narphenal

You may have seen me posting in the recent pics thread over the past 24 hours in regards to the accident that occurred in my Mustang on Sunday, February 9, 2014. I decided to make this thread for a few reasons; one, to not spam the recent pics thread with update. Two, to give people an insight on the situation, and help those who might need it learn from my predicament, and three, to maybe get some advice from other Mustang Source members and learn from their experiences. Also, the title of the thread is satirical, I realize it isn't that bad...

But before we get started, here is a little insight to my car:

I picked my 2014 Mustang GT Premium w/ Track Pack, Electronics, and Security package on Friday, November 29th, black friday. Woke up at 5:00AM and flew from my hometown, to Houston, Tx, where I purchased it from Mac Haik, and then proceeded to drive 550 miles back home. It was love at First Gear pull(along the service road right next to the dealership). My first car financed by myself. I had lusted after one for years, until I found the one I knew was perfect for me.

Hands down, this was the best I've ever taken care of a car. Complete detail once a week. Waxed every few weeks. Aftermarket stuff poured in, Louvers, WeatherTech Mats, a CS Spoiler, Corsa QuadTips, so on and so forth. The stuff I hadn't ordered yet was always fresh on my mind when I put in extra overtime in every situation I could. My Saturday night, February 8 was spent by cleaning, polishing, and waxing my car, down to the point of pulling the wheels off and cleaning the fender wells, for about 4-5 hours. And then the following day, on Sunday, February 9, I was hit in a parking lot when leaving the store. Long story short, I was driving out of the parking lot when a lifted dodge truck started backing up, vision blocked by the setting sun, and caved in my passenger side fender. No one was hurt, the guy was extremely nice and apologetic, we swapped info, and no cops were called to the scene. After losing my voice from screaming on the way home, and going through a slew of emotions, I called his insurance company and reported the claim. They told me I would be contacted by an adjuster within the next 48 hours.

I went from being mad, to being sick to my stomach. "I could of done this; I should have done that", so on and so forth. This went on for a few hours, but then I realized, things could be worse. See, I am a firm believer in everything happening for a reason. The only bad mistakes are the ones that we do not draw lessons from. Every experience that we have in life is simply an opportunity to grow as a person. Overall, the damage wasn't huge, no one got hurt, and I don't really have much else to complain about, as long as the problem is completely and sufficiently fixed by the insurance company.

This picture is from the Saturday before the accident, after polishing and waxing.

The following pictures show the damage done, as you can see, it just affected the fender and fender liner. Luckily, it missed the wheel, and it missed the door. Probably one of the best places to get hit, if you absolutely had to get hit.


The following day, on Monday the 10th, I was contacted by the adjuster who asked me a few questions and then told me that I would shortly be contacted by an Appraiser/Estimator, which was also followed by a text message informing me that I would be contacted shortly, which I thought was cool. Shortly after, I received a call, and setup an appointment at my work for midday on Tuesday, the 11th.

Overall, everything is going really smooth. The plan right now is just to ensure they replace the whole fender, as well as work out something as far as the diminished/depreciated value of the car pending the wreck of a two month old car. I also plan on using the repair shop of my local dealer, Sewell Ford, pending how long the wait on their backlog currently is. If not, I might try and get it scheduled somewhere else.

Ordered an MGW shifter to help cope with it, and can't wait to get it back to top shape so I can start ordering some other parts

I'll try to keep this thread updated while I go through the process and answer any questions that you guys might have.

m4tic

awwww mann... that sucks i was about to vulture your brakes... I'm just kidding.... I do hope everything gets sorted and you have your ride back in one piece. The worst of this is you knowing it was hit for the rest of your ownership.

woodzusa

Wish you the best on the diminished value.
Years ago, I had a BMW 328IC and it was hit from the front by an older woman in a tank of a Buick. The damage was something around 7K. I fought with her insurance company for months trying to recover the diminished value. If I recall it is up to the state to define if the insurance provider is required to provide that (could be wrong, it has been 12 years ago).


When I had my 2011 V6 mustang, it was cleaned and waxed regular. My stupid self pulled out of the garage one day and didn't notice a box in my garage by my passenger side. Well I hit the box which in turn knocked over my ladder on the wall which in turn landed on my hood. Wanted to kick my own butt for that.

Varilux

I have had that sick feeling you describe just last year... I was driving the '65 Mustang I restored (have to have at least 2,000 hours in this thing) and a lady rear ended me on I-35. Nothing major, but I just wanted to throw up...

One question- where in the world did you find a Ford dealership owned by Sewell? I've purchased 4 cars from them, and the only reason I didn't order my '14 Mustang GT from them is I didn't think they owned a Ford dealership. (Sewell rocks :^).

Good luck with the repair... the lady that hit me had Progressive, and everything was handled nice and easy (and I took the opportunity of having to have the rear valence done to upgrade to the GT dual exhaust rear valence.

puma1552

I doubt they will replace the fender, but they might. Any body man worth his salt should be able to straighten that out perfectly. Some guy hit the big fender flare of my wife's 3 week old Beetle with a piece of furniture while moving it between cars; I pushed for replacement, no shop even entertained the idea. In the end, the repair is absolutely flawless.

A replacement would be nice, but then you have to deal with the fact that the new fender will no longer be an original, VIN stamped panel (assuming these cars have vin tags on every panel like a lot of the older ones do but I'm not sure that's the case).

