Hey guys, my car was parked in front of my house and a drunk neighbor came by and decided to crank into my car. She pushed it up unto the sidewalk, over the curb.

So far, I am getting a new fender, side skirt, door, 2 wheels and tires, frame bar, 2 coilovers, and the whiteline roll center kit (which I already had).

If you look at the pic, the Cusco bar is definitely bent like a sad face up. I remarked to the body shop adjuster about this and how the frame is pushed in. He tried to gloss over it. I have been now dealing with him in email so I have written proof that I asked for the frame to be checked. He said he'd hook up their machine.

I'm just wondering what you all think. The car only has 36K on it and it's an 06, so it's still worth quite a bit (shop says 18.5K).

To add insult to injury, the insurance company arranged a tow between the storage lot, since we had to wait for fault to be determined by the police to determine who's insurance covered it, and they DIDN'T flatbed it I think). I normally am there to babysit the car, but the insurance company was on my *** to get it out of storage where it was accruing fees. *******s huh?

Now, there is oil all down the bottom of the car and I believe it's transmission or xfer case fluid by smell. I called TRE and Jon said they probably got it so hot towing it on 2 wheels that it boiled the fluid. So I have the insurance company inquiring and they will probably be putting a claim in. I have no doubt something happened with the tow and am pretty pissed.

So yeah, I'm looking at frame damage and a destroyed ACD. Comments, suggestions.....

Here are the pics: http://imgur.com/a/PuqjU
As you can see there is a ton of oil on the cusco bar and on the exhaust.

 

Man, sorry to hear that.....

I cant speak for the repair damages but the value of the Evo is AT LEAST 20K, if not more. I picked mine up for more than that with more miles

 

Hi. Sorry for this...I can just tell you what I would do. Wait and see what the Insurance company says/does. Being that Mitsubishi has pulled the plug on The Evo, these cars are going to become extremely rare(r) and harder to find a low mileage one like yours. I'd go thru insurance on both the driver of the car and the dumb *%$#^* *** tow truck company. Get what you can and (re-)build her with some possible mods instead of OEM. You'll now have a faster, stronger and rarer car than before. I'm not saying that you might have to contribute to what the insurance settlement(s) will be...

Because you know what the insurance company is going to do. They're going to take it and put it out for auction and someone will buy it and do what you didn't and they'll have a low mileaged, rare Evo IX. Just my opinion...I wish you the best of luck what ever your decision is!

 

****! really sorry to hear mate! Keep thinking positive and soon enough you will have your car back running like a top.

Just keep after the insurance company to get all your repairs in check.

 

Wow thats retarded!. Im sorry to hear about this and im betting their valuing the evo off nada or blackbook since nada reads consistantly low on evos regardless of the rare factor. Its heartvreaking to see this happen to such a clean evo especially in white!

 

I would be pissed and then I'd get on top of things quickly. The longer the wait, the more the insurance company is going to want to finalise and close your file to get rid of this headache which is their fault, and they can do that without you even agreeing to it if they can justify things.


Sounds like the shop is incompetent because any hit to the side like that is likely to bend the frame (only takes a 2km/hr hit) and they should have been the first to check it if they knew what they were doing. Insurance companies know the repair shops they recommend to you and they agree with everything they say and do (they have to support who they recommend to people) so if there's incompetence they will agree with it. Everyone denies blame in this kind of situation, as will the insurance company, the towing company, and the shop if they repair things incorrectly which it looks like they might and especially if the ACD is involved.


This happened to me on a previous car so I know how this may work out, as the insurance recommended a shop for me after I was hit in the same place as you, and when I got my car back my electric doors wouldn't lock afterwards. I took it back to the repair shop and after they apparently assessed it they told the insurance company that because my car was older it was probably the actuator failing and accused me of taking my door apart previously as there was junk in the door panel so therefore I probably broke/damaged something and the insurance co. believed them and closed my file. The "junk" in the lock was placed there by me only after getting it back from the shop the first time to see if I could lubricate the locking mechanism to try to get the locks to work correctly as you could see it was trying to lock them but couldn't complete the process. Long story short, me and a friend took my door panel apart a few weeks later after my file was closed and the repair shop had not put the interior parts together correctly and it took us a quick 5 minutes and the door locks miraculously were working correctly. I had done the work myself, but another might have had to incur costs taking it somewhere else having their door taken apart.


