My poor 240 in accident....need advice.

[Mr240dude]

My prior post discussed my rear toe arm in need of replacement from the outcome of the accident. I am worried I may have to sell my precious. Body shops are quoting the repair to be over 2 thousand which would be more than the amount of money I'd receive from the douche bags insurance company. Just doesn't sound worth it. Are those 2 shops taking me for a ride or can this be fixed for a reasonable amount? I found rear quarter panels for 250 a pair online not sure how much a door would be. They are saying even if I went that route it would amount to 2 grand...I really don't want to sell my 240 and if I did would I be able to sell it being the way it is? Here are some pics of the damage.....

Any feedback appreciated.

[daemonyk]

I think it really depends. If you want it 100% fixed like nothing ever happened, then 2K is not all that unreasonable considering how much paint and body work actually cost to do right. A properly done clearcoat (REAL job, not maaco) can easily exceed $1K. The paint alone can run 500-600. The cheap way would be if you didn't mind having a chop-shop two-tone paint job for the time being, get those fenders you found, and have someone skilled cut the old ones out and put the new ones in, and sand and rattle can it to seal it from rust. Then find a door on craigslist or ebay or junkyard or something. It won't be pretty, but it'll work. Then you can always paint it properly later. At least you'll have your car back on the road. I know I'd cry if I had to get rid of my car, I'd rather have it ugly than not at all, ya know? Anyways, it's an idea. Sux that happened, hope you find a solution

[blkvrtswp]

Get some side skirts, pig nose / Home Depot front lip and a craigslist door, rattle can them and call it a day. $300/$350.

I successfully covered a big dent on my pass door with 4 piece GP Sports side skirts on the white hatch in my sig.

[Mr240dude]

Get some side skirts, pig nose / Home Depot front lip and a craigslist door, rattle can them and call it a day. $300/$350.

I successfully covered a big dent on my pass door with 4 piece GP Sports side skirts on the white hatch in my sig.

Lol what's a home depot front lip? So you've seen worse huh? I heard over fenders might work.

[blkvrtswp]

Home Depot plastic edging strip in the garden section works as a cheap good looking black front lip. You would want something in the front to lower the bumper for visual balance if installing side skirts.

Over fenders are wider fenders to fit wider wheels & tires and without the $1500 rollers and the rest of a $1500 body kit it would look really bad.

Why wouldn't the other drivers insurance cover the entire repair? A shop would probably half skin the door and cut out the damage and weld in new sheet metal on the quarter panel.

[N/A Q45]

My guess is you're not really into body work, but if you know how to you might be able to push/bang some of the dents out from the inside, after the lower part of the seat belt is removed and the door pillar plastic there's lots of room in there to take a shot at it. If you get side skirts that cover most of it you might not even notice the rest if you know how to work sheet metal.

[mechanicalmoron]

You could argue with their insurance, have they made an offer on it, or anything? if you can reasonably say, and when they have someone look at it, convince them, that the repair will not cost more than like 75% of the value of the car (that's in this state, dunno if it varies), then they HAVE to pay. For all repairs, including those bent suspension arms (keep reciepts/print out your account statements, you can charge them for things seperately, at least sometimes) and such.

If they won't, see about accepting whatever colors it takes, because paint is where they really get you. Or find someone who will cut and weld for cheap, and do all the rest yourself.

Try to avoid letting them buy you out, you won't get what the car's worth, especially not what it's worth to you. And when you factor in the cost of buying it back, they basically screw you, by making your car worth a lot less because of the title, giving you less money than you need and less than it's worth, and still not giving you enough to fix it fully.

You could try to bargan with a bodyshop, for a quote to fix it without paint, and get insurance to fix it as far as you can, right up to that amount where they'd buy you out.

[Mr240dude]

You could argue with their insurance, have they made an offer on it, or anything? if you can reasonably say, and when they have someone look at it, convince them, that the repair will not cost more than like 75% of the value of the car (that's in this state, dunno if it varies), then they HAVE to pay. For all repairs, including those bent suspension arms (keep reciepts/print out your account statements, you can charge them for things seperately, at least sometimes) and such.

