[stickboy3k]

So.. my wife and I thought it would be cool to drive from our house near Ann Arbor, MI down to Atlanta, GA to visit some friends. Looking back, we should have waited until spring/summer.

Near the end of the drive through Kentucky, I hit a patch of ice at about 45 mph and after spinning for a few seconds, luckily hit the concrete median with the rear corner of the Insight. I say luckily, because in Kentucky it's usually either the media or the side of a mountain.. that'd be one heck of a drop.. Neither of us were hurt which is the most important thing, yet I'm still heart broken about the car.

Well the point of my post is to ask if anyone in the Ann Arbor/Detroit area has had any body work done on their Insight and if they could recommend a good place. I've got a 1000.00 deductible so if it's under that I'll just pay out of pocket and I'd like to make sure I get the work done right.

Also, anyone that's made fun of the little yellow spare.. that is a miracle spare. We made it over 400 miles back home on that spare (The tire was fine, but the rear bumper was pinned against it.. so I put the smaller spare on to get home).

Here are some pics if you're interested:

Crack to the upper right of the wheel well

Most of the damage was to the driver side corner

Close up of above

Hatch lid is off center now.. there's a gap on the passenger side.


Thanks,
Ron

 

[redgiki]

It hurts us, it hurts us! Take it off us!

That's my problem. I'm terrified every time I drive that I'm going to get in an accident. I've never spent as much money on anything, other than my house, than I did on this car. I waited five years after hearing about it and reading about it to buy it, knowing that by then most of the bugs would have been worked out, limitations would be known, and the used cars would be relatively affordable.

I love my car.

So today, I drove past some amazingly beautiful country. Everything was iced over by this fine snow-mesh from heavy frozen fog over the last week and a half, and looked incredible. The fog had mostly lifted, yet was only a few feet above my head in spots, and I saw a double-halo rainbow. This is a rainbow where you don't just see half a rainbow -- you see the whole thing, a big circle. Only the bottom was slightly cut off. But the second rainbow ring, outside the first, doubled my pleasure.

I was so taken aback at seeing a sight so beautiful and startling that, for a second, I forgot where I was. Then I came to myself and found I'd driven well off onto the shoulder and lost about 20 MPH. The heart was beating fast after that, I tell you...

I empathize with you! Not that I couldn't stand it, but with a $1000 deductible on my insurance (hey, I'm a cheapskate, it saved me about $250 a year), the thought of getting into any kind of accident is very distressing.

"So bright... so beautiful..."

 

[Rick Reece]

For body work tips near Ann Arbor check out Insightman.com as he had work done on his. Have fun, Rick

 

[ScottH]

It's kind of hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like you didnt' do much damage to the aluminum skin, so that should have a lot of hassle, because most body shops don't know how to deal with it.

The hatch might have just been knocked out of alignment with the hit, and it might just be a matter of them unbolting it, realigning it, and bolting it back in.

It might just be a matter of putting on a new bumper, though the brackets under it might be bent.

However, I would guess that just the bumper and foam for the bumper in the box will be pushing $1000 unfortunately, unless you can find them on e-bay or something like that.

 

[Sparky5501]

Here's a tip:

When hunting for a bodyshop find one that does alot of repair work for an Audi dealership. The A8 is an aluminum car and an authorized Audi repair shop will have a technician trained to repair aluminum bodied cars. Also ask your honda dealer where they would recommend you take you Insight to. Also, find out who's had experience repairing NSX's, they are aluminium as well.

From your photos expect your repair to be in the $4000 to $6000 range.

 

[Guillermo]

Ice doesn't cause crashes drivers do.
There are no such things as accidents, they are collisions and 95% of them are avoidable.
Everyone has lots of potential to become much better drivers.
Invest in a good advanced drivers course
like a car control school AND a winter car control school.
You will be amazed how much you will learn in one day!
Ask anyone that has taken such a course.

These courses cost way less then your $1000 deductable...
Sorry about going slightly off topic.

 

[Motty82]

I currently have damage just about the same as yours, a little less messy, but about the same place of impact. Anyway... I had an estimate done, and the total came out just shy of $600 total including parts, paint, labor. From the pictures, it looks to me like there's no internal bleeding, so taking it to any repair shop will probably work just fine...
~Martin
Recycled
2000 5 spd

 

[stickboy3k]

Ice doesn't cause crashes drivers do.
Sorry about going slightly off topic.

Yeah.. thanks for the tip... so any tips on how to drive on ice then?

 

[stickboy3k]

Here's a tip:
From your photos expect your repair to be in the $4000 to $6000 range.

The Progressive Claims guy called today, the estimate came back at about 3100. Not too bad, the quotes that I got when I took it around were around 4000. They're also going to take out the two dings in my passenger door from parking lots.. I need to start parking out further

 

[Sparky5501]

The Progressive Claims guy called today, the estimate came back at about 3100. Not too bad,

Hey, that's great. I guess the rear bumper costs less than the front. Let us know how your experience goes with the body shop.