freemanrx7

That was fun! Well today I'm driving with my brother to the mall and while driving down the street a guy tries crossing the road in his 2008 Sienna. Little did he know I was actually driving down the street he was trying to cross. In a split second I noticed he was going and tried to swerve. If I had not he would have hit my drivers door. The pics will show where he hit me.

It was on a somewhat busy street and there happen to be a yardsale going on right in front of the accident. I guess there must have been about 20 witness's to this guys stupidity. While getting the guys info my brother overheard some lady saying that I was a good driver and prevented a T-bone. Maybe If I hadn't of swerved he would have T-boned me into about 7 or 8 people standing there on the sidewalk. The sidewalk has no curb and I could have easily plowed into them. Who knows?


Anyways I have a few ? for you guys

1. He was driving a RED CROSS vehicle and is self insured. Does this mean they pay out of their own pocket? Anybody have to deal with this kind of insurance? He had no policy number but is legit.

2. I just posted pics of my 87TII on the club and how nice the original paint is. Doesn't that mean anything to have the original paint in great condition? My ? is should I have the whole thing repainted or could it be matched? And if so how much of the body will the shop paint/blend?

3. What will the shop do? Bondo etc....

4. What would you do if you got $$$$ to repair the vehicle?

5. Any input on what I should do?


I really love my 7 and have put a lot of $ into her.Me and my wife have decided that we will never sell this 7. This pisses me off but maybe I could come away with some new paint. The original paint was great and a half repaint or blend would suck in a few years.

Thanks all who reply.

dawicka2

Go to the hospital immediately (you never no what problems can arise).

Well because your neck hurts and it was his fault, his insurance company will be happy to pay any inflated estimate. Then you in turn, will happily fix your car for a fraction of the pay out.

john ny

1SWEET7

iTrader: (1)

Aww man sorry to see that. It depends on where you go as to the quality of the work. I have heard great things about Kreations in Rio Dell. When you talk to his insurance company don't let them low ball you get all you can from them. Good luck. -Shane (used to be RED1990GTU)

lonetlan

Answer num 3(from what I learned in autobody class almost correct): an insurance adjuster will look at it, an estimate will be written(good places take all the money they can), remove trim, work metal straight, bondo, glaze, prime, seal, blend the quarter panel to a little behind the drivers side door, clear it, put trim on, detail, give it back. You will be able to see the blend, but it will be really hard to notice, cus its supposed to trick the eyes to see one color.

I had a dent in the same spot and the same size, I took it for an estimate at a good shop, and it was like $2600, I took my car to a bad shop, it was $1400. I'm fixing it in class because they B.S. on the labor, it took me 3 hours to pop it out, bondo and glaze, and I'm an apprentice at bodywork! The shops wrote that it would take 9 hours. I hope this doens't come out of your wallet!!!! I would cry

Enthu

iTrader: (1)

If insurance is ging to pay for the damage, your car will likely be totalled. My '89 GXL got hit by a State Farm insured Driver in 2006 with just slightly worse damage.

These cars are totalled with little damage. What I did was Buy it back and fix the damage myself. Bought the GXL back for $500 and I got a little over $4k for an NA GXL with 140k miles and rust on it.

Here is my old before and after repair thread. you can see the pics and get an idea of how it went for me.https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...ght=state+farm

freemanrx7

I would except that. I think my car is worth at least 4k. But the adjuster may not agree.

Slammedblk7

iTrader: (7)

The true color comes out when you repaint it. It is called Royal Maroon Metallic...I think 3A, the paint code should be on the vin plate on the fire wall.

dvs71990

The previous owner of my car was hit there, I discovered about 2 inches of bondo. My plan is to cut and weld the piece from my parts car.

Akagis_white_comet

iTrader: (4)

Here in Ohio, you need to file a $30,000 bond with the state to claim that you are self-insured. I'm not sure of how payment works in an accident while being self-insured, but it would appear that damages would be taken out of that bond money.

Because where the damage is, I would also claim your Racing Beat catback on top of the obvious damage. The heat shield could have easily hit the left muffler and/or the Y-pipe and damaged it.

Do you have a copy of the parts catalogs and shop manuals? They're linked in the FAQ and it would give you a better idea how to approach this, along with actual parts cost through any of the local mazda dealers. Read the Collision Repair section of them too. It has part numbers in it for new sheet metal.

You should probably check your alignment as well. Chances are that it knocked your suspension out of whack as well, possibly damaging the spring/strut. It looks like you have some toe-in on the affected tire.

My car was hit in the same area before I got it. Fortunately, the previous owner found a parts car and sawzall-ed the whole quarter off for me. According to one of the bodywork guys on here, bondo can only be used to perfect the surface and you can't go more than 1/16" thick with it. Any more than that and it will crack. The rest is up to hammering and priming/painting.

Be prepared to have a fight with the guy's insurance (in this case, the guy that hit you himself). Stick to your guns and don't take anything less than being made 100% whole (include diminished value too!). I wouldn't accept anything less than having the whole car painted. No matter how they try and match it, it simply won't match like the original paint would. And since it looked great before, it's only fair that it look identical after being repaired. Now might be a good time to change colors too, perhaps to a certain envied color like Shade Green (green with envy LOL). Spies Hecker (www.spieshecker.com) has the formula for it, but it probably be very expensive.

What I'd do is get estimates from only Mazda dealers, having them include part numbers for everything (found in the parts catalogs linked in the FAQ). Next, I would seek out someone on here that does good bodywork and see if they would cut you a deal by helping you do your own work on it. Also, get the opinion of an experienced welder on the possibility of welding in new sheet metal there. When metal is bent, it never will retain its original strength, and hammering it back to shape hardens it. Too much hammering in a single spot and it will crack.

As for my own car, I'm planning on cutting the old crumpled panel off and welding in the new panel, getting rid of all the rust around it, adding new metal to properly reinforce it where the rust is, bondo to make it perfect, then prime and paint.

Good luck with it

IanS

iTrader: (4)

The 9 hours of labor you will find out why that is once you get into your estimating class.

asiaman697

Hey man sorry to here about you car. At least you or anyone else wasnt hurt. I sucks when people arent paying attention and being in such a small car its easy to be over looked. Good luck with the repairs, hope you got a police report, that always.

dtale15

iTrader: (1)

accidents suck so much. i wrecked my toyota t100 pickup and have to do all the work myself. i picked up a 1988 rx7 with a dent in the rear.. im trying to figure out how to pop it.
good luck to you