If they won't, see about accepting whatever colors it takes, because paint is where they really get you. Or find someone who will cut and weld for cheap, and do all the rest yourself.

Try to avoid letting them buy you out, you won't get what the car's worth, especially not what it's worth to you. And when you factor in the cost of buying it back, they basically screw you, by making your car worth a lot less because of the title, giving you less money than you need and less than it's worth, and still not giving you enough to fix it fully.

You could try to bargan with a bodyshop, for a quote to fix it without paint, and get insurance to fix it as far as you can, right up to that amount where they'd buy you out.

Well tomorrow someone from his insurance company is suppose to come look at the car. I have no idea what offer they will try to throw at me, but it better be over a grand. I have the receipt for the tire I had to change the day of the accident. I was thinking of going to my local mechanic and having him write out a "receipt" that shows the cost of fixing the control arms. I believe a body shop would charge me for a written estimate. I was doing some research on over fenders for this kind of situation. Do you think that would suffice? I know the rear wheels would look a bit silly unless they were wider. I was looking into buying a used door shell for like $50 and using my window and panel to complete it or do you think it's cheaper to buy one with all the components installed. I don't think it's too much labor taking the window out and placing it in the new door right? I actually got quoted today from another body shop in China town he said he could fix the fender for $450 but I would need to get the door myself. Perhaps that's my best bet....

[mechanicalmoron]

A body shop or mechanic should give you a free quote, that's how they basically bid on jobs, and stay in business. It's just a hypothetical recipt. He'll totally write one up for the suspension arms.

Personally, I'd say buy the cheapest thing you can, as long as your door's guts are okay. The window is really easy (just make SURE you take off the outside weatherstrip first, trust me, there's no way to slip it past). The various electronics could be a pain, I don't know, but I'm sure it's doable. Just be careful with the handle/latch mechanism, it's a system of rods that slide in (old, brittle) plastic guides, and if you broke the guides, it would be a pain to find something to substitute.

A body shop might charge you out the a** to swap door parts, but you could do it all alone with a few screwdrivers, a few sockets, and some time. Just be patient, don't force interior stuff, be gentle. I assume the hardest part would be actually removing and installing the door solo - I'd try a (padded) block of some sort to rest it on and keep it the right height.

I would say get the fender fixed the way it is, unless you're on the verge of a serious build. Once it's got something bigger on it, there's not much going back. If they can do it for 450, is that including paint? If you assume the suspension parts are another 500, and the door's another, say, 300, you shouldn't have a problem getting insurance to pay for it, and that all seems high to me. 450 sounds like a good deal, if they can do a good job and all.

By the way, you have the right to turn down offers (at least a few) on the car, and you have the right to a rental car, because that's not safe to drive. If they try to screw you, turn it down and ask for a rental car, giving them an incentive to hurry up and settle the matter, because then they have to pay to wait. (could be bad advice, but it's what I'd do, personally)

[Mr240dude]

Yeah the guts are ok that's why I was going to buy a door shell and see if the shop could transfer the components are perhaps do it with a friend. I see a passenger door on craigslist for $150 with the window, it's all the way in the Bronx though lol.

Yeah I just want the fender to look decent, I believe that was including paint I would have to double check. If worse case scenario I could just rattle can it seriously. I had my car on a lift and it appears to only be the rear toe arm which I ordered on ebay. My steering wheel is crooked though perhaps my alignment was knocked out of wack during the impact? By the way the shop gets good reviews so I would say they would do a decent job. I also would ask them if they could fix the excessive rust on the fender as well....does this look fixable to you? http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t320 ... YD60_3.jpg

Well I just saw the insurance guy and he inspected the car took pictures etc. He was saying how they would most likely give me the value of the car which looks to be In fair condition. That leaves me to think around $1400-$1500 which is fine by me. Yeah I'm kind of weary driving it the way it is. Today I am suppose to drive out I will have to drive slow especially since its raining out now.

[mechanicalmoron]

Yeah, if you can get it fixed properly, do that. You can always get overfenders later, but you can't really take em off.