Prelim. estimate for repairs and labor for kissing a guardrail broadside came to $5600. Take good care of those HID's ladies and gents, because the assemblies go for about $950 a piece in a damage estimate, probably one of the most expensive replacements I'll have done.

In the meantime, i lucked out with the rental, allstate covers $30 a day, and I got bumped up to a 06 trailblazer, which would normally be 40-something a day, for the small car rate, $30.47. Basically, I'm renting a trailblazer for $0.47 cents a day. No complaints there.

Work will take about 2 weeks, and everything is covered for as long as I own the car. About the only thing they won't go back and fix again are rock chips. Rust, paint fade, etc, all are covered against.

The garage is a direct repair shop, which means allstate pays them directly, leaving me virtually hands off until the car is complete. Normally I guess this would be good, but if I can make a subtle change here and there, I want to try to squeeze it in. If I need to source parts myself, I don't know how the billing goes. My plan is to replace the headlight and taillight assemblies with euro spec versions. I'm also not sure if I can get the garage to bondo over the euro plate cutout before its painted. They say they're supposed to return the car to pre-accident condition, but they only have so much time set for replacing a bumper cover. The extra bodywork is not something quoted for, so Allstate probably won't be willing to pay for it.

 

Glad to hear that everything is covered!
Pretty sweet rental as well!
It's gotta be such a change going from a little TT to a trailblazer though.
I know when I drove my sister's jeep it took me a few minutes to get use to it.
Anyway hang in there you'll get your baby back soon!

 

talk to the shop directly, ask them if you can find parts in the same price range or cheaper.... they might be up for it... i know before my bmw was deemed totaled they said that if i could find the upgraded parts for the same price as the OEM they would do it... just depends...

i also use State Farm insurrance.



Whoaaaaaa... new idea for a thread...

 

Being a direct repair shop, its a weird situation, the system isn't really set up for me to be doing any of the work.

I asked if I can take the front bumper cover home, bondo the euro cutout, and sand it, and let them install and paint it as usual. They said thats fine, but by letting an outside business/person do any work, the paint on teh front bumper wouldn't be covered under the warantee.

I was hoping I might be able to put down a little more money and have the whole car resprayed. I was under the impression they would be blending around the bumpers, to match the hood, hatch, and fender/quarter panel. Not so. Apparently bumpers are not usually sprayed with the rest of the car (from the factory) and the color never matches perfectly, so they don't bother. My paint blending will be from the fender to teh hood only, so not nearly as much of the car is getting sprayed as I thought.

I am keeping the 2 rims that will be replaced, I think they'll make some pretty nice bar stools. : )