Z32 It's Sad Day for me and Z guys

Discussion in 'Non Technical' started by ADAMZX, Nov 15, 2021.

  1. ryzan

    ryzan Moderator Staff Member

    There's a few things here. If the repair shop hasn't disassembled the car any further than the photos you've supplied then they are likely assuming worst case scenario. Likely replacing radiator, ac condenser, intake and everything in front & around it. For me, the deciding factor would be whether or not your chassis rails have been bent, or if the damage is purely cosmetic. Based on the photos I don't think you'd be able to tell this without pulling the front apart, but if the rails are straight then it wouldn't be an overly difficult repair.

    Do you have the option of taking it to another shop to have them quote the work? I would expect it to be a reasonable request to have 2-3 shops quote if you were to ask. If nothing more, I'd be asking to see an itemised quote of what they're proposing to do before making any decusions. If the 7k worth of parts includes pieces that don't really need to be replaced then that's a different story. I don't think you should be angry at the repair shop, they are a business and need to make a profit to survive. Not only that, if they try to cut corners then they're going to be on the hook for future rectification work or issues that arise which no decent business would want.

    Sorry but I'm going to be the one to call it out and say this is completely unacceptable. You seem remorseful about your actions so I will give you credit for that, but it doesn't excuse them. If an inanimate object like a car is going to make you act this way then maybe it's time to site down and have a long, hard think about whether to try and fix it or just cut your losses and move on.

    Which would you rather have - the car, or your family? Because acting like this only lets you keep one. Is any car worth this much emotional distress?
    Either way, time to man the fuck up and do whatever is necessary to make it up to them.
     
    geron, MickW and woofer like this.
  2. geron

    geron National Petroleum Equipm

    what 'ryzan' said mate.
    Family is faaaaaaaar more important than a car. Seriously.
    Imagine if she divorces you, trust me it will be much, much, much more expensive and psychologically taxing than a car. Make it up to your family and apologize ASAP.

    Worst case, get another good Z down the track and transfer all the goodies to it, it will keep you busy for a bit.
    In the meantime, just get a cheap 'descent' daily and be happy, like most of us Z owners have done.
    Z for the occasional weekends only!
     
    woofer likes this.
  3. ADAMZX

    ADAMZX 2000spec Conversion

    I 100% agree with you on everything you pointed out. From my what I could see when I took a good like at the car at the repair shop the impacted area look to have hit just above the month opening in the front bar and everything underneath looked fine. The reo bar absorbed most of the impact very well and I didnt see anything out of the ordinary while looking through the opening.

    When I mentioned to the repairer that the fenders were made metal, then all of sudden stated "well i might have to replace them as they might be buckelled" so I think your absolutely correct in assuming the repairer would cover his bases and just replace the whole front end which would push the repair costs through the roof as we saw.

    I also checked the radiator fan and I was able to freely spin it without issue but due to the placement of the fan shroud it was rubbing up against it at a certain point in the fans rotation. I honestly dont think the radiator, vicious fan and even condensor are damage at all but it was impossible to determine that without dismanteling the front end down more.

    At this point in time, I've been told the car is being assessed and its fate will be decided by the insurance company. I am just waiting to see what happens next. With the outcome I got from the first shop I doubt any others will provided anything different as they would all assume the worst unless they were to actually pull the front bar off and target just the damaged parts only and that would add money and time they probably wouldnt get reimbursted for so its hard to say.

    The shop I went to look very over worked with at least 12 cars crammed into a small sized workshop area and workers all over the place fixing multiple cars at once. My car was in a storage shed next door to the main workshop I saw which the guy said was the only available space they had left to store the ar at that time. Thier website stated they had over 40 years of expeirence in auto body repairs so from all of that information, i could imagine they were just not capable of putting the time and effort to fix my car when they knew it would take months to fix, depending on parts and they had plenty of other easy to fix cars that were much more finanically worth fixing in a much shorter timeframe then mine was.

    With all the stress I took on to try and help the repairer the first time around, I dont think its worth trying that again with another repair shop. Im just going to let shannons write the car off and try and get my car back if they let me. Ive already gone far beyond what i should have in regards to assisting the repair shop with parts and I dont want to go through all that again as it didnt help me get the result I wanted and get the car repaired,
     
  4. ADAMZX

    ADAMZX 2000spec Conversion

    Update time everyone.

