Look what the insurance wants me to do.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Agian very nice work she turned out great...

[Strodder]

Wow Allan. You are the master. Great job. I hope it paid you well. How come the insurance company didn't total it??

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by bubba327

Really Nice work Alan. In defense of the Insurance Company, They did give you work instead of just totaling it. Some one told me the other day that their shop sees nothing over 2 years old if the airbag is deployed (Disposable little cars) . The insurance just totals it and the shop misses out on the work.

Thanks. Your right it was something to work on.

Originally Posted by 63deluxfleet

wow im just floored by the type of skills you posess. i wish i can be half as good as you. well done

Originally Posted by FRENCHBLUE72

Agian very nice work she turned out great...

Originally Posted by Strodder

Wow Allan. You are the master. Great job. I hope it paid you well. How come the insurance company didn't total it??

Thanks Dennis, I probably broke even on the job. Side hits are one of the worst paying jobs there is as far as collisions go.

I've got another job I did a few years ago it was a F-450 Longhorn and the final cost of repairs was around $38,000. I might post pics of it in time.

[scotts62]

Thats cool Alan! I used to work in a body shop as a body shop mechanic pulling engines and complete wiring harnesses and getting them ready for you guys
I kinda miss it because i thought it was fun, and the best part was seeing what you tore apart into pieces completely rebuilt and seeing it finished

[Strodder]

When I was a BMW Tech at a dealer, I was the main mechanic that tore apart the cars for the body shop. I would take the suspension, engine's, tranny's, complete ABS brake systems, dash boards, wiring, and anything else that was needed to straighten a frame. When the Body Shop was finished and it was painted where they did the frame repair. I would get it back a month later, and even more taken apart from the Body Shop guys, Then I had to replace the bad parts, figure out how it all went back together. After the Body Shop completely finished the car, I would align it. Lucky I worked at the Dealer, and had lots of other new BMW's to see exactly how it should go back together. Like vacuum, fuel, and brake lines. Some guy at the shop would complain that I got all the good work, so they gave the big mouth one of the Body Shop jobs. The A Hole quit before he could put it back to gether. It was a 750 BMW with a 12 cylinder engine. What a jerk. No body complained after that. I made big bucks doing it, and never got a come back. These young kids were the ones that complained the most. The older guys knew better and didn't want to touch them. Except me

[bjcaldwe]

You do great work Alan. I would have no problems riding in something you worked on.

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by Strodder

When I was a BMW Tech at a dealer, I was the main mechanic that tore apart the cars for the body shop. I would take the suspension, engine's, tranny's, complete ABS brake systems, dash boards, wiring, and anything else that was needed to straighten a frame. When the Body Shop was finished and it was painted where they did the frame repair. I would get it back a month later, and even more taken apart from the Body Shop guys, Then I had to replace the bad parts, figure out how it all went back together. After the Body Shop completely finished the car, I would align it. Lucky I worked at the Dealer, and had lots of other new BMW's to see exactly how it should go back together. Like vacuum, fuel, and brake lines. Some guy at the shop would complain that I got all the good work, so they gave the big mouth one of the Body Shop jobs. The A Hole quit before he could put it back to gether. It was a 750 BMW with a 12 cylinder engine. What a jerk. No body complained after that. I made big bucks doing it, and never got a come back. These young kids were the ones that complained the most. The older guys knew better and didn't want to touch them. Except me

I used to do it all, but then the insurance companies started getting cheap and are starting to pay only body rate on some items when it should be at mechanical rate. The insurance will pay a sublet for someone else (an outside company) to do it and it ends up costing more. It would have been cheaper just to pay the shop the mechanical rate.

Originally Posted by bjcaldwe

You do great work Alan. I would have no problems riding in something you worked on.

I really appreciate the vote of confidence.

[Strodder]

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

I used to do it all, but then the insurance companies started getting cheap and are starting to pay only body rate on some items when it should be at mechanical rate. The insurance will pay a sublet for someone else (an outside company) to do it and it ends up costing more. It would have been cheaper just to pay the shop the mechanical rate.

At the BMW, and VW dealer's I worked, they didn't have an in house Body Shop. We used an approved shop to do it. So I did the estimate, and got the insurance company to approve it. I even talked to the inspector, and had to prove what was damaged. That was in 1990, and the mechanical labor for BMW was $75 an hour. When a Body Shop is doing mechanical work the insurance company's chew them down, and only want to pay the body work rate. Times have changed. Not for the better though.

[ravens65]

I had an ss silverado (best truck ever) and totaled it , they fixed it , replaced the frame , front end , and what seemed to be several hundered other parts. it never was right had to trade it in after many attempts to get the body shop to staighten it out . so I got the raw end of the deal , w/ carfax nowadays you can't hide the facts .of course this was one of the best body shops in central fl. that was the prob. -florida is the worst state to get any sevice work done . traded it on a new h-2 and hit a mail box with the mirror , messed up the door and same thing -crap work. the guy asked what did i expect and I said I pulled in with a new hummer and would like to leave with one . northern shops are not this way !!! but I was not driving up north to get it fixed . great job on the car Eric

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by ERIC BUFFARD

I had an ss silverado (best truck ever) and totaled it , they fixed it , replaced the frame , front end , and what seemed to be several hundered other parts. it never was right had to trade it in after many attempts to get the body shop to staighten it out . so I got the raw end of the deal , w/ carfax nowadays you can't hide the facts .of course this was one of the best body shops in central fl. that was the prob. -florida is the worst state to get any sevice work done . traded it on a new h-2 and hit a mail box with the mirror , messed up the door and same thing -crap work. the guy asked what did i expect and I said I pulled in with a new hummer and would like to leave with one . northern shops are not this way !!! but I was not driving up north to get it fixed . great job on the car Eric

It's the hack shops out there that give the industry a bad name. Were the shops you went to a pro shop for your insurance? We get spot checked by the insurance companies that we have a contract with.

