2014 370z car accident... with a pickup truck
 

So long story short ended up rubbing up against a super old ford pick up truck on my passenger side, probably only going like 5mph as i was turning right onto a intersection... and my 370 ended up hitting the back of his car

His car literally had no damages besides a light broken and its super old so he could care less, but those cars are like pure metal so it did a number on my car

After waiting 2 hours for the police to come and them not showing up...started getting tired of waiting & double thinking things, and ended up not filing a police report / because I assumed if I filed the police report & then filed a claim through state farm me being relatively young (24), my rates would sky rocket and I'd end up paying more money in the long run.

And of course the timing is horrible, because were suppose to get a blizzard in NY this weekend so I probably wont be able to take this car out of my garage for the next couple days to even find out how much it costs for a body shop to repair it

So could really use some advice and some guidance, the main issues seem to be the bottom panel of the door is dented (functions fine still, looks to be just exterior damage) and the panel to the side of the door that covers the rim is dented in a bit. So could they just replace the door exterior panel or would they have to replace the entire door? And I guess the only other thing they would have to fix would be the side panel (not sure what the piece next to the door is called) thats also dented, which I imagine could also be easily replaced with a new one right? And then of course theirs panting these two parts, which is what I'm most scared about hopefully they would be able to do a really good job with that without raping me on the price. Was also even considering getting the car fully vinyl wrapped with a cool updated design or something instead of painted after they fix the dents and stuff, but starting to think thats probably not the best idea

How much do you guys think this will end up costing me, and any advice? Oh and the only other damage is the side mirror, its still intact but it seems to have gotten knocked out of place as it now rotates 360, but thats the least of my problems right now


http://s18.postimg.org/co9f7u1cp/IMG_8895.jpg
http://s23.postimg.org/jrfs34qnf/IMG_8899.jpg
http://s18.postimg.org/vj55y91eh/Full_Size_Render.jpg

I literally just had something similar happen to me, a guy in a truck, merged into me, and he had extended lugs which drilled into the side of my car

http://i.imgur.com/NeCaKKS.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/Jxi6HV5.jpg

All told, they had to replace a rear quarter panel, the side skirt, door (i had same issue, was just the outside part of door nothing internal was damaged). Also had to replace some Evo-R cf things, and a side mirror and two tires and one rim.

That came down to $6500 so you could subtract the tires, $400, rim $370 and some other ****. Then probly take off a grand or two since they pay inflated prices (They were gonna pay $700 for the oem side skirt and then $ for paint)

You could always call, your insurance company and ask them if your rates would go up if you filed a claim. Im 25 and have been in two accidents one of which was when I was 23 and it was almost $16,000 in damages, and my rates have not gone up. I have USAA.

OMG thank you so much that is beyond helpful, and literally almost the exact spots my car was hit as well! And ah interesting, so they replaced the whole door even though it was just exterior?

And yes my tires seem fine and the side skirt didn't really sustain any damage, so I think the only things I would need to replace are the rear quarter panel, the door, and the side mirror and then to get them all painted. So basing it off your estimates, I can see this costing me anywhere between 2-4k. I'm paying statefarm right now about 3k a year with a $500 deductible. So I think if this costs me anywhere from 2-3k, then that's probably a lot better than what they would of raised my insurance to. in the long run probably would of costed me a lot more and i would of had an accident record on this car

And curious how did the color come out, could you notice any difference vs oem or were you pretty satisfied. I was actually thinking of getting my 370 fully vinyl wrapped eventually. So I was thinking what if I just got them to install the parts without color (and save the 500-1000) or whatever they charge for paint and used that money to get it fully wrapped? Would that be a bad idea, any opinions?


Originally I was thinking of getting it vinyl wrapped into like a titanium grey color or chrome and then the rims and grille and emblem in gloss black but then i saw this wrap and i must say im starting to fall in love with this color

https://www.instagram.com/p/3Mo5ijIlgB/
https://www.instagram.com/p/287yMRIlom/

Ah that is true but in your scenario it was clearly the other person's fault, in my situation it could go either way and they would probably lean towards it being my fault as I made contact with him on his rear but one could argue he shouldn't have been where he was but still if it ended up being an at fault accident my rates would of almost certain gone up significantly

Well, itd prob be a few thousand at least, im sure u can find a rear quarter panel from a salvage yard, I had no luck finding one except from nissan and pricing was high as hell. Same thing with the other parts. All told I would guess around 2000-3000 if you source all the parts, get them painted and then install them yourself, which is not very hard.

