Noela

Hi,

I was visiting friends this afternoon in Irvington, NJ (near Newark)....

Parked car on street ....after 3 hours, headlights gone ...

I feel so sad....they removed the grill, and damaged the housing around the hood a bit...

Now, what options do I have....it can be covered by my insurance (Geico) comprehensvies, but i have to suffer the $500 deductible...

will it be cheaper to try to buy the light and fix it privately?

cheers, Noela

Lontar1

iTrader: (5)

you can get aftermarket ones on ebay for 600 or so and on the classifieds.....and trust me it doesn't matter if it cheap or not the ins rate is going to go up , so think about it and If you can pay it out yourself Go for it. Then get a VIPER alarm so you can have a peace of mind.. they are going to take them but with a loud noise up their ears. I have one with two little ones that will puncture your ears.... and bellieve they are loud as hell....

DarkYDK

Man, really sorry to hear about that. These type of things make me really angry. This is the main reason I am not buying the 2002-2003 headlights for my 2000 maxima. I am afraid that they will get stolen on the next day. But buying on ebay is the best idea in your case. Get the ones from performance_depot. His are brand new. You can find them here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NISSA...7960QQtcZphoto

Noela

how much will it cost to fix it....

currently, there are some new ones on on ebay for about $600. Given that I have to pay $500 in deductible, if it would cost about $400 to fix it, then it would be better for me to fix it instead of risking my rates going up. So, how much will it cost to fix the headlight ?

cheers, Noela

DarkYDK

Well, some pics would definitely do you justice here. We really can't tell how much damage they've done...

TXT-1

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear about your luck. I've been there bro. It sounds like it would probably be cheaper to let insurance cover it since it's going to involve not only replacement lights but some body work to fix the areas they damaged. Good luck with everything.

TXT-1

iTrader: (1)

Why do you need pics? The lights are gone and they damaged the area around the lights when they pryed them out. I would say damage including replacing with OEM lights and fixing the body damage is about $2500.

KabirUTA13

iTrader: (11)

pay the 500 hundred comp. that way u can get the headlights and ur hood fixed... etc... along with any other damages...!!!

2K3MAX2NV

iTrader: (10)

I have a friend who has a set he is looking to sell I think for $500 let me know if you are interested. Sorry to hear about your car. I dont understand how your insurance will go up from this incident. There was no accident at you are not at fault. Most ppl whom I have heard could not have it covered under warranty and insurance couldnt cover it. best bet is to buy some aftermarket lights and pay for the damage to get fixed out of pocket once you have no other alternatives.

RabStyle

iTrader: (1)

sorry to hear that man

CKOTuHA

iTrader: (11)

I'm sorry to hear that especially since I go to Irvington very often.
Did you have a recall (Data dots) done on your car?

SEmy2K2go

iTrader: (10)

You should definately have your insurance take care of the repairs. With the grille replacement and the hood repairs, you'll be well over the $500, not to mention the actual cost of the HID's.

DarkYDK

Well for one some people have tendencies to overestimate/underestimate. EVERYTHING is relative!

Noela

thanks for all your concern. I didnot have data-dots since the car was registered in MD, and dealers there were not offering it at the time. Once it is fixed, i intend to get the Clifford alarm from Don....

Guys, if you haven't, secure yours with an alarm..at least, it could slow them down....a bit or frustrate them to abandon yours.

cheers, N

F23A4

Welcome to NJ.

As an 02 Maxima owners living in NJ, I have to carefully consider where I'm going (specifically, where I'll be parking) before venturing out into the public. I have data dots and have not been a target thus far but, data dots could actually result in more damage to a Maxima with the attempted theft.

