Car V Bus fixup advice

[michael]

I realise this has nothing to do with bikes but I'm still stuck in this situation and gota sort it out. My girlfriend turned into a bus lane and got hit (by a bus). The bus lane had ended and it turned into two lanes. She turned into the other lane and a bus caught her on her passenger door. She was pretty shaken up and says she cant remember what happened, she just changed lanes and wham! Firstly if anyone can verify whos in the wrong I'd appreciate it.

Now I'm stuck with getting it fixed for her (the fun part of being the boyfriend). I dont even have a car, so not too happy but what can ya do. Any advice on getting it done.......... and yup you guess it, on the cheap to. Ive got 3 quotes and they're all around 2000. Got another from a guy who runs a business out of his garage and he said 1300 if I get all the parts myself (passenger door and rear view mirror).

Any advice on going about getting it done. I want it done properly of cause, but the car is almost 20 years old (1991) so dont want to spend a fortune on it (its valued at 3000).

Photos attached.

[bogan]

doesnt look too bad, rubber mallet, bog, and touch up paint will get it looking a lot better, not good as new though. Thing id be most worried about would be the sill, have to make sure thats still structurally sound id imagine. As for whos in the wrong, it sounds like she turned into a bus so itd be her fault, even if the bus was 'undertaking'

[The Pastor]

bog it.

[PirateJafa]

What's the problem?

[CookMySock]

Just bolt another door on and your're done. Live with the rest, or rattle can it.

She won't do that again. ;)

Steve

[JimO]

does she have insurance, if not why not

[Taz]

Yes her fault for failing to ascertain that the lane was empty before changing.

[Hoon]

I wouldn't bother fixing a $3000 car. Either live with it or buy a new car. Any budget attempts to fix it will probably look worse than the original damage.

[Goblin]

Omg I'm glad I dont ride in Dorkland! First of all, howthefuck do you not see a bus? :blink: If she cant see a bloody great big bus then how's she going to see a bike? She shouldn't be driving! Did she get her license from a Kornies packet??

Why should you have to pay for her stupidity? Tell her to pay for her own bloody repairs. If it comes from her purse I bet she wont do it again.

[CookMySock]

What puzzles me, is if it was her fault wouldn't the bus company be after costs? But it's not?

Maybe she should be after them for costs?

Steve

[FROSTY]

How good do you want the car to look? Its 20 years old yasay?
Id be tempted to pull the door inner lining out and see how much of the dent you can massage out from inside. same with the quard. looks to me from the pics if ya haul it off most of the crease might massage out If the quotes are 3 k though Im thinking the door pillar might have had a whack--or they dont wanna work on old stuff.
The sill is DEFINITELY the big worry for the next WOF. It needs to be fixed up correctly.
Parts for those lil Mazda coupe's aren't that expensive nowadays --Might be easier to buy a second hand guard and door skin in red and just bolt em on --then just get the sill fixed by the experts.
If you're out my way swing by with the car and Ill do what I can to help ya out

[crazefox]

you buy the parts get it too me i do it for 900

[Ixion]

That'll buff right out.

[flyingcr250]

its actually worse than it looks in the photos,(sorry), if it was me id just get a 2nd hand door shell, and swap all your internals over, its worth looking around for one thats close to the same color as your car. (easy if you are mildy mechanicly minded), just use a cutting paste to get rid of the black marks on the front guard. (jiff would probably do if nothing is available to you) dont worry bout the dents. the only thing i would be worried about is the damage on the sill as its a structural panel, you could be failed for a warrant if you catch the testing guy on a bad day. i do a few of these ECONO-FIXES for people and thats what id do.

[Max Preload]

My girlfriend turned into a bus lane and got hit (by a bus). The bus lane had ended and it turned into two lanes. She turned into the other lane and a bus caught her on her passenger door.

Where's my soap box? Oh to hell with it. People like her are the reason that, even though entitled to, I would NEVER ride in a bus lane - it's much, much safer to lane split.

[bogan]

What puzzles me, is if it was her fault wouldn't the bus company be after costs? But it's not?

Maybe she should be after them for costs?

Steve

its a bus, they'll just wash off the red paint and go back to whatever it is buses do, threatening bikes and going slow I guess

[michael]

Hey sorry I completely forgot about this thread I started :Oops: I've been getting quotes ect and heres what I got. Around 2000 to fix sill, replace door and front guard and respray whole side of car. So I said fuck that and I'm going to pick a part to get the parts for $110 (heres hoping they have the parts). And replace it myself. The sill is the only bit that will stop a warrant so I'm investigating bogging it up myself. Me and my old man rekon we can do it, and if we fuck it up, go back to the original idea and get a professional to fix it for us.
ANYONE WITH BOGGING EXPERIENCE PLEASE GIVE ADVICE
Then I'll just get it resprayed, so all up should cost under a grand. Kinda want it to look good again hense all the work put into it. Dad just spent 1500 servicing it last month, so he doesnt want to see his money thrown down the drain. But he also said after he spent the money that he's not spending a cent on it anymore so his little (24 year old) daughter has to pay up any future bills.

Now to the matter of her not seeing a bus.....
Mate if you drive in Auckland you'll notice that bus drivers fly down bus lanes at 60kph less than half a meter from cars, with no way of stopping in time. I'm not excusing what she did though, good job she deserves to learn about checking her blindspot and ALWAYS indicating whether or not theres a car/bike/truck there.

We always have fights about indicating, she thinks theres no need to indicate and do other things like stick in your own lane (when going around a two lanes roundabout) when there's nobody around. But you know how it is, I've never had an accident, bla bla bla. Trust me its bloody hard not to say I told you so you dum ...........

So if anything I got a wee weekend hobby (considering the weathers been shit lately and get out on the bike), and get to learn how to bog. Never had cars, always bikes so keen to learn how to bog. Cheers for all the comments fullas and hope you can give some more about bogging the sill.

OOPS forgot about insurance problem. 3k car with 1k insurance and 1k excess (which dad was also paying). He changed it last month to 3rd party so shes fucked and gota pay it all herself. She was too shaken up to see what the bus looked like but we havn't heard anything from them yet so presumming its fine.