Why pay for this Charger owners accident?

[chargerkid]

Hello everyone,

I received an email asking if I can link his site to mine.

Here is the email:

Hi my name is Sis and I just finished putting up a site for
my son's friend who had a nice 73 Charger that was hit
by a hit and run and really messed it up.  He is trying to get
some financial help to repair it.   I am not asking you to help
financial  but as a Charger lover to another we would
like to do a link exchance with you.  I would put a link to
your site on his if you put a link to his on your site.

    You can visit his site and check it out.  I am still working
on it if you have and suggestion please let me know.  Any
suggestion will be appreciated.

(copy of the link to the website on the bottom)

WELCOME
OFFICIAL WEB PAGE FOR
RICKSCHARGER RESTORATION FUND DRIVE


      Here are photos of A 1973 Dodge Charger SE Brougham
That had been in the process of being restored, before becoming
victim to a hit and run driver. The driver who was driving a late model
Ford F-250 Diesel, regular bed pickup lawn care truckwas responsible
for a three-vehicle pileup.


      All three vehicles were totaled. Thank God nobody was killed or
              seriously hurt. It was believed that this person was using a
cell phone at the time of the accident. No one had gotten a license
plate number for the Ford pickup truck; the driver also had
stopped his vehicle. He had gotten out and  picked up a part from
the road, got back into his vehicle and proceeded
to leave the scene of the accident.


     I am 57 years old. This was the first classic car I have ever owned.
           Everything I had went into restoring this car. Granted she was
not a trailer queen but a work in progress that was meant to
be driven, enjoyed and shown. But, in the blink of an eye, an
irresponsible driver in one big hurry took this all-away, and
created havoc in the lives of three responsible drivers on
their way to or from work on November 9th of last year 2004.


     My Dodge Charger now sits in my garage with the front clip tore apart.
It needs a complete front sub frame, fender aprons, and front clip
to begin restoration. Estimated cost of restoration around $5800.00
dollars, if a body shop does the work and supplies the parts. I am
trying to do as much of the dismantling and actual work as possible
by myself to save money. Locating original used parts is not that hard,
the car still starts but is not drivable in its present condition. I have a
salvage title for the car, as I was not about to let the insurance company
get their paws on it to just send it to a car crusher.The car is not
a throw away car, it is restorable.


      If you like old classic cars, that earned their place in history,
I would welcome any financial help possible to put this car back
together so that it  can be driven and shown once more. The car
had never been appraised. My mistake, a big one. The insurance
company gave me what a 32-year-old car was worth, about
$700.00 dollars. I had all my savings invested, close to $10,000
over a period of 10 years and a lot of sweat and mental anguish.     
Any amount donation can be sent to

(local bank of 73 charger owner)


Does this sound legit?  If it is, why should we pay to get this guys car fixed.  He's 57 years old.  Does that matter?  I suggest he parks his car and saves up to fix it.  He should have paid for the right coverage from the insurance company to begin with.  So if get an accident with one of my vehicles, I should make a website and ask people to pay for the damages because I am not covered.  Sorry, I think thats BS.

I am one to help another person.  I contribute time and money to many local charities.  But this one is just an odd request!

[Dodge-Charger]

whats the link to his site if any?

[hotrod98]

Sounds irresponsible as hell. I have several musclecars and they're all insured to value. If someone hits me I'm covered regardless of the situation. It's called responsiblity. Sounds like he needs to get a second job. Also, it sounds like he got screwed by the insurance company. Probably had regular insurance instead of collector car insurance.
Warning !! From a body shop manager's point of view. Stay away from Safeco, Geico, Progressive and Farmer's Insurance Group. You get a little cheaper premium and a lot cheaper repair/replacement value. Don't take my word for it ask other shops, preferably the ones that aren't on their cheap repair programs.

[Silver R/T]

hmm sounds kinda fishy, old guy should have pension etc so he should be able to insure it before he drove it. any pics/links would be interesting. If I cant insure mine I dont drive it, if I do I take all the risk on myself

[twilt]

Why?  i cant think of a single reason.  while its a sad (and perhaps even true) story, i am turned off by the whole thing. i dont care for people who have any expectation of a free hand-out.
If the guy cant afford to fix it, he ought to sell it to someone who can or part it out. with $5800 damage, its probably not worth fixing anyway.

[wetfeetmi]

hotrod98 hit the nail on the head. My wife is an independant agent/owner here in MI, and she could write a book on that subject. $50 every 6 months on your premium could cost you thousands after an accident claim. Ask questions when you get quotes! Apples to apples will cost almost the same amount. Auto-owners is by far the best underwrtiter in the business.

