accident

[bign]

So my car slid into a curb yesterday at about 10mph or so. It pushed the front right wheel back so I had to have it towed to Subaru for an estimate and it came out to $4,800. They quote one OEM BBS at around $1,000 which is nice because the replacement wheel is about $200, guess I can use the extra money to help pay off my soon to be increased insurance.

I imagine I could find a place to do it cheaper, and get all the OEM parts for much less if I order them myself. Do you guys think I should just let Subaru do it, or is there another place that I might end up better off?

[100_Percent_Juice]

WTH? They quote an OEM wheel at $1000?

[bign]

Yeah, I don't have the sheet with me but I asked them about it. It said

disc,wheel $1,xxx

or something along those lines. Pretty crazy the prices they quote.

[bign]

The most I have done suspension wise myself is change out springs, how hard would it be to replace everything on my own. Is there any special tools required or is it just time consuming.

[Kevin M]

Originally Posted by 100_Percent_Juice

WTH? They quote an OEM wheel at $1000?

Dealer cost is like $2800 per set.

[Kevin M]

Originally Posted by bign

The most I have done suspension wise myself is change out springs, how hard would it be to replace everything on my own. Is there any special tools required or is it just time consuming.

If you didn't damage the frame rail, it's pretty easy to do that stuff yourself, provided you didn't damage the front diff. Replacing a strut and control arm is an afternoon's work though, even for a novice.

[van]

Originally Posted by Kevin M

If you didn't damage the frame rail, it's pretty easy to do that stuff yourself, provided you didn't damage the front diff. Replacing a strut and control arm is an afternoon's work though, even for a novice.

Yeah, pretty easy to replace, especially with air tools

[Jesubi11]

You could also score everything you need from nasioc in the salvage thread. You could save some coin.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=162

[sperry]

The job's not too hard to do yourself as long as it's just replacement of bolt-on parts and you're mechanically inclined.

I just had to do it myself this summer:

[Dean]

What they said! As long as you did not bend the subframe.

I would not have Lithia do the work. Get the Insurance check and get the parts from a dismantler in Raancho Cordova or elsewhere on the Intarweb.

I have the email for the guy in Texas that I got my engine from...

[Bob Danger]

4800 bucks, that a shit load of damage for 10mph. I wonder if Lithia is trying to get all they can out of the insurance company, the damage may not be all that bad. Unless of course, it was going faster.

The real question is how does a car drive its self into a curb?

[Dean]

Originally Posted by Bob Danger

The real question is how does a car drive its self into a curb?

Snow Donkeys with remote controls of course.

[Kevin M]

Snow Donkeys have joined forces with HypnoToad to take over the world.

[TahoeTom]

Petco in carson had HypnoToad's on sale for the hloidays, like 399.99, thats not bad for an animals that can control ur mind.......

[100_Percent_Juice]

Hypno Toads? WTH are you guys talking about. Someone fell asleep watching Narnia.

[MPREZIV]

Futurama. Get with it Juice!

[100_Percent_Juice]

I have not seen an episode of that since slurms mckenzie.

[Dewey]

About time to get back on track.. I'm watching the moon delivery episode right now.

[Bob Danger]

Originally Posted by Dewmudgeon

About time to get back on track.. I'm watching the moon delivery episode right now.

That's episode 2

[WRXlerate]

Definitely DO NOT have Lithia do the work!!! Read my vendor review of them for my horror story. I've had really good experiences with Concours.

[100_Percent_Juice]

Originally Posted by Dean

Get the Insurance check and get the parts from a dismantler

I wanted to bump for a question. My wife was in another accident with some kid bashing the rear bumper. We both have State Farm and there has not been an estimate or anything done yet. How does one go about getting a check from the insurance company and just doing the work myself? I wouldn't be thinking about doing it myself if there was serious damage but, it appears to be mainly cosmetic and the VUE is all plastic anyways so there is no metal work to be done.

[Kevin M]

If you still owe on the car, usually the insurance company will not give you the check. They will reimburse you or pay the shop directly though. If you have it paid off, they will cut you the check for their repair estimate.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by Kevin M

If you still owe on the car, usually the insurance company will not give you the check. They will reimburse you or pay the shop directly though. If you have it paid off, they will cut you the check for their repair estimate.

Actually, if you're not at fault and you're getting paid by the other party's ins. company, I bet you can get them to cut you a check by calling them up and being a squeaky wheel. The last thing the other ins. company wants is you suing their customer over their bad driving... they usually really want the issue settled as painlessly as possible.

However, if the claim is going through your own ins. company, I would guess it'll be harder to get them to play ball... but I don't see how it has anything to do w/ having a lien on the car or not. I doubt the ins. company cares if you or the bank owns the car. I do see how the bank might care that you're not properly repairing their collateral and pocketing the cash... but I would think that would be a clause in the loan on the car or something and not specific to the insurance company's policy.

[cody]

Originally Posted by Kevin M

If you still owe on the car, usually the insurance company will not give you the check. They will reimburse you or pay the shop directly though. If you have it paid off, they will cut you the check for their repair estimate.

That was my experience with Progressive. When I last crashed my car a couple years ago, I still owed money on it. I had the car repaired, but the bodyshop was willing to let me do whatever I wanted with parts money. For example the insurance company gave me something like $1200 for two damaged wheels and $300 for the tires. The body shop just gave me that money since I brought them another set of wheels and tires to put on the car. There were countless other parts I went aftermarket for, etc. When I picked up the finished car, they cut me a check for all of the parts that they didn't have to purchase but the insurance company had paid them for, minus my $500 deductable.

Okay, that part wasn't really all that relevant but this part is. Before I even drove the car off or signed anything, I called my agent and complained about the paint job and several other little things. Progressive paid to have the little things fixed...and agreed to give me $1750 since "you can't color match yellow". Progressive wouldn't cut me that check until I had the car painted or paid the car off. I paid the car off and as soon as I faxed them a copy of the pink slip, they sent me a check for $1750. Mind you this was a year later and I wasn't even with Progressive anymore.

[100_Percent_Juice]

We just got the title for the car in the mail last month. I am officially car payment free. So I guess I can get the estimate and then ask for a check. I assume they will want pictures of the car repaired and that's fine. Thanks for the input.