My LR3 is in the body shop!!! #$%&

[toddjb122]

I know this post is worthless w/o a picture, so I'll get one up later this week, but figured I'd tell my sob story. Could be worse, but...

So, I was driving about in the Maryland blizzard last weekend. The LR3, as you know, drives great in the snow. I did convince myself, though, that I am going to upgrade to the knobiest (sp?) 19" tires I can find when my Michelins go. I saw some Toyota pickups with nice knobby tires doing better than me in some spots. I love the Michelins, but they're still too low profile when you want more traction. Anyway, I'm getting off track...

I'm driving down the road, 10mph, real careful, no traffic around me and then SLAM I feel and hear the unmistakable sound of a car impacting me. F*&k. Some guy in a full size pickup truck was backing out of his driveway. His rear window was covered with snow. He didn't look. He backed straight into the side of my LR3. F*&k, again.

He smashed in the right rear door which in turn bent the door frame which is unfortunately part of the right rear quarter panel. That makes what would be a simple door replacement and paint job into a pretty major effort to cut out my quarter panel and weld in a new piece. Effectively repairing most of the right side of my truck and I'm just hoping the paint matches as good as possible.

Total for the damage? $5000

The other guy's insurance is covering it and they put me in a nice Tahoe for the 2-3 weeks that my truck is in the shop, but you all know the deal... Going to the body shop sucks and the truck will always be tainted when I go to resell it. That's a big repair.

I visited several shops before settling on a place that was highly recommended and has experience working on LRs. We'll see how it goes.

If anyone has tips on things to look for when I pick it up in a couple weeks, I'd greatly appreciate it. Be nice to get anything taken care of before I return the rental.

Thanks,

-todd

 

[toddjb122]

One more thing...after the accident my truck had a transmission fault (F on the display) and a message about limited gears available. I was a little worried that I'd be driving home on the highway in first gear. However, I turned off and restarted the truck and the errors cleared. So, other than a smashed in side the truck seemed to drive fine.

The shop is going to check the frame and do a 4 wheel alignment as part of the repair.

 

[jptruck]

Sucks. . .was the guy in the truck just playing Russian Roulette? This snow is making people crazy around here.

 

[ryan-in-oregon]

Make sure your body shop takes to the Dealer for the Alignment. Mine was recently hit in one of the doors aswell and they took it to the local tire shop. (which couldn't get it right). Indicate the computer needs to be put into a special mode for alignments (Which the dealer will do). Also my bill came to around 3200 for replacement and painting of one door. Included fading in the paint on the neighboring panels. Good Luck...

 

[JackMac]

Sorry to read about the accident.

Our Tonga Green LR3 has been to the body shop twice. Once from a deer, the other from being rear-ended. Each time, it came back good as new. You should be fine.

Definitely check the function of all doors and windows. Also, as stated above, have the dealership perform the alignment.

I wouldn't worry about the impact to the value of the truck as a result of having an accident, as long as it is properly repaired. These things depreciate so much on their own anyway. On the other hand, you now can go and get that LR4 a bit earlier!

 

[BldrRover]

Just had my right rear door hit the other day in the parking garage... no note of course. Anyway, the paint job looks great on the new door, but they couldn't recreate the "rocky mountain pin stripes" that are on the rest of the car. I had a full exterior polish and detail done and it now looks show room new.

 

[e24kgold]

Check the paint from all angles and in different lights. Know of non matching horror stories

 

[Roverine]

Todd- Sorry to hear this. Good luck with the repair. Idiots who drive without cleaning their windows and lights off drive me nuts.

 

[kingfishgrapeja]

Paint matching has really become reliable in the past decade or so in my experience. I doubt any decent shop would botch it. Just look real close at the reflections and make sure they flattened things out right.

 

[toddjb122]

Thanks for the tips. I'll ask about the alignment to make sure it is done correctly.

He said he can't reuse the lower body plastic (bottom of door and part of wheel wheel) as it was damaged. So, I think the most obvious part will be new plastic/rubber next to old plastic that has probably sun faded a bit.