# Nothing like an accident to start your day



## chivas (Aug 31, 2002)

What a wonderful day it is. I'm sitting in front of my laptop at home reading my mail and the board and shaving, you know, the usual mornin' stuff. I hear diesel motors going outside. now, usually one diesel motor doesn't peak my interest since the kid across the street is handicapped and needs to take a special bus to school. But this morning, i hear 2 diesel motors going. peaking out the window i see this water truck trying to wedge by the bus. he gets thru with no incident. i go about my day to the bathroom to check my shaving when my gf hears a knock on the door and comes rushing to me: "um... i think they hit your car."

i drop what i was doing and started to walk out... with no shoes on. silly me. i turn around (28 degrees cement is VERY VERY cold) and jumped into my slip-on's (no, the are NOT clogs!). i rush outside and see, yep, the school bus 10 mm off the driver side fender. I look down and what do you know, the bumper is push-twisted. i look around and the brake duct is off, the grill is snapped and for some odd reason, it looks like it's been pulled out a bit; i guess the 45 degree impact (more like a nudge) pushed it out, you know what i mean how plastic bends a certain way when pushed? the push also screwed up the passenger side where it links up to the wheel well.

So i run back in, grab my camera (gotta document this!) and took some pictures (at work, can't upload to my server just yet). The bus driver was buggin out. He was like: "i'm so sorry... my last accident was 25 years ago... etc.." I was like: "nobody's hurt so let's just go thru the procedures and go about our way." And that's the truth, i've been in accidents before and at the end of the day a car is just a hunk of metal on 4 rubber wheels; person's well-being is more important. So i called Fort Lee police 3 times. first time i was disconnected during the automated transfer. second time their line was busy. finally got thru the third time and just asked for an officer to stop by to write a report up. I sat in the bus with the driver (it was 28 degrees out) and he was saying how sorry he was and how now at work the number is going back to 1 after, i think he said 150 days accident free thing. 

Anyways, the cop wrote everything up and gave both of us a slip with the report #, his badge #, his name, and directions/info to the HQ to pick up the report. I just got off the phone with the insurance company and i have opted that i'll be contacting their insurance company to pay for the fix. is that a good idea? never done it this way before. the last time i was in an accident the body shop contacted the insurance company and did all that.

what a way to start a morning. I think i'm going to bring my car to JMK to get it fixed. should i bring it tomorrow or should i bring it when the insurance is squared away?

Thanks for any input on this.


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## PropellerHead (Jan 3, 2002)

chivas said:


> I think i'm going to bring my car to JMK to get it fixed. should i bring it tomorrow or should i bring it when the insurance is squared away?
> 
> Thanks for any input on this.


Wouldn't hurt to go ahead and get the appointment scheduled and any parts the body shop may need ordered. I'd stop in for the estimate to accomplish that. Also, the ins co may want to send you to one of their places. You can be firm and insist that they use your body shop and your figure. They know that you can just reinstate your ins co for resolution and they could have a much bigger fight in their hands.

Great attitude, btw. :thumbup:


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## chivas (Aug 31, 2002)

PropellerHead said:


> Wouldn't hurt to go ahead and get the appointment scheduled and any parts the body shop may need ordered. I'd stop in for the estimate to accomplish that. Also, the ins co may want to send you to one of their places. You can be firm and insist that they use your body shop and your figure. They know that you can just reinstate your ins co for resolution and they could have a much bigger fight in their hands.
> 
> Great attitude, btw. :thumbup:


i'm just going to go with my body shop and if they don't like it, they really can't do anything about it. it's not like a law where i have to go with what they say. figure they're out to screw me so why bend over?


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## ·clyde· (Dec 26, 2001)

chivas said:


> I was like: "nobody's hurt so let's just go thru the procedures and go about our way." And that's the truth, i've been in accidents before and at the end of the day a car is just a hunk of metal on 4 rubber wheels; person's well-being is more important.


It is so refreshing to hear something like this compared to the "this is the worst day of my life, I think I'm going to die because I just got a door ding." It's also nice to hear of an incident with someone that likely has some deep pockets and there's no asking of how you can pocket the most. :thumbup: Just asking what's the best route to take to get it fixed. Very, very cool.

Get an estimate at your convienience. If your shop isn't on their list, they will probably want to have their adjustor look at it too, but they can do it anywhere if the car isn't driveable. If it is driveable (and it sounds like it is), depending on who the carrier is, they may ask you to bring it somewhere specific or arrange for a time and place. When it comes to where the work is to be done, that's all up to you. They might make noise, but it's your decision.

