Crashed the cl!
12-22-2009 | 07:18 PM
#41
Apparently the shop they towed it to has finished the estimate, but nothing has showed up yet on the website for my claim, so I'm not sure what they came up with. It sounds though like they think that they could fix it for less than what it would cost just to total out the car. I'm insisting on a different shop though, one which does all of the body and paint work for the local dealer and comes highly recommended. I stopped by that shop yesterday and wouldn't you know it, there's a red CL being pulled into the garage. There were at least 4 other Acuras there that I saw, along with a bunch of other cars, many of them nice imports.
I called the Acura shop today and talked with the guy about my car, he said once they get it towed over, they will just do their own estimate on it, they really don't care what the first place said. I'm not sure yet what the first shop came up with for a price, but the guy at the second place said something that makes a lot of sense, that you can never really write a full estimate without disassembling the damaged area and seeing what's all under there. Plus, these guys have worked on a ton of 2nd gen CL's and TL's, so they'll know what its supposed to look like.
This also makes me think back to when I had bought a brand new Chevy Blazer, back in like 1998. I had it for a few months and a bus that was going around a corner cut the corner too close and screwed up the rear driver's side corner of the bumper. I took it to the dealer where I bought it and they wrote an estimate for $1200. Later, after I got paid by the bus co. I ended up taking it to that same dealer, where the guy asked me, "do you want me to fix it to the estimate or just get it looking right again?" I asked what that would cost and he said, "probably around $300'! I took the $300 repair and pocketed $900 for my time and trouble! From looking at it, you couldn't tell anything had been repaired, I'm not sure how they saved the $900. That just makes me wonder, if I'm running that first shop and I can look up the book value of a 02 CL and see its around $6500 or so, I'm going to tell my estimator to try to get the estimate to come in well enough under $6500 so that the ins co doesn't total out the car and we don't get the work. If they could cut some corners fixing my Blazer bumper, I'm sure there are a lot of different corners they could cut on a much more complex job like this one!
On the other hand, I'd really rather just have them total out the car anyway. I mean I loved that car and thought I got a good deal on it and I planned on keeping it till the wheels fell off, but now that its been smashed up, something's just not the same.
I called the Acura shop today and talked with the guy about my car, he said once they get it towed over, they will just do their own estimate on it, they really don't care what the first place said. I'm not sure yet what the first shop came up with for a price, but the guy at the second place said something that makes a lot of sense, that you can never really write a full estimate without disassembling the damaged area and seeing what's all under there. Plus, these guys have worked on a ton of 2nd gen CL's and TL's, so they'll know what its supposed to look like.
This also makes me think back to when I had bought a brand new Chevy Blazer, back in like 1998. I had it for a few months and a bus that was going around a corner cut the corner too close and screwed up the rear driver's side corner of the bumper. I took it to the dealer where I bought it and they wrote an estimate for $1200. Later, after I got paid by the bus co. I ended up taking it to that same dealer, where the guy asked me, "do you want me to fix it to the estimate or just get it looking right again?" I asked what that would cost and he said, "probably around $300'! I took the $300 repair and pocketed $900 for my time and trouble! From looking at it, you couldn't tell anything had been repaired, I'm not sure how they saved the $900. That just makes me wonder, if I'm running that first shop and I can look up the book value of a 02 CL and see its around $6500 or so, I'm going to tell my estimator to try to get the estimate to come in well enough under $6500 so that the ins co doesn't total out the car and we don't get the work. If they could cut some corners fixing my Blazer bumper, I'm sure there are a lot of different corners they could cut on a much more complex job like this one!
On the other hand, I'd really rather just have them total out the car anyway. I mean I loved that car and thought I got a good deal on it and I planned on keeping it till the wheels fell off, but now that its been smashed up, something's just not the same.
CL = Unibody
Its a bit difficult to cut corners on the CL, at least to the extent you are thinking of.
12-22-2009 | 07:40 PM
#42
$12k & the shop told me that they if I wanted to buy the car back from the ins. co while settling the claim they could fix it for $4-5k now thats cutting corners.
12-22-2009 | 07:44 PM
#43
Suzuka Master
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 9,863
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I have to revise my exstimate
prolly close to $8 K on that one
entire passenger side bulkhead (side)
upper and lower tie bars
new fender
redo door
new AC condensor
new radiator
new water tank (washer fluid)
new healights
new suspension peices
new subframe
new ballast on passenger side
Last edited by YeuEmMaiMai; 12-22-2009 at 07:48 PM.
12-22-2009 | 07:52 PM
#44
You can cut corners on a CL by using non Oem Parts and cheating by not replacing parts that probably should be replaced. I owned an 01 that was totaled in an accident the estimate of repairs from the company was over
$12k & the shop told me that they if I wanted to buy the car back from the ins. co while settling the claim they could fix it for $4-5k now thats cutting corners.
$12k & the shop told me that they if I wanted to buy the car back from the ins. co while settling the claim they could fix it for $4-5k now thats cutting corners.
4-5 is probally what it was going to cost.
They extra money is where they were going to beat the insurance company for a few, I'm guessing.
