SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

so i've been a little busy and hadn't gotten around to posting this yet but i wanted to share it with you guys.

the short story is that i was driving to the local CVS two weeks ago and it's in a shopping plaza with a gold's gym. as i drove through the parking lot adjacent to the gym a soccer mom in her chevy equinox wasn't looking and floored it backing out of her parking spot. as luck would have it i was right behind her and she ended up nailing my rear passenger side door pretty good. she also crunched up the wheel well a little. luckily my window was up so my tinted glass remained intact.

she was very nice about it though. she got out and told me she was sorry and that it was her fault and asked if i was ok. we chit-chatted until the police came to fill out an accident report. unfortunately the rear door didn't open anymore and the quarter panel had sustained some damage. i took some pics on my camera phone but i still contend it looked worse in person. i have more photos at home i might post later of closeups.

after two weeks in the shop i should be picking it up tonight. i can't wait! i've been driving my brother's 97 grand prix commuter car. i hate that thing.

anyway, the other part of the story is that she was a progressive customer (i'm not). the next morning at 9am i initiated a claim and i called them back at 11am because i was eager to get the car in the shop (i was planning on just fronting the money until the check came through), but they told me to come to their local office and i swear that within 40 minutes i had a check in my hand for the damage. and this was the *morning after* it had happened. so hat's off to progressive for their quick and painless service.

here's some pics:







Bob (SSTS)

FL3.2TL

Damn that suxs, atleast you got the check and now get it repaired. You plan on getting a rental for the time being or what?

Feels like its "TL Accident" season or something..

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

Dang, that's painful to look at.

Good luck when you pick it up. I hope they did well on the repair job.

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

well i've been driving my brother's car because i didn't want to bother with a rental but i think the next time something like this happens i'll just get the rental.

well i've used the same shop before and my dad actually knows the owner fairly well so i'm not worried about the quality of work. i know it will look good. it was upsetting but it definitely could have been worse. at least that's the only damage there was.

SSTS

Phesto

good to hear in the end its all going to be fine.might have to look into progressive now

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

yeah i was thinking about that myself. they didn't give me as good a rate quote as my local guy did but maybe i'll check again.

SSTS

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

so i picked up my car last night. the damage is completely erased, no one would know.

BUT.....i found several things to my dismay.....a drop of silver paint on the leather (very small but *i* know it's there), paint on the glass, paint on the black trim of the door, the bottom half of the door feels like it wasn't sanded, and worst of all, when you get your face right up in the door panel, you can see some haze where it looks like the paint trapped moisture, and it's not dispersed, it's just one rectangular spot.

i was so upset about this last night. i'm pretty calm now but i don't know what to do at this point. i'm begging god that it's just overspray that looks like a hazemark, because i can wetsand that and the orange peel on the door myself. i can't prove the paint on the seat was his fault so i'm not going to bring it up, plus like i said it's a small spec anyway.

the haze in the paint is upsetting though. i'm afraid that if i bring my car back he'll hold it hostage for another 2 or 3 weeks and not fix it right to spite me. i'm quite adept at wet sanding and compounding so i guess i'll try that to see if it's the issue, but otherwise i don't know what to do. i don't know if i can trust him to fix it but at the same time i feel he should since it was his work to begin with.

any of you painters out there, would moisture in the silver paint represent it'self as a discrete shape? (i.e.-rectangle) or would it be dipsersed throughout all the paint? i'll have to take a picture later. it's nearly invisible from 3 feet away, but it just bothers me.

man, these past two weeks have sucked. the tl got hit, then i hit a deer with my brother's car because i was using it to drive to work and i ended up working a 21 hour shift and came home about 4am, then i popped his tire the next day because i hit road debris coming home from work and had to get $400 worth of maintenance done to it (and i never even drive that car but it needed tires, alignment and tie rods), then i get the tl back to find this. ::sigh::

SSTS

optomos

Take it back! That is not satisfactory work.

S1CK TypeS

damn that breaks my heart to see a dented up ssm

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

i actually took it up to the guy friday to show him and they didn't give me a hard time at all. i have to make an appointment today to bring it back in either tonight or tommorow.

unfortunately i found something worse. after i left him i went to sears to buy a new battery (because mine became mysteriously dead while it was at the shop). i went to put it in the backseat, and this was the first time i had looked in the backseat since receiving the car back. lo and behold what do i find but droplets of bronze paint EVERYWHERE: the backseat, the back of the passenger seat, the back of the driver seat, the center console, the carpet. friggin ridiculous.

so now i'm worried the whole interior might be ruined. i was able to pop some of the dots off with my fingernail, but i don't know of anything that takes paint off leather without removing it. this sucks.

