dmoffitt

iTrader: (4)

To say I've had a very rough past 16 hours would be the biggest understatement of the century. I am looking at fixing thousands of dollars of damage to my car, thanks to some random unknown a**hole in DC who slashed my tires on the Z while visiting my friend Sasha (parked down the street on P between 34th and 35th NW), causing all kinds of damage to the bottom of my door because of how low it sat w/o any sidewall on the tires and it scraping on the curb/sidewalk when I got in to move it for the tow-truck (USAA covered the tow at least) and the front bumper being cracked in half because there was no way to get it up on the flatbed except backwards (of course the towing companies are never liable, neither is USAA).

Anyway, so after making numerous phone calls to find ANYWHERE who would be open Sat. PM or Sunday, we finally found a place to get the car towed to .... I of course had to replace BOTH rear tires, even though only one was damaged - since VDC and my viscous LSD wouldn't exactly like a Kumho Ecsta ASX all-season on one side and a Hakka RSi on the other... and they only had the HXMX4 Pilot in stock for my front (and only one at that, so I drove back from DC with very interesting braking feel to say the least).

So if that wasn't bad enough, on the way back on 180W near Williamsport, I hit a HUGE chunk of metal debris on the highway (no room to swerve to avoid it and not enough distance to brake in time) which tore a sizable hole in my already destroyed front bumper, damaged the radiator core support, bent the engine sub frame and/or cradle (dark and hard to tell lying on the ground on the side of the highway) and smacked into the engine itself pretty good (as well as doing untold other damage to the engine and underbody). The worst part is, the debris disintegrated and scattered when I hit it, we couldn't see ANYTHING when we looked back for it - so without being able to point to what happened, I had no way of proving it wasn't either a mechanical failure or self-inflicted and thus I can't even file a police report or complaint with the PENN-DOT.

So yeah, this should be fun and expensive I was just about done and quite happy with the car, go figure - I finally get a car I don't get tired of or want to sell, and the fit still manages to hit the shan... I feel so EMO

At least we got to "break in" the Kumhos properly:

imseksy

damn im sorry to hear about all your mishaps.... mean people suck!

Z PHAT Z

iTrader: (46)

WOW! what a nightmare. I'm surprise you still drive your Z during Winter in Western NY. So far we got lucky this Winter with so little snow. GL with the fixing.

Jaki

iTrader: (21)

sorry to hear that, good luck with everything.

davidv

iTrader: (2)

I would agree: you have had a miserable 350Z-day. Of course both incidents are insurance claims correct?

JoneZZZ

iTrader: (1)

Damn....what's up with some people now days, total disregard for personal property....

dmoffitt

iTrader: (4)

Actually it's going to be tough on that one - the stupid Police in DC never called me back to file a report nor showed up because the value of 2 tires was too low for them to bother with, and the car was towed from the scene and the tires disposed of already (I had to drive home, no room for 2 bad tires in such a small car). Then with the incident on the way home I really have no way to file a report as I couldn't even find what I hit, and in reality, having a report with "I screwed up and hit something" is probably not going to help my premiums nor my case.

dmoffitt

iTrader: (4)

going to try and make the best of it

ML2000

Man that S*cks, hope everything works out.

Silkk

iTrader: (11)

I'm sure if you took pictures of the slashed tires you could claim it...

My car was once egged, I photograph'd it so I could wash the car, and never filed a police report. My insurance took the photos as evidence and fixed the paint flaws for my 50$ low non-collision deductible.

As far as the chunk hittin the bumper. No clue.

Silkk

iTrader: (11)

PS - Good luck man. Once you get it fixed and everything is looking and driving better, you'll still thank yourself for owning one of the sexiest cars around.

dmoffitt

iTrader: (4)

thanks for the words of encouragement.

lamaz

iTrader: (5)

That makes two of us. Mine is in the garage waiting for spring... But that really sucks about your luck Z PHAT Z. Best of luck getting your baby back to suitable conditions.

-LamaZ

dmoffitt

iTrader: (4)

Update:

Bob Hastings collision sucked, I highly recommend never going there - not only were they rude (fat guy named Jim) but they would not fit me in as my insurance had promised but told me to leave the car all day just to get it on a lift to look at it for the estimate.

So I told them to eat a bag of dicks and asked USAA where else they had a relationship in Rochester. The only other estimater was Macedon collision. So despite needing to drive another half hour east from where I was in east roc already, I bit the bullet and headed there. These guys not only are infinitely more friendly but they have AN OLD NISSAN Z RACE CAR in the showroom hehe!!

