wife had a date with a guard rail this morning..

[ChadB]

..Think it'll buff out?

I'm at work, on the line, and just before first break ends, I get a call, "Your wife was in an accident"...Some FedEx driver stopped and used his phone to call me, wife's fine, just shook up...apparently the car hit a slick spot and it decided to play tag with the guardrails. Ripped the front fascia right off, both front fenders are trash, passenger door is dented in..Airbags didn't deploy though. Good thing I got her a good, full-frame car. It's at the collision shop now. Poor thing.

I get to pay a deductible for Christmas, yay. Oh, and my vacuum cleaner died on me. Whoopee.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Cars are cars, family is irreplacable, thank God she is ok.

 

[CCR]

Any wreck you can walk away from is a good wreck, but yeah deductibles at christmas time are no fun


as for the "full-frame" watch this ... link

but if it was a unibody car you can bet the car would look worse (and cost more to fix) than it does right now :!:

 

[deorman]

Thank goodness for no injuries. Make sure to pay close attention to the brake feel and fluid level for the next few months. Sometimes the sudden impact of the driver's weight on the pedal will damage one or more cylinder seals. It usually shows up as pedal softening when you let up on the brakes, :? followed in the not-too-distant future by the pedal headed for the floor. :shock: :x

 

[ChadB]

Thank goodness for no injuries. Make sure to pay close attention to the brake feel and fluid level for the next few months. Sometimes the sudden impact of the driver's weight on the pedal will damage one or more cylinder seals. It usually shows up as pedal softening when you let up on the brakes, :? followed in the not-too-distant future by the pedal headed for the floor. :shock: :x

Oh, the shop that's doing the work, they are thorough. They do the job RIGHT, regardless of what the insurance adjuster says. It's going to cost a fortune to fix the car, it'll be in the shop for weeks. Which is good in one way, in that we don't have to pay the deductible NOW, but bad in another, since the wife has to drive her tiny rental Nissan that long.

This isn't my wife's first single-car smashup...Back in '04, when she was 12 weeks pregnant with our daughter, she did this:

Rolled that car 4 times, had to crawl out through the broken window. It was quite a relief when we heard that rapid little heartbeat after we got her to the hospital.

 

[ChadB]

Any wreck you can walk away from is a good wreck, but yeah deductibles at christmas time are no fun


as for the "full-frame" watch this ... link

but if it was a unibody car you can bet the car would look worse (and cost more to fix) than it does right now :!:

That Impala looked like it was made of tin foil.

Anyway, the Grand Marquis has the best of both worlds...a full frame AND crumple zones. The front fascia, crumpled..actually it more like disintegrated, but you can see the basic structure of the car, the passenger compartmet, is unchanged.

 

[deorman]

That business about the brakes is just one of those random important details that is often overlooked, even by people who know their stuff. I figured by your various postings on mechanical bits you'd understand it, so,... better safe than sorry. A big A+ for full size American sedans. :wink:

 

[maddogrider]

Bummer man good shes o.k. I was woundering how a Marquis would hold up in a crash, i just got one about 3 weeks ago for my wife she calls it her Hoopty :lol:. Its a 1989. The seats are like sitting on the couch at home.

 

[ChadB]

Bummer man good shes o.k. I was woundering how a Marquis would hold up in a crash, i just got one about 3 weeks ago for my wife she calls it her Hoopty :lol:. Its a 1989. The seats are like sitting on the couch at home.

The cars, Crown Vic and Grand Marquis, and Lincoln Town car (Panther platform) are TANKS, plain and simple. The fact that they are preferred by taxi, police, and livery fleets, is no accident. Also, they are the preferred ride for demolition derbiers, especially here in the Midwest, where derbiers take their craft seriously. Of course, in a derby, the 302 or 4.6 is tossed in favor of a smallblock Chevy (they did the same thing with big Chrysler Imperials when they were allowed), but the structure of the car, is very strong. Naturally they are beefed up, door seams welded, bodies bolted solid to frames, etc. but a modern Panther will hold it's own against ANY older car in a derby. AND, yes, I'm wondering if I should build my wife a derby car, so she stops smashing the new ones up.

 

[ChadB]

That business about the brakes is just one of those random important details that is often overlooked, even by people who know their stuff. I figured by your various postings on mechanical bits you'd understand it, so,... better safe than sorry. A big A+ for full size American sedans. :wink:

Yes, and thanks for pointing it out, but I had already asked my wife if she had her foot on the brake when the car hit the guardrail, and explained how hydraulic brakes work, and she said no.

 

[jaydub]

My Dad has a complete set of Tools...we can rebuild it...Seriously ...As long as the wife is ok...thats why we have insurance...Didnt she have a Porsche... :wink: ..Oh you are not alone with phone calls like that...I dont get the phone calls...I just see the damage when I get home... :lol:

 

[Ratfink1962]

Do you have rental coverage? If so just politely remind the shop to take their time. If you can get by without a car while its getting repaired the rental coverage will usually pay the deductible.