[Dale The Bold]

"Everything I had went into restoring this car...I had all my savings invested, close to $10,000 over a period of 10 years and a lot of sweat and mental anguish."

 If he could only put $1,000 per year into his car restoration, he needs a different job or a different hobby.  Not to mention all the "mental anguish."  Sounds like he'd be happier without the car.

[Highbanked Hauler]

Sounds like he didn't have collision insurance on the car.Even if he did have a regular policy on the car it should have been ACV or actual cash value.

[MGBRingo]

Sounds like a scam to me.  Don't reply to them.

[andy74]

fuck him,i have to work and earn the money to put into my cars,why cant he?im only 31 and have put in the same amount of cash over 2 years,not to mention my time and my buddies who helped me,if he wants to save the car sell it to some one who has a clue

[Old Moparz]

First thing I thought of was a cleverly worded scam, & if it isn't, then it's like a few others said, irresponsible. True, there's a lot of unfortunate things that can happen during a lifetime, & if this guy at the age of 57 is pumping a life savings into an old car, then something is wrong. I spend money on my old rolling wounded, but the family, bills, (including insurance) & the mortgage come first.

If it isn't a scam, it sounds like some '73 Charger owners may have a new parts source very soon.

From a body shop manager's point of view. Stay away from Safeco, Geico, Progressive and Farmer's Insurance Group. You get a little cheaper premium and a lot cheaper repair/replacement value. Don't take my word for it ask other shops, preferably the ones that aren't on their cheap repair programs.

Hey Hotrod, I'll agree with you on Geico.

Took me 6 months to straighten out a problem I had with them. My F-150 was rear ended by a tractor trailer when my wife & daughter were driving in it, & they treated the whole claim as if she had been caught on camera beating the truck with a bat. ($3800 damage) I have absolutely nothing good to say about Geico & their BS way of settling a claim. If they spent more time on customer service instead of advertising with a freakin' lizard, they might be able to pull their head out of their ass. S**t-head adjuster who had no clue, junk policy of used & cheap aftermarket replacement parts, horrible at communications, & not at all worth any savings.

[Lowprofile]

Hey, I have a charity for you to donate to.......

Please pay for my Charger Restoration .com    Send what you can!    LOL!!!!

[ChgrSteve67]

You would be surprised how many people place ads in newspapers telling their sob story and asking for money.
The shocking thing is how many people actually send in money.

You may remember those late night get rich infomercials - one of their techniques was to Place an ad asking for money and people will send it.

[Dr. V]

The world gets more interesting every single day.

[AKcharger]

I seent him $13,000

[SirNik73]

dang... my charger has a Sob story.... It was my best friends... he passed away shortly after our high school graduation, and now I'm fixing his charger...... OK so where is my money??

[TeeWJay426]

SCAMMER... and not a very good or smart one, either!

[Blown70]

WoW!  A-for effort on that one.  Hell  I wanna buy a Keith Black hemi block any one wanna donate to my cause.....? maybe someone will buy my 10-71 supercharger too?  Anyone anyone?

I guess if anyone donates they need a sign....... " I am an idiot"

BLOWN70

[chargerkid]

Here's the  website: www.rickscharger.com   It has pictures of the car in it.  Why wouldn't he just ask for another body?  He can take his parts and transfer to another car instead of fixing a broken and bent front end.  So what if he has to salvage the car and title.  I have a few nice 73/74 SE shells that he can build too with fender tags and title.  But they never asked about parts or a shell from me.  Just for me to link his site to mine.  I really don't want to be assoicated with it.

So everyone has his website.  So feel to express your comments to him.  I will shortly.
Here is the email from the sender:  mesis@alltel.net

[chargerkid]

Here is my reply:


Sorry I will not link that to my website.  Alot of people work hard for what they have.  Sorry about your friends luck with the smash front end.  But he should have done his research on insurance.  It's also hard to believe the insurance company only gave him $750.00.  I highly believe that he should either put the car aside or just sell it if he can't afford to fix it.  There are several cars out there that are rare, but people don't have the money to fix them.  So why should society have to pitch in and pay for someones mishap.  I pay a premium for insurance on several cars.  Sorry, but I would rather donate money to a more worthy cause.  I do donate time and money to three local charities.  I am on the committee on two charities to raise money.  I wish I would have known you when I was 16 and got in an accident with my Shelby Charger.  I would have asked you to donate to pay for my $250.00 deductible.  I hope you understand my reasoning.  Good luck on your search for donations. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Sis & Mike <mesis@alltel.net>
To: tuffn97@aol.com
Sent: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 23:05:34 -0400
Subject: 73 Charger


Hi my name is Sis and I just finished putting up a site for
my son's friend who had a nice 73 Charger that was hit
by a hit and run and really messed it up.  He is trying to get
some financial help to repair it.   I am not asking you to help
financial  but as a Charger lover to another we would
like to do a link exchance with you.  I would put a link to
your site on his if you put a link to his on your site.