Bob wrote the estimate... came up with 1700 on the cosmetics and the crossmember (parts) but when I spoke with Dorachel this morning, Doug quoted 1900 just to remove and reinstall the engine (necessary to replace the crossmember) so I have a feeling they are thousands short. We also found that while the rear o2 WIRES survived the bracket that holds the sensor clip is toast, necessitating the whole sensor being replaced - the list of "supplementasl" for insurance will be HUGE

Pictures of the damage.


Hole in Bumper


Torn Undertray


Front Subframe


Front Subframe (Close-up)


Broken O2 clip (holds harness to car to keep from dragging)


What a test-pipe weld SHOULD look like

vs


What happens when debris hits your test pipe.


Torn b-pipe (not through but pisses me off)


Dented B-pipe


Dent / gouge in floor


Another dent, guessed to be the fault of the messicans who changed my tires.


Cracked seam, also probably same cause.


Bent rear subframe


Dented exhaust tip


So I got my ****ty new tires removed and another set of Nokians put on @ Craig Autometrics - wow, that place certainly lived up to their reputation. Not only did they point out the scratches on my wheels (not that I cared, winter wheels) that the ghetto-24-hour place managed to do before they touched my car, they went so far as to point out everything that got screwed up under my car, WAAAAY more than the guys @ Macedon noticed (to be fair, it was much more damp earlier when we first looked at it, and they didn't have enough lighting imo). Anyhow, it looks like I have my work cut out

If you draw a line from the front bumper to the rear exhaust tip it all lines up, it's almost funny, you can trace the "path of destruction" front-to-back... except, my wallet's NOT laughing

mdracer76

iTrader: (1)

Awww man... that really stinks bro.. I'm sorry.. I hope that your not out of pocket too much...

garrettjj

Damn, I would feel exactly like you do. Sorry it happened-jealous bastards.

lamaz

iTrader: (5)

Dorschel! Ahhh, I cringe at even reading those dreadfull words. Especially Doug, please send Doug a big F-U on my behalf. It's dealerships like his that almost made me never go back to Nissan. That pr**k tried to charge me a couple of times for work that was either their fault, or for work that should have been done under warranty. I always had to call Nissan Consumer Affairs behind his back and have Nissan call Dorschel to "force him" to do the work under warranty.

OK, now that I have vented back to your dilema at hand. I was actually thinking about changing from Geico to USAA. From the sound of it, that would be a big mistake. Last time I had something go wrong, Geico forked over the money immediatly for going to the collision shop at Dorschel for getting all new OEM parts.

If I can avoid going to Dorschel's shop I would, but the truth is that their collision shop does good work.

Best of luck,

-LamaZ

kcobean

iTrader: (2)

Dang man, I feel for ya. Your experience in DC is exactly why I NEVER drive my car into that God-forsaken city. It only has two kinds of people, politicians and criminals....I guess that makes one kind, doesn't it.

Anyway, good luck with the repairs man, hope they get 'er back to like-new for ya.

dmoffitt

iTrader: (4)

Actually, I've had nothing but praise for Dorschel, they've ALWAYS done fair and honest work and if anything, undercharged me. Doug's been very understanding of any special requests, allowed me to replace the flywheel and pressure place and clutch when doing the warranty work on the transmission at no charge, as well as installed my Nismo catback while that was off (again, no charge). Perhaps it's that Chris Leidke (sp) from the SCCA is the only one there to so much as TOUCH my car that I also have the utmost in confidence in their work too...

That said, I am having the paint work done elsewhere (likely Rochester Collision, Kevin and Jody have always been great to work with) and the mechanicals at Craig Autometrics - not only are they super thorough and professional, but they are half a block from where I live. They are super-expensive for everyday stuff, yet worth it for the piece of mind.

dmoffitt

iTrader: (4)

oh - and Geico has ****ed me so many times I can't begin to comment... ironic how our two experiences seem polar oposites! PS - USAA is for armed forces / dependants in case you weren't aware (my dad was Navy for 22 years) and they've been great about taking care of stuff, the only problem was their local estimators - but they are letting me work with anyone I want to fix it and will be replacing my NISMO exhaust and aftermarket front bumper at no additional charge / penalties (even though I think I am going to take this opportunity to change some parts out while I'm at it, it's good piece of mind to know they aren't going to jack me).