20 replies to this topic

[toasty]

So bad day for me, need help with the body work for a 1999 C70 and not sure how to start...

My car was parked on the side of the road. My idiot friend decides to open the passenger door without looking and next thing you know I see a car instead of my door on the passenger side. I had to bend the door back to drive home, but now is where the trouble starts. Insurance won't cover it and I refuse to pay out the a** for a body shop to fix it so I need some help.

I realize the door is held on by the hinges, but since the door is bent, it keeps hitting the fender each time I try to open it. I have tried removing the fender, but there are 2 screws that sit near the hinge, which means I need the door open to get the fender off. Does anybody have any suggestions? The fender is bent, but I would like to try to bend it back so I don't want to completely destroy the fender.

Some pics:

[EVL WAGN]

Tell your buddy he is paying for it now...if not...remove said door and violently insert it in his anus!

Doesn't look like an easy fix and will most likely need some fender work as well.

[toasty]

yea he said he will pay for it, I found a door at a nearby scrapyard for $375, the trick is removing the old one

[andyb5]

I'd grab an angle grinder and "reshape" the door so that it has clearance to open, and from there you can easily remove the door.

At that point of the door, it should only be 1-2 layers of sheetmetal, so you can grind/bend it in relative ease.

3 bolts and the door lifts right off. I replaced my drivers door this summer, its a pretty straightforward job.

Edited by andyb5, 11 November 2011 - 06:09 AM.

[EVL WAGN]

toasty, on 11 November 2011 - 05:52 AM, said:

yea he said he will pay for it, I found a door at a nearby scrapyard for $375, the trick is removing the old one

This is good news...always a plus when friends that fuck up step up to the plate and not flake out!

Do as Andy said...cut it back enough to open it enough to pop the hinges and you're home free!

[toasty]

thank you Andy, some great thinking going on up there

[andyb5]

Sure thing. Hope the repair goes quickly!

[trs80]

And drop your insurance carrier and find a legit one.

Who is your policy through if you dont mind me asking?

[toasty]

geico, they said i was at fault b/c it is my responsibility to make sure my passengers dont open the door into oncoming traffic

[scumcity14]

Not to shit in your already pissed in cheerios but have you looked to see if there is structural pillar damage? I would be surprised if there wasn't any..especially seeing how damaged the door and fender are.
Hopefully not.

Also, the car that hit yours...are they filing a claim against you for damage to their car?

Edited by scumcity14, 12 November 2011 - 01:19 PM.

[trs80]

Wow, Im sorry to hear that. Do you carry full coverage? Comp and Collision?

If you carry both then they HAVE to cover it no matter fault. If they blame you then you would be required to pay the deductible and thats it. Also most carriers offer a $500 settlement when coverage is denied. If you need more help or want to pursue getting this covered by insurance PM me.

[toasty]

scumcity14, on 12 November 2011 - 01:17 PM, said:

Not to stuff in your already pissed in cheerios but have you looked to see if there is structural pillar damage? I would be surprised if there wasn't any..especially seeing how damaged the door and fender are.
Hopefully not.

Also, the car that hit yours...are they filing a claim against you for damage to their car?

So today as I am replacing the door, I find out that there is in fact structural damage b/c the new door sits about 1/2 inch forward and out, cant have the fender on with the door and cant even close the door
and I dont think the person has filed a claim b/c i have not gotten a phone call yet

trs80, on 13 November 2011 - 12:16 AM, said:

Wow, Im sorry to hear that. Do you carry full coverage? Comp and Collision?

If you carry both then they HAVE to cover it no matter fault. If they blame you then you would be required to pay the deductible and thats it. Also most carriers offer a $500 settlement when coverage is denied. If you need more help or want to pursue getting this covered by insurance PM me.

I have only liability (no comp or collision) b/c i dont drive to smash my car and never thought I would deal with something like this.... Geico is great b/c im paying only $500/yr with 2 speeding tix, but not anymore b/c of this.

I have no idea what I should do... file a suit against my idiot passenger to cover the frame work? the car has to go to a shop from here on, i tried adding washers between the hinges and door but no go, and i dont want to make matters worse by taking a plumbers wrench to try and bend back the pivot points where the hinges sit. I can take pics in the morning of the door but its a depressing sight
and to add fuel to the fire, the idiot passenger just decided to turn off his phone today

for the mean time im going into depression. my love and joy is totaled

[TaskMule]

Your passenger has to pay to return your car to pre-existing condition. If he doesn't do it voluntarily, you must sue, and make sure you find out how much your insurance is going up. You'll need to sue for that as well, to cover the rate hike.