I was gonna go that route, since I was also worried about my rate going up, but I have had a Shine amuse replica kit sitting in my bedroom waiting to get painted. Took a chance, and for the price of one side skirt, the shop painted, and fitted the kit, and billed my insurance company for it :D

I'm gonna estimate about 4k in repairs. Because our cars are made out of aluminum, the cost to repair it is significantly higher. If you're gonna do this out of pocket, I suggest you buy a salvaged door and rear quarter panel.

[IMG]http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps034c4bfa.jpg[/IMG]

This happened to me about 2 years ago. Chick backed up to my car in a parking lot. Total came out to $6,900. GL with your repair.

Ah interesting jaedub, so even in that situation where it doesn't seem the door received much of the damage at all they still had to replace the entire door? I was hoping perhaps there was an exterior panel they could replace but from the looks of it, the whole door will have to be replaced :|

It isn't that simple--at least not in my area. My son had a very minor incident in the car I handed down to him. I called the agent prior to filing a claim, and he was reluctant to tell me anything beyond "maybe." Almost no guidance at all.

I had a similar issue with my homeowner's insurance (with a different company) a year ago. Extreme reluctance to give me any guidance at all regarding what effect filing a claim would have on my future rates.

I ended up deciding to file on both, but my decisions were not assisted at all by any guidance I received from my agents.

It certainly wouldn't hurt to ask, but OP might need to temper his expectations.

Good luck getting it resolved, OP!

And we ended up getting a legit blizzard here in NY so looks like I won't be able to take it to any shops for atleast 3-4 days :|

So spending my time right now looking up salvage parts online, I found this part thats located in Canada

2011
Right Front Door
Nissan 370Z
WHT,2DR,PW,PL,TINT,PM,000

Not sure what some of those abbreviations mean but what intrigues me is that its already white and supposedly without any damages so if I didn't even have to paint it that would be awesome, but curious do you guys think this would be worth inquiring about or would the shipping cost definitely not make it worth it?

Should I even bother looking for the same color as my car parts even if its in other states or would it just end up being more expensive due to the shipping? would I be better off going more local and just getting it painted?

wow. dat's going to be north of $5k for repairs op. probably like $7K+ range.

sorry to see, hope that blizzard goes away soon so you can at least get things taken care. call ur insurance, send them pictures, and let them know what's going on. as long as the other party is honest, u dont really need a police report.

i dont file police reports on all my accidents...unless someone was hurt or something, which hasn't occurred to me yet. but i can tell u ive been hit MANY times.. all other party's fault.

Any particular reason you'd think it be that high? Seems i could get a front door for 1-1.5k from salvage parts and the rear quarter panel for 700-1000 and then I would just need my side mirror fixed, so lets say around 2.5k for parts and then cost to paint them and the service charge

well, im talking about getting it fixed at a legitimate body shop..

Well I definitely will be taking it to a legitimate body shop but I may end up buying the parts myself if they try to rip me off too badly with the cost of the door & quarter panel / but the service will definitely end up being done at a good body shop

just go through insurance. why live with all that headache

Rule of thumb: every panel will cost at least $1k to paint. Not including pulling out dents etc. I recently had severe scratches in my door fixed, and even using blending techniques it cost over $1k for the door alone. A full sanding and re-spray would be more.

It's probably cheaper to file a claim and pay the higher premiums for the next three years.

A silly question: How did you manage to hit an old Ford pickup truck, as big as they are? Did he turn in front of you from another direction or were you not paying attention? :eekdance:

I'm not trying to bust your balls over this, but those old Fords are so big, it's kinda hard to miss 'em. :icon17:

Based on what I see, you are probably looking at about 6k to fix the car. The shop will have to blend the fender, replace the door, replace the side skirt (maybe), repair the rear quarter, R&I the door handle, repair the rear bumper, R&I the tail lights, replace the mirror and then paint. It should probably be two-stage paint (mine was, but the body shop did a 3 stage job, base, mid & clear) and figure you will be without your car for at least 3 to 4 weeks. Go through the insurance company and if the rates go up, consider it a lesson in observation. :p GL

..:.. :icon17:

