Hi, I recently had a tree fall on my Honda Civic. Anyrate, I'm going to several body shops this coming week for insurance estimates.
First of all, I was wondering if there is any tips that you all could offer that would help me to make the right choice.
The entire left side of the car has to be replaced, because I do not want fillers, and possibily the roof and sunroof may need replacment also. When re-painting the entire car the same color, what is the correct prep work process? I want to ask how they plan to prep my car, so I know what kind of quality to expect.
Thanks a bunch,
Adam

 

holy ****, talk about badluck

 

if the roof is damaged, especially right where the windshield hits, its 90% totalled...

 

when repainting the whole car make sure they remove all the gaskets and rubber thing-a-ma-jigg-ers around the windows and doors..

also color-sanding/ wet-sanding is your friend.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ScrapinSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if the roof is damaged, especially right where the windshield hits, its 90% totalled... </TD></TR></TABLE>

??? It's damaged, but not like caved in or anything. It's only a little bent in where it hits the glass.





Modified by ahunt01 at 4:30 AM 10/20/2003

 

that sux man. oh, be prepared to get flamed for the red accents, just lettin ya know.{(handing you flamesuit)}

 

Lol, well I'm going back to stock after I get the car fixed so get the flames in when ya can.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ahunt01 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The entire left side of the car has to be replaced, because I do not want fillers</TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL.... i can guarantee you a body shop is not going to replace panels at your request. for the front fender, yes, i would expect a new one.... but for rear quarter panels, most shops laugh at a request for a new panels. i guarantee they will pull the dents out, fill them in, and re-finish long before welding new panels in

replacing panels is not what insurance companies usually like to pay for. that's called "better-ment" or some **** like that. essentially, making the car better than it was before.

 

OMG DUDE! Your interior is bleeding from when it got hit by the tree!!

The roof is one panel that will NEVER be replaced... That will be pulled, smoother, and replaced... it doesn't look that badly damaged... it looks like I see dings by the antenna too on the side pillar... those would be filled & smoothed... Have them shave the antenna while they are right there...

And as far as the rear quarter panel goes and the guy who said they wont replace them, you can DEMAND a new quarter panel... Thats what you pay your insurance for... But the basics of repair/replace a quarter panel is this... If there is a decent amount of damage ACROSS A CREASE LINE of a quarter panel, it should be replaced... if its a dent on the flat part, it should be pulled.

 

Well an update... I went to supposidly what is the best body shop in my area. They're going to replace my windshield, drivers side front/rear window, rear window, roof, sunroof, front left quarter panel, hood, bang out the little dent in my left rear quarter panel, pull the dents out of the panel between the roof and the door (not sure what it's called, but it's in the picture that's attached.) And on top of all that they're re-painting the whole car and buffing it some to remove some orange peel. I believe I have blown struts, so I have to investigate that too.

Price of everything said and done... $7,200
Cost of car (blue book trade in value)... $10,250
Insurance companies laughing in my face... priceless

 

http://www.citlink.net/~ahunt0...x.htm

 

so whats gonna happen?

 

No clue man, I'm still waiting on the college's insurance company to call me. Punks were supposed to do it today but I've heard nothing...

 

damn, well atleast yopu had an excuse to skip class... " Umm.. i couldn't make it to class proffesor, a tree fell on my car" lol

 

Lol they've been cutting me major slack. I'm like "can I take the test next week cuz I"m a bit shaken up" and they're all cool with it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ahunt01 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Price of everything said and done... $7,200
Cost of car (blue book trade in value)... $10,250
Insurance companies laughing in my face... priceless
</TD></TR></TABLE>

sorry, but totalled probably... FYI, it takes 70% of a car's value in damage to total a car... If their insurance company sees a quote for $7200, they are gonna say "Close enough" and want to total it.

 

Na i can get it fixed for 3k. I'm just going to have to have stuff banged out and filled instead of replaced. I really didn't want that but if it's that or totalling my car then I'll take that. Car may not look good but it'll run. If the insurance won't pay 7k for good body work then they probably won't give me more than 7k for my car. And that wouldn't be worth it.

 

no... if they dont want to pay $7k for the body work, they'd rather total it... They can give you $10k for your car, then send it to an auction and make some money back on it... Trust me... If they want to total it, let them... The other thing you can do is, if they want to total it, let them total it, then ask them how much you can buy it back for... shouldn't be much...

 

Ah, Iwell I have been itching for a car with a manual tranny, i.e. an SI. I really don't want to pay an additional 4-5k out of my own pocket to pick one up, but I'm sure I can find one in the 12-13k range. Maybe something positive will come out of this... So the insurance co. would pay me my kelly blue book value of the car's value prior to the accident? If so my trade in value is 10,500.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ahunt01 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ah, Iwell I have been itching for a car with a manual tranny, i.e. an SI. I really don't want to pay an additional 4-5k out of my own pocket to pick one up, but I'm sure I can find one in the 12-13k range. Maybe something positive will come out of this... So the insurance co. would pay me my kelly blue book value of the car's value prior to the accident? If so my trade in value is 10,500.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah... around there... Do you owe on this car?

 

let us know how this goes man...

 

No I own the car. A friend of mine told me that since I am going through someone else's inurance, that they would probably pay the 7,200 to fix the car, since the value of the car is 10,500. I don't know if that's true, but it makes sense.