My TL was smashed by an SUV in my garage. I can't bare to look at it.

We have monthly parking spaces for tenants, who self-park, and hourly rates for outside customers, whose cars are parked by attendants (who shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel of a car I might add).

The garage manager called to tell me my car was in an accident. He said he asked his guys if any of them did it, and of course they said no. But I checked all the tenants' cars in the area I park, and none have any marks on them, so I'm sure the damage was done by an outside car being parked by an attendant.

Since I can't prove anything, I'm stuck with the $500 deductible, which sucks. GEICO is picking up the rest of the tab, a total of $3,052.83. I need a new bumper, tail lamp, right quarter panel, and of course everything needs to be painted. It's going to take 5 days to repair it once the parts come in, 3 days just to do the quarter panel.

I was going to use an Acura collision shop, but it's not close to my home and there's no public transportation. I'm using GEICO's shop which is within walking distance. The bumper cover is new, but the other parts are "quality recycled." I was assured I wouldn't be able to tell there had been any damage to the car. I don't think it's a big deal using recycled parts since they aren't mechanical, what do you guys think?

 

depends if the "quality" parts fit well on the car. OEM is guaranteed to fit exactly, aftermarket...may have to be babied to fit. i'd be weary of the geico shops...if you can find a high quality shop to do the work then i'd go that route. just do your homework on the shops (reviews), search here on AZ for your region/area. if you don't have a preference, i'm sure the geico shop will be just fine. body shops can be as shady as some dealers...so...just be smart.

good luck.

 

Ouch, Sorry to see.

 

you should file a complaint to the management at that compound

 

Do NOT use aftermarket parts for the repair, OEM only. The Geico shop has one goal, fix the car for as cheap as possible, they could give a shit less if it's a quality repair using the correct replacement parts.

 

Use OEM parts only. When I worked at Acura, we had a customer with an 04 TL that was hit in the left rear of the car. Body shop used aftermarket parts, and made the car look nice and she even got Type S wheels out of the deal, but every time it rained, she had water in the trunk. The techs couldn't wait for her to trade out of the car. She was driving them crazy with it.

 

He said quality recycled...recycled...as in OEM parts that came off of other TLs. I didn't see the word "aftermarket" anywhere in his post.

With that said, I have no experience or knowledge on recycled parts. I'm sure it'll be just fine. As you said, they're not mechanical parts- painted pieces of metal. I'd be more worried about the paint job they do than the parts they use.

 

I don't think so-u need new bumper.

 

Narnia, sorry to see this happened to you. Use OEM parts.

 

As long as the "recycled" part is a used OEM it should be fine. After all, the parts damaged were "used" too.......

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear. The new bumper and the recycled parts - light and panel - are all OEM.

I am going to write the management company a letter. Probably won't do any good but it will make me feel better.

 

Someone must have placed a curse on TL's, there have been so many accidents in the last couple weeks, but at least yours isn't as bad as most.

 

Hope things turn out okay =)

 

ouch, sorry to see that. good luck w/ the repairs.

 

as long as they are oem, doesnt matter if they are recycled IMO, will fit perfectly, and if the shop does a good job, u wont even be able to tell the car was in an accident

 

I feel your pain, a tree just fell on my car.

 

^^ This

My TL got hit by an idiot driver last week at a parking lot backing out of the stall. $1100 damage, nothing major, but heart breaking.

 

I feel your pain bro.
Last week, I was on the highway and some crap fell out of a pick up and damaged my aspec lip. I was lucky it was just the aspec lip. Got it painted all NBP matching perfectly at a friends shop for 150.00

Wish your TL a speed recovery.

 

being a new member I'm starting to think I joined the wrong forum. lol. You guys are just on a bad streak. wow. this sucks! At least this one isn't as bad as some of the others i've seen. Good luck with the insurance and getting it fixed bro.

 

Ouch that really sucks. I would be furious if I came out to see that. Good luck with the repair!

 

Well time to get a-spec bumper and type-s tails...

 

Thanks for the support guys. I've never been so neurotic about a car before, it's so painful to see my car like this.

The parts are supposed to be here tomorrow, so I should have it back next week good as new. I'll post an "after" pic.

