Is this repairable?

[roufma]

Hi all, 

The car was parked in the designated parking lot of a school. The condo construction adjacent to school, dropped a heavy metal pipe from 24th floor and caused the damaged roof and shattered glass. See the Pictures. 

 

The

 

The insurance company is recovering the cost of repair from the Condo and the car is immediately sent to Mazda dealer repair house. They said, its a major repair and due to other major repair lined up, we can only expect to get the car back in another 2.5 months (they estimated 1 month for the actual repair work). 

 

My questions are -

i. do you guys think, these damages are repairable? I mean, can the car be back to its pre-accident condition?

ii. If not, what option I might have at this stage? Its a 3 year old, bank-financed car. Will a demand for total replacement work in this kind of cases?

 

Thanks in advance.  

Edited February 12, 2020 by roufma

[DaRoadrunner]

Unless the cost of repair exceeds the value of the car, the insurance company will not write it off and give you a new car or the cash to buy one. Though you can try it on and see if they give in.

 

In reality, labour rates in Thailand are so low that even heavy damage gets repaired.

 

Yes it can be repaired. Your car needs a new roof panel. Dont let them try and palm you off with straightening the existing panel as it is impossible to achieve a good result.

 

Not an easy job, insist on a professional repair shop. Check fit of shut lines and doors when it is finished. Also check where roof meets windows front and rear.

 

Bear in mind that your local Mazda dealer may farm out the job to some back street garage. Ask who is doing the repair.

Edited February 12, 2020 by DaRoadrunner

[roufma]

4 minutes ago, DaRoadrunner said:

Yes it can be repaired. Your car needs a new roof panel. Dont let them try and palm you off with straightening the existing panel as it is impossible to achieve a good result.

 

Not an easy job, insist on a professional repair shop. Check fit of shut lines and doors when it is finished.

 

Bear in mind that your local Mazda dealer may farm out the job to some back street garage. Ask who is doing the repair.

Thanks for the helpful pointers Mate!

It was taken directly to Mazda Body & Paint Shop (RMA in Rama III); so, I hope they will not try to improvise any short-cut. 

 

[sandrabbit]

My wife going through an accident with an IRPC pickup driver slamming into 3 cars behind her which totalled the back end of our fiesta the best advice I can give is make sure if you get a hire car that the people at fault pay for it. IRPC and our insurance company didn't cough up for the hire car so we lost more than 50,000 baht. I will say the Ford dealership did a fantastic repair and we are very grateful for the help  but f u c k insurance in Thailand, IRPC one of the biggest Thai companies didn't pay our  hire car bill. <deleted> irpc

Edited February 12, 2020 by sandrabbit

[Kwasaki]

26 minutes ago, roufma said:

i. do you guys think, these damages are repairable? I mean, can the car be back to its pre-accident condition?

Yes.

[roufma]

4 minutes ago, sandrabbit said:

IRPC and our insurance company didn't cough up for the hire car so we lost more than 50,000 baht. I will say the Ford dealership did a fantastic repair and we are very grateful for the help  but f u c k insurance in Thailand, IRPC one of the biggest Thai companies didn't pay our  hire car bill. <deleted> irpc

I can share your frustration. My insurance company, the market leader of the country who is charging me the most expensive insurance for the last three years refused to arrange a rental for us or help me in negotiating with the condo admin for ensuring a rental. Quite ridiculous!! 

[gunderhill]

3 minutes ago, roufma said:

I can share your frustration. My insurance company, the market leader of the country who is charging me the most expensive insurance for the last three years refused to arrange a rental for us or help me in negotiating with the condo admin for ensuring a rental. Quite ridiculous!! 

Welcome to the land of  no responsibility.

[sandrabbit]

the cherry on top is that the hire car was a piece of junk and impossible to drive at night because the window foil tints were so dark you couldn't see if the headlights were on ............

 

you are now going to ask why we accepted this hire car, we didn't have a choice as there had been so many accidents that Ford couldn't give us a Ford hire car, I want to scream but no one can hear you scream in Thailand!!!

[impulse]

23 minutes ago, gunderhill said:

Welcome to the land of  no responsibility.

 

Meanwhile, back in the Land of the Free (and home of the brave), I'm paying 10x as much for my auto insurance as I did in Thailand.  Same coverage limitations.  Literally, 10x as much. 

 

If you want to pay more, get a rider covering a rental car.  Most Thais would rather borrow a scooter for a few months than pay more in premiums year after year.

 

[dimitriv]

1 hour ago, roufma said:

2.5 months (they estimated 1 month for the actual repair work)

 

It's a couple of days work, not a month. It can only take longer if you have to wait for parts.

