bowlingbrad

Yesterday my mechanic told me my 01 WS6 fell from his lift over the weekend. Something about the hydraulic lines breaking and it came down from over 6 feet in the air.

Has anyone else experienced this? I'm trying to determine how to proceed with this.

He is filing a claim with his insurance and he got me a rental.
I told him not to touch the car anymore as I now need to have a third party look at it.
How in the world am I supposed to determine if the frame was bent, the engine block cracked, the brand new suspension was broken, the t-tops won't leak, etc etc etc.
His insurance company is the same as mine. I'm hoping that's a good thing.

My mind is spinning right now. I'm lost. I don't even want this car anymore for fear of something constantly going wrong. I want a fresh start.

Please someone share some words of wisdom or something.

Sniff...

Pictures to follow.

Coppertone

Don't sweat it man.....let the insurance take a look at it and let them fix what needs to be fixed. If you find something that is wrong during repair or down the line, you can call them up and have them look at it again. They're usually pretty good at that, or at least Progressive is.

NC01TA

It sounds like your mechanic is being upfront with everything, especially getting you the rental. I believe it does help to have the same insurance company but unfortunately I see a 'totaled car' response. The hidden damage from this magnitude of a hit can never be fully known. The insurance company probably won't want to repair the car and be held liable later if something should go wrong.
Sorry for the misfortune.

RockinWs6

Depends how hard it came down. You say it fell off the lift Or did the lift fall rapidly? If it fell off the lift its badly damaged. If the lift came down fast Its probably not damaged badly.

Bandit 43

Very sorry to hear. I can only imagine how you're feeling right now. I hope everything works out for you in the end.

Blackpanther99

iTrader: (8)

Damn that sucks! Props to your mechanic though! He is standing up by putting a claim on your car and have gotten you a rental. Just wait and see what the insurance has to say about the car. Upload some pics and we can give you an idea how bad was the car damaged.

eteller

I had friend's dump a BMW M6 off a lift, they were hanging off a 6' breaker bar they had on the crank bolt. Luckily no one was hurt and the car was not a customers.
Will be interesting to see what the insurance company does, these cars are old and replacement parts are hard to come by. If you have some mods you might have a fight on your hands to get the cost of those covered.

bowlingbrad

Here is a link to some pictures

https://picasaweb.google.com/bowling...eat=directlink

From the looks of it the car came down nose-first.

Theblacknightls1

iTrader: (1)

Seems not to bad but his insurance is going to have to repaint most of your car.

avewhtboy

Those lifts have mechanical locks, safety latches to keep this sort of thing from happening, so his story is suspicious.

666ws6

iTrader: (3)

Agreed... The mechanical safety locks are what allow you to safety keep the car in the air, let alone work on it. Car should never drop.... Their fault entirely.

666ws6

iTrader: (3)

You should share the shops name and warn all on here so they know to avoid that garage for poor practices...

HerHawk

Oh my goodness!!! Wow, sorry to hear this. I was thinking the same exact thing........safety locks.

mikh338

iTrader: (16)

that is so unfortunate, glad no1 was hurt tho. good luck man hope it works out. may be interestted in the wheels if you part it out and they arent damaged

01WS6/tamu

iTrader: (37)

Stay calm and sit tight let insurance handle it that's what they are there for.

As far as frame damage any high quality body shop has a frame alignment machine can strap it down and tell to the nth degree if the structure is shifted or twisted. Opening and closing the doors, rear deck lid and ttops will tell you the most. If all the gaps are equal from one side of the car to another and equal along the seems on each door it's probably AOK. Deck lid tells you volumes if it closes right and gaps are correct if the structure is twisted it will be off and t-tops may not close or seal correctly

bowlingbrad

Thanks for all of the encouraging thoughts.
I am, however, hoping that the insurance co totals this car. I do not want to keep trying to get money from them every time another 'leaky' spot shows up or something all of a sudden doesn't fit.

TTOP350

Very sorry about what happened.
That lift is older and doesn't look like it has locking swivel legs. (big problem with older lifts) I didn't look hard at the vertical posts for locks but my guess is one of the horizontal legs shifted and then the car slid down off of the others. Check the underside to see if there are scratches/dents from the lift arms.

Z28-Vortec

iTrader: (4)

That is exactly what I was thinking.

Monzsta

Free standing post lifts suck ***. I used to use one where you could see the lift pads creeping inward and outward when you put a car up and down.

The best lifts have an overhead beam. The columns stay true and square no matter what you put on it.

Sorry for your loss. The car is a bit beat up, but not as bad as you're fearing. I'd have no problems getting that fixed and enjoying many miles in a modern classic.

1320Chicken

iTrader: (4)

I wouldn't give up on it. What do the door gaps and t top gaps look like? Best thing to do is get it on a frame rack and measure it. Find out if its in spec and go from there.