12-22-2009 | 07:54 PM
#45
Suzuka Master
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 9,863
Likes: 435
If you want to save as MUCH $$ as possible source all the parts you can from your local junk yard.
the spendy stuff will be if you go new
1. subframe
2. fender
3. rear quarter glass (they will have to blend it to make it look right and they will remove the quarter glass and that will break almost 100% of the time)
4. Front bumper skin
you can get a remanufactured parts for the bumper skin,
you can save a lot by going after market on
A/C condenser
Radiator
The rest of the parts are cheap relatively speaking but they are gonna add up quick
fender liner
mud flaps (you gotta by them as a set new)
clips
screws
gaskets
seals
the spendy stuff will be if you go new
1. subframe
2. fender
3. rear quarter glass (they will have to blend it to make it look right and they will remove the quarter glass and that will break almost 100% of the time)
4. Front bumper skin
you can get a remanufactured parts for the bumper skin,
you can save a lot by going after market on
A/C condenser
Radiator
The rest of the parts are cheap relatively speaking but they are gonna add up quick
fender liner
mud flaps (you gotta by them as a set new)
clips
screws
gaskets
seals
12-22-2009 | 08:09 PM
#46
You are guessing wrong. It was'nt rolled it was a head on accident worse than BT5150's the frame was bent and much much more. The ins co estimate included replacing the frame and a lot of other parts that the shop wasn't going to replace they were just going to bend the frame back and bypass some other things. The bottomline is I wouldn't want to be the one driving that thing in another head on collision that could be the difference between life and death.
Last edited by clpassenubye; 12-22-2009 at 08:11 PM.
12-22-2009 | 08:17 PM
#47
just wondering because moms BF infinity got hit directly on the drivers wheel and offset the whole front of the car a couple of inches and with the car getting straght, parts and paint I think he paid like $4,500
12-22-2009 | 08:36 PM
#49
yeah it is called a frame rack, and they have had them for years, but you can basically never get a bent frame to exactly "like new" condition, and i would never want a car that has been on one except for very minor stuff
12-22-2009 | 09:09 PM
#50
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Ya, we'll see what the 2nd shop says when they do their tear down of the car, I'm kind of hoping just to get the thing totaled because of the fact that it won't be worth as much to sell due to the accident repair. I will definitely make it totally clear before they even start the estimate that I want all new OEM parts, etc. Maybe that will put it over the magic # needed for the total. Thanks for posting the pic on the thread, I still can't figure out how to do it.
Last edited by BT5150; 12-22-2009 at 09:13 PM.
12-22-2009 | 09:29 PM
#52
Ya, we'll see what the 2nd shop says when they do their tear down of the car, I'm kind of hoping just to get the thing totaled because of the fact that it won't be worth as much to sell due to the accident repair. I will definitely make it totally clear before they even start the estimate that I want all new OEM parts, etc. Maybe that will put it over the magic # needed for the total. Thanks for posting the pic on the thread, I still can't figure out how to do it.
12-23-2009 | 05:05 AM
#54
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From: Milwaukee, WI
That's good advice, I will be sure to get over to the shop where its being towed to now and tell them I want it fully estimated with all OEM parts (preferably new ones) before they start to do any work on it. We'll see how much it comes out to then and if its high enough, then the ins co should just total it out. It will be interesting to see what the first shop came up with for a total and what the second shop ends up with in comparison. Something makes me think that the second shop will end up with a much higher total.
12-25-2009 | 04:32 PM
#55
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Well, now the CL is at the 2nd shop where they work on Acuras all of the time, but of course they're closed for xmas! I'll be calling there tomorrow to see if anyone's there on Saturday, but I'm thinking it will be at least until Monday before they can start looking at it. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the use of a brand-new KIA RIO-wooo hooo!
The lady from the ins co said something on the phone about having the 2nd shop work off of the 1st shop's estimate (which still hasn't been uploaded to the ins co website) but I'm going to tell the 2nd shop that I want them to start fresh with their own estimate. From what everyone has said here, it sounds like the damages could easily exceed the book value of the car, in which case I would rather just get a check for the car. Then it would be time to look for another car!
On a side note, I was looking at some ads for CL's for sale on Autotrader and I found one nice one in CA with around 90,000 miles. I emailed the guy just to get some more details and of course ask what the auto tranny situation was on the car. He replied that they never had ANY problems with the tranny, it was all original! He emailed me back a few days later to tell me it had been sold, I replied that if it was still the original tranny, he should have sold it to a museum!
The lady from the ins co said something on the phone about having the 2nd shop work off of the 1st shop's estimate (which still hasn't been uploaded to the ins co website) but I'm going to tell the 2nd shop that I want them to start fresh with their own estimate. From what everyone has said here, it sounds like the damages could easily exceed the book value of the car, in which case I would rather just get a check for the car. Then it would be time to look for another car!
On a side note, I was looking at some ads for CL's for sale on Autotrader and I found one nice one in CA with around 90,000 miles. I emailed the guy just to get some more details and of course ask what the auto tranny situation was on the car. He replied that they never had ANY problems with the tranny, it was all original! He emailed me back a few days later to tell me it had been sold, I replied that if it was still the original tranny, he should have sold it to a museum!
12-30-2009 | 04:17 PM
#56
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From: Milwaukee, WI
Props to YeuEmMaiMai, his estimate was almost right on, they came up with $7600, so the car is totaled. Now, they are telling me that the value of the car is $7600 (02 CL base with 90,000 miles) so they want to send me a check for $7100, after my $500 deductible is applied. I did just spend $425 or so on 4 new tires and the car was in great shape, so I think I will be battling them to raise their offer. I'll be looking for another car now, and a 01-03 CL is at the top of my list!
12-30-2009 | 04:45 PM
#57
Props to YeuEmMaiMai, his estimate was almost right on, they came up with $7600, so the car is totaled. Now, they are telling me that the value of the car is $7600 (02 CL base with 90,000 miles) so they want to send me a check for $7100, after my $500 deductible is applied. I did just spend $425 or so on 4 new tires and the car was in great shape, so I think I will be battling them to raise their offer. I'll be looking for another car now, and a 01-03 CL is at the top of my list!
12-30-2009 | 05:41 PM
#59
(and oil changes do not count ethier)