Best of luck either way, however it's done I'm sure it will look good as new.

narphenal

Odessa/Midland area. Unfortunately the markup is ridiculous in the area due to the oilfield. My family has bought most of our cars through Sewell, so they usually take care of us well.

narphenal

The pictures don't really do the damage justice. It looks much worse in person, which was told to me by everyone I sent pictures to, then later seen in person.

Part of the frame is actually poking though the body panel. Looking at the cost of the fender, I won't settle for less than anything under replacing it.

Varilux

BTW, sweet looking ride... like the quad exhaust (I put GT500 axlebacks on my GT).

FromZto5

Narph, as I stated in the other thread, best of luck sir. She will be back and looking like new in no time. And remember to be careful with the shop you choose

conv_stang

that sucks man...they might replace the render. Probably cheaper than letting the body guy spend that many hours fixing it.

David Young

I feel for you A good body shop will make your Mustang as good as new. When i got my rear quarter panel hit and replaced, my body shop told me the hardest part was matching the 'orange peel' the factory paint job had

5.M0NSTER

Oh wow, that's rough. But the body shop will make her all pretty again. Hang in there man.

narphenal

Here is a pic that shows the damage quite a bit more. Again, everyone up at work said the same thing, the pictures aren't near as bad as it is in person.

Notice the distortion of the panels on the outside panels and the door, as well as the leading roof line. Luckily, there is minimal distortion on the hood line, and it did not contact the hood itself.

Still waiting on the estimation, which will happen today, but the collision center at Sewell Ford is roughly a 1-2 week backlog, which is a huge sigh of relief.

wanted33

narph, I understand completely. The left front fender of the Wifey's got buggered-up in a little accident last summer. The damage was to the section in front of the tire being the only difference from yours. When ask my dealers body shop didn't have any problem with replacing the entire fender. Hopefully your dealer can do the same for you. Good luck.

FromZto5

Narph... after looking at the pics closer, esp your most recent one above ^.

My wife has put our vehicles (yes, even my Acura, and others) through the ringer a few times. She somehow is a magnet for fender benders, either caused by her inability to judge the vehicle's width and length, which boggles and infuriates me to no end. So much so, that I have become VERY good friends with my trusted body shop. I kid with him that I put his kids through college

Anyways, my point is, the damage to the cars that she's done has been a LOT worse than that. You'd be surprised at some of the skills of these shop guys nowadays, esp GOOD ones. I guess it all depends on your assessor/insurance. But my "guess" is that a good shop will be able to fix that, like new, with no new panel needed. If I were you, I'd actually push for that, so that you keep the original panel intact, while lessening the impact to your diminished value (if at all).

CiniZter

Narphs.. i m new to texas.. so dont know if dealership reports to carfax for this type of repairs.. they way i had claimed for dimish value was.. i took the car after repairs to carmax to get an appraisal, the quote came 8500$ below the KBB price. i took this to insurance company and did the diminishing value claim... after several phone calls to agents back n forth i got the difference paid. not sure if this applies to you however dont mind asking...

narphenal

Well, the appraiser came buy my work today to create a report to give to the insurance company, and was a third party. The one piece of advice I can give for this is to make sure your car is spotless, sans the damage. That includes all your taco bell receipts and dirty floor mats! Luckily, I had completely detailed my car prior to the accident, and it still looks fantastic, as noted by the appraiser. This appraiser is essentially getting as much data off of the car for her report to send to the insurance company, and is going to photograph every square inch of the car. Now, to which extent this will affect anything, I have no idea. But, I would much rather give off the vibe that the car is very well taken care of(as it was) than to have stuff slewed about the interior, and have the exterior dirty. The appraiser stated multiple times how "clean" the car was, even saying it was hard to photograph the damage because it was reflecting too much. Ultimately, the insurance companies disposition on your car is going to be based solely on her account of the car.

Although the appraiser was third party, I asked a few questions that were completely opinion based, as to reassure myself of a few things. One, the damage is bad enough as to require a new fender, and in most cases now a days, the fender is typically replaced because it is cheaper and easier to do, although YMMV. Second is that pursuing the diminished value claim is not a bad idea at all, especially considering it is a new car, and the condition that it is in.

Overall, feeling really positive. Should be hearing from the estimator by the end of the week, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I plan on asking the insurance company first, to see their position on the matter, and then pursuing the situation based on that. Thanks, though. That is not a bad idea.

ThrustangFiveO

Ya kno, I really dont think the situation is that bad my man. I mean most of us have been there and have dealt with much more damage. Yes it makes you absolutely sick to your stomach but u have to look at it as a god send that the damage was contained to only one panel of the body. And on top of that its replaceable. Further more, you have a non metallic black paint which is 1000x easier to match with the rest of the car then lets say a metallic sterling grey.

My advice to you (since ive been in this situation with a previous car) do everything in your power to get the insurance company to allow you to pick a reputable body shop. NO DEALERS!!! And fight hard to get that panel REPLACED and not FIXED inorder to retain sharp fender lines that dull when repainted over.

Good luck man.

ford20

I'm coming Elizbeth, I'm coming to join ya honey.

FordService

OUCH!! Glad to learn you’re ok, narphenal. Here’s some info on OEM collision parts if needed.

Deysha