Accident and Insurance - any advice?

[4381821]

Well, my Z got smacked the other day when it was parked on the street. Luckily, the driver STOPPED and notified me. The damage isn't too bad, basically the driver side fender was hit from the front, and slid back into my door. So the fender and the headlight bucket need to be replaced, and my hood and door will need some paint.

I went to the other guy's insurance for a claim, and they checked out my car in their garage. After doing an itemized report on the damages, they handed me a check for $2,200. The quoted part prices seemed pretty spot on, so I think it seems reasonable. Now, I also can drop the car off at any one of their approved body places, and say "fix it" and they will pay for it. I just have to give the shop the claim number, and even if the bill is higher for some reason, it will get covered.

So I went by 2 of the most expensive and better known shops in town for a quote, and they were scratching their heads looking at my car because it's so old ('74). I'm waiting on a call from one, and have an appointment with another tomorrow. They seemed hesitant about the deal, saying that parts might be a really big problem for them. My main concern here is on the blending of paint, since my car doesn't have an exactly stock color and was repainted within the last 10 years, and how bad the blending will look.

I'm leaning towards keeping the check, and getting the car in workable shape for now, with intent of stripping it out and doing a REAL paint job this summer. Reason I say that, is there are little rust bubbles under the paint on certain parts of the body now - corner on the passenger door, one on a rocker panel, and maybe another one or two. So I know that they need to be fixed already.

Any suggestions or advice here?

[Arne]

If you know there is rust repair in your future anyway, I'd wait and apply the settlement towards the whole shebang.

[Mat M]

This same thing actually happened to me with my RX-7. If I were you, I would take the car to as many places as I could, and get as many estimates as I could, making sure the shops include ANY little thing that may need to be addressed once the work had begun. Then I would work it out with the other guy's insurance for the (hopefully higher) settlement check, then do the work myself.

In CA, you do NOT have to take your vehicle to an insurance company's preferred vendor, you may take your vehicle to ANY shop for repairs.

[Ramses]

I did my entire body work for about 3k. I had to strip everything off myself, and put everything on. They only worked on it when their shop was slow, which took over a year. The guy who worked on it, Jose, did a kick arse job. I helped him when I had a chance and he sometimes came in on the weekend and showed me how to do things, then he would come back on Monday and inspect and fix my screw-ups. My advise, buddy up to a guy who owns a body shop, take him out for a few drinks a couple of times and then ask him a favor, if you do not need to use your car as a daily driver. It save a lot of money, while time should be no concerne.

[beandip]

I Don't know about the headlight buckets , but new fenders are still available from Nissan. Jim Coffey recently bought a couple . Some body here on he site must have a extra sugar scoop laying around they would part with . I am sorry to hear about the damage to your Z . I am with the others on the paint . If you are contemplating a paint job in the near future , just replace the parts . Have the car up and running and deal with the rest of the issues when you are ready . Gary:rambo:

[a7dz]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1973-240z-Drivers-Side-Headlight-Bucket_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42611QQihZ006QQitemZ160088067711QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Here is a metal scoop for sale on EBAY right now.

Yes, I bought both fenders last fall.

Jim

[4381821]

I took my car to 2 shops for estimates, but have yet to receive anything 1 week later. I didn't tell the shops that I already got a quote from the insurance agency either, hoping to get some kind of honest opinion from them. 1 flat out never got back to me. The other has been OK with the service, but called the insurance co and found out I already got a quote from them. Apparently, they have to go off of that one. This seems like a bad deal to me.

Talking over the repairs with those guys, they're not going to repaint my entire hood, rather blend across the whole thing - same with my door / fender. Infact, they weren't going to replace the fender, rather fix/fill it.

Seems like I'm at a dead end here.

[jmark]

I'd get a new OEM fender.

[Mat M]

I took my car to 2 shops for estimates, but have yet to receive anything 1 week later. I didn't tell the shops that I already got a quote from the insurance agency either, hoping to get some kind of honest opinion from them. 1 flat out never got back to me. The other has been OK with the service, but called the insurance co and found out I already got a quote from them. Apparently, they have to go off of that one. This seems like a bad deal to me.

Talking over the repairs with those guys, they're not going to repaint my entire hood, rather blend across the whole thing - same with my door / fender. Infact, they weren't going to replace the fender, rather fix/fill it.

Seems like I'm at a dead end here.

Are there any other repair shops near you? On second thought, it may actually be a good thing, that the shop got the info from your insurance, so that the costs shouldn't be a surprize, and go over the amount. The shop knows what the insurance will pay, and that's that. I may be completely naive when it comes to repairs, though.

I have a scoop I can part with. PM me if you are interested.

[ZCCOR#109]

I found out that a painter can blend within a panel better than paint an entire panel. They get a better match.

they also can use the spectrascope tools that examine the existing color and tell them what to mix to get a match. Of course the painter has a lot to do with the final results as to gloss and depth etc.