Mike_TX

Happy to report my banged-up RL is out of the shop as of last night, and the repairs look flawless. I haven't had a chance to examine the paint color in bright sunlight (since it turned cloudy/rainy here late yesterday), but under grey skies and the fluorescents in my garage, it looks spot-on.

I've tried everything - how the doors open and close, how the windows go up and down, how the touch system on the door handles works. etc. I even drove it over some bumps and Bots Dots on the way home to make sure I didn't pick up any rattles. Everything checks out great.

Final total was over $5,400. Coulda been worse.

So far, Mike's a happy boy. It's good to have the old girl back in the garage.

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nmariani

Mike_TX.

It's quite amazing what frame machines and collision techs can do these days. I've seen many cars that look to be a complete loss turn into one right off the showroom floor. Some shops are so good, you are hard pressed to tell the difference.

Now, question is how much of that $5,400 are you going to have to pay? Hopefully your deductible is not all that bad.

miner

When my NBP '98 Accord was T-boned by a SW Bell truck I had no hope of it being the same. Six weeks later the car was like new - only caveat was there appeared to be more blue flake in the repaint than on the original. I can be so anal sometimes - PPG sent out a rep to look at the repaint. We concluded that it would not be worth the effort to try to exactly match the flakes. I drove the car for another 45000 miles with no problems.

Mike_TX

It looks like the frame machines didn't even have to be called i this time ... the B-pillar was apparently not compromised. But you're right - they can do wonders these days.

I went ahead and paid my $200 deductible just to get the car fixed. The other dude's insurance will eventually pay me back, as soon as State Farm collects it from them.

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RL06tech

RL06tech

Mike's crash was not severe and didn't damage the primary structure. Beware of repairs where any "structural" damage has occured. Although it may be fixable and work well the car may not be as safe in a collision as previously. The structural members are like a tin can, you can set them straight but beyond a certain limit the strength of the member is compromised.

neuronbob

Good to hear she's back home, Mike.

vluu

I guess time will tell if the crash has effects on the overall car itself. Glad to hear that you got it back!

Mike_TX

Here are some pix, now that the sun has come out for a few minutes:

Before:



After:





Here's a couple to show the alighment job they did:




I did find a scratch on the black gloosy B-pillar trim piece at the trailing edge of the front door glass. Called the shop and they said they'd get it probably Monday, and pop it on while I waited. And they apologized for missing it the first go-round.

Good people, so they deserve a plug. Goodson Acura in Irving, TX.

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Chas2

In fact I saw a very good demonstration of this when I took my son to The Driver's Edge training course, sponsored by Bridgestone (they went through a set of tires in 1/2 a day) run by an organization out of Las Vegas.

One of the local sponsors was CarMax, and they had a BEAUTIFUL, black late model Civic coupe. The CarMax guy then proceeded to point out cues of how a 3 inch seam on the right side in the trunk by the hinge did not look like the seam in the left, and the He then peeled off the weather stripping in the trunk and the right side door and showed us repaired areas. Factory welding was about one spot weld ber inch or two. Repair welding was like one spot weld every 12 inches, and in some areas the panels were not connected either by spot welds or adhesive, etc. These were simple inspections that could be done with any used car.

Bottom line, the car had been in an accident, had been very well repaired, especially cosmetically, but he likened the car to a rolled up piece of paper. Press lightly on the ends, and the paper cylinder is strong and does not deform. Now take the same piece of paper, crumple one side, smooth it out, reform the cylinder and apply the same light pressure. Instant deformity.

His point was you may never have an another accident in the car, and so it would not be a problem, but if you did, how well would the repaired structure hold up? Not well. CarMax inspects cars it sells and does not sell ones with repaired structural damage, etc.

While he was pushing the screening CarMax does, it was a very enlightening demonstration to every adult and young driver, without exception.

So long way of saying, yeah, good thing there was no major structural damage...if I recall, the airbags did not even deploy

PortlandRL

Congrats on getting your baby back! Looks like they did a fantastic job on the body work. She really did get mangled up.

Mike_TX

Thanks. She'll get the full torture test next week - we're going on a little trip that'll take us 2,500 miles or so before we return home. The timing for getting the RL out of the shop was pretty close, but after testing it around here, I'm confident all is well.

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Dr. Colorado

Looks good

miner

A trip to CA coming up?

AsianTL

Mike_TX,

Car looks good and I can not tell the car has involved in accident.
I am glad that you have your car back.

Mike_TX

Nah, we're going north this trip. Dakotas, Glacier Nat'l. Park, etc. We're not sure yet exactly where we're going, but we'll figure it out when we get there. (Retirement is a wonderful thing.)

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Mike_TX

Thanks, Asian.

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LuvMyTSX

That sounds lovely....both the trip, and retirement.

The RL must be a great roadtrip car.

miner

Enjoy your road trip - beautiful country. My wife and I were scheduled to leave for Jamaica this morning but decided maybe we shouldn't. Have postponed until end of Sept. Probably won't see any RLs there.

Mike_TX

Yes, the RL is a great road car. The trunk can get a little tight if you have more than three people and are going to be gone for more than a week (depending, of course, on how you pack). The upcoming restyle will supposedly address that.

But for just me and the wife, it's a piece of cake. Great ride, excellent seats, lots of enterainment with the Nav and XM.

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Mike_TX

Yikes, Miner! Sorry you had to cancel, but Jamaica definitely wouldn't be the place to be going right now. They say it will probably take a direct hit, and it will probably be messy.

Hope they have it cleaned up by the time you get there!

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neuronbob

I agree. My two long road trips in the RL so far have been a joy. Our next road trip will be sans baby, and we're taking the RL rather than the Pilot. The wife likes the seats better, anyway, and I like the handling and comfort better.

(If only she'd agreed to the MDX....maybe next time.)

Anyhoo, have a safe trip, Mike, you could use the break from all that luck.

Mike_TX

Thanks, Bob. The roofers finished the roof on Wednesday and the RL came out of the shop on Thursday, so things are looking up.

And as a bonus, I got my builder's roofing company to do the re-roof, and saved enough to completely cover my deductible. These same guys did the original roof a little less than 4 years ago, so they were "familiar" with it and cut me a wholesale deal.

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TOMH-RL-TLS

I speak from experience My wife's 2003 tl was in an accident We had it repaired perfectly
You would be hard pressed to find any signs of a repair The car was well maintained (had all the records) had below average mileage It was a really nice car that should have brought top $$$$$$$$$ However then came car fax It's just not fair some dope hits you & 4 years later you loose $$$$$$$$$

Mike_TX

I fully agree. That's why many states allow diminished value claims against the other guy's insurance.

What they've started doing in Texas now is to say if you get less for your car because it was wrecked, you can re-open the original claim and collect the difference. Now, I don't know how well this works, but it's definitely part of the damage, and by all rights you should get it paid. Of course, I guess you'll have to be prepared to "prove" the car's value has been diminished.

Since my car is a leased vehicle, I expect to avoid all that anyway, since I'll just turn it back in at lease end.

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neuronbob

And you can now include Ohio in that list. This just passed in the legislature here. I hope I'm not in an accident in my RL, but this really helps me out if so.

The insurance companies are howling about how they now have to raise rates, but insurance watchdogs here remind the ins cos how much money they've taken from consumers who couldn't claim dminished value.