I agree. Go with your insurance. It will cost you 5k to repair. Might as well pay a higher premium with your insurance for a few years.

firstly, DON'T part the items yourself. get the shop to do it.

secondly, did you get his insurance information of him?

since you are not at fault depending on the circumstances it may not affect your premium. regardless the panal, blending and labor will cost at the very least 5k.

you're better off going through insurance because atleast if workmanship was bad you can refile the claim.

you don't need to file a report unless someone is hurt. in Ontario you need to file a police report for any collision over 1k or something like that. that's just going to a collision centre and doing a write up though... only call the cops if there is someone hurt or the other driver is refusing to exchange information.

assuming this is his first claim and it may be deemed not a fault, shouldn't affect him.

if they deem a 50/50 it could go up.

I work for State Farm Insurance, but in CA and since rules and regulations differ state to state, I can only help so much... BUT

I know California is the only state that DOES NOT do Accident/Ticket Forgiveness. Since you are in NY I would suggest calling your State Farm Agent and seeing if you are eligible for an Accident Forgiveness claim.
I would not disclose that you were in an accident until he has said that you are eligible for the Accident Forgiveness for the accident though. I'd almost make it a hypothetical conversation. All phone calls are recorded and if he says that and you make a claim and then says he didn't say that you were covered for Accident Forgiveness they will pull phone convos and listen to what was said.

If you are able to get the Accident Forgiveness for the claim and rates do not go up for you making the claim, then I would just let your insurance company fix it and save yourself all the costs.

being in insurance, whenever a vehicle hits the back of another vehicle, the one in the back doing the hitting is usually, 99% of the time, found At Fault.

birdman - do u wear khakis? :ugh:

true... regardless of at fault.

sort of like making a left after a yellow then some **** bag decides to run the red. somehow you are at fault for making an unsafe turn :shakes head:

Funniest part is... no.. lol I hate the feel of khakis haha

I have 1 pair of tan slacks that I wear with a red state farm shirt if I ever go out marketing at like job fairs or anything like that.

I usually wear grey or black slacks :tup:

Sad to say, yeah, because the yellow is a slow down and proceed with caution and while making an unprotected Left turn at a yellow light would deem it unsafe. I would honestly see that one being a 51/49 call though. Very close to deem who is at fault. Plus he probably (should have, if he didn't) got a ticket or two to boot and had higher ins premiums.

The door is definately going to have to be replaced. You cannot just replace the 'skin'.

Also, you are underestimating the amount of labor that is necessary to replace the rear quarter panel. This is a welded component of the vehicle and there is a significant amount of disassembly required to even get access to remove the panel. The rear quarter panel is basically the entire bodyside of the car (or they will have to cut the panels at some location for partial removal/replacement).

Oh yeah.....and your paint is a pearl white, so yes it is a tri-coat paint job.....$$$.

Even if you get rated for the accident and have to pay higher insurance premiums itll be less than paying out of pocket.
You can always increase your COLLISION deductible, do NOT increase your COMPREHENSIVE deductible cause it is fairly cheap to begin with. Ask you insurance agent about other discounts you could be apart of.

ITS birdman from STATEFARM.... and she sounds hideous!

I love how this thread has been hijacked to being about state farm jokes lmao...

:icon18:

You know I sound like a model on the phone :happydance: :tup:

All the wives be jealous that I get the attention cause I can save them money lol

do you answer phone calls at 3am?

If I worked on the overnight crew making that makes us 24/7 yeahhh haha. Otherwise personal clients of mine have my cell phone number to be able to text me or call me after hours. I usually ask for no calls after 10pm, only texts then and then I would answer or answer the next morning kind of thing.

So people can get a hold of me at 3am if they would like yes lol

Thanks for all the advice guys, ended up deciding to pay for it cash. Went with a reputable body shop who agreed to do it for $5000, and will be ordering the parts straight from Nissan brand new (door & rear quarter panel).

One quick question I was wondering, is there anyway to know for a fact that they ordered the door & quarter panel from Nissan? The body shop I went to is really well known and has great reviews so I'm not really worried about it but I guess nowadays you never know so better to be overly cautious. So anything I should ask for or check to make sure I indeed got a new door & quarter panel?

id want to see shipping containers for parts, there are so many copycat sheet metal suppliers(china) that are available cheap..