Car fax is only as good as the info given. Someone could total there car and pay out of pocket to save it. Nothing gets reported. I repaired a 2 year old 4-runner that was totaled. It was the 4th wreck that their kid had and didn't want to report it to their insurance. They paid over $18,000 to repair it out of pocket.

[1968CHEVYC10]

funny thing, I know a guy that bought a silver mazda sedan with a salvage title, at first i was thinkin' this could be it till I looked at the date.

nice work man it looks great.

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by 1968CHEVYC10

funny thing, I know a guy that bought a silver mazda sedan with a salvage title, at first i was thinkin' this could be it till I looked at the date.

nice work man it looks great.

Appreciate it!!

[Slick17]

You are doing great work for even if it's not the way you'd want to. Damn insurance companies.

[Strodder]

Back in 74 my wife got hit in the right door of our new 73 Gran Torino. The insurance company checked the work, and the had the body shop do it over again. They were supposed to replace the door skin, instead they repaired it. Damn flat raters.

[glock35ipsc]

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

Car fax is only as good as the info given.

I can attest to this! I was rear ended in my 03 ECSB several years ago. The bed was folded in half and mashed up against the back of the cab, so of course the back of the cab was jacked, and the frame was wasted. The shop I took it too is one of the most respected in town. The insurance company made them assemble a new bed piece by piece (no salvage bed for some reason??) but used a salvage tailgate, replaced the back half of the cab, and replaced the frame from just under the cab all the way back, misc drive train parts, etc. The repairs totaled something like $13k.

When I traded the truck off for my 1500HD a year later, the salesman (a friend of 15+ years) asked about any damage. Of course I told him about the wreck. My wife and I took the 1500HD home that night, and when we went back the next day he had got the boss to take an extra $1000 off the price because we were honest and had told him everything about the wreck, and it never showed up on Carfax.

Awesome work man! I'm in awe!

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by Strodder

Back in 74 my wife got hit in the right door of our new 73 Gran Torino. The insurance company checked the work, and the had the body shop do it over again. They were supposed to replace the door skin, instead they repaired it. Damn flat raters.

When I get an estimate from insurance and they want to replace a panel that I can repair I have the estimate corrected to reflect what repair is being done. I don't like busting a factory weld unless I just have too. I can put corrosion protection in it, but it's not as good as factory.

[Strodder]

I hear ya on that, but they did a ****ty job and used a lot of bondo. I'm glad the insurance company was looking out for me.

[jb1016]

So, this might be out of line -- if it is, just say so. But which insurance company was it? I mean, if they are so desperate to save some money (and I can't imagine they saved much) that they would put that car back on the road, I want to avoid them like the plague.

BTW, I'm in awe like everybody else, you do great work.

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by Strodder

I'm glad the insurance company was looking out for me.

Me too.

Originally Posted by jb1016

So, this might be out of line -- if it is, just say so. But which insurance company was it? I mean, if they are so desperate to save some money (and I can't imagine they saved much) that they would put that car back on the road, I want to avoid them like the plague.

BTW, I'm in awe like everybody else, you do great work.

I know people want to know the name of the company, but I don't want this info to get out of hand. I just want people to know how some insurance companies are repairing cars. So if/when the need arises you will be familiar with the process. BTW thanks!!

[jb1016]

Understood.

[198plus]

Nice job Alan

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by jb1016

Understood.

Originally Posted by 198plus

Nice job Alan

Thanks Ronnie!!

[stepside83]

wow just looked throught the thread, and wow that car should of been totaled, im real glad i got out of the autobody industry and just do side jobs for extra money, i went and got my cdl and drive a tri-axle dump truck now, if there doin that where you are i gurntee its the same here fixing cars that need to be in a junk yard good work tho it turned out nice, hope you dont have to do another

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by stepside83

wow just looked throught the thread, and wow that car should of been totaled, im real glad i got out of the autobody industry and just do side jobs for extra money, i went and got my cdl and drive a tri-axle dump truck now, if there doin that where you are i gurntee its the same here fixing cars that need to be in a junk yard good work tho it turned out nice, hope you dont have to do another

Thanks!! I'm sure there will be similar ones to come. There is another bodyman in the shop that has a Honda S2000 that the insurance wants to put a used 1/4 panel on it. He is the claimant. It wasn't even his fault and the other insurance company is putting a used 1/4 on his car. It's a nice S2000 and the customer is paying out of pocket to get the rest of the car painted.

[stepside83]

wow that sucks we had cases like that all the time, bout insurance companys wanting used replacement parts put on a year old or new car, where i worked we also had a case that someone sewed the insurance company for useing old parts on a newer car along with a bunch of other issues, i tell you the insurance companys do what ever they can to get as much money as possible into there pocket and not helping there customers at all