body shop problems

[jastrckl]

They want $1200 for a stocker turbo, plus the labor. I told them don't touch it, I'll fix it. They want $500 for a stock hood. I said let's go fiberglass for that much money. Kirban sells them. They wanted $600 for a stock intercooler. I said leave it alone, I'll get another later. I then asked about having them do a full set of bushings from summit, and suspension parts that they left out of the estimate that looked tweaked to me, like the front sway bar and rim. Because I crossed some things off of their estimate, they said that maybe I don't want to do this after all. Here is their exact response:


"In response to your comments we can not be sure about the suspension and the wheel. It is difficult to locate and price the wheel accurately.

I have since gone over the vehicle with the owner and he is not comfortable doing the repair. The vehicle has alot of damage and could have hidden damages that are not yet noticed. I feel it would be in our best interest to pass on performing any repairs on your vehicle.

Please let us know if you will be moving the vehicle or letting Geico obtain the salvage.

John Wilson"

By owner they mean me. This was addressed to my dad, who has a general power of attorney to deal w/ the situation while I'm deployed. I guess they were mad at how the insurance company took a few months to settle this, and then it took me a while to handle things since I'm over in the desert. At this point, what would you guys do? Geico offered $7k to salvage the thing, or $5k if it's repaired and I keep it. The shop estimate totalled $8606 with things missing like the rim and suspension bits. How is a rim difficult to price? Anyway I felt like they were delving into things they didn't need to, with the turbo and intercooler replacement. The big pain is that it isn't drivable right now. The fender is too bent to put a spare on it, allegedly the turbo is cracked but i saw no damage. How hard do you think it would be looking at pics in sig to remove fender and throw spare on their to drive it some place to fix it? It's in Houston right now, do you guys know a good body shop in houston to take one to that isn't going to try to drop in a new engine or something ridiculous like that? Thanks

[John Larkin]

Let's face the facts without taking offense: the car is hurt bad. It needs to have the right fender, hood, core support, radiator, condenser, header and bumper removed before you will know what you are getting into. After this, it needs to flatbedded to a frame shop and checked, likely going ahead and doing the pull while it's there. There's little doubt it couldn't be fixed for $5000; I'd lean more toward $1000 worth of good used parts + $300 frame work + whatever you can negotiate on paint ($1000 maybe) + mechanical parts. For sure you're $2500 into it if you hang the parts yourself. This may need to wait until you get home. I'd try to get the check signed over to you in the interim.

[zam70]

the Car is hurt bad. It's fixable for sure but, You're probably tying to get an exact quote from the bosy shop and this is virtually impossible. Parts prices change daily, it is not unusual to get a price quote one day and when the part arrives it has changed (sometimes drastically). Labor wise, they should be able to do a tear down a quote you a price.

Just looking at the picture, here's what I think you need:

Hood & hinges
hood latch
hood liner
Header panel
grill and cooling baffles
condenser
r side lights (all w/ all parts involved)
bumper (all)
r filler
core support
radiator and lines (maybe)
r wheel & (maybe) tire
r fender (inner outer and wheel house)
antenna
battery
passenger side relays/map sensor
Wiring harness repair
recovery tank
air box (maybe)
r door (repair)
r door mldg
accumulator (maybe)
With out a close up look, the rest is hard to guess.

The frame WILL need pulled. No doubt. I doubt there's very much suspension damage. The sway bar is fine I'm sure. It might look FUBAR but, they are next to impossible to bend. It's VERY rare they ever bend - EVER. Might need a tie rod/end...
Possible secondary damage (buckle in roof, impact chips on 1/4 etc...)

Who knows about the mechanical stuff.

You can buy a complete front clip for under $2000.00. Labor to R&I it plus paint...it'll be expensive. We just did one with very similar damage (needed both fenders though) and it was over $10,000.

