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Parking lot light fell on my car!

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Old Dec 1, 2006 | 02:45 PM
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Parking lot light fell on my car!

so i was at school today having some lunch and my friend comes in and he says "Dude, don't you have a white maxima?" I said ya and asked why. He said that my headlight was GONE, I was like crap someone hit me in the parking lot. So i go out to look and i see all this broken glass and plastic all over the ground and im just plain confused. Well the damage wasn't all THAT bad but ill need a new fender, new corner light and some work on the hood. Didn't seem to have done anything else. I'm having my friend send me some pics now so ill post em up in a few minutes.

Im debating if im gonna fix her up or just put the money towards getting my new sr20ve project. we'll see.

*EDIT
pics are up. a little hard to see cuz my friends camera phone didnt do so well with the sun reflecting . i think my other friend got some good ones.





Old Dec 1, 2006 | 02:59 PM
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Get it fixed..you can do it for little money. Plus what good is a the project with a messed up headlight and fender?
Old Dec 1, 2006 | 03:01 PM
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well heres the thing. it has 220,xxx miles on it, and lots of problems. So i dont think i want to put more money into it. I might just part it out. I see you have a WSP Y pipe in your 'wish list" lol. I have one so if i part out I'll let you know.

P.S. the sr20ve project would be a different car(200sx)

*EDIT
pics are up
Old Dec 1, 2006 | 04:23 PM
  #4  
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omg... that ALMOST happened to me once

i was at a show, someone got on stage and said... someone with a white "CAMERY" (WTF!!!) needs to move their car, a light pole is about to fall on it

sooo i go outside and look and im like WTF its my car!!! and the light pole is leaning, because a truck had taken a turn and hit it with the drivers door and almost made a cement lightpole fall on my car, omg


no pics lol, pic would be better than my story

sorry that your car got owned by a light in a parking lot
Old Dec 1, 2006 | 04:32 PM
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lol ya nothing hit the light pole, it was just so damn windy today it blew the whole top part right off onto my car. The best thing is my car was about 4-5 spots away from the light post so the wind blew that heavy sucker a good ways. My car saved my friends mustang lol, if my car wasnt there it would have done ALOT more damage to his car.
Old Dec 1, 2006 | 05:17 PM
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i'd look into compensation from the school. their parking lot, their light, your car.
Old Dec 1, 2006 | 07:54 PM
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um.....that really sucks but not as bad as losing your tranny an hour from home
Old Dec 1, 2006 | 08:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Hectic
i'd look into compensation from the school. their parking lot, their light, your car.

im with him it could have easily been a student or yourself that got hit by the light then there would be way bigger problems
Old Dec 2, 2006 | 12:18 AM
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Ya when i talked to my insurance company they told me that the school's insurance will probably be paying for it. I don't have great coverage on my car right now so my ins. company isnt gonna do anything, I didn't really expect them to i just called them to let them know something happened. So I'm waiting for a call from the school. I already talked to them and filled out an incident form.

Bump for new/better pics.
Old Dec 2, 2006 | 12:42 AM
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Hmm with those better pics you got there...I can say It should buff right out well I stole those words from Wayne but it doesnt look too bad
Old Dec 2, 2006 | 12:46 AM
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Well im not sure if those pictures really do it justice. It still doesn't look that good in real life, its hard to get a good picture of. But no its not really THAT bad, but its gonna gost a few hundred, i think it may have even bent the frame a little under the fender. We'll see though
Old Dec 2, 2006 | 01:08 AM
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take the fender off hit it with a hammer and bondo i took my 04 elantra's fender that was destroyed wheel part forward (8-9 inches bent in like 5-6 inches) back to smooth and its gonna be painted later this week saved like $200 and got some experience
Old Dec 4, 2006 | 11:49 AM
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Well guys, the school's insureance company called today. They want me to get a quote for the damage then they will compare the quote with the damage they see on my car.

Now, here thes question. My cousin has a garage and does body work etc there. Should I get him to quote it and throw in an extra couple $$s here and there, or do you think i should just take it to a shop. If so, which body shops over charge the most? lol. I was thinking about taking it to a stealership or something, but I'm not sure what I should do. What do you guys think? Thanks for the input so far.
Old Dec 4, 2006 | 02:29 PM
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If your cousin has a body shop and you trust him to do a good job then I would definitely get a quote from him. I'm sure he'd appreciate the business.
Old Dec 4, 2006 | 02:43 PM
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I would but im not looking to get it repaired, im gonna be looking for a new car soon so I wont have this one too much longer. I was just gonna pocket the money.
Old Dec 4, 2006 | 05:50 PM
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find the most expensive shops you can to get the estimate.
you have no obligation to have them do the work, but the quotes will be nice and high
also make sure the quotes are specifying OE new parts only. you may get lucky and they'll total the car (highly unlikely though).
Old Dec 4, 2006 | 05:50 PM
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find the most expensive shops you can to get the estimate.
you have no obligation to have them do the work, but the quotes will be nice and high
also make sure the quotes are specifying OE new parts only. you may get lucky and they'll total the car (highly unlikely though).
Old Dec 4, 2006 | 08:49 PM
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Originally Posted by internetautomar
find the most expensive shops you can to get the estimate.
you have no obligation to have them do the work, but the quotes will be nice and high
also make sure the quotes are specifying OE new parts only. you may get lucky and they'll total the car (highly unlikely though).
worth saying twice. i've taken a couple cars to this local viet shop and both times has paid off.
Old Dec 5, 2006 | 05:27 PM
  #19  
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call your local porsche dealer and find out who they use - likely it'll be one of the expensive shops

