Hello!

I picked up an 03 AT touring to use as a daily in to work......we have had a tough relationship so far.

Got an auto to keep me from being tempted to mess with it.

Picked it up 8/14/14 with 97k

I am gonna copy and paste from another Nissan forum I am a member of because I don't want to retype.


8/27/14

So I bought a car to commute into nashville in



2003 Touring
Pearl White

97k on it when I got it

Some curb rash hail dings and a paint rub or two.

But no recorded accidents, souther car, and seems well kept so should be in good health underneath

Needs some TLC to the paint
Needs tires...Potenzas from 2006

The Bose cd changer started skipping the week after I got it and nothing stopped it so replaced it with a pioneer avh-x3600bhs

9/6/14

FML

Going to lunch with the boss went up a rise and over rail road tracks and the passenger side bottomed out in a pot hole or something i couldn't see and screwed up the bumper, splash guards, and rocker.






I am thinking I am going to take it to Price's Collision on bell road in Nashville. Estimate was $1,800 just for the visible damage and who knows if the rails caught anything under it.



9/8/14

insurance is covering everything past my deductible

waiting for my claims adjuster to call me back so I can tell them where I am taking it then setup a time to drop it off.

I think it got a rim and or a tire as well. rear tire has been leaking since then. I have to fill it every other day.

9/18/14

Well more damage found once they got the car up.
Damage to the welds, scraps and scratches through the undercoating, and the y pipe has crush damage.

Also:




Insurance says they can't link the tire damage to the impact with the rails.
I sent the pics to a friend that owns a tire shop and asked if it could be caused by an impact to which he said no way.
Then I asked what could cause it. He said the alignment being very badly out and driving for about 500 miles.
We know the rails knocked the alignment out badly and I drove the car for another week before I finally got the car dropped off.

Drive to work is 47.7 miles one way.
(47.7x2)x5= 477 miles

Total cost so far
$2500 or so plus a set of tires.


9/19/14

I spoke to the adjuster and he went over the info I gave them and if the alignment is knocked out then they will cover and visible tire damage and he said it only looked like that one tire was damaged.

9/23/14

So went out and took some pics and video of that rail crossing then reported it to CSX. I am going to see if they fix it then report it to the insurance company and see what they think. Maybe they will go after them maybe not. Maybe all that comes from it is they fix it before it screws up someone else's ride.


Ordered a set of
Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS Pole Position XL
from tire rack

tracks dead on:


From the side:


Video edit is in progress to rotate it.

there are no signs or anything indicating that the crossing could be rougher than any normal rail crossing as the lead up shows.
But you can tell from the video some people know and will slow down to almost a dead stop to cross but I had never been down this section of the road before.
The speed limit is 35 or 40 mph.
I had just been sitting at the crossing for a train to pass and was going about 10 mph.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-0gImOMrtU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa6FeoqlK-M 9/25/14

Got a call yesterday and the car is back together and was being loaded on a wrecker to head to the dealership for the alignment and suspension to be checked out.

A set of Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS Pole Position's are on their way to the body shop.

Should be delivered today.

Hopefully they can check out the alignment and get it straight or if anything is bent Nissan has it in stock locally.

Right now it has been at the shop for over 2 weeks (original estimate was 4 or 5 business days) and the original estimate of the body work has gone from 1800-ish to 2800-ish + a set of tires at $626.60.

Insurance is covering all the body work less my $1000 deductible and will reimburse me for any tires they feel are damaged due to the alignment being knocked out.

9/30/14

WENT TO PICK UP MY CAR YESTERDAY!

Paid $1,000

Did a walk around,

Found more damage. FML.

Call from my insurance adjuster and he says he feels like they should cover it but waiting in the when can they start repairs limbo atm.

Passenger side fender needs repainted and the lower engine cowling needs replaced.

But about the paint when I pointed it out to the guy doing the walk around with me he tried to call it old rock chip damage. And when I kept raising concerns about it he just kinda shrugged it off.

Pissed me off.

So I left the car there and went home and fired off some emails.

UPDATE

Progressive is covering the additional repairs

350z - Imgur


So I didn't get the car back until 9/3/14
By that time the body shop had the car more than I had.

I am still concerned about the alignment sliding out due to impact wear on the suspension.

I picked up a set of good shape OEM wheels for $250 locally to swap my new rubber over to and then unload the curb rashed wheels.

So far is a decent daily driver.

I need to wash it up and get some pics.

I also have about $500 in car care products to test out and find out what I want to use on the z.

I just rented out some garage space to stable my other nissans for now since I don't have time or funding (car payment again) to fund my tinkering.


other cars:
91 nx2000 100k STOCK
92 nx2000 214k but most modded
93 nx2000 beater

Previous daily 2001 durango slt ( blew up and lead to getting the z haven't torn it apart to see what I want to do with it)

2003 Chevy Venture WB Edition (bought to drive while the z was in the shop an have since given to the GF to drive)

 

Welcome to the forum Lothar and congrats on the purchase of your 350Z.