Iron Scimitar

iTrader: (38)

Man, headlamp theives strike again. Srry to hear about your troubles

Lontar1

iTrader: (5)

I'm adding air horns to my alarm in the front of the car, replacing the 2 small killers I have .. this way the thieves will take them but w/o their ears...hehehehehehehe

ope2k4

iTrader: (4)

This same Ish happened to my friend who lives in montclair NJ. The only difference was he had DataDots and they could get the lights but they broke his grille and bent his hood. Believe me its better to pay the $500 deductible. What you have to do is tell the insurance adjuster to take the $500 out of the check they will issue you. And please please please get a police report if you havent gotten one. And you might want to get the DataDots in for free at any Nissan dealership.
Your insurance rate will not go up believe me. Its already up because they know your car's reputation for stolen HID headlights.
So they are already aware this could or will happen
Hope this helps.
And since you are close to NJ I have the details on a good body shop.
Ask me and I will give you the info

DIDO

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, i would pay the $500 if i were you, this way you will get good quality work done on your ride.

TXT-1

iTrader: (1)

So let the man take it to a body shop and get an estimate. His question was whether it would be better to pay out of pocket or go through insurance. I've had my headlights stolen and typically, they damage the hood and fenders when prying the lights out. Pics would only serve your curiosity, not help in answering the question. Thanks

DarkYDK

Of course they would. I am a curious kind of guy!

But then what was the point of starting the thread? It is obvious that the whole thing will cost more than 2 grand to fix up. The oem headlights alone cost $1500. The dude wanted our opinion. We all chipped in! But then again WE cannot access the damage without pics. At least, I cannot.

CharismaticNYC

First I want to say I feel your pain! Trust me I feel your pain I am a new register to the org but not new to the site, I have been browsing for a while when deciding in gettin my 02 maxima. I have had my baby for a month now and this saturday I parked in front of my building at about 1:00pm by 2pm My headlights were gone!!! So TRUST me I know how you feel, I feel so vandalized and a lil depressed!! I wanted to start a thread about this same thing right after it happened but I cannot make a thread as yet I guess.

MaximaPolak

iTrader: (9)

That's why it's a good idea to keep an eye on your car and a bad idea to take it anywhere in high crime areas.

TXT-1

iTrader: (1)

Nuff said. Cost is "more than 2 grand" to fix. Regardless of pics, it is safe to say it would be cheaper to go the insurance route with $500 deductible than paying everything out of pocket.

HotshotVQ35

iTrader: (5)

damn, they are still stealing the damn headlights! its been a while since i seen a thread. sorry for the loss

Noela

ope2k4,

Thanks for your suggestions. I reported the situation to GEICO and they have suggested a numberr of shops inthe Philly area since i live there...but do i have a choice of my own location, anywhere?

Secondly, i am interested in getting more details about how to get the insurance adjuster deduct the $500 deductible. how does that work? Will GEICO give me a check to pay the body shop or they pay directly.

Thanks very much ..Noela

DAP

You should also look into lowering your deductible. It usually doesn't cost that much more a year. The money you try to save you end up losing on your first incident.

PoLo

iTrader: (7)

this is how it works. with geico, you say you want to take it to your own shop. they will say fine, but they want to assess the damages at their own shop. so you go to an adjustment center (or a shop) and they take pictures and start writing down. let's say they total the cost at being $3k. the adjuster will be there, and should give you a check for $2500 ($3000-$500). this means that if you were to leave it there at that shop, the check would go to the shop and you would pay $500.

but instead, they give you a check. they have been legally cleared of giving you anymore payments as that was the cost of the accident. you then take the $2500 and do WHATEVER YOU WANT. ideally, you would take that money, buy the parts privately (cheaper) and then go to your own shop.

i can tell you off the bat you will save some money because ebay is sellin those lights for $600 but the OEM cost is roughly $1300. i can almost guarantee if you do this route, you'll actually end up with money in your pocket, and you never gave any deductible.

enjoy and good luck.

NJ Devils Fan

iTrader: (2)

My passenger light was stolen last may. Bent and scratched the hood and fender. The real estimate was $1700 from a private shop, but he beefed up the numbers for me since I have a $1000 deductible. His estimate was $2200 but the insurance lowered things a bit and long story short, I had to pay $750 out of my pocket. And yes, I did have the data dots which did absolutely nothing. Really sucks since I didn't do anything wrong.