Got Rear Ended Friday Night!
 

:mad:

Well I haven't been around here much in quite awhile, and needless to say I'm not happy about why I'm back here today. Some jerk was looking the other way (his words, not mine), and bashed into me while I was stopped at a light. Just sitting there waiting to turn right and BAM! I was so pissed off I couldn't see straight. Been driving for 30 years now and have never been in an accident. Perfect driving record gone. Good news is I'm fine, he has insurance and they have accepted full liability. Bad news is my perfect beautiful car is now f*cked up, I've got to go through all this hassle, it won't ever be the same, and I probably lost $5000 in re-sell value if I ever want to sell it. :mad:

I've been in a complete funk since. Had enough beers Friday night to allow myself to actually cry. I was a wreck all day Saturday. But my wife has been fantastically supportive, and she feels genuinely bad for me. Made me a super nice dinner Saturday night.

Is there anyone here that has been through this that can give me some pointers on what to look for? From what I can tell, the bumper is gone. The tailgate will have to be replaced. The light is gone. And what appears to be the worst news, is that the rear quarter panel is in fact bent up. I'm thinking that means a bunch of metal work which is bad. Without looking underneath I can't tell for sure, but it appears the exhaust, wheel, and suspension might be okay. Any advice or knowledge you can fill me in on is appreciated.

Thanks ----- Bonzo

It's frustrating and disappointing to be involved in any collision, esp one not your fault.

I've been through this several times. Most severe was almost totaling out my camaro many years back.

At the end of the day, it's just a car, get over it. No loss of life.

Make sure all damages are repaired to bring the car back to precollision condition. Once repairs are done, make sure you try to collect for diminished value.

From the pics, it doesn't look like the damage is overly severe. I doubt there was any subframe damage. How fast was the guy going who hit you?

Also, make sure you go to the doctor asap to get checked out. Often times symptoms show up after the adrenaline has worn off.

Being the Z and my first time, it's overly hard.

I'm trying.

How does one collect for diminished value?

I'm hoping.

Dunno. Not too fast. I'd guess more than 5 but less than 10.

I will do that.

All that stuff looks replaceable: bumper, hatch, lights, maybe some interior isht, and exhaust

Just make 100% sure there's no frame damage and your car can be repaired.

Assuming insurance comes through you'll be able to get it all paid up for the parts and labor. Keep all documentation and pictures in a file

And i agree with above - your health is more important than your car. I'd go to your doc and get checked out just in case, report any and all symptoms and listen to what they say. Anything unusual, better safe than sorry.

I have seen people walk away thinking they're ok and later turns out they have a ****** up back or something they didn't realize initially. It can affect quality of life so its always better to get checked out.

I got rear ended in March. As long as it's not your fault there's no issue. The bodyshop mentioned that cars don't have what people traditionally call "frames". Your car would have to be screwed terribly for it to be considered total. So that eased my nervousness a little. And to get some money back for loss of value, you just have to file a claim from what I'm told. I'm going to go that route here in the future. Also I would use this time to get whatever aftermarket bumper you'd like to get. As long as it's cheaper in cost than the original you should be fine.

The main thing here is that you are all right. Parts and vehicles, as much as we love them and throw $ into them, are replaceable. Good luck and I hope you have your Z back soon.

wow sorry you had to get into an accident as well, yours came out worse than mine did (I still was not able to check the crash bar though)

for diminished value I was asking my insurance company as well but you'd have to take it to court and file a claim on the person. Most likely it's more of a hassle and would take a long time for it to even go through. Otherwise EVERYONE would try and file claims for diminished value.

Try to look for "affiliated" shops with your insurance because THEY are most likely the one's to hook your car up to the most money.

If you choose your own shop they will give you an estimate and you'll have to show it to the insurance to see whether or not they'll give you have amount.

For my instance I went to an affiliated shop, (random shops that are "partners")
and they don't have a adjuster take a look and deal with me. The shop just sends the bill out to the insurance. Depending on how they are my other car, they were able to "blend" the paint and fix paint on other panels for me too :p

but it's all different tbh. I'm in California and I have no idea how things work in Ohio with insurance

I did a bunch of shop hunting via the internet yesterday. What a hassle. Impossible to really tell. So of the top four reviewed places, 2 are both like an hour away, 1 is by where I work, and the other is right around the corner from my house. Went to the place by my house this morning and spoke with the manager for about 45 minutes. Seemed like a really good guy, so I think I'm going to go with them. They are on both my insurance and the other guys top lists, so that could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at things. Some will say that means they work for the insurance companies, not me. Others will say I will actually get more because the insurance companies are less likely to hassle them when they ask for more parts. I dunno. 6 of one half dozen of another I think. Same goes for which insurance company I choose let do the work, mine or theirs. All a bunch of smoke and mirrors.

