Look what the insurance wants me to do.

[Alan's Classic]

I almost put this in general discussion so more can see it. Maybe it is best here.

It's a very sore subject with me and what the insurance company's can get away with. It's been a slow progression to this point. Insurance companies use to pay for OE parts unless the car was close to totaling. Now it's almost an everyday occurance that they use salvage and aftermarket parts.

I don't have any pics prior to tear down, but you can get an idea.





This is how the insurance company wants to fix it. It does have it's plus', but what a PITA. The body man use to be the expert now the insurance companies are. Who's a$$ will be in trouble if someone gets killed if they are in another wreck? I know that is a loaded question. I know get off the soapbox. LOL



This is a work in progress and this is where it is at right now. I've got alot of cutting, grinding and fitting to do. I'll document how I get this in and I'm curious about other peoples input. If you had 10 people do this same job you'll see 10 different ways of doing it.

[Sillyoldman]

I have no doubt about your work & skills, but I'd never put my family in that car when it's finished. Thats just crazy. Seems like it would be better to take an entire salvage and put the good stuff in it?

[jeffspower]

Let me guess, they already know it's a 23.7 hour job

[79gmcc15]

Ya, I am with som. Not doggin your work. but that sir in my mind is a HUGE LEMON now. I always thought it was Against the law to do that to a unibody.

[BuiltByBrooks]

Wow... Don't under stand why sometimes they don't total stuff like that out...

Cant wait to see some progress!

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by Sillyoldman

I have no doubt about your work & skills, but I'd never put my family in that car when it's finished. Thats just crazy. Seems like it would be better to take an entire salvage and put the good stuff in it?

I would trust my work, but I've seen others that I wouldn't let them work on my lawn mower. Don't get me wrong not all insurance companies, at least in my area, do this kind of stuff. Hopefully they don't follow suit.

Originally Posted by jeffspower

Let me guess, they already know it's a 23.7 hour job

Originally Posted by 79gmcc15

Ya, I am with som. Not doggin your work. but that sir in my mind is a HUGE LEMON now. I always thought it was Against the law to do that to a unibody.

I wouldn't call it a lemon, but it needs to have salvage on the title. IMHO. No matter how good the tech is, it's not restored to factory condition.

Originally Posted by BuiltByBrooks

Wow... Don't under stand why sometimes they don't total stuff like that out...

Cant wait to see some progress!

This is a total, but this is not an uncommon practice for this particular insurance company. I will post progress as I go.

[79gmcc15]

what insurance company? you can PM me if you don't want it public.

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by 79gmcc15

what insurance company? you can PM me if you don't want it public.

Sorry, I hope you understand that I don't want to do any name dropping.

Got some more done. Got the inside cleaned up.



To do this right I cut the outer skin off to access the inside reinforcements.



Then I cut this middle reinforcement off to access the inner reinforcement because I can't weld this portion from inside the car.



This is it removed.



Removing this part without destroying it was a PITA. You can see all of the spot welds in areas an air chiesel can't reach due to the contour. I cut a small window in one spot so I could bust it loose.



This is what was under it and you can see my tape lines for the next cut to enable access to the inner structure for welding. The weld joints need to be staggered.



This is the top of the B pillar with outer skin removed.



Same area with middle reinforcement removed.



I've never seen a dash come out this way. I have removed several and up til this one most of it comes out as a unit. This one comes out in pieces.

[Frizzle Fry]

Seriously, wouldn't it be less work to get a salvage/flooded body, paint it and bolt all the good stuff from this one on it? I guess you run into VIN issues that way...

[Mister laugh]

I'm not knocking your work at all here, i am sure it is top notch, it sure looks so. But if that was my car that WOULD NOT EVER be happening. Here in Canada if a unibody car takes that kind of a hit it is a total (non-repairable) no questions asked. No matter how good the work is that doesn't seem safe to me at all.

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

Seriously, wouldn't it be less work to get a salvage/flooded body, paint it and bolt all the good stuff from this one on it? I guess you run into VIN issues that way...

That would be a better repair.

