fast1

Thank God for insurance. My guess is the repairs will be in the $8K - $12K range just based on the picture. The repair shop won't know what they have until they remove the damaged parts.

As I posted earlier, chose your repair shop very carefully. Hopefully you have a good insurance carrier. The repair shop that I used for example refused to accept repair work when the car was insured by Progressive.

There are two ways to repair a damaged car: the right way and the cheap way.
Some insurance carriers will only pay for the cheap way which is perfectly acceptable if you are driving a Toyota Corolla, but not acceptable if you are driving a Porsche.

USMC_DS1

I live in Austin as well and already scrap the normal front bumper getting home. Kinda depends... what is your commute like?

Shivatron

Thanks -- I just sent an email to the dealer who issued the CPO warranty.

Same here -- well, and a bit of damage to the "spare tire tub", which they completely replaced (cut out and a new one welded and seam-sealed in; I saw the work when the fender was off and it looked to be competently done).

Thanks so much for the offer, Macster! I'm taking the car to be inspected by a local independent shop (Moorespeed in Austin) on Monday; hopefully they will give it a clean bill of health.

I agree that it looks mostly cosmetic (obviously a Celette will be the ultimate arbiter of that)...

Yikes. While that doesn't surprise me in Austin, I would ensure that the police are informed. That's no small infraction, given that was in an accident.

If you don't mind me asking, who did they recommend?

chuck v

Rapid Body Works in Spring Texas, likely in Houston area is the only LISTED PCNA approved collision site per their posting.
No idea of the quality of work that is done.

chuck

function12

That is the shop I was talking about. They did a good job on my car when I got rear ended. Not a lot of damage but the repair and communication was very good.

Macster

Really, I had no qualms about the car.

Thankfully the damage was not major/structural in nature. I was also assured that the car would be repaired in such a manner that the full CPO warranty would remain in effect.

I didn't own the car when the accident happened. I had financed a portion ($20K) of the car for nominally 2 years simply because I had not financed anything for a long time. At the time I was concerned about the economy and my job and wanted to bolster my (already quite good) credit rating with a recent financed purchase just in case I got laid off. Some employers run credit checks and I wanted my credit rating to be as good as it could be.

(Sort of funny: In April of '09 I bought a new 08 Cayman S. I financed this car ($20K of it anyhow) for 2 years. Less than 4 weeks later the car was hit and severely. I quickly paid off the note. I wanted to own the car outright. I was afraid the lender would get involved in the repairs as the legal owner of the car and I was afraid the lender would agree to a substandard repair, in fact any repair at all. I was pushing to have the car declared a total loss, which it was.)

Anyhow, the Turbo was repaired and I paid the note off shortly after I got the car back.

I can't say what I would have done had the car been a leased car.

Well, check that: I would I'm sure learned what my options would have been from reading the lease agreement and of course I would have had sufficient insurance and of the right type to protect me in case the car being leased was damaged in an accident to avoid being on the hook for any DV or whatever arising from the accident.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Macster

My preference is to strive to get the car fixed back to its previous condition. IOWs, have in your car's case the bumper cover replaced with the right one, the one it came with from the factory.

When I'm having a car repaired after an accident, I want to avoid making the process any more complex than it already is.

And having the car fitted wtih custom body parts adds complexity. There's the question of what percentage of the (usually more expensive custom parts) are to be covered by the insurance and what percentage of any labor arising from any additional labor costs arising from fitting, prepping, painting the custom parts.

Once you have the car fixed 'as good a humanly' possible... put back to its pre-collision condition, then have driven the car long enough to shake out any problems from the accident that were missed during the repair or arising from the accident repair then you can customize the car.

You have the original (well, replacement) parts just in case if you go to trade in the car, or sell it privately, that you can use to put the car back to its stock condition if necessary or toss in along with the car if the buyer is ok with the mod's you have made.

Sincerely,

Macster.

TommyV44

Thanks Macster for your always thoughtful and thorough answers!

Tom

westlaker

TPWS recommended Rebreu and Quality autobody repair places. So far I'm happy with Rebreu's service.

Minok

In that he had no proof of insurance in the car and convinced the cop he did, or he had a forged insurance form?

I'm assuming you are providing the necessary feedback to the police so they can prosecute the criminal to the full extent of the law.

Its not how the world works, its just how it works in some areas such as many of the US states and several 3rd world countries. (with respect to cars, insurance and taking responsibility)

westlaker

I'm not sure. He wasn't cited at the scene for having no insurance so whatever he showed the cop worked. Later, that insurance company said there was no coverage.

The cops don't pursue these people. There not even supposed to be here. He should have been deported.

With massive illegal immigration, get ready for more of this here.