Chin up, bud, it's a car, and you can fix it. No one got hurt.

[toasty]

TaskMule, on 13 November 2011 - 03:05 AM, said:

Your passenger has to pay to return your car to pre-existing condition. If he doesn't do it voluntarily, you must sue, and make sure you find out how much your insurance is going up. You'll need to sue for that as well, to cover the rate hike.

Chin up, bud, it's a car, and you can fix it. No one got hurt.

how do you make somebody pay if they have no money? does somebody go to jail if they dont pay a judgment of small claims court?

[scumcity14]

Is it worth suing your friend?? what are you going to sue..him personally..his homeowners insurance? if you did win a small claims case you wouldn't get your money all at once anyway (unless he had it all) he would make payments or wage garnishment..

Your insurance won't go up unless the car that hit you files a claim. You only have liability..

was there an accident report filed?

Good luck with this, you are out a car and soon to be out a friend...have you talked with him about this? Has he offered to help pay?

Edited by scumcity14, 13 November 2011 - 11:52 PM.

[toasty]

i dont really consider him a friend anymore, he's somebody that i used to hang out with back in high school. he's 25, lives with his parents, has no car, no steady job, no credit card or bank account, but he does work construction. he also has a pretty nice criminal record

accident report was filed in vernon, ct. does anybody think i can press charges for vandalism?

i have tried calling him but he shut his phone off, and i went to his house yesterday and his mom said, once she found out who i was, that he was working (which i doubt cuz it was 6:30 on a saturday night and who does paving at night?) so i really just want to get paid for the cost to repair, but i dont want to risk getting arrested over this

im pretty sure im gonna have to bite the bullet on this one

[EVL WAGN]

Mom sounds like a winner too. Sorry dude...hope it all works out for you.

Get in touch with TRS80 as he is an insurance expert and maybe one of the lawyer kids on here will chime in too with some pro-bono advice.

[Zygonster]

The doors not going to fit right until the hinge pillar is pulled back to its original position. To do this the shop is going to have to remove the door, tie down the car on a frame rack, and pull the pillar back to its original position. Ideally you'd be looking at .5-1 hours for the pull time and .5 hrs for tie down. Not sure what the going shops rates in in CT, but here its $55/hour for frame/pre-pull time. If your going to have them put on the used door at $375, their going to want markup on the door, usually 25% of the door cost, and I'm guessing 2 hours to replace. Where they pulled is going to have to be refinished, since its not an appearance section, they might be okay with .5-1 hour of paint time for that. After that, its up to you if you want to have them repair the fender or not. Without touching the fender, and assuming the used door is black, your looking at $731.25. Ideally it would be cheapest to have the shop do the pre-pull and tie down only, and you replace the door. But you'd have to either tow it there, drive there without a door, or do it at there parking lot. Another trick is going to be finding a shop that will make it worth their time to only do the pre-pull.

[toasty]

Zygonster, on 17 December 2011 - 02:25 AM, said:

The doors not going to fit right until the hinge pillar is pulled back to its original position. To do this the shop is going to have to remove the door, tie down the car on a frame rack, and pull the pillar back to its original position. Ideally you'd be looking at .5-1 hours for the pull time and .5 hrs for tie down. Not sure what the going shops rates in in CT, but here its $55/hour for frame/pre-pull time. If your going to have them put on the used door at $375, their going to want markup on the door, usually 25% of the door cost, and I'm guessing 2 hours to replace. Where they pulled is going to have to be refinished, since its not an appearance section, they might be okay with .5-1 hour of paint time for that. After that, its up to you if you want to have them repair the fender or not. Without touching the fender, and assuming the used door is black, your looking at $731.25. Ideally it would be cheapest to have the shop do the pre-pull and tie down only, and you replace the door. But you'd have to either tow it there, drive there without a door, or do it at there parking lot. Another trick is going to be finding a shop that will make it worth their time to only do the pre-pull.

$55 an hour for frame pulling? i need to move to OR then. no shop will touch a car, regardless of body or mechanical, for less than $120 an hr here. thanks for all the advice, i ended up putting the door on myself, and i had a body shop pull the frame post out, no paint chips or anything so i dont think it needs repainting. the body shop charged $700 for the pull, and to remove/reinstall the fender, which im told is a good price from shopping around CT. you wouldn't know this ever happened, it looks good now

[z31jaime]

Thats a great PRICE. I've seen cars totaled in FL for the same damage, were talking $1000 + for something like that out here.


BTW you should still sue the D-bag.