Also never hurts to ask for a dedutcible discount? or maybe they have a coupon in the yellow pages?

Another thing that helps is when they call and say its ready... take someone with you that has a trained eye and make sure its right, if not they get to try again till it is right. And then when its finally ready politely ask for a deductible discount since you had to make more than one trip.

If its done right the first time, I have no trouble paying the full deductible. But im picky!

 

[ChadB]

Do you have rental coverage? If so just politely remind the shop to take their time. If you can get by without a car while its getting repaired the rental coverage will usually pay the deductible.

Also never hurts to ask for a dedutcible discount? or maybe they have a coupon in the yellow pages?

Another thing that helps is when they call and say its ready... take someone with you that has a trained eye and make sure its right, if not they get to try again till it is right. And then when its finally ready politely ask for a deductible discount since you had to make more than one trip.

If its done right the first time, I have no trouble paying the full deductible. But im picky!

I've had work done by this shop before (oh, we have rental covergae, so that's taken care of) and they are good. The walls of the lobby are lined with pictures of show cars they have worked on, they even restored the body on a big 30's Packard, like you see on Barrett-Jackson. If they don't like what the adjuster says, they'll argue, demand another adjuster if need be. According to my insurance agent, the folks at this shop have "attitudes"..It's because they don't have any use for shoddy work or short cuts, just to meet an amount the adjuster came up with.

 

[Ratfink1962]

I've had work done by this shop before (oh, we have rental covergae, so that's taken care of) and they are good. The walls of the lobby are lined with pictures of show cars they have worked on, they even restored the body on a big 30's Packard, like you see on Barrett-Jackson. If they don't like what the adjuster says, they'll argue, demand another adjuster if need be. According to my insurance agent, the folks at this shop have "attitudes"..It's because they don't have any use for shoddy work or short cuts, just to meet an amount the adjuster came up with.

Thats all good, and it sounds like they are capable, but collision damage repair is a whole lot different than custom work.

My son has an 08 Sport-trac that got beat up pretty good by hail, their original estimate said three weeks... well after they had to re-do the truck for the third time because of various issues it turned into six weeks. Even then it still wasnt perfect, but it was good enough.
And this is a shop that I have used before and never had problems up until that point. They have one of the top painters in the state and I know him personally.

Another case... a co-worker's car got caught up in this same hailstorm, and the car went into a different shop, the co-worker ended up getting laid off and found a job in another state, meanwhile his wife was left to deal with the car. I offered to look at it so they wouldnt hose her over. took them three tries before they finally got it right.... once they found out we weren't going to accept shoddy work like sandscratches in the paint, dry blend lines, masking tape edges, etc. etc.

Just sayin take a good hard look at the work when its done. If they get it right the first time... whats their address???

 

[ChadB]

I've had work done by this shop before (oh, we have rental covergae, so that's taken care of) and they are good. The walls of the lobby are lined with pictures of show cars they have worked on, they even restored the body on a big 30's Packard, like you see on Barrett-Jackson. If they don't like what the adjuster says, they'll argue, demand another adjuster if need be. According to my insurance agent, the folks at this shop have "attitudes"..It's because they don't have any use for shoddy work or short cuts, just to meet an amount the adjuster came up with.

Thats all good, and it sounds like they are capable, but collision damage repair is a whole lot different than custom work.

My son has an 08 Sport-trac that got beat up pretty good by hail, their original estimate said three weeks... well after they had to re-do the truck for the third time because of various issues it turned into six weeks. Even then it still wasnt perfect, but it was good enough.
And this is a shop that I have used before and never had problems up until that point. They have one of the top painters in the state and I know him personally.

Another case... a co-worker's car got caught up in this same hailstorm, and the car went into a different shop, the co-worker ended up getting laid off and found a job in another state, meanwhile his wife was left to deal with the car. I offered to look at it so they wouldnt hose her over. took them three tries before they finally got it right.... once they found out we weren't going to accept shoddy work like sandscratches in the paint, dry blend lines, masking tape edges, etc. etc.

Just sayin take a good hard look at the work when its done. If they get it right the first time... whats their address???

The place is called Mack's Body Shop in Monroe Michigan. Place has been there for 60 years. Most of what they do is collision repair...The custom/resto stuff they just do on the side. I've always been told, if bodywork is done right, you can't tell it was ever done at all, and that's what these guys do.

 

[Gdcast]

+

:this for next ride

Glad to know the wife is OK!

By the way... I didn´t like what they done to that beautiful Impala

 

[cashman]

Chad, Glad the wife is OK! Thanks!!!

 

[ChadB]

+

:this for next ride

Glad to know the wife is OK!

By the way... I didn´t like what they done to that beautiful Impala

LOL, I agree.

 

[Dee-Em]

Well now we all know she's alright... how much is a bus pass