Good luck!


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## Ågent99 (Jan 7, 2002)

I usually just call my own insurance company and let them do everything but that depends on your insurance company. Geico has been great to me in that respect so I have no worries. All my obligations are to get an estimate at their place and then I take it to my preferred bodyshop and then the bodyshop deals with Geico to get the rest of the money if needed. Also, Geico gets my deductible with them back and anything else extra (car rental, stuff like that).


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## BrettInLJ (Oct 3, 2003)

Going through my own insurance was the worst mistake I made when my Acura RSX was totaled after being hit from behind by a 18-wheeler. The would not pay me for accessories like the body kit (factory), spoiler, etc. I have Mercury who are notorious for that kind of thing though. Since it was clearly the other person's fault and they have reputable insurance, I highly recommend filing the claim through them.


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## FireWalker (Apr 19, 2004)

I would be furious ... for the first few seconds. It's always painful to see one's baby hurt.  
Do you have a designated parking space there? If not, I would park away from the corners.
In this case, I think it's the right move to deal with their insurance company. This way you won't have to pay any deductible upfront, and if you get any hustles, you can always let your insurance company take over. 
In many states, you have the right to take you car to the shop of your choice, but it's a good idea to get at least two estimates.
In addition to the repair costs, you should also ask to be compensated for the "diminished value", as the car with an accident history is worth less than a similar car without one.
Good luck and let us know the outcome.


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## chivas (Aug 31, 2002)

·clyde· said:


> It is so refreshing to hear something like this compared to the "this is the worst day of my life, I think I'm going to die because I just got a door ding." It's also nice to hear of an incident with someone that likely has some deep pockets and there's no asking of how you can pocket the most. :thumbup: Just asking what's the best route to take to get it fixed. Very, very cool.
> 
> Get an estimate at your convienience. If your shop isn't on their list, they will probably want to have their adjustor look at it too, but they can do it anywhere if the car isn't driveable. If it is driveable (and it sounds like it is), depending on who the carrier is, they may ask you to bring it somewhere specific or arrange for a time and place. When it comes to where the work is to be done, that's all up to you. They might make noise, but it's your decision.
> 
> Good luck!


well, i might go for a M5 bumper if things work out. who knows.. i'll be happy with it being fixed but diminished value of the car needs to be compensated with a M5 bumper and associated assessories.


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## chivas (Aug 31, 2002)

Pictures:

You can see this is how it looked when the bus first *******









Noticed the funny looking bumper:









This is about 10mm:









Doesn't this just suck?









That circle tube thing... that's be back of the brake duct.


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## xspeedy (Apr 10, 2003)

I'd be pissed. Why the hell did he have to get that close? Sheesh!


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## chivas (Aug 31, 2002)

what you don't see is that there's a crack in the fog light. didn't know where it came from but i noticed it this afternoon when i showed my co-worker what happened.


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## chivas (Aug 31, 2002)

xspeedy said:


> I'd be pissed. Why the hell did he have to get that close? Sheesh!


he was letting a water truck pass so he tired ot move aside some more... a little too much more.


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## Ågent99 (Jan 7, 2002)

Hey, all I see right now are red x's....


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## chivas (Aug 31, 2002)

Ågent99 said:


> Hey, all I see right now are red x's....


sorry, i took it down until the adjustor is done. should be about a couple of days.


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## shabbaman (Dec 16, 2002)

chivas said:


> What a wonderful day it is. I'm sitting in front of my laptop at home reading my mail and the board and shaving, you know, the usual mornin' stuff. I hear diesel motors going outside. now, usually one diesel motor doesn't peak my interest since the kid across the street is handicapped and needs to take a special bus to school. But this morning, i hear 2 diesel motors going. peaking out the window i see this water truck trying to wedge by the bus. he gets thru with no incident. i go about my day to the bathroom to check my shaving when my gf hears a knock on the door and comes rushing to me: "um... i think they hit your car."
> 
> i drop what i was doing and started to walk out... with no shoes on. silly me. i turn around (28 degrees cement is VERY VERY cold) and jumped into my slip-on's (no, the are NOT clogs!). i rush outside and see, yep, the school bus 10 mm off the driver side fender. I look down and what do you know, the bumper is push-twisted. i look around and the brake duct is off, the grill is snapped and for some odd reason, it looks like it's been pulled out a bit; i guess the 45 degree impact (more like a nudge) pushed it out, you know what i mean how plastic bends a certain way when pushed? the push also screwed up the passenger side where it links up to the wheel well.
> 
> ...


