Hello everyone.

Well I had a bad new years day! I was visiting a friend in Sarasota Fl. (I live in Atlanta.) I left her house to drive home in the z06 at 4pm, and 1 mile from her house, a guy in a motorcycle ran a stop sign and plowed into the z.

The guy was in very bad shape. He had no helmet on and was laying in the street with blood running out between his eyes unconscious. He is still in intensive care, although he was revived before he left. He asked, how is my bike?

Although I fell sorry for this guy, I do think he is an idiot, running a stop sign with no helmet on, and ruined my pride and joy. It enrages me that I went to extreme measures to protect this car, and it only takes one idiot and it will never be the same again.

He crashed into the R fron wheel, the tie rods are bent, wheel damaged, hood broken, nose broken, fr quarter gone, his bike pivoted and smashed into the door, and smashed my passenger window, and door is trashed. Even the top seems to have flexed, and now the paint is chipped. THe hood moving over pushed out the rf quarter and broke where it is connected under the hood.

The car was not driveable and is in sarasota at sunset chevy.

i am very worried about the car being there for the following reasons,

-They did not seem familiar with the z06
-i went back the next day, and even though the car was under cover, it was not in a shop and they did not bother to cover the window that is busted
-They say it will take more than 3 weeks to fix
-I cannot check the progress of the car

What do you guys suggest, Should I get the car back to atl where i can monitor the progress?
What kind of cost does that represent, the transportation 550miles (the guy probably has insurance, it is not known since he is in such bad shape. I am going on my insurance for now.)
Is anyone familiar with t his dealer?
Is it possible to get the car back to perfect condition?
Is the dealer the best place? Anyone know any better places in sarasota or atlanta or in between?

thanks for you advise,

Tim

 

Wow, Timz06! Feel your pain. :(

Were the car mine, I'd roll-back it to Atlanta, have it taken to the body shop most recommended for work on C5s, and then watch over the repair work like a hawk.

When I needed to find a great shop, I polled the membership of our Corvette Club. About 10 members recommended the same shop.

No doubt your car can be made whole again, provided you get it to the right shop.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Ranger




[Modified by Ranger, 7:34 PM 1/4/2002]

 

Tim-

First-I'm truly sorry to hear about your new Z06. But most importantly, get the car out of the dealership it is in! I would first attempt to find a Corvette Specialty Auto Body Shop in that area. Maybe some of our members can help out there. The damage you describe is fully repairable! I had a friend with a 1995 Zr1 which flipped and ended up in a tree- That car was totally repaired and drove and looked factory!
If the dealership it is in does not normally work on Corvettes, they are not the right place to entrust your pride and joy to. You are 100% correct, as long as the police reports agree with the cause of the accident, you are covered by his insurance. Immediately file a claim with his carrier! I never go through my carrier when an accident is the other person's fault (its happened twice to me).
As far as getting the Corvette transported, Horseless Carrarige comes to mind (very good enclosed transport company). A 550 mile trip will most likely be around $600-750.
:nonod: :nonod: :nonod: :nonod:

 

Damn Tim that sucks, I went to Tampa Florida for New Years and got caught in the snow storm with the Z on the way home to Atlanta. I tell ya I think I would spring the $600.00 to have in brought back if it was mine, there is no place like home so you can watch what is going on.

 

Get it closer to home :)

 

I grew up in the Sarasota (Englewood) area. All of those dealers are morons that will not understand nor appreciate your car. They only know old people and their conversion vans. Please get it out of there.

 

Hi Tim.

Like the others, I'm very sorry for what happened to you.:( Hope the nucklehead lives though. I agree with what everone else says. Get it back home. One suggestion would be to U-Haul it behind your own vehicle or a borrowed one (depending on the condition of your car). You can rent the tow package in FL and drop it off in GA, very low price in comparison to a tow company. Best of luck. :)

Eric

 

That really sucks.
Would an idiot like this guy in the motorcycle have any insurance?
I'd say file with your own insurance company as well, just to protect yourself.
You'd need somebody to go to war with you.
I also agree on taking your Z06 back home. If anything, get the best and most recognized dealer or Body Shop in the area.
Good luck to you.