Originally Posted by Mister laugh

I'm not knocking your work at all here, i am sure it is top notch, it sure looks so. But if that was my car that WOULD NOT EVER be happening. Here in Canada if a unibody car takes that kind of a hit it is a total (non-repairable) no questions asked. No matter how good the work is that doesn't seem safe to me at all.

I agree this car needs to be totaled, no questions asked. I'm the unlucky SOB that gets stuck repairing it. If it were up to me I would have totaled it on the roll back. What choice do I have? My gut tells me I should tell the boss I'm not doing it. But, I've got a family to feed. Getting a job around here is like most other places, they're not easy to come by. Especialy with all of the dealerships that closed. I might get ballsy and tell him again the car needs to be totaled, or he can find someone else to do it. We'll see what transpires.

[bad6772]

Been in this same situation many many times..........I feel for you.......I got out roughly 6 months ago....And other than missing the pay....I havent looked back yet.......I do Street Rods now...So I still get to do my passion....Just not on Totals.....Good Luck......And just curious.....How many hours you getting for that...And did they pay you some drill out time for the salvage part....< that right there is WHY I got out.......

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by bad6772

Been in this same situation many many times..........I feel for you.......I got out roughly 6 months ago....And other than missing the pay....I havent looked back yet.......I do Street Rods now...So I still get to do my passion....Just not on Totals.....Good Luck......And just curious.....How many hours you getting for that...And did they pay you some drill out time for the salvage part....< that right there is WHY I got out.......

I wish I could get out of collision work. I'd get out in a hurry.

Right now it has about 90 hours plus supplement. The estimate has 5 hrs right now for clean up. I supplemented for another 5.0 hrs. I've got 9.0 hours in clean up so far. You can tell what percentage that is.

The more I think about this repair the more I realize how wrong this is. Not that I didn't think is was wrong before, but it is too the point that I need to go with my gut. So I'm going to discuss this with the Boss. I might be on the soup line soon.

[nuke1]

Hmmm, looks all too familiar, been there many times in the industry myself, hate doing it , or should i say hated doing it, i build hot rods and restos now, much better for me, but i do miss the flat rate pay, i averaged 300 a month, and yah if the car was that bad here, i would have gotten all new panels, to do the repair with, or it would have gotten totaled. All in all thou, it is a good hit, but a very fixable hit, i have repaired a whole lot worse in my days, sectioned two cars together to make one, complete centers and so on and forth. it just needs a little tug here and there and done, right! lol . i know your feeling, i often talk to the higher powers to see if it RIGHT to repair he car. Feel for you.

[Mister laugh]

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

That would be a better repair.



I agree this car needs to be totaled, no questions asked. I'm the unlucky SOB that gets stuck repairing it. If it were up to me I would have totaled it on the roll back. What choice do I have? My gut tells me I should tell the boss I'm not doing it. But, I've got a family to feed. Getting a job around here is like most other places, they're not easy to come by. Especialy with all of the dealerships that closed. I might get ballsy and tell him again the car needs to be totaled, or he can find someone else to do it. We'll see what transpires.

I see where you are coming from and don't blame you at all, just like the rest of us you go to work and do your best at what the boss man tells you to do.

[Frizzle Fry]

Don't go and loose your job over it. I've seen enough of your work on here that I know you of all people can make it safe. If you were to step off the job they would find someone else to do it and probably end up with an inferior fix. That's a lose-lose...

[NONHOG]

I dont mind dropping names. But I wont on Alan's thread.
More often than not you go cheap you get cheap.
Read your policy (set aside acouple days)

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by nuke1

Hmmm, looks all too familiar, been there many times in the industry myself, hate doing it , or should i say hated doing it, i build hot rods and restos now, much better for me, but i do miss the flat rate pay, i averaged 300 a month, and yah if the car was that bad here, i would have gotten all new panels, to do the repair with, or it would have gotten totaled. All in all thou, it is a good hit, but a very fixable hit, i have repaired a whole lot worse in my days, sectioned two cars together to make one, complete centers and so on and forth. it just needs a little tug here and there and done, right! lol . i know your feeling, i often talk to the higher powers to see if it RIGHT to repair he car. Feel for you.

Flat rate sucks. I flagged 26.6 hours this week. Flat rate was great prior to 9-11 then went downhill from there. I've been praying for a way out. I would love to have a chance at a rod shop.