 

Bring today, pick up next week. The damage is really not impressive. No vital parts were broken. This damage is easy to repair. 2 1/2 months is ridiculous. 

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by dimitriv

[DaRoadrunner]

21 minutes ago, dimitriv said:

 

It's a couple of days work, not a month. It can only take longer if you have to wait for parts.

 

Bring today, pick up next week. The damage is really not impressive. No vital parts were broken. This damage is easy to repair. 2 1/2 months is ridiculous. 

 

 

 

A couple of days work? About as much chance of me becoming the next Pope.

 

Swapping a roof is a job for professionals only. Its a lot harder than it looks.

Edited February 12, 2020 by DaRoadrunner

[Jare]

Could turn it into a cabriolet?

[canthai55]

6 hours ago, impulse said:

Meanwhile, back in the Land of the Free (and home of the brave)

555 - rose colored glasses ?

[transam]

Seen a lot worse than that repaired...

[canthai55]

As it is a unibody car the repair shop should use caution.

During rough straightening prior to panel replacement, damaged panels or frame components may be heated to assist in body/frame realignment. The application of heat must be constrained to the parts which will be replaced and not allowed to affect any other components.

Be aware that damage to a unibody car affects the whole vehicle, not like a body on frame where the body just sits there.

On unibody the shell is the frame.

Even if the shop realigns the body so doors close correctly, panel gaps are good, and everything looks correct, if mine, I would sell it ASAP after repair.

Structural integrity may well be compromised during repair, and I would not trust my life in such a car.

[canthai55]

https://www.bodyshopbusiness.com/finesse-not-force-repairing-unibody-vehicles/

Just one relevant passage -

• Pulls be made, the progress measured, the area stress relieved and then repeated.

Edited February 13, 2020 by canthai55

[Just Weird]

12 hours ago, DaRoadrunner said:

Bear in mind that your local Mazda dealer may farm out the job to some back street garage.

Bear in mind that the insurer will decide where it gets repaired, not the dealer.

[Just Weird]

12 hours ago, roufma said:

I can share your frustration. My insurance company, the market leader of the country who is charging me the most expensive insurance for the last three years refused to arrange a rental for us or help me in negotiating with the condo admin for ensuring a rental. Quite ridiculous!! 

In your first thread on this subject you said that the insurer did offer you a replacement car!  You said...

"...they said they will only cover the repair cost and cant take any responsibility for the replacement car (unless, I agree to take the car which is badly damaged to one of their enlisted garage rather than to the dealer body shop). 

 

It's "quite ridiculous" that you now say it refused you a replacement car.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Just Weird

[Just Weird]

12 hours ago, gunderhill said:

12 hours ago, roufma said:

I can share your frustration. My insurance company, the market leader of the country who is charging me the most expensive insurance for the last three years refused to arrange a rental for us or help me in negotiating with the condo admin for ensuring a rental. Quite ridiculous!! 

Welcome to the land of  no responsibility.

The insure did not refuse a replacement car (see his original thread on this subject) and it is not the insurer's responsibility to negotiate an alternative replacement on his behalf.

[VocalNeal]

13 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

unless, I agree to take the car which is badly damaged to one of their enlisted garage

The person/business paying for the repair has the right to chose the business who does the repair. Normally you are asked to get three quotes? 

 

If the policy does not specifically state "rental" car then...

 

 

[Just Weird]

21 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

36 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

unless, I agree to take the car which is badly damaged to one of their enlisted garage

The person/business paying for the repair has the right to chose the business who does the repair. Normally you are asked to get three quotes?

"The person/business paying for the repair has the right to chose the business who does the repair".

That will be the insurer, the OP will not be paying.

 

"Normally you are asked to get three quotes?"

You think?  I've had three substantial repairs done here through Viriyah and I was never asked to get three quotes.  The insurer does all that because it's agent is there on the spot.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Just Weird

[transam]

Some insurance ask if you want a repair at one of "their" appointed repairers or your own, the premium goes up for your own..

[VocalNeal]

48 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

That will be the insurer,

Exactly but the OP would appear to have taken the car to Mazda?

[roufma]

2 hours ago, Just Weird said:

In your first thread on this subject you said that the insurer did offer you a replacement car!  You said...

"...they said they will only cover the repair cost and cant take any responsibility for the replacement car (unless, I agree to take the car which is badly damaged to one of their enlisted garage rather than to the dealer body shop). 

 

It's "quite ridiculous" that you now say it refused you a replacement car.

not at the cost of agreeing to take it to a back street garage!

[Just Weird]

22 hours ago, roufma said:

On 2/13/2020 at 12:29 PM, Just Weird said:

In your first thread on this subject you said that the insurer did offer you a replacement car!  You said...

