No, this didn't happen to me (thank God!), but I felt compelled to pass this along from an article in a weekly collector car paper I receive. This is what can happen after a traffic accident involving a collectible car and the courts. A couple in California have a '71 Chevy truck which was purchased 3 years ago for $5500. They were involved in a collision which wasn't their fault and generated an estimate of $2134.17 for repairs. They had to go to small claims court for reasons unknown in the article. I guess the other driver didn't have insurance. The end result was they won their case, but were only awarded $1100 plus $52 for court costs. The judge gave a lower amount because of reasonable value of the truck less salvage value. The problem here was that they didn't have an appraisal of the vehicle and the judge was not familiar with collector vehicles or any knowledge of the market. Bottom line is that even though they won the case, the owners are out $1134.17 for repairs because they didn't come into court prepared. Let this serve as a warning to all in the unfortunate event of an accident with our prized cars. NEVER trust the courts to be reasonable in this type of situation. You must be prepared to present enough actual evidence of the REAL value of your vehicle or it will likely be considered as just another older car, not a collector vehicle. Even in the case of having an agreed value if you carry collector car insurance, as I do, it is not evidence of the REAL value of your car to the courts. You will need an appraisal. The price guides available will be of some use also, but nothing is as presentable in court as an appraisal. You must remember one credo that is a part of all parts of our judiciary...."IF IT IS NOT IN WRITING, THEN IT MAY NOT HAVE HAPPENED".