Anyway, I guess we'll see. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Good luck with the repairs.

As far as the diminished value consider hiring a lawyer to recoup that. My friend got rear ended in his brand new GTI and it looks like he is going to get a nice check for it.

That's a real bummer, I've been there, just keep at them & make sure you get everything done right & to your satisfaction.

Man that sucks.. I feel your pain.. You can see my wrecked, totaled, 2013 NISMO through my album. I was down in the dumps for a week or so until I got another brand new 2014 NISMO.. ;-)

Update 6/27/16
 

The body shop turned in the estimate to the insurance company today. $12,000. $6000 is just parts alone. Glad I had OEM parts on my policy, and $1500 in customization that will cover getting my taillights repainted and the FatMat sound deadening put back in.

Good news is only super light damage to the very back end cap of the frame. Said it looked like a small hammer ding. Otherwise it's all cosmetic, and according to him all is going well so far. Since I don't "need" the car, we are taking the time to do it all properly, no rushing.

Thinking when I'm done with this I might try to add more for customization, but I'm not sure they will do that. I have over $4000 in mods I've done.

Definitely upping the wife's Pontiac Solstice to OEM.

Someone pulled out in front of me last year and caused $6000 in damages to my 2013 370Z. My insurance was no help with filing for diminished value. I did some internet searching and came across autoloss.com . I read some reviews of them online and they had mixed reviews. I ended up using them and I am glad I did. They made a diminished value report for me and sent it to their insurance company. They helped me thru the process the whole way. Sometimes it would take a week for them to email me back but they always did. They would tell me every step their insurance company would make to try to get me less money. They first offered me $2500 when they said it was around $5000. After 2 months of talking with autoloss and their insurance company they finally accepted my offer of $4750. I got the check in 5-7 days. Hope this helps

I know what it's like to get rear-ended by a careless driver. At least your Z is repairable and most important--you weren't hurt.

Good luck with your re-build--and stay safe out there!

Sorry for your situation and be glad that the impact wasn't more to the side. That may have really knocked the frame alignment out-of-whack.

Even though it is ONLY a car, I get the attachment we place on our vehicles.

Let's hope the car gets repaired fully and to your satisfaction.

Glad you are okay.. As others mentioned life over worldly things.

12K? That's quite high.. I wonder if the insurance would consider it totaled considering it could be almost half of the car value? That has happened to me where the damage of the car was almost half of the car value and they just wrote me a check. I think Geico allows to add custom aftermarket parts to be added to your policy.

Best of luck with the repairs!

holy crapz bonzo! sorry to hear and see. :mad:

Looking at the bright side if may be that moment to add a amuse body kit to ur car bro


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I told the shop to take their time and do things right. I'd rather take extra time and have it done right rather than rush it through. But boy, this is starting to get old. They've had my baby for 10 weeks now and she still ain't done. Attached are the latest pics.

What I still just simply can not believe is the sheer amount of work being done to fix a 5-10 mph fender bender. The entire car is apart from the front of the door to the back. Insane. Makes me totally depressed and sick to my stomach.:crying:

Sorry to hear the delays. But progress is good. Good luck with the remaining repairs :tup:

Yeah, absolutely. My nephew told me I should feel lucky because it appears I chose wisely with the shop. He says by the looks of things they are doing things the right way, not the sloppy quick way. We'll see when I get her back I guess. Fingers crossed.

Latest pics.

I feel like it's going to look better when it's done than when it was new

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Here's to hoping your feelings are 100% correct!!!! :tup:

Go after his insurance company for diminished value. someone pulled out in front of me and did $7000 in damages. I got a check for around $5000 in diminished resell value. Took me 4-5 months to get it done tho. Goodluck

Not true. I paid a company around $200 to write me a diminished value report. They sent it to their insurance company and told me how to handle it from there. No court or anything. 4 months later after negotiating the diminished value I got a check for around $5000.

U talking to urself?

What company did this for you?

Looks like I may be getting my car back soon. The guy said tomorrow but I may have to wait until Monday if he won't make a special trip for me to pick it up Saturday.

Talked to the shop this morning. They even removed the windshield to get good paint adhesion across the roof!!!!

My one big regret now is that with all this work being done, that I didn't just pay them $1000 extra to repaint the entire car. Live and learn.

I have not gotten a chance yet to give her the complete going over yet, but she is back in the house and looking pretty good at first glance.

Almost 3 months to the day.

Still need to put the 4th brake light back in and attach the badge.