[dorkside]

Well my time has come. I always thought I was the best driver ever. Until wednesday when traffic comes to a quick stop on the freeway and I can't stop the impala in time. I slam it into the rear of a Navigator who then runs into a pontiac in front of it. Fortunately no one was hurt, except my pride and my love, my car.
It is in the body shop today for an estimate. He already warned me that new parts are hard to find, that he might have to buy used parts. Bummer. On the good side, it will keep costs down so the Insurance co. does not salvage - hopefully.
Does anyone know of a good shop for parts in so. cal? Here are some pics. Thanks.

 

[COLD STEEL]

I am in Upland. We specialize in Caprice/Impala parts and repair/service. Also have a body shop that we work closely with regarding major damage/insurance issues


Angel
George Bates Automotive
909-949-7984

 

[dorkside]

Oh Shoot !!!

I should have called you - Angel - George Bates Shop. I have actually had repairs done there before. You have a great shop but I thought you only did mechanical repairs, I did not know you had a connection with the body shop. My insurance is with state farm, and they recommended a shop in Chino. So that is where I took it. It worries me though that he doesn't feel he could find new parts - does that make sense?
He is supposed to complete the estimate on Monday, but I think I still have the option to take it somewhere else. When will you be at the shop again? I'm guessing your closed for the weekend.
What is the name of the body shop you work with? I hope it is on State Farms list then it would be easy to transfer the work order.

Thanks,

 

[COLD STEEL]

I also have state farm, he is not officially on there list but they have no problem with him, I know since they have done insurance work for me thru him. Pollo's auto body and restoration, right across my front door here. We are here half day today and back on monday at 8am.


Call my cell if you wish, I will PM you my number

 

[77Impala]

Make that three of us whom use State Farm Insurance. I have really appreciated my agent and her assistants. Really helpful, hardworking people.

I have several policies through them.

 

[IMPALASS_RIDER]

dam i know u mad

 

[jtmcdole]

Don't worry about salvage....

I've gone through this (in Georgia) and here's the deal that happened to me:
Was driving to a passport place to get some things done for business; some idiot decides to come to a complete stop before trying to make his turn into a parking lot; bang, 4 car pile up with me at the end. The front end of the car looked just as bad as yours (see photo one).

The insurance company declared the car as totalled due to a "cost to repair vs. cost of the car". I was fairly bummed about this, till I started getting pissed at the adjustment values of some items; I finally said "Enough, I'm taking the car." They cut me a check for the replacment value of the car, sans the salvage value they would have gotten had they kept the car; which was about $1,400! I paid off any note on the car, purchased about $2,000 in parts and got to work:

IANAL (for those of you not knowing that phrase, its "I am not a lawyer"): Now, its important to note that in Georgia, and probably other states as well, if a car is marked as 'totalled' by the insurance company, but it didn't have structure damage, and was only totalled due to value, it is not a _salvage_ title; I still have the full title for this car; and once I get other life expenses out of the way and get it painted, I'll have the insurance company re-evaluate the car back to normal.
Here's where I ended up:

Things that had to be replaces:
1) Radiator support (PITA); I think this was around 500~800$
2) Hood (~800)
3) Grille (80$)
4) Bumper skin (can't remember)
5) Impact absorbers (they attach to the metal frame of the bumper and the front of the car frame. Usually filled with a liquid that compresses and absorbs the impact).

Things done:
1) Heated up the bumper and hammered out the dents.
2) Installed everything, learning just how much crap there is.

Things learned:
1) You can get a used front-end clip for just about the same price, and It hink the install is easier since you just pull everything off around the firewall. Someone else in my car club (GASSIT) did this just about the same time that I did and they had great results.

 

[snwbrdrugbychica8]

know what u are going through, i only had my impala for six weeks before some a hole in a 2008 f-150 decided not to stop and look at the end of the driveway. needless to say he slammed into my drivers side door and pretty much damaged my car. (see pictures below) i honestly figured they would total my car out considering that it costed state farm $7,000 to fix and i only paid $11,950 for the vehicle. lol... but i got her back and she looks brand new. i myself am not a huge fan of state farm. i have gone round and round with them for almost two months on things with my car and they just seemed to take their sweet time getting all the paper work completed. i have progressive and they did everything for me and made sure that i had nothin to do. luckily my car was new enough and i could get new parts for mine and they did not complain about it, but my accident was also in Indiana too.

http://a161.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/5/m_56a8efa0b206d1f76fec5c65377ebfd8.jpg

http://a765.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/19/m_d1abb0c08cb3c8f7a31bc37875f109cc.jpg

http://a846.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/6/m_f796f47c75bb7681b1f072bed6423375.jpg


http://a355.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/84/m_884ed18aa748230723d5b270bd27fc82.jpg

http://a499.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/23/m_ba75240a0d5bb2447d0e854a404efcb2.jpg

 

[Skypuncher]

best thing i can say is to make sure that your tell them that your car is in fact an Impala. my insurance (Geico at the time) was going to total my 96 on value until they i made sure they looked more carefully at the VIN. they were going to give me value on a Caprice. just something to look at.

good luck getting her fixed. i got the first part of mine done but got married and had a kid at the same time. now i have a black 96 with a white front end.

 

[impaladreamer_30]

wow

u think ur impala was in bad shape

i crashed in a toyota 4 runner, my bumper went right under the toyota's

check out the pics ...... i crashed in nov. 2007, brought it back to life in feb. 2008 .... still not done though ......

the hood and bumper are aftermarket (cheap stuff) the two front fenders are from a caprice (hard to find impala parts at local junk yards):frown:

hope u have better luck than me
:smile: