Shelby was hit.. Need some advice regarding insurance.. Pics inside!!

09v6 · Nov 10, 2009

Without having to multi quote a lot of people, let me add that as far as using only OEM parts, that will vary from state to state. I know here in California there was a big lawsuit years ago due to fitment issues and insurance companies cutting costs on repairs, so now by law body shops are required to use OEM parts, unless none can be found (like older cars, etc). Get informed about your local laws or ordinances so you don't get screwed.

As for the rental car on your insurance, yes it is a good idea to have it unless you have a back up vehicle or live near the metro and you don't mind using it. I always have a back up, because I have had bad experience with auto rental places, namely Enterprise. (I can elaborate if anyone wishes to hear it).

The rear quarter like I said before, that is really a stretch to have them replace it. Most likely will be fixed to look like new. Bondo is not used any more (by professional body shops) so don't worry. They will pull the dent out and straighten it up like new.

1965coupe · Nov 10, 2009

Alrighty, lots of updates!

First off, thanks to everyone who has replied - every response here has been extremely valuable!

Last Thursday, I spoke directly with my insurance - he took a brief statement about the accident. After that was all said and done, he gave me the same gibberish about me having to pay the deductible, and not being able to get a rental, unless it comes out of my pocket.

**At this point, I am being extremely courteous with every party/insurance company; as soon as I am writing checks and/or not receiving money, things will get ugly.. I might not be nice anymore.

Since then, I have visited 4 body shops. The outcomes are as follows:

1) Temecula Ford Dealership (Rancho), 2) Collision Center of Temecula 3) Murrieta Auto Collision, and 4) Caliber Collision in Murrieta (as recommended by a member).

1) Lady that was giving appraisal said she 'guesses' it's 3-5 thousand in damage, but they won't know until the bumper is off. She says it's best to make an appt with state farm so they can give an accurate estimate. Because the bumper has to be off, that will all happen after I allow them to fix the car. So basically, there is no such thing as an 'estimate' unless I choose them as my shop.

**This dealership painted MOST of a 2004 Mustang I owned. It was not a pleasant experience, although after a lot of arguing, the finished product was not horrible.

She did realize that it is a 'nice' car and they would take special care.

I was quite unimpressed by her lack of professionalism.

2) This shop painted an F350 tailgate/mirrors/cowl for me, as well as the GT500 spoiler - very nice place. The manager looked at the car and said they will REPAIR the quarter - as some of you mentioned, REPLACING the quarter is not the best route - it will destroy factory seams/welds, as well as the VIN sticker.

Very thorough estimate, including the right bumper, stripes, etc. = $3605.83

This is not a state farm 'select service' shop.

3) This shop has been around for seven years; they were going to paint my '65 but he was too busy at the time. Their work is excellent, if not too 'good' - see, I want to retain the factory orange peel.

The owner is at SEMA, so his daughter gave an estimate - she says they will REPLACE the panel.

Grand total is $4115.12

It's not a huge shop - cars they are not working on are parked outside during the day - in an open parking lot.

4) Caliber Collision - SUPER nice people! The manager saw my car before I filled anything out and was already looking at the damage. The estimator, who gave the estimate, worked at Tuttle-Click Ford in OC and dealt with Saleen.. (apparently, they painted a lot of parts for Saleen).

The earlier-mentioned manager was able to rent an '08 Hertz convertible for a month because they had a deal with Hertz. Basically, he knows what a Shelby is.

Both guys were extremely sentimental toward the car's value - the fact that it's a Shelby. They said for any other car they would REPLACE the panel, but since this is a Shelby, they will REPAIR it. They both said you don't want to disturb any of the factory seams/welds if you don't have to. He also showed how replacing the quarter is major surgery and is not necessary.

He will be emailed me the itemized repair estimate - over $4000. I felt super comfortable with this business. They are a state farm select service shop so it would be a lot easier to work with them.

They told me they would be using chamois to wash the finished car, and would make sure it goes inside at night.

WITH ALL SHOPS (last three), bumper is from Ford and is $602. Because we are in CA, base coat has to be water-based, although clear coat is solvent-based.

So.. ?? Obviously price is not an issue.. they are all in the same ballpark.. As a lot of you said, it's best to REPAIR the quarter..

CLIFF NOTES:

MY insurance (state farm) still says I will be responsible for deductible and rental.

Probably going with shop #4; see above info.

Quarter will be repaired. 18 hours of work

CA has ridiculous laws that mandate use of water-base paint. (this is a whole separate debate).

darien87 · Nov 10, 2009

I would second your choice of Calliber collision. I've heard good things about them.

As for the people that said that the middle car is also at fault for hitting you, that's not necessarily true. I was the middle car in an accident where the guy hit me from behind at about 40mph. There is no way that you are not going to be pushed forward into the next car after being hit at that speed. Needless to say, I was not at fault. I can't remember if I had to pay my deductible or not to fix my car though. I don't believe I did.

stanmckinney · Nov 10, 2009

I really feel for you. I don't see why you should be out a cent for something that is not your fault.
Kentucky requires that all drivers have insurance yet still requires uninsured motorists insurance. That covers me if an uninsured motorist hits me. But the law says you must have insurance.
Your company should get it paid for one way or another.