Originally Posted by Mister laugh

I see where you are coming from and don't blame you at all, just like the rest of us you go to work and do your best at what the boss man tells you to do.

Amen, brother

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

Don't go and loose your job over it. I've seen enough of your work on here that I know you of all people can make it safe. If you were to step off the job they would find someone else to do it and probably end up with an inferior fix. That's a lose-lose...

If I would have followed thru with my intentions someone else in the shop would be stuck with it, which I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Originally Posted by NONHOG

I dont mind dropping names. But I wont on Alan's thread.
More often than not you go cheap you get cheap.
Read your policy (set aside acouple days)

Bad thing is this is a very common name company.

After I posted my last post of not doing the job, I thought about it some more. To save face so-to-speak, I'll do the job I was hired to do and forget about it. In all reality I believe this might be the best way to repair this one. The piece that I am putting in still has all of the factory spot welds. Just the joints and where it welds to the car will be welded. All of the pinch welds will remain factory. If I had to piece it all together with new parts nothing would have factory welds. Another plus is aligning the doors shouldn't be too much of an issue. For those of you that don't do this for a living, it sucks aligning doors on a side hit. You get paid to replace the doors one time, but with a side hit the doors are R&I several times. Then sometimes when you weld, things might move which causes more problems.

I did talk to the boss and asked him if it was totaled on paper and he said no. We are a DRP (direct repair program) shop. We write the estimates for the insurance and they come out and spot check our estimates and ding the shop (score wise) if there are discrepencies for doing their job. There's so many times that I've done the work and insurance comes out and cuts the labor. The shop usually makes it right, but sometimes they don't. I don't think I'd be able to walk if I contracted a builder to build me a house for 100K and after he finished I told him I will only pay him 80K because he finished it too quick. Anyway back to business.

This dash is such a crazy design. The pile of parts is the visable part of the dash.



This is the dash reinforcment.




Dash removed. Had to remove right door and cowl screen. There were 2 bolts under the cowl.



Outer skin removed.



Reinforcement removed



Ground the spot welds down instead of drilling because of HSS.



Inner removed



B pillar in work.

[Rack Man]

This is ridiculous....How do you even bid a job like this....or do you let the insurance adjuster use his "black Magic" to come up with the cost ?.....

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by Rack Man

This is ridiculous....How do you even bid a job like this....or do you let the insurance adjuster use his "black Magic" to come up with the cost ?.....

I agree it is ridiculous. All the time to replace items are in the computer estimating system. It seems like every year the time gets reduced. I guess they figure we won't notice it if they reduce it slowly. The only judgement items are repair times.

We had a car hit in the front end 4-5 years ago. It came in again with almost the same exact hit. The time on the second hit was 12 hrs less than the estimate 4-5 years ago. That was just comparing the labor to replace the items line for line. This info came from the bodyman working on it. He remembered the car and pulled the history and the estimate then compared the 2. He showed me the estimates and I saw the bottom lines, but didn't study the 2 myself.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Wow, lots of work!

I didn't see it mentioned anywhere and it's bugging me...

What IS that?

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Wow, lots of work!

I didn't see it mentioned anywhere and it's bugging me...

What IS that?

It's a Mazda 3

[bubba327]

Ya know Alan, You are a very handy guy!! Nice work. Too bad the circumstances are not different for you. It is hard to buck authority when they control your paycheck.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by Alan's Classic

It's a Mazda 3

I would have never guessed that!

[Alan's Classic]

Originally Posted by bubba327

Ya know Alan, You are a very handy guy!! Nice work. Too bad the circumstances are not different for you. It is hard to buck authority when they control your paycheck.

Thanks man, and you are right.

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

I would have never guessed that!

Kind of hard to tell what it is right now.

Update on hours the job pays. It now sits at 142. I worked all day today and made some good progress.

Finished removeing the rest of the old metal. Had to cut a section off the outer wheelhouse and also cut and folded up the inner wheelhouse.



Prepped and used some weld thru primer on the areas to be welded.



The used piece went in really nice.













I used this hole for alignment.



Rear door hung and aligned. I wanted to hang the front door, but the door didn't come with any hinges.