[jastrckl]

In the interim I'd need a place to store the car. I'm over here and don't know when I'm coming back, and almost all of my relatives in houston have apartments not houses, so no busted car storage. Do you think I should find another shop to work on it though so that I hopefully have a driveable car when I get back, and since I have no body experience, or do you think I'd just get taken for a ride again?

[zam70]

I don't think they are trying to take you for a ride. We (TR people)just have better parts connections for these cars then thay do. You might "help" them by pointing them in the right direction. You could even have them call me and I can direct them. (217 529 9192 - ask for Scott) I'm in Illinois...other wise I'd take the job.

Body shops use the parts connections they know. Sometimes they need to be introduced to new ones.

If they plain don't want to do the job, then by all means, take it else where.

[xrunner123]

Originally posted by jastrckl
Geico offered $7k to salvage the thing, or $5k if it's repaired and I keep it.

Can you take the $5K, keep the car, and sell salvagable parts. Maybe you can make more than $2K on parts and be ahead? I don't know if that is legal though.

[The Radius Kid]

It almost sounds like somebody is trying to screw you out of your car.

[zam70]

It's Geico
what do you expect

[jastrckl]

The thing that bothers me... is that they want to replace turbo and intercooler in addition to radiator and body work stuff. I don't want them NEAR the engine. I've studied all kinds of stuff about these engines for years now and still am a newb. I can't imagine them -not- screwing something up. The "it's geico, what do you expect" thing is maybe halfway there. Geico resells local companies' insurance, it's just a main company to go through. The local company I got happened to be pretty darn good. I didn't have collision insurance AT ALL during this wreck. Only "uninsured motorist" protection, which was intended for stuff like fender dings in parking lots, and also protects against things like this when the other guy is at fault but has no insurance. I'm not sure, but I don't think they were really obligated to pay anything. Anyway, where is a good body shop in houston that will fix the BODY of the car and nothing more, for about $5k? Thanks.

[turbohawg]

The only way you can fix that car for less then $5k is to do the labor yourself. I think $8 k sounds about right for a BS. I would also have the frame checked. If you are planning to keep the car, I wouldn't cut any corners. Unless you have the car insured for it's actual value, us TR owner's often have to pay the outstanding balance. I have been in your shoes twice and it aint no fun.

[jastrckl]

The thing is... they wanted $1200 for a stocker turbo and $600 for an intercooler. That's $2,000+ right there once you include labor, and their estimate totalled $8650. I'd be happy to pay ~$6500 and only cough up $1500 or so personally and the rest would be insurance money. But shelling out 2650 to replace stuff w/ stock parts? I need a way to convince them to do the work, but only on the body.

[87regal]

I say take the $7k....buy the car back from INS. cheap, then part it out and make more than what you paid the INS. company for on selling the used parts.

[GN ERGY]

Try Conleys performance www.conleyracing.com
They are at 1443A aldine bender houston tex.
281-540-FAST
If they dont do body work I'm sure they can point you in the right direction.
They built and owned TWEAKED and own TWEAKED II
Tarey D.
Good luck gettin your car fixed.

[onefastjackass]

Lets look at the economics of it.How many miles does it have??How much would it be worth if you got it fixed etc.If it's a low mile car or if you couldn't buy one used and build it for the difference in price then fix it.It goes like this it will cost $8606 to fix you could get $5000 from the insurance company the difference is $3606.Or you could get $7000 for it.

Now keeping in mind that one way you would have to put out 3606 we will add that to the 7000 and end up with $10,606.That is the price you would have if you keept the 3606 in you're pocket and also got the $7000.Now my question to you is is the car if repaired correctly worth more then $10.606 keeping in mind that it has had a hard hit?Or even if you get a deal on the fix is it worth say $8606?

What I am saying is that what you need to do is set a price that you think it is worth to you and then decide which way to go.

PS: find a good bodyshop don't skimp if you are going to repair it.If you can find one that's cheep and good that's fine.But don't just go for cheep.On a black car you want first rate bodywork.