"...they said they will only cover the repair cost and cant take any responsibility for the replacement car (unless, I agree to take the car which is badly damaged to one of their enlisted garage rather than to the dealer body shop). 

 

It's "quite ridiculous" that you now say it refused you a replacement car.

not at the cost of agreeing to take it to a back street garage!

Viriyah made no suggestion that it would be taken to "a back street garage" and the truth is that most repairs are completed by non-dealers at body shops that are reputable and approved.

[alacrity]

On 2/13/2020 at 12:01 AM, Kwasaki said:

Yes.

A true statement.

However, would it be a competent and effective repair, in continuance with structural integrity?

If you repair the damage by auspice of your own insurance, there's at least an element of control on your part.

Abrogating that responsibility to an unknown entity wouldn't be my recommendation.

[Kwasaki]

32 minutes ago, alacrity said:

A true statement.

However, would it be a competent and effective repair, in continuance with structural integrity?

If you repair the damage by auspice of your own insurance, there's at least an element of control on your part.

Abrogating that responsibility to an unknown entity wouldn't be my recommendation.

It's roof damage, the roof section can be replaced and alignment of doors can be re-achieved. 

[gk10002000]

I think it is repairable but roofs can be tough.  It is hard to push the roof up without proper hydraulic extensions which a good repair shop should have.  You need to be careful what you are pushing against, and it is easy to deform or damage the car floor or whatever they are going to push up against unless you prepare and brace properly, lay some 2x4s or metal all across the floor pans to push up against, etc.  My faith in such Thai thoroughness and advance planning is low.   On the other side it is hard to pull up and shape the roof with dent pullers, slappers, etc.  Thai labor may be cheap enough for them to say the repair cost does not exceed the car value, in which case they will only authorize to repair it.  The door and window "joints" will probably never look or work quite as good as new unless the body repair shop is very very good.  Lots of bondo and they can make the roof look smooth cosmetically.    It is not a 2 1/2 month job, but definitely not a two day job either. 

 

   A couple of days to bend and straighten, tack weld where needed. Door jam and hinges are probably a bit out of whack and those can be a pain to get straight as new again.  Order the replacement glass, assuming the window risers and electrics are OK.  Line up and fine tune the door jam, window gaskets, etc.  Roof interior, roof liner will need work, and maybe a little electrical work for dome light and what not.  Then lots of bodywork, then re paint the entire roof, and for color matching probably the entire car.  Oil can nature of the roof can be tricky.

 

It will take some teamwork i.e. more than one person working to pop up and straighten and align things.

[Lancashirelad]

You do not "push up" the roof. You cut out all the damaged section and weld in a repair section which in the case will be the whole rear half of the roof. 

[DaRoadrunner]

17 hours ago, Lancashirelad said:

You do not "push up" the roof. You cut out all the damaged section and weld in a repair section which in the case will be the whole rear half of the roof. 

Nope

 

On 2/14/2020 at 10:28 PM, gk10002000 said:

I think it is repairable but roofs can be tough.  It is hard to push the roof up without proper hydraulic extensions which a good repair shop should have.  You need to be careful what you are pushing against, and it is easy to deform or damage the car floor or whatever they are going to push up against unless you prepare and brace properly, lay some 2x4s or metal all across the floor pans to push up against, etc.  My faith in such Thai thoroughness and advance planning is low.   On the other side it is hard to pull up and shape the roof with dent pullers, slappers, etc.  Thai labor may be cheap enough for them to say the repair cost does not exceed the car value, in which case they will only authorize to repair it.  The door and window "joints" will probably never look or work quite as good as new unless the body repair shop is very very good.  Lots of bondo and they can make the roof look smooth cosmetically.    It is not a 2 1/2 month job, but definitely not a two day job either. 

 

   A couple of days to bend and straighten, tack weld where needed. Door jam and hinges are probably a bit out of whack and those can be a pain to get straight as new again.  Order the replacement glass, assuming the window risers and electrics are OK.  Line up and fine tune the door jam, window gaskets, etc.  Roof interior, roof liner will need work, and maybe a little electrical work for dome light and what not.  Then lots of bodywork, then re paint the entire roof, and for color matching probably the entire car.  Oil can nature of the roof can be tricky.

 

It will take some teamwork i.e. more than one person working to pop up and straighten and align things.

And Nope Again!

 

Proper way is swap entire roof panel. Front and rear windows and headlining come out. Detach roof where it was originally spot welded to the A, B and C posts and window frames. Left rear door will need frame straightening or new door, the rest of it will probably line up ok.

 

Straightening out the existing roof would be a Thai bodge.

Edited February 16, 2020 by DaRoadrunner