SSTS

S1CK TypeS

damn these guys messed up your whole car, dont do business with them ever again. thats rediculous they are professionals they should know how to keep it clean. why in the world would there be bronze paint inside the car in the first place

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

your guess is as good as mine. i'm assuming that they didn't have anything covering the door opening and they sprayed a bronze car in the shop and the paint just happened to migrate in.

the sad thing is that my family has used this guy a few times before and my dad has written up several home loans for him. he does great body work, but i don't think i'll ever go back to him after this.

SSTS

fsttyms1

I dont see how it could be paint. All paint is donein the booth and they would have to cover every thing due to overspray.
Oh and to answer your question about the weird spot, Its not moisture. Silver is the hardest color to paint and spray. Its not a real color, its a man made color and the metalics are and can be very hard to lay down in a matching pattern

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

they don't have a booth at this shop, i think they just use a plastic draw-curtain to separate the bays or something. and i suppose it's possible it's not paint, but i have a hard time thinking about what else it could be. it's not water soluble, it's obviously atomized when applied (based on the fact it settled in droplets), it's smooth and it has a light shine/reflective quality. maybe if i knew what else they used there it would be easier to figure out how to remove it.

i second what you said about silver being a bitch to spray, but i had thought that it was easier for moisture to show up between the clear and base when it was on silver. do you think it's just a paint "blemish"? (for lack of a better term). either way i know they'll fix that, i'm just most concerned about my interior getting ruined.

SSTS

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

i took the car back about two weeks ago and have since picked it back up repainted and all the interior was cleaned as needed. my only complaint is that the door molding is a little loose and may need new clips but i'm not going to bitch about that much since it's not worth my time taking the car back to the shop and leaving it there. all in all i'm a happy man now. they did a good job on the repaint. the owner himself did it and apologized profusely about what happened.

SSTS

S1CK TypeS

good to hear.....u should bring that car down here sometime

njzprettyboy

if only all people who worked on cars were like that.

Bob_F

Thanks for the update!

What an ordeal. I'm glad to read that all the significant issues with the repair have been resolved.

One hidden cost of damage like this is that it can hurt the cars resale value.

It forever prevents the car from being classified as being in "Excellent" condition according to the Kelly Blue Book rating system. And "Excellent" rating requires that the car has never had any paint or body work.

So even if the repair is absolutely perfect, you can lose money when you sell the car.

Here's the description from the KBB.com site:

....."Excellent" condition means that the vehicle looks new, is in excellent mechanical condition and needs no reconditioning. This vehicle has never had any paint or body work and is free of rust.....

And the KBB pricing difference between an "Excellent" and the next best "Good" condition rating can be significant.

It's too bad that the potential loss in resale value is not covered by insurance.

I just spent several months shopping for used cars and I quickly learned that I had to ask if the car had ever been in a accident or if it had any body work. Sellers will routinely *not* mention this unless asked and sometimes the repairs were significant.

Bob

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

yeah, it's unfortunate, but i don't have any immediate or long range plans to sell this car. i think i'm just going to keep it until it dies and i get all my money's worth out of it. no reason why not to (except for the tranny of course, but i can deal with that for now).

SSTS

Bob_F

Yes, the longer you keep the car the less the impact of the repair on the resale price.

I'm a big proponent of keeping cars until they die. :-)

Bob

Topher707

Just wondering.. i have heard that some shops on certain cars... will paint more than just the damaged area, to help the paint blend? is this true... and like someone mentioned earlier, SSM is the hardest color?

I am only curious since I am going to have my car in the shop in a few days.. someone hit my bumper while my car was parked, WTF is that! moron drivers! but then again, i also noticed a fresh crape (DOWN TO THE BLACK!) near my front door, looks like a shopping cart hit it or something!!! this is all recent damage... I think it happened at costco, maybe damn kids playing with a shopping cart! ARRGGHH MY POOR TL!

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

yes, these are both true. silver is one of the most difficult colors to spray and when they paint cars they *generally* paint more than the damaged area to ensure proper blending. if the car was brand new i imagine they wouldn't have to though.

SSTS