I went to the cop shop the morning after my hit and run and they gave me the vehicle accident report with the name and address of the haggot that hit me.

Yeah, but revenge is sweet. Steal the waggot's garbage and post his name and social security number on the internet so the identity thieves can be the nemesis.

 

Well I took the car over to M2 in Van Nuys this morning for the GEICO claims to look at it. I was extremely suprised to see that the total repair that they quoted was just a hair over $2200.

He didn't pull the bumper off or anything, just took a top/bottom look and said any other things would be covered and to just let the body shop talk with them about additional costs.

Total repair time is 9 business days. Which does not include a rental car, apparently my policy doesn't cover it? He gave me a place to go to that will give me a rental while my car is in the shop but it doesn't share the lifetime warranty from geico for repair work.

Heres the repair list:

Section REAR BUMPER:

Overhaul Bumper Assembly
Replace Bumper Cover (blue)

Section REAR BODY & FLOOR

Replace RT Extension (frame rail)
Replace LT Extenstion (frame rail)
Repair Rear Floor Pan
Remove/Install RT Trunk Side Trim
Remove/Install LT Trunk Side trim
Repair Rear Body Panel
Add for clear coat

Section REAR SUSPENSION

Remove/Install RT Suspension one side
Remove/Install LT Suspension one side
Replace Bleed brake system w/ABS

Section FUEL SYSTEM

Remove/Install Fuel Tank

Section MISC

Subl Wheel Alighment
Repair Unibody Repair- Setup,Measure, Pull & Correct
Subl Hazardous Material Disposal
Subl Restore Corrosion Protection
Subl REPAIR EXHAUST TIP
Subl Undercoating


Does this look about right? I am going to swing it by a few shops to get full estimates and rental policies.. I can't be without a car for 9 days.. let alone 1. Still waiting on the police and findings.

 

That sounds really cheap. I just seen one with similar damage that costs about 6 grand to fix, a thousand of it was exhaust it was hit alittle harder but not much. Repairs look very similar, so just be sure to get a couple of other opinions.

 

Your body shop will probably get authorization for the extra money to blend the paint out into the adjacent panels. At least that's what happened to me recently.

 

The bumper is painted at the factory, I am not going to authorize any additional painting unless they are going to repaint the entire car. It will never match the factory paint and will probably outlast the factory paint.

 

That quote is extremely low. I had all the same parts replaced and my estimate came out to 4500. You damage is much more severe than mine so either they haven't thoroughly examined the damage or they work for really cheap. Might want to look into that, especially since they are subletting a lot of your work. What kind of repair shop sublets painting? Sounds shady to me.

Repair the muffler? Screw that, ask for full OEM replacement of damaged parts. Geico can't say no. The frame rails are available. Mine were ordered and recieved within a couple days and I live in NC. And my OEM bumper was not painted when they got it so I'm willing to bet your's won't be either.

Oh yea...and good luck with getting Geico to pay the full estimate if it increases by much....I had to fight tooth and nail all while threatening lawsuit just to get within 600 of my repair estimate.

 

The cops will not give you the guys info. Yes they can run the plates from their cars. Chances are that they are investigating it now, but not willing to let information leak....

Looking at what the estimate says is included, I would definately get a 2nd opinion. That one just doesn't look right. I would check with your local Mitsu dealership and see who they would recommend as a body shop; it will either be a good one or a hole in the wall.

 

I definately will be looking for 2nd through 10th opinions. Just tonight when I went to the grocery store I was walking back to my car and the sunset caught something I didn't even notice. In the passenger rear quarter panel there is kinked metal from the damage. I also noticed all of the gaps are way off around the car in the back. It looks a LOT worse after seeing this. The inspector didn't even see it. I will post the pics of this tomorrow.

 

Yes I don't doubt that at all, the one I saw that was hit just like yours had very small buckles on both rear quarters right infront of the rear tail lights where the wrap around on the sides. They were very slight but after you saw them you coudln't get them out of your head so I am sure you are going to find stuff like this as well. Also when you take it in to get a estimate make sure to they have to cut the trunk out and weld new back in instead of just punding it back straight. Alot of times the repair places just don't worrie about it becuase it isn't looked at but if you are getting it fixed i know that you want it fixed right so be sure to make that a point. I hope you get everything straightened out though.

 

Heres the new set of pictures, it can show you just how hard it is to see the damage and why we didn't notice it right away.

 

Man, that sucks... There is a lot of body damage there.... Looks to me that unless they spend a ton of money repairing it, you are not going to have as nice a car as before. It might be worth several $K in "diminished value", even if they do patch it up.

Good luck.

 

When I asked the claims guy about diminished value he gave me the run around saying that because the car will be repaired back to factory specifications that it would have to be PROVEN that the car was not within factory specs and that no court cases have ever returned monetary settlements for diminished value in CA.

 

Man that really sucks. I had no idea it was this hard. I'm pretty sure that the cops have access to a database in there car of lisence plates wiether they are willing to admit it. I hope it gets fixed up because that is one nice car. PLEASE dont let the Drunk Driver get away with this find out where he went you have a lisence and descriptions. If local police fail then goto country and state. Don't let the drunks rule the road by giving in.

 

THAT IS UTTER BULL****!!! Don't even buy into that. It doesn't make a good God damn if your car is back to factory specs, it was still damaged and you still have to tell any potential buyers about that damage. That fact lowers the resale value of your car. Don't listen to anything the insurance company tells you, go to a lawyer.

 

On a side note if you get it fixed right this will not show up on a car fax so nobody would know. Think about it if they ask you should tell them that you had rust develop on your bumper supports and you made the repaint and refinish that piece of the car other than that no difference could be seen. Saying this you will only be able to see this from looking up underneeth the back of the car. If you take it to a good shop you will not be able to tell it was painted at all. Trust me the one that I saw get fixed was perfect. It took two months or more but it was fixed right and they even reshot the bottom with undercoating so you couldn't tell it was picked up. Have faith they can get it done right if you go to the right shop. But like I said it was 5 grand in repairs and 1 grand in new turbo back exhaust so 6 grand total.