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Rear ended in the 521


josh817

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Quote was for $312. I'm not sure if they purposely left it blank or if they were extremely cheap.

 

Collision center quote said they found a junkyard with lights for $45 a side and then the kicker... 0.3 hours to install each one. If the metal light frames are included in their source, and bolt onto the bed, maybe so.

 

Gave $45 for a step bumper from a junkyard but I see no damage to that so I'll divert the money to a tail gate, which they said they would repair with 2 hours of labor. I'm not sure what that means considering it was faded paint and rust to begin with.

 

They were pushing hard for me to bring business to the collision center but I told her I was bringing it to a vintage auto shop, which I am. She didn't seem to really be interested in my opinion and would rather hear from an autoshop which is reasonable but causes a problem unless I go to a Datsun dude. Otherwise you wind up with this situation where they're just pulling shit out of their ass and hoping it's good. She said I can always call back to ask for subsidy if the auto shop needs more money which I know to be true because that's what they did on the previous rear end.

 

Regardless, I will be checking out the source the collision center wrote down. Who knows, maybe they uncovered a cheap 521 parts truck for us to use. These junkyards are out of state so hopefully they would be willing to snap a picture and tell me all that's included with the purchase. I know some on the list specified lens only and one said it did have the metal bracket.

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They must do things different in Texas, I expected them to just total it, instead they come up with some lame number and there likely is something else going on, they know you want to keep it, I will be interested in what happens next, I wonder if they will threaten to total it unless you take their next offer.

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Well. It's been difficult to contact out of state junk yards asking for more details on what they have. I've never found a friendly junk yard before and they always have that attitude like "you come over here and check it out".

 

I went ahead and just went ratsun on the truck and got some $20 trailer lights. I made brackets out of an old computer case, back when computers were stout.... that case is solid!

 

Not my proudest moment but I kept being told I would get a ticket for broken lenses. Brakes and running lights are in red, turn signals in orange. Yes I know, the right side is crooked. :sleep:

 

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T7QDAVZ.jpg

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So the insurance won't pay out anything or what?? .. Do you have health insurance and a regular doctor?? if you do,,  go to the doctor and complain your lower back has been giving you an aching feeling since you got HIT by that lady..  Then send that paperwork to the insurance adjuster and politely ask what she/he would advise you to do about it. 

 

I am pretty sure you may have an easier time of getting the truck fixed in a timely manner after that.

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Negative, they gave me $320 for damages and $150 for injury. My beef was with their quotes. They were using an online look up for junkyards and sourcing tail lights at $35/side with a 25% mark up and 0.3 hours of labor to install each side.

 

I'm trying to contact the place they quoted to see if it's actually the right equipment I need since I needed the lense, light housing, and metal bracket, for both sides. I highly doubt that they have a GOOD set for $35/side but I wanted to double check. I also have beef with saying it would be 0.3 hours per side. I spent nearly an 1.5 hours on each side fighting rusted and broken hardware. The dude who quoted that at the body repair center was a Datsun guy, he should know better than that.

 

I'm not here to make money off the situation but I am entitled to a set of stock lights. New or not, I don't know. If the junk yard has all 3 pieces for $35/side then fine, you win, I may even buy them for when I have time to switch back.

 

The rest of the money was tailgate repair and bumper repair. I don't care about the bumper and the tailgate was claiming 1.5 hours of labor. What they were planning on doing, I don't know.

 

 

 

 

 

As far as the adjuster is concerned, she didn't seem to give a shit what my opinion was or what research I did. She wanted to hear from a shop. Lucky me, my father has a restoration shop. I don't know if she would make a stink out of our last names being the same and calling it as some sort of fraud. I am entitled to bring my car to any shop that I choose.

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Dang bro, sorry to hear about your truck and the "fuck-you-go-round" dance the insurance is giving you but from the first pics I saw, your truck came out way better than that Juke! It's a win if you can drive away in yours and they have to call a tow truck, just saying. Hope you get this crap settled so you can get to driving your 521, it's not fun and I have been there.

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One has to keep in mind that if the bolts were not rusty, it would likely take 15 minutes to replace them with the proper tools.

I do have an issue with the parts prices, it sounds like they are just getting a quote for cheap chevy or ford truck taillights that one could find at a you pull it, they likely did not find a set of 521 taillights, they are just saying if the wrecking yard did have the taillights/housings, that is how much you would have to pay for them.

From the sounds of it, I think you will be lucky to get double what they have offered.

To get anymore, you are going to have to do all the work, but keep in mind that if you take it to a shop and get a high estimate to counter their offer, I believe they will just total it and then make an offer via blue book, or whatever they use, then you will have to buy it back from them if you take the offer, but then it will have a blemished title, you may even have to take it to the state police to prove it is road worthy again, and it will still have a blemished title.

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