Memoirs of a Protege5
- Thread starter Kansei
- Start date
I persevered.. with 4 lab classes and 20 hours a week of work in the new semester, I didn't have time to get to the body shop during the week to talk to them about the paint issue. To distract myself, in the spare time that I really didn't have I put my summer wheels back on:
and gave her a bath:
oh great, the fender and front door don't match the rear door (original paint).. uggggh:
.. oof, later that day I noticed another big underlying issue.. I knew that the grille wasn't properly clipped in and wouldn't go for whatever reason, that the hood latch had broken in the accident (and was included in my insurance company's estimate) and they hadn't replaced it, but this just added another to the ever longer list of quite less than perfect things with my car post-accident:
yes, that's my radiator support really improperly aligned and poorly repaired.. also the top tab for my headlight not fitting in properly, hence my headlight being sunken in to the car more than it should be and not being able to get it aimed properly no matter what (not good when you have HIDs).
I finally got back to Vogels today during the 8-10am window that they are open on Saturdays to allow people with busy schedules to pick their cars up without taking time off from the work week.
With list in hand, I walked in to ask Randy what he could do for me. He was instantly cold and rude to me, as I had come to expect from him after showing him how poorly aligned the hood was on the day I picked the car up. He snatched the list out of my hand and starting going through it.
-- Clouded clearcoat on front bumper and hood, fenders and door panels not matching the rest of the car. He said "there's nothing I can do about that, we used the same paint" (which is total bs, it's a clearcoat issue on the hood/bumper, and I know for a fact that they have the ability to match paint properly with their PPG equipment (re: my fiber images hood)).
-- Hood latch broken, causing really loud rattling from the hood. He said they could order one and get that fixed right (hooray, finally a small success).
-- Radiator support misaligned, causing headlight and grille fitment issues. He said I'd have to come back sometime during the week (WTF, don't have time for that!!) and they would look at it.
-- A weird brushed look texture on the basecoat along the crease on my fender and door panels. He had no comment about that.. I won't put up with anything less than perfect since I know they have the right equipment and have at least one employee who can handle it.
-- Deep scratch on the brand new front bumper and the (old) headlight right above it. He said they'd fix it on the bumper but since the headlight wasn't new they wouldn't touch it. I let him know that I have photo evidence from the scene of the accident and from the repair process showing that that scratch wasn't there until the day I picked the car up... he brushed it off angrily.
-- Bumper misaligned, horrible fitment. He said they wouldn't even consider fixing anything about the bumper because I have an aftermarket intercooler installed.. I again explained to him that aside from the part sheared off of it, the old (also oem) bumper was fitting perfectly on the car before the accident. .. he angrily crossed that off my list.
-- A few fasteners missing from the new fender liner. I noticed this when I was washing my wheel wells the other day while putting my summer wheels on. He said they could order those, no big deal.
-- Pinched wiring in door panel shorting out my speaker system. Since I already fixed this one myself ($500 down the drain on a new head unit only to experience the same problem with it), it was just something I wanted to let them know about. He instantly retorted: "we didn't touch your door wiring at all". I said "You technically had to, because you removed the mirror, door handle, and some trim pieces to paint the door panel and the tweeter (the wiring that was shorted out) is on the sail panel that must be removed to remove the side mirror and also to remove the inner door panel (which was removed to get the door handle off). He angrily crossed that off my list.
I came in there with my list to just politely discuss what they wanted to do to fix it properly. He was rude to me from the start, and I held in how upset I was getting, only letting out a "My insurance company knows this isn't over yet" as I walked out the door to go in my car and scream for a while.
The whole time driving back to my house I was going over in my head what the hell I am supposed to do now. They mangled my car and are refusing to fix half the s*** they ****** up. My insurance company said they would only guarantee the work if I took it to the shop they wanted me to go to. I chose Vogels over any other shop in Rochester because I knew that they were capable of good work and expected that all their work was of that calibre.
I was in tears during that drive, and I'm not afraid to admit that to anyone. The many hundreds of hours I have put into tailoring the car to my likes and dislikes, keeping the car perfect, etc.. all thrown out the window the moment I let the car leave my hands for the first time since I bought it for someone else to do work on it. It's all ruined now, there's no going back. People on the Mazda forums after seeing the accident pictures commented "Hopefully it's totalled, because it'll never be the same ever again". That made no sense to me. Sure, the car is made by crazy anime robots in Hiroshima ( :mrgreen: ) but I was sure any decent body shop is more than capable of making the car good as new. Plus, I was offended that anyone could suggest that I just throw away all the time, effort, blood, sweat, money, tears, etc that I put into my car over the years. She was a shining example that not every intoverted, scrawny, socially-retarded computer nerd was only that and nothing more.