 

I would also second use the OEM parts where you are able, but you will have to pay the difference between any aftermarket if Gieco does choose to use them. It does not matter what shop you go to Gieco will write the estimate the way they want and get and agreement with the shop. the comment about "their shop" was not correct at all!
That quarter looks repairable, i would prefer them to repair it, its alot less chance of things going wrong. its nearly impossiable for a shop to restore all the corr. protection the oem puts in.
Good luck, i feel i need to link my writeup on how insurance works for 80% of the people on this forum!

 

Any pics of where you parked exactly so we can see maybe what happened? Did you straddle the parking lines or double park?

That is what insurance is for!

 

Wow, sorry to see your car like that and no one in the parking deck taking responsibilities. Are you currently driving the car with the broken tail lights or did your insurance put you in a rental?

 

I parked with the nose almost touching the wall, I wasn't sticking out. They jam cars into this garage and limit the amount of turning space. The tenants are careful because they're driving their own cars, but the attendants couldn't care less.

My alternative is to park on the street, which isn't a viable option in NYC.

 

This happened Friday. I don't have rental coverage in my policy, so I had to drive with the broken light this weekend. I'm not going to need to use the car again until it's been repaired.

 

The good thing about having a shop within walking distance is that you'll be able to check on your car while the repair is being made. If there's any advice I can give you, it's to inspect the car VERY thoroughly before even getting in it or talking to the tech. I had a similar hit & run accident about a year and a half ago, and although it was repaired by a dealership owned collision shop, I found many things not up to standard on the car, all of which had to be fixed.

 

i second that...i'm anal, so definitely go over the damaged area and the rest of the car with a fine toothed comb once its finished.

 

I love how everyone assumes that dealership body shops will do a better job then any other shop... they are all the same the body shop has nothing to do with them selling a certian car. if anything it just means the parts dont have to be driven across town!

 

Agreed, in fact I'm going to make sure I pick the car up when it's light outside so I can inspect it in good lighting.

So do anal people buy TLs, or does owning a TL make us anal?

 

Sorry man that sucks. I'd be pissed.

 

both. as a car enthusiast...you are probably going to be more respecting of your car. and we wouldn't own a TL and be on this site, if we didn't love our TLs. now if i drove a POS...i'd still want it to look decent, but i wouldn't baby it as much as my TL.

hope everything turns out good on the other end. the painter at the shop better be good...otherwise the subtle flaws (only you would know) may bother you everytime you wash and wax the car.

 

I got my TL back on Monday and I'm completely satisfied with the work that was done. Here's the "after" pic. The right side looks lighter in the picture only because the sun was shining directly on it when I snapped the photo. When you look at the car in person, you can't tell which parts were replaced and repainted. The paint is a perfect match. All the seams match up, there are no gaps, but I'm going to check for leaks next time it rains.

They found additional damage inside the trunk/side panel when they took the car apart. I'm lucky that whoever hit me just missed my Navi unit.

As I drove away, I turned on my radio and got an error message, but there was no way to input the radio code. I turned around and went back to the shop, and they had to disconnect my battery again (they had disconnected it while they were working on the lights). Once they reconnected the battery, I was able to input the radio code.

I give a to Wayside Auto in Jamaica. The work was even completed earlier than they estimated.

 

Wow! That looks really good! They had done a superb job. Did you go through it with a fine tooth comb? However, it looks like the inside part of your muffler looks chipped unless that's the clean spot.

 

You almost can't tell the accident even happened. What did they do to the dent in the quarter panel? Did they just pull it out, filled any cracks and painted? Or replaced the entire panel?

 

The paint work looks good. But the top left corner of the quarter panel doesn't match up with the top corner of the trunk. That'd bug me.

 

Going over the original pics, the paint matching looks 100x better than OEM But just make sure you don't have any water leak problems with that small gap. It's barely noticeable.

Did they repair the original trunk or supply a new one?

 

It looks like its new to me. The "TL" lettering looks extra shiny, but then again, they might have replaced the badges after painting the trunk.

 

Everything in the picture was replaced, except for the trunk lid - they replaced the right rear quarter panel, the right rear light, and the bumper.

I'm not sure what that mark is on the inside of the muffler, I'll take a look tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up mn2trance.

The photo magnifies the gap, but the work has a lifetime warranty, so if the trunk leaks I'll just bring it back. I'm just so happy the paint matches, that was my main concern.

I want to wax the car now, do I need to wait since it's just been painted?