also, don't have your cousin pad the bill - the insurance company knows what the damage should cost and if it's overinflated too much they'll know it's fraud; people do it all the time, but why
Old Dec 5, 2006 | 06:58 PM
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Bummer, talk about freak accidents eh?
Old Dec 5, 2006 | 07:34 PM
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Man, of all the fooked up things that could happen... that sucks dude.

As has been said, just go to a Nissan dealer or their recommended bodyshop, and get a second quote from your cousin.
don't try to screw them over, but insist the job be done right, using OEM parts.

then get the check from them and take the car to your cousin. ask him to hammer it out and squirt some paint over it, then replace the broken light(s) with junkyard parts and call it a day.
Old Dec 12, 2006 | 02:17 PM
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well, I think I succeeded in finding a nicely overpriced shop to do the work. The #1 Cochran car dealership body shop.
They quoted it for $1180.53.

I think this is a perfect amount. kbb my car was worth $1,660 in "fair" condition. So i don't think they will(or can) total it with a $500 difference. But this way I can continue to use my car as the beater and get paid for it until I get my a new car(hopefully a 97 200sx w/ a sr20ve (VVL baby) I've been looking at) I think I'm going to use some of the money to get the front end touched up paint wise, then use the rest to pay off 6 months or so of insurance

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm fairly certain this worked out the best that it could have so far. Now lets just hope the Ins. company doesn't complain about the bill.
Old Dec 12, 2006 | 02:50 PM
  #23  
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Something like that happened to my car. Simply put, I was turning out from a gas station and rubbed my corner up against the concrete pole. Bumper was cracked, light shattered, and fender a little bent. I ordered a new light ($40), new bumper ($50+40freight shipping) and knocked out the bend from the fender. The rest of what you are paying for is the painting process, however simpe spraycans can solve that problem since it seems appearant to me that you arent planning on keeping the thing for show.

Overall cost on fixing that with your own labor; no more than $100. Fix it, save the car for now, and sell it.

Oh and they said my bumper repair was a little over $1000 as well...yeah right! New corner light (missing bracket...so its not exactly aligned), some bondo, and a spray can proved to be a very good temp fix until I have the money to repaint my replacement bumper and find the bracket to the corner light. (my 'accident' was in worse condition than yours!)

Notice the small crack in the right corner.


Can hardly notice any damage at all!
Old Dec 12, 2006 | 03:31 PM
  #24  
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Originally Posted by Tonyklem
well, I think I succeeded in finding a nicely overpriced shop to do the work. The #1 Cochran car dealership body shop.
They quoted it for $1180.53.

I think this is a perfect amount. kbb my car was worth $1,660 in "fair" condition. So i don't think they will(or can) total it with a $500 difference.

I believe they go by a percentage of damage/value. I dont know what that percentage is but maybe 60% or something. In other words if it will cost over 60% of the total value of the car to repair it they will total it.
Old Dec 12, 2006 | 03:33 PM
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O.O that would suck. Then I wouldnt have a car to drive
Old Dec 12, 2006 | 05:22 PM
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It's either 70 or 75% to total it around here, pretty sure it's 75%.
Ask the body shop that did the estimate what your cars ACV is and at what percent it gets totalled
ACV = Actual Cash Value
Old Dec 12, 2006 | 05:40 PM
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No worries, that'll buff right out!
Old Dec 12, 2006 | 07:44 PM
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its 80% here
Old Dec 12, 2006 | 07:52 PM
  #29  
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I you read the thread title too fast,it looks like "parking lot fell on my car!"
Old Dec 12, 2006 | 09:07 PM
  #30  
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Originally Posted by MyGreenMax94
I you read the thread title too fast,it looks like "parking lot fell on my car!"
That'd be a drag......
________
SILVER SURFER

Last edited by Pearl93VE; Apr 18, 2011 at 12:58 AM.
Old Dec 12, 2006 | 10:18 PM
  #31  
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most insurance companies use the Actual Cash Value (ACV = NADA or KBB - prior dmg) minus the salvage value for the car.

if the damage = more than the ins. company will end up paying out after they sell the salvage, then its a total loss

and you can keep the car - i did ....

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=499927

and tore it most of the way down tonight to take to a shop to rebuild it - still has a clear title!!!
Old Dec 13, 2006 | 03:13 AM
  #32  
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Originally Posted by MyGreenMax94
I you read the thread title too fast,it looks like "parking lot fell on my car!"
He's not in california
Old Dec 13, 2006 | 01:18 PM
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Originally Posted by internetautomar
He's not in california
lol, good one.
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