    So after 2 weeks of waiting, Shannons finally contacted me to discuss my repair claim and as I was expecting they have written the car off as an "None Ecomonical Write Off" due to the age of the vehicle and the difficultly in sourcing parts for the repairs.

    They then asked me if I wished to keep the car which I did accept and so they gave me a rundown of the deductions I would incurr to take that option which were the salvage cost of the car ($4k) + the amount remaining on my insurance policy with shannons I have left which was just under $900. So I get a total back of $8100 which I think is more then enough to cover the cost of repairs for the car and Ill be keep records of all the money I spend on the repair process so I dont go over budget if I can.

    They will now organise in the next few days to have the car towed to my Dad's place where ill begin the teardown process and repair of the car. Unfortunately with 3 weeks to xmas, I wont be able to start any progress on the car until after new years. By then I should have some free time to go down to my Dad's place and get started on my new build for the car.

    I aksed about what will happen to my rego of the vehicle now that the car is written off. The shannons rep told me the rego will be unaffected by the write off claim as the car is too old to go on a registery. She said I could still get the car roadworthy'd after its repaired to make sure it wont attract police attention in the future.
     
    geron and beaver like this.
  5. NI85

    NI85 Active Member

    On a side note. If you haven't got the car back up and running by the time it needs to be registered again. To put the number plate on hold for a fee. Not sure if Victoria has that option, but it's what I did with my(standard content) number plate in N.S.W, until I was ready to use it again.
     
    geron and ADAMZX like this.
  6. ADAMZX

    ADAMZX 2000spec Conversion

    Thanks for the tip, i was just planning to continue to register the so it doesnt run out. If im lucky and things go my way i estiamte 6 monthish to have the car repair and back on the road. But it doesnt matter whether it takes 6 months or a year ill work on it slowly and do it right the first time.
     
  7. ADAMZX

    ADAMZX 2000spec Conversion

    Final update everyone.

    So my Z is finally back into my hands safe and sound at my Dad's place. There it will be parked in the front yard under cover until after news years when I can start the teardown and rebuild process.

    Shannons did there part and paided me out rather quickly (within 3 days) which is good but I still wanted to get the car back in my possession to finally put this whole ordeal to rest, but after a week of waiting and no phone call from a towing company, I decided to call shannons to get an update and it turns out they hadnt processed the tow for the car as of yet. Thankfully Shannons fast tracked the towing process for me during that call which was yesterday and to my surprise the car got delivered today.

    I can now close this chapter in my car's life and begin a new one in 2022.
     
    geron, NI85, Martin Williams and 2 others like this.
  8. ADAMZX

    ADAMZX 2000spec Conversion

    Well guys i guess i better update everyone on the new developments that have occured regarding this accident as it current stands

    So i got a random phone call the week before xmas and it turns out it was a shannons investigator who wanted to inform me that the person I hit wants to claim $80k in damages to his car which has now reopened the claim and now I have to go through all of this bs to satisfy Shannons for something.

    So far Ive had to do a recorded over the phone testimony of my story of events regarding the accident with this shannons investigator and then as part of the whole process I then needed to to a in person tesimony with an independant investigator firm which I undertook via a zoom call with a bloke yesterday due to current covid crap going on right now.

    I figured I was in the clear after the zoom call but the investigator call me again today to tell me shannons now want a whole bunch of formal documentation from me regarding my purchase history of tyhe car, service history, phone call recordes, bank statements I am freaking out massively right now.

    I know I have nothing to hide but i just dont understand why all of this information matters to shannons at all when i have been paid out, I no longer a customer of shannons and will never be again and I just want to put this all behind me but this little prick of a guy things he can claim a whole cars worth of repairs for a minor accident.
     
  9. NI85

    NI85 Active Member

    $80,000! That seems unnecessary high: on the point of fraudulence . You can report that to the police.
    ---
    Quote from NSW police website: "Fraud is broadly defined as an act on behalf of a person that is deceptive or deceitful in some way in that it causes them to receive a benefit that they are not entitled to. In this way some other person or organisation to suffer some disadvantage."
     
    ADAMZX likes this.
  10. IB

    IB ?????

    $80k, what car did you run into?
     
