Accident in CETA...what to do?
 

Got in an accident tonight in my trans am.

I'm calling USAA Claims tomorrow morning and then I suppose I will take the CETA up to the the Pontiac dealer/bodyshop to get a full assessment....my wallet/insurance is not gonna be happy. On the bright side, I have been considering getting some new rims for a while now and I guess now I have a good reason to do so.

I know my way around cars, but I am no grease monkey so I am unsure of what to do here. I've gotten pretty attached to my car so this is really hurtin'. I'll take some pictures tomorrow and post up the damage. Ugh, its been a pretty terrible day but Im tryin to keep positive spirits here. Thanks for your help guys. And some fencing guys just for the hell of it. :engarde:

Dang man that sucks. hope everything turns out alright.

I pretty much did the same to my SS last tuesday : (

shit man, that sucks. Glad you're ok! Same thing happened to me a while back, Cruising down a 4 lane back wheels were BALD doing about 40 in a 45 came up on a turn (it had been raining) back wheels caught a puddle and spun me around 4 times and ended up in the center median. I hadn't been that scared in a LONG time.

Post some pictures if you can.

Another reason why I don't drive my ride out in the rain. I hope everything works out for you. I have USAA myself and they never let me down.

you're gonna give up on your car after a MINOR accident from the way it sounds? you ass, you're car must hate you ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...7/wreck001.jpg

fix and drive it

just an excuse to get some nice wheels :) nothing that came stock on a t/a or camaro really looks good anyway

Well if you take it to the dealer they are going to rape you. Sounds like your in for some hurt no matter where you go since the rear quarter is damaged. It's def not worth getting rid of the car what is your deductable 1000$, that is well worth keeping it. Find a body shop in your area that is good, cause if you get it back looking like crap your gonna want to sell it. Sorry to hear that it happened good luck on the fix.

dude if it doesnt total dont give up. anything that isnt fixed correctly should be taken back. i sell parts for the body shop at a freightliner dealership, i know it's big trucks, but it's the same shit really. we get these trucks in that are literally destroyed, and our techs take them apart and rebuild them completely. it's pretty cool to see a cab get lifted onto a set of framerails lol. dont worry so much about something being jacked up after they fix it. they do this stuff every day just like clock work.

I did something similar about a month or two ago, not as much damage but the shop actually charged $3400 for it. Personally I would try to see if they could give you a good price for the total, if not then just get it fixed.

any pix?

I didnt mean to give the impression that I am giving up on my car....i LOVE my car, but I have never been in an accident before so this is a new thing for me. My dad was pushing for me to just fix&sell it, but I really don't want to do that. Pix will be coming tomorrow when daylight comes.

And my car doesn't hate me thunder, it was just it's way of telling me I needed to take it in for a brake check-up and wheel change....I hope, haha. :angel:

So should I really take this into a body shop rather than the GM/Ponti dealer? Would it really be a lot less expensive? Anyone know of any good shops in the Hampton/NewportNews/Williamsburg, Virginia area?

I definitely wouldn't call it total, it just might have some alignment issues or other underlying problems. Im gonna try my hardest to fix this thing up right and keep it.

insurance companies will have a list of preferred body shops in your area that you can take it to, but you can really take it anywhere you want and get an estimate. they can't make you go to any particular body shop. if they don't want to pay for the shop you want to use, then go to several of their "preferred" shops and send in the highest estimate of them, then just get them to write you a check for that estimate amount, and take it where you want.

otherwise, they'll write out a check directly to the shop if you decide to go with one of their "preferred" shops.

Just make sure the body shop you chose is one you know does good work. Talk to people in your area that might know of one. If the work gets done and looks like crap you will be dissapointed and might just sell it. . .

+1!! Since its a CETA make sure you get Brand new GM OEM Parts! good luck!

Bones;

You need to get some pics up of the car. I've got the hood off my CETA if you need one, so you can save a few bucks. Fix the car and enjoy the hell out of it. There isn't a day I don't drive my yellow bird and everyone stares:D

Okay I took pictures, Ill upload them later tonight. Dropped CETA off at Pontiac BodyShop and hopefully that will take care of things. The hood was unaffected other than being misaligned...the bodyrepair rep I met with though seemed kinda shiesty to me, but whatever. Its a pretty reputable dealer so Im hoping I can get a good turn around on this. He didnt know whether or not he would be able to get the side-stripe graphic and such.

The back wheel is totally busted....time for some 18" TorqThrusts!! My deductible for this accident is pretty low, but Im really wondring how much itll cost at the shop. He was saying the back and front QPs had to go, the front bumper probly had to go, and some trim pieces. ugh. I just hope they color match it so it doesn't look funny.

These cars fade quick so they might have a lot of blending to do. The wheels are about $500 apiece from GM: FYI.

Here are the part numbers for the stripes

i have to ask. do you want to sell it?
:lol:

haha, I wasn't really thinking about it right now, sorry! Although everything has a price...:angel:


I'm not gonna get the original wheel. I wanted to replace my rims anyways, so maybe some how I can find a way to have the shop install a new set that I pay for. Hmm....

where are the pics?