Frankie's been whacked!!

[RickB]

Yeah, you guys are for the most part right about everything.

This area is mixed zoning.

Residential occupation at the end of the street on both sides and business the rest. His building used to be the local newspaper. Those guys were really good neighbors, unfortunately they sold to this guy who isn't as much.

So every day his clients and employees take up all parking, and they do so until 5:30 - 6:00 PM.
Yesterday more than most, I don't usually park to the side of my house mainly because I am afraid one of them will hit my car. But if I wanted to park within a block it was the only spot left.

Yeah - I'd also wonder if it were intentional with the backup alarm. Just not very plausible being an accident.

 

[JPSmit]

As one of the other contributors explained, it is illegal in my neighborhood in University City, Mo to operate a business out of your home.......especially if it involves vehicles stopping by or parking. e Businesses are probably alright.
...........

Had a nice Vespa (which I've replaced with another Vespa) that was backed into the same way. Yes, it was "too low" also. Really screwed up the scootah. The BMW is possibly a bad omen for congeniality.

dave

assuming the insurance will work out fine - j*rk or not - I'm diverting this thread with a memory of a former girlfriend who lived in the last house on a dead end street. the garbage truck would drive in straight, pick up garbage and then reverse 2-300 feet to back into a side street to turn around. On day backed up girlfriend's sister's honda civic the entire 300 feet before they realized it was there.

 

[bill_powell]

Man, it isn't even my car, or really even any of my business, but reading about this incident just pi$$es me off.

The carelessness and what seems like complete disregard/disrespect for anothers property...not to mention that the property is a classic car, unlike the cookie-cutter there's-a-million-of-'em that he hit it with.

As I said; it just pi$$es me off.

And my rant said, I do hope this settles well for you; perhaps you should put one of these on your car while parked in his vicinity:


Firestik® Safety Flags

https://www.firestik.com/Catalog/flags.htm

 

[RickB]

He finally sent me a message, I asked for his insurance info and he says first I should go see him. I'm sure he's used to writing checks and probably just wants to know how much I want.

Trouble is, that's what I don't know.
What's reasonable?
What's unreasonable?

 

[drooartz]

What's reasonable?
What's unreasonable?

How much will it cost to have a reputable body shop fix the damage? That's what's reasonable. This should cost you no time or money to be made whole. That's why we have insurance.

If he wants to write you a check for that amount, that's perfectly reasonable.

 

[JPSmit]

What's reasonable?
What's unreasonable?

How much will it cost to have a reputable body shop fix the damage? That's what's reasonable. This should cost you no time or money to be made whole. That's why we have insurance.

If he wants to write you a check for that amount, that's perfectly reasonable.

last time I had that, I showed up with two estimates and actually let them pay the lower - then they felt better too.

 

[HealeyRick]

I don't know anything about WA insurance law, but generally, you'd be doing him a favor by not putting in a claim against his insurance. Tough for him to argue that he's not at fault unless Frankie threw himself under his rear bumper, and his insurance company will likely surcharge him for a few years if you make a claim against them. You're in the driver's seat. At a minimum, get an estimate for a local shop to replace your car as it was without you searching for parts, doing any work, etc. Then negotiate a price over that to account for the fact that you're saving him money by not going for the insurance settlement from his company. See where his Bimmer's being repaired and maybe you can park the Sprite underneath to catch the overspray and get a whole car repaint. He made a mistake. He can pay a little extra to you to avoid giving more money to the insurance company or he can deal with them. It's his choice.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Retail fender is approx $800, about $80 for headlamp assembly ... so if you are interested in doing the work yourself then ask no less than $1000.

 

[KSIS]

Go to a restoration shop and not a general mechanic for quotes. You could also show the prices of the parts from the top three. Once you have a check inhand, buy used parts and get a total respray.

 

[69sprite]

Have you talked to the guy yet?
I know you probably already know or heard this...

If this is your daily driver, don't forget he will also owe you for rental car... I don't know about going crazy on the guy, but don't let him do the 'it's n old car/junker/pos/etc/etc crap on you. I have seen many guys try that stuff...along with their insurance companies. If you are carrying collector car insurance on Frankie, make sure the neighbor and/or his insurance (if you file a claim) know that. Just because you have different colors on the car, doesn't mean that it doesn't have value.

He is probably thinking he can buy you off for a few hundred..when it could take a considerable amount, if you have to go buy new fender, light, etc and have someone do the repair...

Document what transpires....

He is already in the wrong. If you are reasonable and factual, he can either pay to get the car back to pre-accident state and comp you for your inconvenience, or you can file the claim against his insurance and he can explain to them why he didn't heed the backup warning beepers (probably due to having a darn cell phone in his ear or texting someone while backing up)....

 

[RickB]

Thanks guys,
It turns out the guy was terribly embarrassed by the whole thing and felt awful and I was really nice to him when he first told me about it.

Saturday I was out looking at it and one of his employees came up and said he was just horrified by what he'd done and wants me to get a total paint job out of the deal. She said "I probably should be saying this, but..."

So he came to my door again and handed me a paper with the name and cell number of someone he described as a very close friend who owns two auto body & paint shops. He said "call this guy and tell him I sent you".

So I did, and the guy seems legit.
I sent him some pictures and told him how I'd like to proceed and he's totally on board.

This morning he sent me pictures of his sports car that he's restored - a '75 Porsche 914 - which looks fabulous. So he's a sports car nut anyway.
He also sent along some pictures of other classics he has restored.

So far I'm feeling pretty good about this, but I've got to kick it into gear if I hope to get it ready to drive to Wisconsin (leaving July 15th).

 

[AngliaGT]

Rick,

Sorry to hear about that,but maybe he'll treat you nice because
of the way you treated him.I hope that this helps with future parking
ofyour car.

- Doug

 

[nomad]

Rick: If you can't find good early fenders I would think it not too hard to patch in the early turn signal's on 1500 fenders. I have sets of both but the early are pretty rusty.

Kurt.

 

[RickB]

Well things are working out nicely, hopefully by the end of the month the car will be in great shape.

 

[Guest]

Can I park Maggie at your house for a few days?

 

[RickB]

Progress made today.
Need some chrome trim rings for headlights.
I have several new rings for MGB if someone wants to trade for a pair of bugeye headlight trim rings.

I think I'm going to need new rubber seals too.

Heck, I am going to need a lot of stuff.

 

[JPSmit]

so this does not look like a 1500 front end, have we perhaps gone a different direction? (looks great!)

 

[drooartz]

That'll work! Fiberglass?

 

[RickB]

Steel.
Right now an ok 20 footer, lots o work to do!

 

[PSJ]

Looks great, Rick! Can't wait to see it painted. So what's the color going to be? I say keep the root-beer-ish brown, no stripes, keep the black at the bottom.

Grats on new front end! Isn't it great to have Bill M around?

Phil