Just wreckec my wifes 93 Cabriolet

I can't believe I did this. It was parked in the driveway and I
backed into the front of it with our 2001 Toyota Highlander. The
bumper on the truck met the Cabriolet in the hood and grill. It busted
the head lights and smashed in the front of the body a little. She's
so ****ed at me. The Cabriolet was hardly in perfect condition, but it
was a daily driver. Now I don't know what we're going to do. It
runs.. I'm just wondering if everything else is fixable. Christ. I
don't even know what I was thinking. I'm not too worried about the
truck. We have insurance for that. We dropped comp and collision
years ago to save some money on the VW. Man was that stupid.

I would start with flowers & dinner first! Since the defective Toyota caused
the accident it should/may cover the damage to her Cab. But then again it's
something I wouldn't want to tell my insurance company.

"jbrianchamberlin" > wrote in message
...
>
> I can't believe I did this. It was parked in the driveway and I
> backed into the front of it with our 2001 Toyota Highlander. The
> bumper on the truck met the Cabriolet in the hood and grill. It busted
> the head lights and smashed in the front of the body a little. She's
> so ****ed at me. The Cabriolet was hardly in perfect condition, but it
> was a daily driver. Now I don't know what we're going to do. It
> runs.. I'm just wondering if everything else is fixable. Christ. I
> don't even know what I was thinking. I'm not too worried about the
> truck. We have insurance for that. We dropped comp and collision
> years ago to save some money on the VW. Man was that stupid.
>

I was thinking that. First thing this morning I asked her how many
people she called last night telling them I was an idiot. She
actually laughed which is a start. I'm taking the car to a body shop
this afternoon so I'll get some idea as to whether the care is fixable
or not.



On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 07:17:58 -0400, "Woodchuck"
> wrote:

>I would start with flowers & dinner first! Since the defective Toyota caused
>the accident it should/may cover the damage to her Cab. But then again it's
>something I wouldn't want to tell my insurance company.
>
>"jbrianchamberlin" > wrote in message
.. .
>>
>> I can't believe I did this. It was parked in the driveway and I
>> backed into the front of it with our 2001 Toyota Highlander. The
>> bumper on the truck met the Cabriolet in the hood and grill. It busted
>> the head lights and smashed in the front of the body a little. She's
>> so ****ed at me. The Cabriolet was hardly in perfect condition, but it
>> was a daily driver. Now I don't know what we're going to do. It
>> runs.. I'm just wondering if everything else is fixable. Christ. I
>> don't even know what I was thinking. I'm not too worried about the
>> truck. We have insurance for that. We dropped comp and collision
>> years ago to save some money on the VW. Man was that stupid.
>>
>

"jbrianchamberlin" > wrote in message
...
>I was thinking that. First thing this morning I asked her how many
> people she called last night telling them I was an idiot. She
> actually laughed which is a start. I'm taking the car to a body shop
> this afternoon so I'll get some idea as to whether the care is fixable
> or not.

did it actually bend the body structure?

Lights and grille are bolt-on items. The radiator support also is bolt-on
(I think anyway). Same for fenders and hood. As long as the structure is
sound, you can probably do most of the work yourself (although you'd have to
get various parts painted).

On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 08:06:11 -0700, "Matt B." > wrote:

>"jbrianchamberlin" > wrote in message
.. .
>>I was thinking that. First thing this morning I asked her how many
>> people she called last night telling them I was an idiot. She
>> actually laughed which is a start. I'm taking the car to a body shop
>> this afternoon so I'll get some idea as to whether the care is fixable
>> or not.
>
>did it actually bend the body structure?
>
>Lights and grille are bolt-on items. The radiator support also is bolt-on
>(I think anyway). Same for fenders and hood. As long as the structure is
>sound, you can probably do most of the work yourself (although you'd have to
>get various parts painted).
>

The light assemblies need to be replaced, the hood needs to be
straightened a little, and the grill has to be replaced along with the
front apron unit. Of course it all needs to be painted too. The
bumper is fine.. just badly scratched. That's going to be fixed as
well. I think I'm looking at about $1000.00, maybe a little less.

"jbrianchamberlin" > wrote in message
> Man was that stupid.

