or to give you as little money as possible, then they seem like real jerks, criminals even, taking your money with the promise of providing a service and then when it comes time to actually step up to the plate, not doing what they are being paid to do.
Okay, tell than you will settle it for $33K.
Bill, the new development may actually work out better for you. Should they total it ask them how much they want to buy it back. You will be surprised how little the buy back price may be. You most likely will make out with some significant cash in your pocket. The only issue will be getting the car re-registered as it will have the dreaded “salvage” title for the rest of its days.
Ouch! I would be surprised if you could have that professionally repaired for $6K.
Don’t let the insurance company screw you. This is why you need a company like Hagerty. They don’t pull this crap.
I sincerly hope this works out in your favor. Scott and Bill have given some great advice. Make them give you the $33K and buy back the car.
The problem is that they are apparently no longer working with the NADA value. I’m guessing that they have some generic Cougar value in their database and the $6-8K crosses over the 50% mark or whatever threshold they use. They’ll probably set the value of the car at $15K or less. That’s why I’m getting the Prior to Loss Valuation done. I don’t want the car totalled, although I do understand it could work out better financially in some ways. But the money in my pocket could come back out in the form of a lower resale value due to the salvage title. If that happens, though, I may just do CatVert II, since the value of the car as an original XR-7 GT will be severely compromised.
As for the repair cost, that’s based on an estimate of 50 hours of labor at $50.00 per hour. We actually think it will be more like 75 hours but the adjuster wanted to write it up at 50 and then do a supplemental revision for the extra hours. Even at 75 hours, we’re still only at $3750 for labor and this job is mostly labor. Materials and incidentals are a minor part of the cost. The work will be done by the same person who has restored all my previous cars so I’m not worried about the quality of the repair.
I can’t believe how much worse it looks with the cover off. That’s the biggest reason I hate insurance companies. How many other businesses try and screw their customers when it comes time to provide what they paid for.
Here is a message I just received from the adjuster, so we’ll need to see how this plays out:
Bill,
Oh yes, absolutely, you will not lose the car. There will be no “salvage title” either because the vehicle is older than 10 years. All that it means, is you may end up with limited resources from the insurance company to repair the vehicle.
Christine D.
Auto Damage Appraiser
Liberty Mutual Insurance Company
Limited resources: “we plan on paying you less than this is going to cost” Maybe you can limit their future resources?
[/Pacino]
The latest news from Liberty Mutual is that the declaration of BBCat as a total loss is a preliminary declaration. They will not finalize it until they have established the value of the car, which research they contract out to a company called Auto Force.
According to the claims representative, Auto Force will use my zip code to locate 30 listings for comparable models. I pointed out that they will be lucky to find one listing, never mind 30, but this is their process. They did say they will take into account the Prior to Loss Valuation I’m having done.
There’s never a dull moment when dealing with an insurance company! I just learned that Liberty Mutual got their valuation report back on BBCat. It came in at $23,800 roughly. But they may still declare it a total loss on an estimate of $6-8K “based on its age”.
If they do, I will be able to retain possession after they deduct the salvage value and there will be no salvage record on the title. I’d even be able to re-insure it with Liberty Mutual after it’s fixed simply by having it inspected at their local office.
I should get a final answer on this by the end of the week because it has to be reviewed by a supervisor. They may still decide to go ahead and fix it, but I am now OK with them doing it either way. I’ll actually make out better if they total it, as some folks suggested previously.
In that event, I’ll try using the Hagerty report and the Prior to Loss Valuation report from the independent appraiser to negotiate a compromise of full payout with no salvage deduction, which would still be less than what my two reports will show.
It sounds to me that they can’t get your round peg car to fit into their square peg system: Parts aren’t readily available, they can’t get valuations trough the usual channels etc.
Now here is a funny one: Aren’t these the guys that promise to gt a car one model year newer if your car gets totaled? Better start looking to find that '68!
You’re right, Bill! They promise to pay for a car one model year newer with 15K fewer miles, so that would get me a 1968 XR-7 GT with 90K original miles. That shouldn’t be too hard to do, should it? 
I’ll put that on my watch list! Good luck with the process, and get that chain saw out and teach that tree a lesson!
Hey Bill;
I’ve got a 68 with 35,000 less miles on it that they could purchase for you. Its even the same color combo in & out so you would feel right at home. I guess you could just take the GT emblems off yours and replace the G emblems on my car so it would be a XR7-GT instead of just a lowly XR7-G. Heres a photo to refresh your memory.
Man! that’s nice Scott!