Sorry about the damage to your car, but glad you were not hurt. I'd say the body shop is giving you a line of . Keep on them to get it right.

 

That should buff out.

 

Glad to see you were OK

It could have been much worse hope the repairs go OK

 

Glad you were not hurt!

Where in Greensboro, did it happen?

Which dealer TLaB or BBC. Nice to know if in the future...

.

 

Folks,
Thanks a lot for your enthusiastic replies. It was much more than I expected. Here are my answers to some of your questions:

Q: How is speed enforcement on I-40?
A: I am not into speeding with the Vette. Thus, I have never been stopped nor have I received a ticket. However, I frequently see cars that have been stopped on the I-40.

Q: Did your airbag come out?
A: No, it did not. With such a crash, might there be something wrong with the sensors?

Q: Where in Gboro did this happen?
A: On East Lindsey St. at Sullivan St. south towards Boyd St. This is a slight left turn and when one is coming from the opposite side trying to make a left turn, it can indeed be impossible to see if there is traffic coming or not.

Comment: It'll be like 3500 in damage.
A: Good estimate. Geico pays $4662.83, I pay $100.

Q: Which dealer TB or BC?
A: I do not want to disclose the dealer yet.

 

Man....thats bad, but glad you came through okay.

 

Glad you're ok!

 

Call Gene at Karhop....he will help you out

 

Yesterday I had a hard conversation with the manager of the body shop and I asked him to give the car to Jim (name changed), a Corvette expert who works in the service department. Actually, with that service department, I had made nothing but the best experience.

Today, I found the car indeed in the service department and the front looked indeed much better than yesterday. Now the frame savers (the little wheels from A&A Corvette to protect the front frame) are correctly mounted and all front body parts are horizontally aligned. The corresponding gaps, however, are not all of the same widths left and right. Jim explained to me that it would be difficult to further improve the alignment and that after such an accident one cannot expect more. Moreover, Jim said that he had seen Corvettes with a similar asymmetry that were never involved in a collision at all.

Now I have the following questions:

1. How well can the front body parts be aligned to each other?

2. What is the loss of value of the car due to this accident (its a 1997 coupe with 120,000 miles)?

3. Would it be realistic to try to get a compensation from the driver whose fault it was (perhaps with the help of an attorney) for the loss of value and the fact that I could not use the car for about month?

Thanks, Robert

 

Wow, that sucks, glad your OK. Wouldn't wanna be the guy driving the
truck..... He intentionally cancels his insurance, he continues driving and
not very safely at that, pulls in front of an oncoming car which happens to
Vette, and has an accident thats HIS fault! Glad I'm not him!!

Good luck with the repairs!

 

glad your ok, i have a bad accident not too long ago and im starting to slowly recover..

 

Ouch! Glad you're OK.

Make the best of it, get a shark nose!

 

looks like its time for a tiger shark front end.

 

You can go after him in civil court, however if he didnt have $ for insurance what makes you think he will pay a judgement.

 

What is even more surprising is that NC did not cancel his registration when he canceled his insurance. NC must be one of those "No Fault" states? You can sue him but doubtfull that you'll be financially rewarded. You probably didn't lose too much in the way of value since you have a relatively high milage, older vehicle. If you go to Edmunds and put in your car info and then change the vehicle condition from Excellent to very good (as an example) you'll notice a few, 2-3, hundred dollar change. That's about it.

 

I ran into a member of a local Corvette club and I told him about the accident and the problems I have with the body shop. He recommended me to contact Adam (name changed) the assistant service manager of my local GM representation that is repairing my car. He said that Adam was a Corvette technician who even received an award for his skills.

I spoke with Adam who confirmed that he used to do service work on Corvettes up to the C4 model. Adam had a look at my car and he agreed with me that the alignment of the front body parts leaves something to be desired. When I told him that Jim (name changed) had worked on the alignment and was able to significantly improve it, he responded that this would be the work of the body shop. Adam said that he would speak with the body shop manager after he returned from a meeting.

Does somebody know of a Corvette expert around Greensboro, NC who is skilled in adjusting body parts of a C5? It looks to me as if the technicians in this body shop are not able to do it, although they ought to be. For the record, when I arrived with the damaged car at the body shop, I had asked the manager, if he can repair Corvettes. Part of his response was “This is the best body shop in town.” One might find it embarrassing that the Corvette technician in the service department does a better job aligning the body parts (although that is not his job) than the body shop. On the other hand, Corvettes might be special in this regard. Still, I believe a body shop manager should be able to assess the ability of his department and I prefer that somebody tells me he does not want to work on my Vette (which indeed is what my local garage told me, which does good service for a reasonable price on my Ford mini truck) than messing it up.

What do you think?

Thanks, Robert

 

Man Im sorry this happen to you again, get it fix and trade for another #1.

 

ooouuch

 

Glad to hear your ok. I would say that if lights dont match it is because the one that was not damaged was not refinished or blended properly. A qualified shop should have no trouble getting parts to fit, and the finish to look or (blend) so that no signs of an accident occurred particularly to exterior. I would make sure that you come away being happy w/ the repairs and refinsh to the vehicle.

 

Good Luck with the repairs