Plumbob, How can I tell if my '03 is an "early" or "late" model '03 ??

 

Good question. I only know this from speaking with Dave of Triple Edge Performance when replacing the transmission on my '03 SS, and noticing differences between the 2000, 2001, and 2003 SS's I've owned. I'm sure there's a way to tell by referencing the VIN, but I don't know what the cut off date/VIN is. A dealer might be able to help.

 

yes, i made a mistake. the 2002 monte is a 3.4 and the 2003 monte SS is a 3.8. i got the 02 for $1500 yesterday, from $2000. the interior is mint, the engine is perfect. it needs a new paint job, front bumper and new right front fender. everything else works. new cat, new tires. there is rust in front of the left and right front tires right under the MONTE CARLO SS emblems, no doubt were the weather stripping was torn, leaking.

Im going to take my 03 front bumper off and ground effects. the interior is charcol valour gray. my 03 is black leather. my interior looks nicer just because black is slicker, lol.

i argued with the insurance company that i put $5000 grand into it over the past two years (cat and pipe cost me $900 installed,) new radiator, new tranny,) among other smaller things like battery, starter, alternator. they said they could only go back 12 months. i gave him $2200 worth of bills but they only accepted $1600 and based off of that #, they only gave me $200 extra.

i know the difference in the dash, the 02 is missing the oil and battery guage. how do i tell if my battery and oil is low? are there lights that pop up in the dash?

are you sure the trannies are different? i spent $2200 on a rebuilt for my 03!

 

Keep the Trans. I would talk with a Transmission shop. I know when I had my 02 Rebuilt in 14 I was told they were common to fail and was Rebuilding it to 03 Specs. Your SS isn't the Super Charged so it still has the 4T65E Standard Trans. The Charged one has the 4T65E-HD.

 

how do i tell if its the HD one?

 

If you have the L67 3800 SS then you would have the HD if your SS is an 03 with the Normal 3800 then your car has the L36. This changed in the 04 SS Super Charged. I guess there was a SS Normal 3800 in 04 as well. I didn't know that.. However the Normal in 05 became the LT.

There was some changes and if you have the Donor car you can make this changes work for your other car. However if you were trying to change over to the HD then I would say it wouldn't be cost Effective to make the change. If over the an L36 it could be changed to the HD just need some extra parts and the PCM as well.

Again I am not 100% sure. I would talk with a Transmission shop to get a total idea of what would be needed.

James

 

Honestly I don't know what there would be to argue with them about. They'll give you the actual value of the car unless you specifically purchase additional coverage (which of course no one does because they don't want to pay higher premiums). Given the mileage and year, the car is only worth a couple grand regardless if you just put in a new $10 air filter or just did a $10k paint job. I think you were lucky they offered more money at all.

 

it was the other guys insurance. its still baffles me at what they offered me,

 

What they offered you was reasonable from an insurance perspective. That's all the car is worth. That's certainly about all you would've got out of it trading it in or selling it.

You generally don't add value to a car by doing necessary maintenance to keep it running correctly. That's why people get rid of high mileage BMWs and such. A $10k book value car doesn't turn into a $20k value car if you've spent $10k getting broken things fixed.

I do understand that it was not your insurance. You could certainly lawyer up and fight them, but chances are you'll lose and burn up the delta in court costs and lawyer fees.

There are options with your own insurance to be covered beyond basic book value though. A lot of people do that with older cars that they're doing a big restoration project on (or with big customization projects). If you did a full frame off restoration on a 80 Buick Regal (just making something up), you would want to make sure you're covered beyond the $500 book value and they have insurance policies that will handle that kind of situation (where you've got way more invested in a car than its worth).

 

I'm currently in the process of trying to get my Monte registered as a classic car, and then I'll try to shop around for classic car insurance where I can set an agreed upon value of the car and insure it at that.

I'm afraid something will happen during my rare drives, and the car gets totaled out because it's only valued to my current insurance at like 2,000. IF that.