    You can visit his site and check it out.  I am still working
on it if you have and suggestion please let me know.  Any
suggestion will be appreciated.

www.rickscharger.com

    Thanks
Looking forward to hearing from you
Sis

[Silver R/T]

if he were my buddy I probably would help with bodywork, but im pretty sure its scam

[Goldfinger71]

Hey Chargerkid,
My car came with the standard bulge hood w/the louvered insert,and..well I would like to have a Ramcharger hood but they are tooo expensive for what I make right now and I was wondering if you could possibly link this topic to your website so maybe some one out there can perhaps send me money or just give me one....you know maybe Twilt.......or you......come on man!..PLEASE!!(l0l)
I look foward to doing business with you in the next few days. .........

[Charger_Fan]

Damn, that thing took a hell of a hit!
Did you guys see the pics? http://www.rickscharger.com/photos.html


Oh & I agree, the whole thing sure sounds like a scam to me.

[41husk]

I am restoring my convertible Challenger but I have to work very slowly do to time and finance, the way I see it I have 3 choices: 1.) Take my time do as much as I can afford at a time.  2.) ask every member (about 700) for a $10 donation to my restoration fund (about $7,000) have work done by a shop.  3.) Sell T-shirts, hats and patches on this site, drop of the face of the earth and use the money for restoration.

God I am bad sometimes

[Dale The Bold]

A scam is usually some kind of misleading plan to trick people out of their money.  This doesn't fall under that.  This is plain old begging.

[twilt]

....you know maybe Twilt.......or you......come on man!..PLEASE!!(l0l)

It would be an honor for me to donate to you all the required parts for you to finish your restoration.  PLEASE call me at 867-5309 so we can make arrangements.

i looked at the pics of the car. that thing is toast. its not worth fixing. needs to be stripped of all useful parts and the remainder crushed.

[DarkAngel0816]

Hey while you all are at it!   Donate some money to me to help replace the cost of the frame rail rot that was hidden very well at the time of sale of my Charger.  hehe

[BigBlackDodge]

A scam is usually some kind of misleading plan to trick people out of their money.   This doesn't fall under that.   This is plain old begging.

Yep.


A few years back a young lady put up a web site asking for money to help pay off her credit card debt............about 25k worth!

You know what? People sent her thousands of dollars to help her out! She paid it all off in a matter of months and she promissed them she 'learned her lesson'.

BBD

[TheGhost]

Damn, that thing took a hell of a hit!
Did you guys see the pics? http://www.rickscharger.com/photos.html


Oh & I agree, the whole thing sure sounds like a scam to me.

Jesus!  As much as I love the 3rd gen, I think she's finished.



Also, I'm starting up a collection.  All you lucky souls have Chargers.  Will any of you find it in your heart to buy one for a poor, Chargerless man?

[DarkAngel0816]

Shoot I am a poor Charger owner lol.

You know talking about scams...many years ago the news channel did a story on a guy that was always at a certain corner panhandling...and to find out he was a multi millionaire...

He just thought it was fun to see how much he could make doing that.

[monty76]

I think it had Nigerian plates on it.

[Goldfinger71]

 .........now that was funny!
Twilt you almost got me!.....I remember that song?...Was that by Tommy Tutone?.....I can't remember,if you do give me a call at 777-9311.

[Old Moparz]

The best line I ever heard from a panhandler was so full of BS I just had to give him some money. I went to see a concert in NYC about 20 years ago with some friends, & we were walking from the car to the show when we saw this guy asking people for money on the corner. He was an older guy, not as down & out looking as some people I've seen, but you could tell he didn't shop at the designer outlets. As we got to the corner the light was red, so we had to wait which gave him time to ask us for a handout.

It's pretty common in NYC, so you almost overlook being asked over & over & over, & ignore it. I was hoping the light would change so we could avoid the situation, but he had plenty of time & started asking if we could spare some change. One of my friends said no, another said he had none, so when he got to me he said, "Can you spare some change, I need the money for a recovery expedition." Now he had my attention, & added "My yacht sank off the coast of Bermuda & I need to raise money for the salvage team." I burst out laughing & said "No problem"  

I handed him some money, wished him luck with the boat, & so did my friends. Wonder if he raised it yet.  

