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Body Shop managers: Book time on on this fender / bumper job

5K views 23 replies 11 participants last post by  painted jester 
#1 ·
while driving home today a girl made a left off the highway off ramp. she was originally headed for the middle lane then changed her mind and swerved for the left most lane...... which i was sorta using at the time ...

I know the cars totaled, but i just want to be able to talk to her insurance company knowing full well what its going to cost.

Car is a 1998 Ford Contour SVT. 109k miles. Heres my parts list & their purchase prices:

Fender: $75
Bumper: $700 (
Fender Liner: $25
Head Light: $200
SVT Grill: $200+
Front strut (Koni Yellow, if avail & if even required) $190+shipping
+ paint the fender, bumper and blend the door as said door is already a bad repaint as far as color match, so the hell if I would want it any worse ....

KBB says cars worth 3k, and i figure this is within a few hundo of that.....

 
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#7 ·
grill and bumper are NOT available at local jy's as they are SVT specific. i can however get my choice of numerous rusty red fender's and sandblasted / oxidized headlights.
 
#8 ·
In this case stick with date coded correct parts, you're only devaluing the car if you throw on a shiny Red fender with headlights that work. Just like all of us here, we want to see Concour's 100 Point restorations. See you at Pebble Beach, I'll be there with my Pristine Chevy Volt.
 
#9 ·
If the plastic headlights are the same plastic as my 1996 Aerostar, they can be polished out. Same process as buffing paint, but you cannot get the plastic warm. Use very slow speeds, and light pressure with a buffer. But before you buff, sand with 400 to 600 grit sandpaper, wet, then work up in grits, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000. Then buff with a rotary buffer, keeping the pad wet. I use Meguire's diamond cut cleaner, or heavy cut cleaner, and finish off with swirl remover. you can use just about any brand of buffing compounds you have, 3M, Mothers, whatever. Thay probably will all work in the headlights.

There may not be a lot of grills, and bumpers around, but I find it hard to believe Ford made only one Contour STV. If you choose, try to get new parts.

But again, it is your car. But if these cars are as rare as you indicate, does that not make them worth more?

The insurance company does not care if you fix the car, or not. All they care about is releasing their liability in this car, as economically as possible, by getting you to sign the check.
Is not the insurance company obligated to replace with "like kind and quality" ? But if you have already signed the check from the insurance company, you have released the insurance company from liability.
 
#10 ·
does the bumper actually need replaced? Is it broken somewhere underneath? If it's just dented/smooshed, take a heat gun or hair dryer to it, get it really warm, then push it into shape from the back with your hand. Hold until it cools and it will keep that shape.
 
#12 ·
The cars being left as is and its getting a custom plate. The name "contour"
has always been shortened by my fiends into what got to be one of the most
loathed words in the English language.

Doesn't help that NYS lists the model as "CNT" on the title.

Also doesnt help that the NYS DMV allows "CNT" on license plates

 
#14 ·
So, Allstate wrote the car for $1350 .... and their adjuster thought he was to smart to talk for me ... ok i dont mind $1350 ....

then Allstate decided that I'm 25% at fault because i didnt avoid their customer by slamming my car into the divider in the center of the road (they didnt say it like THAT but its what i would have had to do)

So now i have a new estimate. $2450 for the repairs not including the busted fog light and the belly pan thats dragging on the ground ..... or any of the possible suspension damage.

i think ill just keep getting estimates till someone writes one for like $3100 and THEN call Allstate back w/ an offer of my own.
 
#16 ·
Insurance companies suck!! I had a similar situation, I was riding my bike on a public road obeying traffic laws, a car does a left turn in front of me across my lane, I wind up on his hood. I wasnt hurt and all I wanted was my back wheel replaced...THEY SAID I DIDNT DO ENOUGH TO AVOID THE ACCIDENT AND THEY WOULDNT PAY!!! I HAD THE RIGHT OF WAY!!! ITS A CRAZY, GREEDY WORLD.
 
#15 ·
I don't know what book value is on your car and I'm not sure how Insurance company's work in the US but in Canada they write a car when the repairs reach a certain percentage of the value. Not sure getting a higher estimate is going to get you more money for the Ford. What you can do is argue with the insurance company for reasons, like low mileage, or that it was in excellent condition prior to the accident...be a PITA and they might give you more just to get rid of you.

That sounded rude...but insurance company's have meetings with adjusters and the adjuster doesn't want a claim outstanding to long, he'll get called on the carpet.

Just a thought
Ray
 
#18 ·
save the bumper even if tabs are broken. Fix them and save tons of money. Replace the fender though. Just the dent itself in a shop atmosphere would call for it to be replaced but the location of the dent is why you should replace it. When it's deformed anywhere near the bumper like that it usually rolls downwards, affecting the gap/fitment to the bumper, headlight, and even the hood. You will also find a bent fender bracket.

I recently swapped out a support on a 07 Jetta and right away I told the boss the fender should be replaced cause it rolled, which is typical procedure if you ask me. He declined(customer pay) cause to the naked eye it looked like a small dent. so I had to bend the fender bracket, bend the area where the bumper mates to the fender, and roll it back over to fix the hood gap. It affected the hood gap cause the fender jamb area wasn't solid across the fender jamb, it has voids so in those areas where there was metal you can clearly see it deformed. So I had to roll it over on top without marring the paint. This was supposed to be a 1.5 hr fix but it turned out to be 2-3 hours to fit right and mocking up hood, bumper, lights, and then mud. This one affected everything which is on the extreme side, but anytime you're hit in that area it will at the very least leave a gap to your bumper. Sometimes it can be so bad you question whether or not it's a good thing to continously put wear on your tabs for the mock up involved. In any case, I personally like those jobs cause you have to figure it out yourself but it can be a headache when someone is expecting that aspect of the repair to go a little quicker or if you don't foresee it being an issue, but once you know to at least mock up your bumper and check fit it's not so bad.
 
#19 ·
When they want to total a vehicle, the usually have a set of comps to compare. I was living in Abilene TX and they used inapproriate vehicles to compare, say a st trans vs auto. And they used prices form El Paso....No one from Abilene shops for cars in ElPaso! Did my own comps, and got them up form 2500 on wife's Elantra to $4000. Just have to out work them and blow up their basis for costing. Best set of numbers (valid) usually wins.
 
#20 ·

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#23 ·
I went to my subscriptions and hit " What did you work on today" thread and there was a page that came up for a moment that said there was a problem and then the box appeared for my post and when I sent it and it appeared it was on that thread LOL it happened both times :confused: That thread isn't even in my subscribed threads list LOL:confused: The error page has come up a few times tonight but I reload after it appears instead of posting, after the first time not to take a chance of it happening again LOL

A glitch of some-kind I guess :confused: LOL

Jester
 
#24 ·
I keep getting this Error page and its getting agrivating because its happening more often!!!! This is the error page that keeps coming up when I try to post:

QUOTE: "Database Error Database error
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Jester
 
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