gbriank

Mike:

Sorry to see the damage. I was up in Irving (at the office) when the storm blew through. I had about $1300 in dents and damaged weather/chrome stripping on my RL. Took two days, but PDR and replacement of the strips did the trick.

Mike_TX

Yep, they managed to do mine for $5,200, but I suppose they're still incurring expense until they get the paint looking right. Unfortunately, a couple of my dents were just too big/deep to allow for PDR, so I got a new hood and a couple of the deep dents were repaired by "conventional means".

Glad you dodged the worst of it.

I guess I'm not surprised to see that the repairs aren't done to my satisfaction, and it just further cements my intentions to trade the TL when they get through with it.

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miner

When my '98 Accord was T-boned by a SW Bell truck it took 4 tries before I accepted the final product. On one unannouced trip to the body shop I looked around the car and inside was a note that said "customer very 'pricky'". I immediately took the note to the mgr and he fired the foreman on the spot. In my mind you pay for good service, not just-get-by-and-see-if-they-accept service. And this was a Honda approved repair facility.

lindros2

Interesting thing with my RL is that they (Ed Voyles Body Shop in Atlanta) fixed it (and matched paint) on the first try. It was not a simple repair and honestly you would never know...

Mike_TX

Well, tomorrow will be a week since they said they'd repaint it, and I haven't heard a peep from them yet. They've had it 23 days now, so they're probably wanting to get their 5 grand as bad as I want the car back. I kinda figure I'll hear from them by the end of the day today ...

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miner

Any hassle from your insurance company on the rental? They usually cap the days at 30. I wouldn't think CG would be a hard color to match.

Mike_TX

No, actually I didn't have rental coverage on my policy since I have 2 cars (3 counting my wife's). I've just been drivig the RL on a daily basis since the TL went into the shop.

The trouble with the paint match was the amount of metallic "particles". The newly-painted areas were a lot more sparkly, or glittery, than the rest of the car.

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Mike_TX

Well, just to put a bow on this slightly OT thread, I just got the TL back from the body shop a few minutes ago. They had it for 25 days total.

It looks much better than the first time I tried to reclaim it, although I notice the paint is fogged on the right front fender where they tried to blend it from the hood. *sigh*

Interestingly, too, the tank was so empty I was afraid I wasn't going to make it to the gas station without calling roadside assistance. Why they had to burn out a quarter tank of gas to do body work is beyond me, but I was already leaving the parking lot when I noticed the glowing "Low Fuel" light.

Had to dig out the Nav code, since they apparently disconnected the battery (or ran it down listening to tunes, one or the other), and I had to re-run the Nav hacks.

After resetting my seats, mirrors, headrests, etc., etc., I once again (almost) feel like it's my car again.

But you know, I feel violated twice over ... once by the freakin' hailstorm that made the car look like it had been attacked by crazed monkeys wielding ball peen hammers, and once more by losing my car to the body shop monkeys for a month. The only good thing is that I had the RL to drive the whole time.

Now, I just have the letdown of going back to a TL from the RL.
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TampaRLX-SH

Hopefully this will wear off Mike.

Yep, I bet the collision center techs were enjoying tunes, and even enjoying a ride with your TL. I hate when the settings are all lost and must be reprogrammed.

Which brings to mind a brilliant idea for our techmobiles: Add to the fob a USB connector and port in the vehicle that will save & transfer memory data for your vehicle. An interface to the Ownerlink would even let you modify station presets, HVAC etc. on your PC and transfer to the car by plugging in he USB. And taking a step further, it could also store MP3 files which could be played via the stereo.

It took your repair thread to bring out this thought!

And for Pete's Sake...stop eating out. Each time you do your Acura becomes targe practice!

Mike_TX

Hahaha! I can't stop eating out ... we've gotten too lazy in our Golden Years to cook at home.

I also appear to have gotten a bonus - they apparently had to shoot the front bumper when they did the hood and front fenders, to get a good match. There are no more rock chips!

Good idea on storage of basic settings, although oddly enough my Homelink garage door opener still worked, my seat settings were still there and the radio presets were there.

I did have to redo the Navigation hacks as I mentioned, and the Nav wouldn't work until I entered the code. But it didn't require the radio code. I don't know why it remembered some of the settings and not the rest.

I guess the message here is that they can do amazing things these days with body work. You'd never guess this car had over $5,200 worth of hail damage.

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kenny5

MIke, do you think your reconditioned TL looks better than it was before the hail storm? Be honest. Do you think your insurance premium may go up, since they spend $$ fixing your hail damaged car?

TampaRLX-SH

Pizza delivery
Chinese delivery
Meals on Wheels
A chicken coop in the backyard
A vegetable garden
Nutri System delivery
A hired chef & caterer
Mooch off a neighbor
Hire Alice away from the Brady's

Just a few options. But if you MUST go to a resturant, take a taxi or hire a limo. But puleeze keep the Acuras away from resturant parking lots!

Mike_TX

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Mike_TX

No, I can't really say it looks better. The absence of the few rock chips I had on the front bumper are cancelled out by fogged paint on the fender. And I haven't been able to get a really good look at the paint match due to cloudy rainy weather.

Not better than before ... but it looks pretty good.

As for insurance going up, they are allowed to do that only for at-fault accidents, and Comprehensive claims aren't deemed to be your fault.

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miner

I know you need to wait 6 weeks before you wax but a good polishing may help to diminish the fog affect. Are you tired of all the rain in DFW yet? Did my monthly North Texas tour this weekend and everywhere we went was rain, rain, rain.