  11. ADAMZX

    ADAMZX 2000spec Conversion

    A merc 525i and the impact though in my mind is low it still pushed the guy i hit into the back of another car which had a towbar on it and so the driver siad my car is undamaged and drove off after we exchanged numbers.

    This guy i hit wants to claim the doors were all damaged for example from the accident along with all of this stuff i believe is totally not related to the accident including the airbags which he claims went off yet he drove the car away from the accident scene.

    I have photos i took of the scene of his car which i can post so you can all get an idea of his car and let me tell you is car doesnt even look damaged that bad at all. I think i got off worst then him.
     
  12. ADAMZX

    ADAMZX 2000spec Conversion

    Just incase anyone is wondering the condition of the other car from the accident here are the photos I took of the scene moments after the crash. Its not much I kow and I wish I had tak en alot more photos to cover more of what this guys car was like after I hit him. I have blanked out his licence plate to cover any kind of possible privacy crap that may come from me posting this online obliviously.

    Here is the rear impact zone

    [​IMG]

    and here is the front impact zone

    [​IMG]

    He claims in his repair quote a full list of damaged parts including all 4 doors were damaged from the accident along with the door handles, fuel door, front grill, radiator, condenser, some of the a pillar structure in the front and back of the car, the front parking sensors, front bar, rear bar and even the airbag deployed as well. Yet he drove off from the accident scnene without issues.

    Ive spoken to alot of mechanics over the past month and not one of them believes from these 2 photos his car sustained that much damaged to warrant an 80K repair bill and that he is dragging this out for a big payout.

    Its also become apparant to me that I think that these investigators think that this accident was all planned by myself and this guy for insurance fraud or something becuase the information they are requesting from me is stupid and has nothing to do with the accident unless they are trying to find some sort of connection that Ive spoken to him on the phone pror to the accident and or someone has been paided off between me and him somehow and I feel really targeted by the investigators with no explaination as to why they need these documents when I have been paided out and am no longer a shannons customer. I dont know anything about all the legal stuff but to me this isn't my problem anymore and that they should be dealing with this guy themselves.

    I have nothing to hide and I plan to give them some of the documents they requested but man has this esclated so badly all becuase some idoit thinks he can claim 80k in damages for a minor bingle.
     
  13. ADAMZX

    ADAMZX 2000spec Conversion

    So it seems i have an explanation for whats happening. My mother rang the insurance ombudsman about my situation and they told her that apparantly a few dodgy people out there are frauding the system by having one of the drivers in an insurance claim get a large payout for an accident and then split the payout between the 2 parties. The insurance companys have court on and thats why this happening to me, they want me to prove my innocents and that im not getting some sort of payout from this guy. What a joke
     
  14. NI85

    NI85 Active Member

    Not that it particularly helps now. But an FYI for anyone in an accident, it needed to be reported to the police so they can do an incident report.(only move cars from scene to safety off road if they are blocking traffic)

    Also as the the Mercedes hit the other car in front of him, for him it would be classed as negligence driving too as he did not leave sufficient room in front of his car. (despite being shunted forward)
     
    ADAMZX likes this.
  15. ADAMZX

    ADAMZX 2000spec Conversion

    Your right and i was asked the question about police involvement during my interviews but it never occured to me to call them. I was not thinking straight and very emotional so i just wanted to get me car sent off to the repairers to get it fixed asap and as i said this guy seemed quite calm and not angry at me at all after the accident which was a relief for me at the time but i knew i had fucked up and i had not just wrecked my car but his car too so you would expect him to be upset but he just wasnt.

    Yes i never thought i that and your right he is also at fault too but as ive come to terms with all this, i dont think they are even caring about that now among other details he has done to question even the dumbest of people which they dont seem to care about as well. And im specifically speaking about his claim that the airbag deloying becuase of the accident and yet he clearly drove off from the scene.

    Whatever the case maybe be i now have to prove my innocences to these investigators and supply them with whatever documents they want and maybe then when they find nothing at all they will drop me from this investigation and i can move on with me life.
     
  16. Dreilide

    Dreilide New Member

    Wow you hit an S-class? Talk about bad luck :( They're expensive cars with a alot features/electronic gizmos, 80K still seems steep but i wouldn't be surprised to see multiple tens of thousands to repair a car that complicated.

    All the best for the rebuild
     

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