Hit and Run on NYE
 

My friend's car was hit and run on NYE. He doesn't have the money to get his car fixed, but if he cannot leave it in the current condition until he does because the trunk won't close and water/snow will be getting into the car overtime. He had it parked and when he was going to go out for New Years, he saw the trunk wide open and the new paint job he paid for 3 months ago destroyed. The trunk was dented in so the alignment is off and it just adds to the labor expense. I'm turning to the forums to see if we can get his car looking back to how it was originally.

https://www.gofundme.com/<YEAH NOT HERE>

I may sound like an ass here but he had the money to get a new paint job 3 months ago but doesn't have $ to get this temporarily fixed so he can close the trunk? Very sorry to hear his car got hit and hope it gets fixed soon.

Its funny...i wish there were programs out there, where thousands of drivers put money into a large pool of money...and somewhere Id like to believe there's companies that will hold onto this large pool of money and distribute the money to people who need them to fix their car in case of an accident....where would one purchase some type of policy to ensure this wouldn't be a problem?

member for 4 years, great first post.

i see the car has QQ plates, so it shouldnt be his daily driver and should have some sort of collectors insurance, which is full coverage, at a fraction of the cost of regular insurance. my 88 is full coverage for 300ish a year.

Sounds legit. I'll send a couple thousand when I get home form work today.

From the picture, it seems it would be very easy to fix temporarily to get the trunk to shut. Just remove rear bumper and taillights, attach a cable-puller and yank and hammer. In little to no time the trunk will shut ok, just disconnect the power down latch if optioned.

Also, if its a "historic" car, It should be taken care of accordingly and have historic car insurance. Most of the offer full coverage for very low rates.

Sorry, but no sympathy for your friend will be found here.

and btw, his rear taillight filler is not "correct" for those taillights.

Grab a hammer and try to straighten it out. Grab some tape and tape up the seams that will allow in water/snow. Don't ask for handouts, it will only make you a weak person.

I was under the impression that with qq you are supposed to have proper collectors insurance and the car be garage kept? I don't see how snow will get in the garage...

Side note: You are not required to have collector's insurance with QQs. That's required for collector's registration, not historic.

Ah. Good to know

Damn, I just donated money to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company.

That's a crummy way to start the new year, but it doesn't seem all that bad in the grand scheme. Are there more pictures, besides that one on the GoFundMe page? I think you should post a couple of more photos of the damage, and I'm sure the helpful folks here will offer up a variety of useful suggestions for temporarily remedying the situation, until your friend has had enough time to put aside some funds for the repairs.

I'm sorry it happened, and it's good of you to want to help your friend. I suggest posting a couple of more pictures, and gathering information & ideas on how you guys can attack it from there. Good luck to the both of you.

Thanks for the ideas. I'll help him get the trunk to close. I have pictures of how it looked before, I didn't take any of the damage. He put a bungie cord on it and the latch to keep it shut.

Er, why do those pics have different license plates?

and why doesn't eather of them show the damage in question ?

Before QQ plates. It is 1990. He got them in 2015. I said I had pictures of how it looked before. I'll take pictures of the damage when I see him and post within 2 hours.

Updated.

Cool.

Damage actually doesn't look too terrible.

That really doesn't look too bad. Do you feel confident taking the rear bumper cover and impact foam off? Ypu should really do so, and pull that small piece of carpet off too.
You guys could probably get in that trunk and push it out just enough to get the latches to hook, so he can ditch the bungee cord. A $20 car cover from Walmart and a tarp could long way in helping him get through the rainy nights until he's saved enough.

Disclaimer: These aren't means or methods I'd suggest if the car was in otherwise great condition. Given his age, the fact that he didn't have insurance/can't handle the deductible, has a GoFundMe set up for this, I'm reasoning that he having a professional body guy shape, paint, and seal it is out of the question right now, and that the car itself probably isn't worth much to begin with--Hence the "BandAid Fix" suggestions. If I'm wrong, then obviously follow the proper avenues and get her repaired right.

Btw, did he get a quote for $2,000 or is that a personal assumption?

that is exactly as I expected from the original pic. the rear trunk panel is fairly thin with no real solid structure, remove taillights and bumper, remove/replace impact bar, and pull/hammer the trunk sheet metal back into position until hatch closes. then just need to repaint bumper.

Jersey mike,
$2000 does sound in the range for that type of repair, mostly labor with replacement of impact bar, and replacement(or at least repaint/blending) of bumper. Possibly replacement of lights depending if they are damaged.


91Z28, if your friend is unable to get it temporarily fixed so it can close. I would be willing to help if he could drive to car to Closter NJ one day. I'm pretty confident I could having it flush and functioning in just a couple of hours, if that.

No joke I almost posted

"V could fix that **** in an afternoon"

He already got a bumper and impact bar from a parts car in good condition for $40 so he needs to have it painted again. He is going to try and fix it and have a shop paint the bumper for ~300. The paint is tcp firemist red so I think it is more expensive than other paint. V can you paint as well? The shop that did the paint before did a really good job imo. This is the second time car was hit in the back, insurance covered him the first time. 2k was quote from shop that fixed it before.

As in TCP Global's Firemist red? Their "restoration shop" line?

If it is, that's not really that expensive @ $90 for a gallon. You'd probably only need a quart?

I paint for personal projects but not for business so I couldn't help him out there. Over the past 18 years I've parted out 82-02 f bodies so I have a pretty extensive knowledge of how these cars go together and come apart.

If he just had a shop paint the car, Id have them paint the bumper off the car and hope that the paint was mixed close enough to the first time, I wouldn't try blending it.

Just out of curiosity, did the insurance somehow deny coverage this time, or is he not submitting it due to high deductible / rate increase reasoning?

My Jeep was hit a few months ago by an uninsured driver, and I know what a royal PITA it can be to deal with uninsured coverage.

- Justin

One of my friends got sandwiched between 2 cars on new years eve which they amputated one leg so far and trying to recoup the other. Not even he has a go fund me.

If thats the case I'll do a go fund me for my Trans am...