Well, yeah, but you can correct the primary mistake by selling the Toyota.

Seriously...

The previous owner of my Scirocco ran it into a pickup and crunched the hood,
all four headlights, both turn signals, the grill, and bent some of the metal
all that mounted to. It turned out, however, that after forcing the hood open
and removing the headlight/signal buckets it mostly took some muscle and
crowbars to straighten the rest out, then straightening the buckets by hand. He
even uncurled the hood by hand. But even without that, it look OK and passed
all inspections since then. He didn't get the buckets or hood quite right, so I
got some undamaged buckets from a junk yard and a hood from a guy on this news
group. In this particular case, the fenders didn't take any damage at all.
Sounds like you clipped them too so I don't know how much that's going to add to
the work.

Basically, I'd unbolt the removables and have a good look at what's welded on
that's damaged.

I've had some success with body shops stripping off the removables first, taking
the car in for them to fix the stuff they do best, then remounting that stuff
when I get the car back. Saves them the bother, and thus me some money, and in
your case you're going to want to replace those parts anyway.

Good luck, with the car and the owner.

- Bill

On Tue, 5 Oct 2004 17:00:54 -0400, "Bill Leary" >
wrote:

>"jbrianchamberlin" > wrote in message
>> Man was that stupid.
>
>Well, yeah, but you can correct the primary mistake by selling the Toyota.
>
>Seriously...
>
>The previous owner of my Scirocco ran it into a pickup and crunched the hood,
>all four headlights, both turn signals, the grill, and bent some of the metal
>all that mounted to. It turned out, however, that after forcing the hood open
>and removing the headlight/signal buckets it mostly took some muscle and
>crowbars to straighten the rest out, then straightening the buckets by hand. He
>even uncurled the hood by hand. But even without that, it look OK and passed
>all inspections since then. He didn't get the buckets or hood quite right, so I
>got some undamaged buckets from a junk yard and a hood from a guy on this news
>group. In this particular case, the fenders didn't take any damage at all.
>Sounds like you clipped them too so I don't know how much that's going to add to
>the work.
>
>Basically, I'd unbolt the removables and have a good look at what's welded on
>that's damaged.
>
>I've had some success with body shops stripping off the removables first, taking
>the car in for them to fix the stuff they do best, then remounting that stuff
>when I get the car back. Saves them the bother, and thus me some money, and in
>your case you're going to want to replace those parts anyway.
>
>Good luck, with the car and the owner.
>
> - Bill
>

this might end up costing less. The guy who runs the shop is the
brother of my wife's best friend. She's known him since he was a kid,
even dated his best friend. I don't think he'll screw us especially
since we're paying for this ourselves.

> this might end up costing less. The guy who runs the shop is the
> brother of my wife's best friend. She's known him since he was a kid,
> even dated his best friend. I don't think he'll screw us especially
> since we're paying for this ourselves.

That and you've given not just your wife but her friend an excuse to rib you
endlessly for your screwup. The guy could be just doing you a favor just
out of pity for the neverending **** you're going to get for wrecking it in
the first place.

Woodchuck wrote:
> I would start with flowers & dinner first!



Foot rub, Fooooot Ruuuuub.


TBerk

"jbrianchamberlin" > wrote in message
...
>
> The light assemblies need to be replaced, the hood needs to be
> straightened a little, and the grill has to be replaced along with the
> front apron unit. Of course it all needs to be painted too. The
> bumper is fine.. just badly scratched. That's going to be fixed as
> well. I think I'm looking at about $1000.00, maybe a little less.

You are an amateur when it comes to trashing your own cars. My Uncle lives in a
house where you drive down a steep hill to get to the garage. He lost it on snow
and did major damage to his car, two of his kids cars, bounced off a corner of
the house and knocked a boat that was on blocks over and into an above ground
pool, crushing the pool.

Tell your wife it could have been worse...much worse.

--
Tony Bad

02 Jetta Wagon
01 Eurovan MV
91 Jetta 1.6 Diesel
86 Jetta
79 Rabbit 1.5 Diesel (semi-retired for now)
Schwinn Continental 10 Speed
Radio Flyer Pedal Car (my daughter made me add this)