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May need some help in a day or two - 505 T-Boned!


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Hi All,

after much time invested in traveling to the US and importing a 1986 505 Turbo 5 speed, I was hit in the rear door/quarter panel about 2 weeks after I got the car up to Canada!  I've taken the car in to a local collision repair shop and waiting to hear back what the insurance company comes back with.  Hopefully the valuation on the car is high enough that I can get it repaired without being out of pocket, but I'm not holding my breath.  I posted pictures in the registry of what the car looked like before.  Here is what it looks like now...

I saw an '89 on bringatrailer.com that recently went for $6k US, I may be canvassing the board to see what their nice examples are appraised at should I need to contest the valuation I receive.

 

 

Smashed.jpg

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.Ouch!  Sorry friend - but they will almost certainly deem it a total loss.  Rear quarter, dog leg, and rear door is a large repair.

You will need to focus on getting a good settlement so that you can replace the car.  (You can always negotiate the car back and attempt repair via your own if you know someone, or as a parts car for the next one.)

Dog leg and quarter panel will be toughest repair -  but if it helps I can send you the body repair section from the factory service manual.

Flip side is you do have a parts car that can donate the panels to repair (If it's rust free), but even still - finding a body guy good enough to do the repair and repaint will still be a costly endeavor unless you have some connections. 

Rabin

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Well, I will know tomorrow or Wednesday what the scoop is...  My car is completely rust free, never winter driven, always garaged.  It is as close to a mint car as you are likely to see for an '86.  I would likely not be able to replace it with a similar car, other than possibly finding a southern car and having to switch interiors with the UV/heat damage that southern cars typically have...  

No worries on the body repair section - the car came with a complete set of factory manuals so I'm set on that front...

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Sorry to hear that, as Been said be careful with the insurance company, try to get what you can. On a happier note the car is totally repairable, i've personally been in more than 20 accidents, i've crashed my cars way worst then this, at the end if you can get past the thought that it has been wrecked that is no difference it the way car drives, a good body shop can fix the original quarter panel and the trim is in good shape, for the door is easies to replace it , and the wheel arch is easy to be pull, in my country this will be 100 euro repair + door , don't lose hope after 4-5 accidents you just don't care, keep us inform.

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Auto body repair in Canada is HUGELY expensive - especially when going through insurance.  That repair would easily be $3500 - $5000 here in Saskatchewan. 

I also think it's totally repairable if you have the skills to do it yourself - or if you have the connections to have it done by friends.   Quarter panel / dog leg replacement could likely be pulled, but personally I would pull the dents out, then replace the panel so there was little to no bondo needed.

Funny enough - I will be doing essentially this exact repair on my 89.  It was rear ended in its past and the trunk was pushed down and the passenger quarter panel was kinked.  Idiot who 'repaired' it just cut out the kink, rivetted replacement metal in, and bondo'd it up.

Proper fix will be to have trunk pulled out, then cut out and replace quarter panel as per service manual.

Rabin

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Is all to do with the live standar, here full body paint job is 400 euro, but the salary is less than half that, i personally like to do this repairs myself to the metal finish point, i leave the finish filler work to the pro's, my understanding is that body shops don't like doing the disassembly and other tedious jobs, if you have the time anyone can do those with a repair manual and simple hand tools and probably do a better job then a body man, all post repair troubles i've run into is from rush disassembly and not usembeled right, every panel can have bondo if done right without no problems ever.

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Here - finding someone that takes pride in his metal work is very tough, so easiest is to cut out and replace if you want a good result and no bondo.

I want to learn metal work so I can do a show quality restoration on my car without having to pay the $100-150/hr shop rate.  For that price I'd rather buy a mig, tig, and plasma cutter - then do the work myself.  Like Goce I would do al the work except final prep and paint - I've got a couple friends that I would trust to finish paint the job for me - Actually the entire car will be repainted.

Rabin

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38 minutes ago, yhzman said:

Yes, I'm thinking the repair will be in the $5k range...  Hope they don't come back and tell me my car is worth $1200 or something stupid like that!

 

 

Maybe they will try in hope you're in a hurry and need the money right now... or that you're just dumb enough to say yes.

Here in France they seem to do this a lot, if you refuse the first offer they will switch with another cooler insurance guy that supposedly know old cars better, some kind of Bad Guy / Good Guy Method in fact.

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Well, I will keep you all posted...  I will advocate for as high a valuation as I can, but it is difficult when most of the 505's on Craigslist or E-Bay are not comparable to this one.  Closest was the one that just went on bringatrailer which was an '89, but had many more issues than my car (rust, smoke on start up, inoperative A/C, cruise, poor re-paint here and there on the car, etc.).  I suppose that would be balanced out somewhat by being a later car with a more desirable colour (red/grey interior rather than silver/blue interior like mine)???

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