 

Timz06, I also feel your pain deeply, We all love these cars SO MUCH! You Might want to call Atlanta chassis Dyno in your search for a referal to the best people locally to make your baby new again. Some of the Bro's from Atlanta on this great Forum may have some of the best info. I would post a new topic in General Discussion Paging All Atlanta people to HELP! Most definately bring it back to Atlanta! She can be fixed and then you will make her better than before and it will be all good. I am glad you were not injured. KEEP THE FAITH AND FIND THE BEST LOCAL SHOP! Regards, Cecil Young

 

Get it the H e l l out of there fast. :eek:

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. :(

Good luck and find a top shop to do the work. :cheers:

 

Will his insurance company pay to have the car flat bedded to Atlanta ?

 

Tim,
That really Is bad news, however I may be able to recommend an alternative, thier is a gentlemen in Orlando (Maitland) to be more specific, that works on most of my friends Vettes and is located and associated with Rogers Corvettes In Maitland, His name is Tim Burke and his shop is directly behind Rogers. He is very reputable and has a good reputation in this area. As well, I have access to a Trailer that I may be able to work out a cheap deal so you can get the Z06 to Orlando. My e-mail is below, if you are interested.
BTW I have a EB Z06 and hope whatever you do works out....I hate to hear those horror stories...just worries me more when I drive mine.

Take Care...

Neal :cry
neoproject@msn.com





[Modified by PURE MC2, 1:06 AM 1/5/2002]

 

Wow, sorry to hear about that. I think we all feel your pain here.

If you can pull it off get it somewhere closer to you. Just my 2 cents.

 

That sux :cry

Orlando might be a good option. There are some high rollers in that area and a higher concentration of vettes and high dollar rides to be repaired, much more so that conversion vans, as Closer_2001 says:).

Is there anyone on this forum that lives in Sarasota/Bradenton/Tampa/St Pete area that has a good service recommendation for C5s?

If you leave the Z06 in Sarasota to get it fixed, then you may as well as drive right off the causeway into Sarasota bay...

I don't wan't to scare you, as I don't have any good news either. I was born in Sarasota. I bought my GMC from Sunset Chevy. A safe assumption is that they are idiots, as most people down there are a study in "I done torqued it down good. Naw, that noise is normal, just ignore that, it ain't goona hurt it none. You want these here dem extra bolts we couldn't a get back in?" Everyone repeat after me "I have no common sense." I am a generous and forgiving person, and usually never talk bad about people in general, but idiots down there can't be reasoned with logically, and I have been quite frustrated WAY too many times to remember any positive exchanges of money for services rendered, except for the Cheetah Club on US 301, but that's another story in and of itself:)

I haven't talked to anyone at that dealership in a few years, since I was looking for a car for my brother. If their allocation of vettes is small, I would put my money in that they may have only mastered how to change the oil in a C5...

Closer_2001 (ask him about his last trip to that part of the world where he went to Home Depot, hehehehe...sorry dude) and I grew up in that part of Fl, and everyone in general has no idea of what a professional job is. yes, there are a select few who can do it right, but they are few and far between. You'll have to go by word of mouth inorder to find the good people. Sorry, but I have never researched who has the best vette shop there. None of my friends have vettes, and no one in my family has vettes.

I lived there for 22 years. My father has a small construction company, and after 40 years of business, he has found that it is hard to find honest auto repair people in that area, who know how to fix things right.

I would trailer it to Atl, where a Z06 might be appreciated correctly, or bring on out to Dallas:)


I'll be prayin for ya good buddy!



[Modified by 3.8TurboWhat?, 12:50 AM 1/5/2002]

 

Timz06, sorry to here about the Z. Try to get the car back to Atlanta. You
will be in a position to supervise the work.

 

Guys,

thanks for the support, it really makes me feel better.

I am leaning toward going back down there and getting the car. My friend has a car trailer I will pull with my truck. I will post on the main board asking for shop recommendations.

thanks again

Tim

 

Tim,

I too had an accident, here in Houston. You will feel much better about everything if you can supervise the work. The job my repair shop did (Thanks Bill Heard Chevrolet in Sugarland!!) was AMAZING. If you have a shop that does good work and works on a lot of C5's, they will make it as new, I know that may be hard to believe, but I have seen it first hand.

The dealership where I took my car had about 6 other C5's it was working on at the time, made me feel pretty good knowing that mine was going to be in experienced hands...

Good luck!

Rick out...

 

Sorry to hear that :sad:

 

I've heard good things about Norm's Corvette repair in Atlanta is good.

 

here are some pics of the damage :sad:
http://members.prestige.net/marcts/vette/damage1.jpg
http://members.prestige.net/marcts/vette/damage2.jpg
http://members.prestige.net/marcts/vette/damage3.jpg
http://members.prestige.net/marcts/vette/damage4.jpg