Because your car appears to have some problems now with the ACD from this tow, this body shop will be unable to fix that CORRECTLY. I would speak to the insurance company and have it towed to a Mitsubishi collision center...call your dealership to find one close to you and get advice from the service manager. Tell the insurance company that this is not your fault, it is theirs, and that you want it towed there for an independent evaluation now and to get it fixed correctly because this is going to be a PITA to fix.


I would also call the insurance ombudsman if they give you grief.

 

Thanks guys!

The insurance company is USAA, who I've heard is pretty good in dealing with this kind of thing. The adjuster had acted like the xfer case wouldn't be an issue with them getting another one. I said it was going to be over 3K after seeing the oil under the car, and he didn't even balk.

I'm going to see how they do on this so far (this shop). They've been really cool with the aftermarket parts and are cutting me a check for the 2 wheels. I basically found prices on the internet for the parts and the guy has no issues with using the new retail prices.

In fact, I'm buying some rpf1s (4) to replace the zigens in the mean time. They are giving me 260 a wheel I believe, which isn't bad since I got them used. Basically, they aren't hitting me with depreciation on any of these parts so far.

As long as they let me get the transmission/xfer case checked out with Team Rip, I'm alright.

As for going to a Mitsu place around here, I'm at Ft Rucker, Alabama, and I can guarantee there are NO competent mitsu shops within 2 hours of me.

I know the car pretty well though, I have done my own clutch and quite a few other bits and pieces (installed the exhaust manifold/studs/O2 collector), bushings, front sway bar, coilovers.... other bits. So I'm not too worried about making sure it's done RIGHT.

This is my track car, but it doesn't seem to be an issue to them about that either. I'm not advertising that to them, however.

Thanks again!

 

Right now the insurance company is in guilt mode because of what they've done, so keep things moving quickly. And definitely don't mention "track car"...lol. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

I have had USAA for over 15 years, and they've always been extremely helpful, even when submitting claims. First thing that stood out to me from your posts, is that you said you took it to a shop they told you about. I ALWAYS take my cars to my choice of body shop. This is one of the great features of USAA is that we can take our cars to a shop of our choosing. That will take care of the "competent or not body shop" issue. As far as the tow truck not being a flatbed, I would try to get the name of the towing company that did the job, and contact them directly to find out what sort of truck was used, rather than going through USAA. You can always check them with the info by asking USAA if it was a flatbed or not, and then see if you get two different answers between the two companies.

 

Unfortunately, I'm not from around here and don't know of ANY reputable shops. I called a couple and talked to them for a bit. I'm in the butthole of Alabama.

At this point, I'm going to wait for USAA to get an answer on the truck. I've had this issue happen with an S10 I had before and calling them just ended up being a me vs them thing with me having to prove it's damaged either way. I'd rather have the insurance company with some dollars deal with it. USAA was adamant the car get moved, they are going to pay for damage. As far as I'm concerned, the transfer case is coming out at this point to be examined. If I have to get a lawyer involved, I will.

But... I do like the idea of seeing whether it's a different answer. I'll call and find out.

 

Alright, so they are cutting me a check for 2 wheels since they are discontinued (5Zigen FN01R-C) and probably the coilovers as well (Tein Flex according to Tein) since it will take months for them to build new ones (they are discontinued as well).

Now, I am wondering about the hubs and bearings. Both sides had a decent impact. Should I be going after the shop for those?

 

take all of your parts out of your car including your seats and when the insurance company comes and asks where the engine tranny and t-case went, just be like idk mate. but on a serious note, that really sucks man. A friend of mine had the same thing happen to his X the month he took full coverage off of it, some drunk kid hit his car in his driveway.

 

that tow company should be liable if they didn't use a flatbed, dumbasses, they're a tow company, towing cars is what they do, they're suppose to know what type of a drive a vehicle has before they tow it, i.e. fwd, rwd, awd, etc

 

Oh yeah, I'm totally on top of that. I told USAA I'd be pursuing legal action and that the tcase is coming out either way to be inspected. They seem alright with it so far.

 

Becoming a tow truck driver does not require a degree.