Open Today Sales: 9 AM-9 PM
The derecho that came through on August 11 left trees on vehicles from Cedar Lake to Michigan City. This page covers what our service department can inspect and repair, where to send body damage, how the insurance side normally works, and what your options are if the claim comes back as a total loss. Our own staff spent the week without power alongside everyone else, so we know the kind of week you are having.
Status: we are open. As of Thursday, August 13, Currie Motors Buick GMC is open and operating at 1551 W. US Highway 30. Sales, service and parts are all taking customers, Monday to Friday 9 AM to 9 PM and Saturday 9 AM to 7 PM. Phones are working on (219) 246-4505. Our sister store, Currie Motors Ford of Valpo, is also open, and their collision center is handling body work half a mile away on Morthland Drive.
If a downed power line is anywhere near your vehicle, leave it. Do not open the door, do not try to move a branch, do not assume the line is dead. Call 911 first, then NIPSCO on 1-800-464-7726.
NIPSCO has called this the largest outage event in its history, with restoration measured in days rather than hours across parts of Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties. Traffic signals are out in places. Treat every dark intersection as a four way stop, and give the utility crews room to work.
Your vehicle is a problem that can wait a day. Nothing on this page is more important than that.
We are a service and parts operation on US-30 in Valparaiso. We do not have a collision center, so the honest split is this: mechanical, electrical and water damage we handle here, and dented panels and broken glass go elsewhere. More on where in a moment.
Ten inches of rain fell across parts of northern Indiana in that stretch. Water reaches wiring looms, control modules, drivetrains and carpets, and the damage frequently does not announce itself for weeks.
Warning lights that appeared after the storm, a vehicle that cranks but will not start, faults that come and go. Worth diagnosing properly rather than guessing at.
Debris strikes underneath, suspension and alignment after hitting something in the road, cooling and exhaust damage. The parts of an impact that are not about the paintwork.
If the vehicle rode out the storm outdoors and you simply want to know whether it is safe to keep driving, that is a legitimate reason to book it in.
Book through our service appointment form or call (219) 246-4505.
We do not run a collision center, and we would rather tell you that on the way in than after you have driven here with a tree-shaped dent in the roof.
If your vehicle needs body work, panels, paint or glass, Currie Motors Ford of Valpo has a collision center about half a mile from us on Morthland Drive. Same ownership, and they work on other makes as well as Ford. Call their body shop directly on (219) 234-2169, or start at their collision center page.
If you would rather use a shop closer to home, that is entirely your call and Indiana law backs it. Either way, call us if you want a second opinion on whether something is mechanical or cosmetic before you commit to anything.
Weather damage to a vehicle almost always falls under the comprehensive part of your policy rather than collision. In practice that usually means a lower deductible, and with most carriers it does not affect your premium the way an at fault accident would. Check your own policy, because carriers differ and we are not the ones who wrote it.
Photograph the vehicle before the tree comes off it. Wide shots first, then close ones. Once it is moved and the yard is cleared, you cannot recreate the scene for an adjuster.
Every carrier in the region is taking claims at once. Filing early puts you further up a queue that is only going to lengthen, and you can decide what to do afterward.
Indiana law leaves that decision with you. An insurer may suggest a network shop, but you are entitled to have the work done where you want it done.
Many policies include rental coverage during a repair, with a daily cap and a total limit. Worth knowing the numbers before repair queues stretch out.
If the repair estimate climbs past what the vehicle is worth, the carrier will total it. That leaves you with a settlement check, a gap in the driveway, and a job to get to on Monday.
A few honest points.
The first offer is a valuation, not a verdict. It is based on what your vehicle was worth the day before the storm. If it looks low, gather service records and comparable listings from around Northwest Indiana and put your case. People routinely leave money on the table by accepting the opening number.
You can shop before the money lands. Settlements take time. We can hold a vehicle, work out numbers, and have the paperwork sitting ready so the day the check clears is the day you drive.
Match the vehicle to the settlement, not the other way round. If you were driving an eight year old SUV, a comparable used vehicle probably fits your settlement better than a new one. We would rather sell you the right vehicle than the expensive one and have you regret it in March.
A GMC or Buick is not the only answer. Our used inventory covers most makes. If the right replacement on our lot is not a GM vehicle, that is fine by us.
The people answering our phones this week live in Valparaiso, Portage, Chesterton, Hebron, Wheeler and Union Township. Several of them came to work from houses that had been dark since Tuesday, driving around the same fallen trees you are.
We mention it only because it explains how we intend to handle this. No storm sale. No urgency language. If the honest answer to your question is that the damage is cosmetic and you should save your deductible, we will say that. If it is that you should call your carrier before you call us, or that another shop is the right place for the job, we will say that too.
We are open, but a call first means we can tell you whether it is a job for us or for a collision center, and save you a trip on roads that are still being cleared.
Service and repair across Northwest Indiana is going to run long for weeks. We will quote you a date we believe rather than one you want to hear.
Regional demand will affect availability on a lot of components. If something is going to hold your repair up, we will tell you when we write it.
Prices are what they were last week. Nobody here is going to treat an insurance settlement as an opportunity.
The August 11 derecho ran roughly 331 miles from eastern Iowa across northern Illinois into Indiana and on toward Ohio, carrying straight line winds between 70 and 100 miles per hour. Gary recorded the strongest measured gust in the region at 99 miles per hour, and several tornadoes were confirmed along the track, two of them continuing into Lake County.
NIPSCO listed the worst affected communities as Cedar Lake, Chesterton, Crown Point, Dyer, East Chicago, Gary, Griffith, Hammond, Highland, Hobart, LaPorte, Lake Station, Lowell, Merrillville, Michigan City, Munster, Portage, St. John, Schererville and Valparaiso. We are on US-30 in the middle of that, and open to anyone in it.
Currie Motors Buick GMC 1551 W. US Highway 30, Valparaiso, IN 46385 Sales, Service and Parts: (219) 246-4505 Body and collision work: Currie Motors Ford of Valpo, (219) 234-2169 NIPSCO outages and downed lines: 1-800-464-7726 Gas leak or other emergency: 911, then 1-800-634-3524 Hours: Mon–Fri 9 AM–9 PM, Sat 9 AM–7 PM, Sun closed. Call to confirm, conditions are still changing.
Inspection, service, or a vehicle the insurance company has written off. Tell us what happened and we will tell you what is actually worth doing about it, even when the answer sends you somewhere else.