[BrianShaughnessy]

I never heard what happened with the girl who had the website (it might have been buyboobs.com) begging for $ for a boob job.  She was trying to get up $5K or so.   This was a couple years ago now.   Anyway,  I never sent her any $...   and I'm not gonna send this guy any $ either.    She wasn't gonna send any before and after pics,  and this guy's sob story just sucks. 

[Old Moparz]

Brian, you going to Highland tonight? I'm going to see if one of my friends will be around so I can drag him there. He's got a '70 Road Runner ragtop in red, but hasn't found the energy to dust it off lately.

[XXSpiralXX]

   Im not commenting on this guys whatsoever. BUT I will say that they wont insure just anybody. I cant get more than limited liability on any car I own. NOBODY will give collision on a car made before 1994 around here. Classic wont give me insurance cuz im under 25. So Im stuck with driving my car looking like a piece of shit until the right parts come around. ( meaning cheap, free or bartered for. need any heavy equipment work done? ) Everybody in the five borroughs seems to know my car. It looks like something from mad max. Seriously. Although the funniest things is that people love the look. Go figure. My buddy mike says throw a crazy race engine in it and leave it alone!   
     But dont go downing people cuz they cant afford to put the " proper"insurance on their rides. Not everybody into old cars is set in their comfortable middle age yet. Besides, with the way my car looks they wouldnt cover it for much. But hey, Its mine and I love it. And I refuse to drive a new car out of principle for my hard work and time.

[BrianShaughnessy]

Brian, you going to Highland tonight? I'm going to see if one of my friends will be around so I can drag him there. He's got a '70 Road Runner ragtop in red, but hasn't found the energy to dust it off lately.

Probably not. 

Waiting for Lisa to get off work and go see some dumb movie with an orange car. 

If she got off work earlier I'd be driving way up north to the drive in and go see it with Khyron... but I'll be stuck locally.

[chargerkid]

       But dont go downing people cuz they cant afford to put the " proper"insurance on their rides. Not everybody into old cars is set in their comfortable middle age yet. Besides, with the way my car looks they wouldnt cover it for much. But hey, Its mine and I love it. And I refuse to drive a new car out of principle for my hard work and time.


Downing people?  They won't insure you if you have a bad driving record.  There are places out here in Michigan that will insure anyone, but the premium is high.  If you can't properly insure a car, it should be off the road.

[mustanghater]

tell him to pay for it himself

[hotrod98]

If you can't insure your car properly and it's involved in a wreck, you have two choices.
Fix it with your own money or park the damn thing.
It's that simple.

[XXSpiralXX]

   Horse shit. If you live in nyc and dont have classic insurance, they WILL NOT write you a collision policy. Ive checked everwhere. The only thing youre going to get , if they let you put the car on the road at all ( most places wont insure a car older than 20 years ) youre going to have to go into assigned risk. Progressive is the only company that would take me with a car that old. Allstate laughed at me, geico wanted like 8 grand ( with a clean record at the time ) and the others wouldnt help me either. So..... if you live in the boonies or dont use your car as a daily driver, you should talk about how people cant afford to "properly" insure their car.

[chargerkid]

Sprial...call Haggerty Insurance Co. in Traverse City, Michigan.  If they can't help you, I am sure they know of a company that will.  Good luck.

[Ghoste]

Most people love old cars but the fact is, this is no longer a cheap hobby.  I bought my 68 Road Runner for 75 bucks... back in 1980.  They are no longer used cars and even though a vast majority of them are still on the road as old used cars (my wreck included) they are a plaything.  Not unlike boats or aircraft or any other form of transportation that isn't NECESSARY.
My minivan and family car are both necessary so we can get to work year round.  The Charger is a toy and as such it comes with a number of limitations and obligations.  It costs a lot and it has to be properly insured and if I wreck it, then I need insurance to pay because the great bulk of my income goes to mortagage, utilities, groceries, and kids college funds.  Much as I'd like to beg someone out of my difficulties, the obligations and limitations of musclecar ownership mean that I have to pay for my toy out of my own pocket.

[d72hemi]

I like where he says "the car still starts but is not drivable in its present condition". there is no radiator, or belts on the pulleys, the entire engine seems ro be moved over about a 1/2 foot, and it is sitting in a junk yard.

[ChgrSteve67]

I say we all pitch in to save the car, then sell it and donate the money to charity.

After all its the car we care about not the irresponsible owner.