My son and his girlfriend were in his FD today and some idiot, trailer trash female tagged him in the rear quarter panel in her beat up Nissan Sentra. He was stopped and she whacked him! As you can see in the pix, body is dinged pretty good but what concerns me most is the angle the rear wheel ended up at. The window on the driver's side was blown out (my son had it partially open at the time) but the door still opens and shuts OK. Part of the molding that runs along the bottom of the window opening (from where the side view mirror is to the door handle) popped out but that looks like a minor fix.

Questions: What should I be looking for as far as the rear wheel is concerned? Any idea how tough a fix it might be? The car still drives.

Window replacement - is it a DIY or better to have a professional come in?

Body work- Any suggestions on a trustworthy body shop in So Cal? This FD was about a year away from completion as far as the mods we wanted to do so we definitely want to fix it.

Thanks!

 

what? get insurance to take care of EVERYTHING that even looks a little suspicious!

 

Sure - no collision on this car but will lay in a claim on other party's insurance. Just want to make sure it gets done right.

 

+1 Claim everything and have a very reputable shop body/repair look over the entire car for any damage you might have missed i.e. suspension or otherwise. It's not your fault some idiot sucks at driving. Goodluck with the repair!

 

Cannot stress enough the absolute need to have an extremely qualified body shop do the estimates. These cars are basically barely civilized race cars, the suspension components are all-alloy and easily tweaked in collisions as your son had. Add in the fact it is a VERY light car and while very robust structurally, there just isn't THAT much to it, and you can almost guarantee there is some subtle damage not easily seen unless EXPERT eyes have a look at it.

 

Be careful, the FD is very easily "totaled out" by insurance companies...

Thats one of the downsides of the FD (parts from mazda cost a ton) which will force then to total out your car.

 

that could be alot worse than it looks... very easily. I would take it to a shop that YOU trust and have them do all of the work and make their insurance pay for everything.

I would be very worried about unibody/chassis/frame damage. whatever you want to call it... in our stamped and spot welded children of headaches.

 

unfortunately, you'll probably have to take it all the way to court. the other insurance company will deny your claim if you don't have your insurance company going to bat for you as they would if you had collision.

 

These are the kinds of things I was afraid of. Absolutely not going to let the car get totalled out. Looks like fault will be of other party in which case (in California) their insurance will take the hit.

 

i had someone hit me in a parking lot after school not as bad as that but close, i dont think the insurance company will total that out.

 

This is why I have an extremely overblown insurance policy on everything I own....so when someone else ***** up, I get it all back in the end.

 

Yeah, but in the meantime you're paying through the nose for it and when something does happen, they low-ball the hell out of you saying the car is only worth some ridiculously low amount. If they do pay-out then they either jack your rates to cover their loss or drop you. Insurance is a scam...nothing more. The only reason I have it is becasue the state says I have to.

 

I pay less than 120 a month for the 7, an 2004 grand prix and an 2007 chevy pickup.

But I do hear you on the low balling part in the event of a claim, but there are ways to battle that as well, just most people get an offer and hear a voice on the phone say that's all they are getting, and the most they do about it is complain to everyone they know.

But sometimes you do just outright get fucked, just do all you can to fight, don't give up and it usually pays off, even if just a little.

 

I hate to be the voice of doom but the insurance company will try to rip you off.


I'll leave it at that. Good luck!

 

Either way you get screwed. Myself, I've been drivng for 30 years, paying insurance the entire time, and I've never had to submit a claim. In 30 years I've probably paid $50k - $60k in insurance and have never gotten a penny in return. So for me, insurance is a waste. Not saying I'm this fantastic driver or anything, I've just never been unlucky enough to wreck my car. Only accident I ever had was in a company truck. Hope I didn't jinx myself by writing this.

 

The only reason I really see insurance as being something that a person would want is in the event someone is injured and needs major medical attention.

As far as the damage to property, yeah, most people will pay tens of thousands of dollars in their life, and never make a claim or one of a substantial amount.

But if I need an arm or leg glued back on, it's nice knowing someone will pick up the tab.

 

Well, this goes back a few months and the car is back. Thanks to State Frame Shop in Ontario, CA for doing an extremely professional job not only taking care of the suspension repair on the rear but also catching a poorly done repair to the front end that the previous owner had overseen. The fix - broken upper control arm! Here's the photo. Ray Crowe at Malloy hooked me up with a new one for about $460 and shipped it straight to the shop. State Frame charged me another $500 for labor to replace the arm, align the rear and also re-align the front. Some metal straightening had to be done but not involving the frame. Remaining repairs: Driver's side window and body work and repainting. Unfortunately, just before the accident, my son got tagged for an exhaust noise violation and in California that requires a full exhaust inspection. I guess we have to put the high flow cat in - no more wide open exhaust! Remaining mods: Aluminum AST, cooling fan mod, add stock rear wing. We are probably a year away from finishing the car - but worth every day and every dollar!