Stableboy · Nov 10, 2009

i also worked with Enterprise for a few years. talk to the dealership and find out who they recomend for rentals/loaners. They all should have a service or body shop rate with a rental company that will be about 50% of retail. Explain to the rental your car is in XYZ shop and you need to pay out of pocket. Most of the time the State Farm people can send over an "ARMS" reservation for you that gaurentees the state farm rate even as a customer pay/no coverage.
good luck

DarkFireGT · Nov 10, 2009

stanmckinney said:
I really feel for you. I don't see why you should be out a cent for something that is not your fault.
Kentucky requires that all drivers have insurance yet still requires uninsured motorists insurance. That covers me if an uninsured motorist hits me. But the law says you must have insurance.
Your company should get it paid for one way or another.

It's also supposed to cover under-insured motorists.

09v6 · Nov 10, 2009

Yea, I agree completely that California sucks in so many ways it would take up volumes to explain to outsiders.

For those who have mentioned uninsured motorists, yes California has that provision also but allows you to opt out. Everyone here is also REQUIRED to carry insurance. The problem is a lot of people will get insurance, get their tags renewed and drop the coverage. So they only pay for a month or two and drop it. The insurance requirement is feeble at best. The only teeth it has is that you can't renew your tags without it, but this is easily defeated because after the renewal period, the DMV doesn't check again until next renewal, a year later. Also, if you get pulled over by a cop and he asks to see your insurance card, no problem. There is a little know loophole in the law that says that as long as they have an insurance card, even if it is expired, they met the requirements and the car cannot be impounded. The cop can give you a ticket for not having up to date info IF he choses, but otherwise that's all she wrote. I know this cause one guy that hit my truck with his door had expired insurance & the cop explained it to me. Thank goodness the insurance was current, he just hadn't put the current info in his car. So my damage was fixed by his insurance.

My advice is to use a shop that is a preferred shop with whichever insurance is paying for it. Why? Because most shops will give you 1, 2 or 5 years coverage on the paint job. A preferred body shop will have to give you lifetime coverage as required through the insurance. I made sure to get that, that way if my panel fades in a few years (due to the water based paint) it will be fixed without me having to pay for it. I never know how long I will have a vehicle, so I always get lifetime on everything. I think the insurance that paid for my repair was Allstate and you will get two warranties when your car is done. One from the body shop saying what their coverage is, and one from Allstate saying you have a lifetime coverage. This way if the body shop goes under, your warranty will be honored by another Allstate preferred body shop.

stanmckinney · Nov 10, 2009

Right. I intended to say that. My wife had an accident, her fault, our company paid and furnished a rental car. We had to meet the deductible. Body shops will work with you on that. Read between the lines.
There is no way anyone should be out any money for a wreck they didn't cause.

autumn_again · Nov 10, 2009

09v6 said:
My advice is to use a shop that is a preferred shop with whichever insurance is paying for it. Why? Because most shops will give you 1, 2 or 5 years coverage on the paint job. A preferred body shop will have to give you lifetime coverage as required through the insurance. I made sure to get that, that way if my panel fades in a few years (due to the water based paint) it will be fixed without me having to pay for it. I never know how long I will have a vehicle, so I always get lifetime on everything. I think the insurance that paid for my repair was Allstate and you will get two warranties when your car is done. One from the body shop saying what their coverage is, and one from Allstate saying you have a lifetime coverage. This way if the body shop goes under, your warranty will be honored by another Allstate preferred body shop.

waterborne paint is what the shop i work at uses we use all dupont cromax pro. while its just getting popular for refinishing now, its been around since around 1986[waterborne technology]. alot of european car companies have been using it for quite a bit of time for OEM, not sure when they first started using it, i think around 1990 or so.

waterborne is just the base coat, you still have a solvent clearcoat, and if you have your clear fading so you can polish it just like any other car.

just make sure the shop that your having do the paint work has the right equipment for spraying waterbourne if they are using it. the big thing with it are shops are trying to get into doing it, but not wanting to spend the money for other things you need or that will improve the quality and quantity of jobs you can send out.

i've got waterborne on my hood, rt fender, and half of the front bumper cover. it looks amazing. unfortunately the formula for g9 vista blue looked way too purple to the actual car. so we had to spend quite some bit tinting it.

in waterborne vs solvent theres alot of colors that matched real good in solvent, and don't match for sh¡t in waterbourne and require alot of tinting and vice versa.

sorry for turning this onto a discussion of waterborne, just don't want anyone to get scared away from a shop thats using waterborne.

i plan on getting a hood, a chin spoiler, spoiler and rear bumper cover for the car after winter time, and i'm doing it at my shop. should look phenomenal.