Wow, sorry to hear about your incident. These things happen, I guess.

I agree with your intuition to take the car to JMK. They are very good and from what I've heard have a great body shop. Last year my front wheel had an unscheduled meeting with a curb so I had the car towed to JMK. About $1000 in labor and parts later (not including the rim), I was back on the road with a perfectly fixed front end.

Normally I use my home dealer, Park Ave, for service but when it comes to 'real' work that needs to be addressed I would only use JMK.


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## chivas (Aug 31, 2002)

shabbaman said:


> Wow, sorry to hear about your incident. These things happen, I guess.
> 
> I agree with your intuition to take the car to JMK. They are very good and from what I've heard have a great body shop. Last year my front wheel had an unscheduled meeting with a curb so I had the car towed to JMK. About $1000 in labor and parts later (not including the rim), I was back on the road with a perfectly fixed front end.
> 
> Normally I use my home dealer, Park Ave, for service but when it comes to 'real' work that needs to be addressed I would only use JMK.


you got balls to use Park Ave service... how do they treat you? their parts department is great but their service... eh...


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## The BoatMan (Apr 2, 2002)

I've always has great work done at Park Ave service. They've treated me the best out of gearhart, jmk, hunterdon and park ave. I've tried them all for service.

I had about 10k worth of deer damage fixed at the JMK autobody shop. They do great work. 2 years ago and no problems since. Good luck.


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## shabbaman (Dec 16, 2002)

chivas said:


> you got balls to use Park Ave service... how do they treat you? their parts department is great but their service... eh...


They've always treated me well but it's a very rocky road when it comes to Park Ave service. It seems like they do 90 - 95% of the job correctly and well but spaz out on the last 5%. 
Examples include:
1 - After the 15000 mile sevice I noticed that the HVAC filter covers were not seated or closed properly.

2 - The trunk panel kinda unglued itself from the trunk frame in one spot so when you pressed on it you can hear it stick and unstick. To fix the problem they needed to remove the carpeting from the trunk door. Before I picked up the car I decided to review their work. Lo and behold, they didn't attach the carpeting back properly. I call the SA, he calls the tech. 30 seconds later, I'm on the road.

3 - Foglight went out so I call up and ask to schedule an appointment. They say I don't need an appointment - come on in anytime - will only take a minute. So I come in they take the car inside. So I'm waiting for 10, 20, 25 minutes and finally the car arrives. SA askes the tech if he wants to RO the car. Tech says nah, it's ok. A month or so later I'm detailing the car and I just start laughing when I notice the broken foglight housing. No wonder he didn't want to RO the car. When I brought my car back a few months later and relayed the story back to the SA they replaced the housing without issue.

4 - Early on, during one of my first 2 or 3 visits one of the techs left a pretty nice wrench in my trunk.

5 - I just started doing my own oil changes. When I removed the oil filter I noticed that there was no metal O-ring on the filter housing. There was one in the pouch that the filters came with but there was nothing on the filter housing. Changed the oil on my dad's car and again, on O-ring. I don't know if the O-ring is important or not, I'm guessing it is, why else would BMW think to include it with the package in the first place, right?

6 - Car went in for a right front bearing replacement. After I picked up the car I don't think I got more than 50 feet before I made a U-turn and came back. Wheel felt like it was about to fall off. I get the SA, SA gets the tech. Tech takes the car back inside where he procedes to tighten the tie rod (or the control arm, can't remember). Guess road testing isn't as important as CONFIDENCE!

They're OK, I guess. They will do whatever they have to to fix the car right, it's just that you may need to get on them to make sure that they do their work right. That's why I think more highly of JMK when it comes to more serious issues. I just trust them better.


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## shabbaman (Dec 16, 2002)

02330ci said:


> I've always has great work done at Park Ave service. They've treated me the best out of gearhart, jmk, hunterdon and park ave. I've tried them all for service.
> 
> I had about 10k worth of deer damage fixed at the JMK autobody shop. They do great work. 2 years ago and no problems since. Good luck.


JMK is very inconvenient for me, especially since they won't give loaners to non-JMK purchasing customers but they do good work. Personally, I like to deal with Hilario over there. He's been there a while and he's very good at taking care of the customer. But it's like anything else, the reason I get good service from SA's is that I look for ways to take care of them.


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