stangdude2000 · Nov 10, 2009

I still think you should fight your insurance company on you having to pay your deductible. If you did nothing wrong and you got hit, you shouldn't have to pay anything out of pocket. Worst case, you'll still have the option of taking the guy to small claims court to recover the deductible and to compensate you for any increases in your insurance rate.

autumn_again · Nov 10, 2009

i wouldnt fight his own insurance company. i would tell his insurance company to go after the other company.

what you could do is front the deductable for it to get fixed, have your insurance fight them, and then get a check for the deductable you payed for originally.

thats what we were going to do in my case when my car got hit, but i didn't have the cash to spare at the time, so i told them either get me a check for the estimate amt, or go thru insurance.

i would suggest just going for the insurance though and not try and get a check off the people. cause if they tear your car down, find more damage, they will need to do more work. since estimates aren't a final amt.

hell when we were mixing my paint we realized we needed to blend the hood because the color we couldn't get a 100% match at first. and we would have to spray too close to the tip of the fender to give him enough room to blend the color out to look good.

1965coupe · Nov 11, 2009

autumn_again said:
waterborne paint is what the shop i work at uses we use all dupont cromax pro. while its just getting popular for refinishing now, its been around since around 1986[waterborne technology]. alot of european car companies have been using it for quite a bit of time for OEM, not sure when they first started using it, i think around 1990 or so.

waterborne is just the base coat, you still have a solvent clearcoat, and if you have your clear fading so you can polish it just like any other car.

just make sure the shop that your having do the paint work has the right equipment for spraying waterbourne if they are using it. the big thing with it are shops are trying to get into doing it, but not wanting to spend the money for other things you need or that will improve the quality and quantity of jobs you can send out.

i've got waterborne on my hood, rt fender, and half of the front bumper cover. it looks amazing. unfortunately the formula for g9 vista blue looked way too purple to the actual car. so we had to spend quite some bit tinting it.

in waterborne vs solvent theres alot of colors that matched real good in solvent, and don't match for sh¡t in waterbourne and require alot of tinting and vice versa.

sorry for turning this onto a discussion of waterborne, just don't want anyone to get scared away from a shop thats using waterborne.

i plan on getting a hood, a chin spoiler, spoiler and rear bumper cover for the car after winter time, and i'm doing it at my shop. should look phenomenal.

That's good to know!

I guess it amazes me that we have to protect our air in California, yet we are sharing the same atmosphere as the rest of the world. I am all for improving how we use our resources, but not when it comes to hurting local businesses, when the end result is a drop in the bucket.

Every shop I have talked to says that most painters are going to Arizona to 'spray the good paints'..

So much for revitalizing our state economy.. let's scare all of the businesses away..

/rant

1965coupe · Nov 11, 2009

UPDATE!!!!!

Ok.. dropping the car off tomorrow morning (Wednesday).

I will be taping a notice on the dash that warns whoever drives the car about the lowered suspension, hood pins, current mileage, and to not use towels on the paint.

Oh boy.. scared to let someone have possession of this car for so long (about 2 weeks total).

I have removed everything from the car - Nav DVD, phone/ipod chargers, CDs, the tire inflator, parking passes, etc..

While I trust the shop in general, I know that many different employees will be working on the car in the various stages of repair.

Thanks everybody!

I will keep you all updated with the progress. Stay tuned...

(red banana is from Shelby forum )

09v6 · Nov 11, 2009

One last piece of advice for what it's worth. When I took my truck to be fixed I didn't trust that they would cover the seats properly, so I covered them myself. I didn't want any over spray or dirty drivers messing up my cloth interior. I know the plastic covers they use may stay on or may get moved around so I took an old bed sheet and covered my seat all over. It came back with the sheet still in place and my seats were unscathed. It's up to you, but if you have seen how small a plastic seat cover is, I prefer to use my own and over cover the heck out of my seats.

EIGHTEIGHT_GT · Nov 11, 2009

Not sure what you did but I am an insurance agent so I will tell you what I know about your claim. You will have to pay your deductible to get your car fixed if you dont wait on Mercury to do it. Most policies have a provision that talks about OEM parts when you start the policy, not negotiating it when there is an accident. Adjusters have leeway so they might sympathize with you. Its the first cars fault and his insurance that pays for everyones damage. 5k will not go far. Hopefully you have uninsured motorist coverage... that usually pays out under UNDERINSURED motorists coverage- to compensate for the difference. You can take him to small claims court if you like. Mercury is trying to be *******s as most insurance companies can be. Most of the time the companys whose driver is at fault pays for a rental car for you, but its not for very long. To make sure you have a rental car you should have that coverage on your policy so you dont have to mess with it. Bottom line is while it sucks and its not your fault, you are put out by this guys driving and the laws of insurance dont always protect the claimant. In Wa state the minimum property damage is 10k but I never sell less than 25.

Shelby was hit.. Need some advice regarding insurance.. Pics inside!!

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