At this point, I'm done with this car. I want it to be out of my life forever, all because of some body shop who employs people who don't take pride in their work and is managed by a man who doesn't stand behind the work of his employees. In the 20-30 hours of labor they spent on my car, they managed to ruin the years of work I had personally put into her before that. Even informed that I was quite anal about my car being perfect, they decided it was ok to try and pass off a shoddy job and get me out of their hair. Even after during the last week of repairs I was visiting the shop every day during my lunch break to check on the car, talk with them about the repairs, and taking many, many pictures of every single bit of the car.. they chose to do a bad job. It wasn't the aftermarket parts on my car like Randy Holtz loves to blame (Randy, I'm not asking for a ******* handout, this isn't warranty work.. you're getting paid to fix my car right and you'll ******* do it!), it wasn't the quality of the parts (they were all new and OEM), and it wasn't their facilities (their paint matching system and the newer paint booth are both really friggin awesome), and it isn't that the job is too hard (the car wasn't damaged that badly at all, it could have been worse and still not have been totalled). It also isn't the fault of the tools, the environment, or the art/science of collision repair. It is the fault of Vogel Collision's employees not taking pride in their work, and the management not giving a damn about the customers.
The way I was treated today was unacceptable, and I won't just sit back and take that from anyone (hence this novella of a post). I have already filed a formal complaint against Vogels Collision with the BBB, and on Monday I will be in talks with my insurance company and also my lawyer. I gave Vogels a chance to right their numerous wrongs today, and Randy Holtz blew it.
Where the hell am I supposed to go from here? I told my mom on the phone today that I was done with this car, that after all the work I've put into it I can't stand to even see it at this point. I told her that I want to get rid of the car as soon as possible so I can go on with my life. She understood how I felt but at the same time didn't even want to discuss getting a new car because well.. she just traded in her 05 Altima SE for an 07 Altima (I tried sooo hard to get her into a Mazdaspeed6 but she didn't think it had enough power off the line :roll
last night and doesn't really feel like buying two cars in one weekend.
I have the title for my car in a secure safe in my bedroom in CT. I could drive back there right now and get it without my mom's consent, that's no biggie (except that I'll be fuuuucked hardcore with all my school work that I need to do this weekend). Then I would be free to get rid of this car whene ver I want.
Since my mom isn't keen on buying another new car right now since she hasn't worked at all this year and didn't work most of last year because of illness and injuries (and a few surgeries).. my only option is to downgrade to an older or crappier car. Why put myself through that? Because I'm an emotional wreck right now and even my emo soap can't help me. I need to distance myself from this car and close out this once wonderful chapter of my life so that I can move on and not flunk out of school from all the stress and lost time.
Right about now, I would trade my car for a mid-ninetees miata, even if it had over 100k miles and the body wasn't mint.. even if it had a *gasp* awful tan interior and slaughtered cow skin stretched over the seats. Pretty much as long as it isn't an automatic. As long as it isn't an automatic and has at least a drivers airbag I'm all for it. Note that I said trade.. I know my car is worth more than some 92 miata with 120k miles on it, but I'd forget about the money to just be done with it and in a car that hasn't been raped, pillaged, and ravaged by a horrible body shop.
From taling to Max at work last week, he said there's no decent paint shop anywhere near Rochester.. is that the truth? Could it have been much worse elsewhere? I can't imagine that any shop would have treated me more poorly than Randy Holtz at Vogels Collision has. The problem is, I'm sure my insurance company won't even pretend to consider the thought of giving up on Vogels and going to another body shop (Dorschel Collision? at this point I don't care who, what, or where fixes my car as long as it is done right and in a timely fashion. My insurance company shouldn't have to pay any more to get it fixed somewhere else though, especially if it's at the place they wanted to have fix it in the first place.
I think the worst part about all of this is that in the end, even though some idiot failed to stop at a stop sign, clearly failed to look for oncoming traffic, and pulled out when I was 20 feet away traveling at probably 45mph.. MY insurance rates are going to go up because of this. Even though he admitted full fault in the accident to the police officer at the scene of the accident, Geico is only accepting 90% fault and is placing 10% fault on me because I didn't do a good enough job avoiding the accident. They said under New York Law (which I'm admittedly not that familiar with and never wanted or planned on being familiar with) they can do that.. what the hell kind of crap is that? Making it even worse, without even talking to me (the insured) or my Mom (the owner of the car and head of the insurance policy) my insurance company accepted that offer! My mom talked to them after the fact and the insurance rep out of Buffalo handling the case said that they'd have to take it to court to get any more out of Geico and it would be a big hassle. WHO tHe **** CARES, YOU'RE AN INSURANCE COMPANY THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE FOR!!! Of course they accepted the 90% offer, it's easier for them and now they can freely triple my rates for a few years, just after my rate had just dropped from over 3k a year to 1k a year (still with full collision coverage and wild bodily injury coverage).
Geico should be ******* thankful that I didn't t-bone their client, totalling both cars and sending us both to the hospital. We both walked away from the accident with no injuries, not even any soreness. Their client's car was still driveable AND road legal (just missing the rear bumper cover, the core support was untouched).. ugggh
I don't recommend putting as much work into a car as I have with my dear Protege5 to anyone. Why? As should be quite apparent from what I have written, you can grow quite attached to your car. I wish I could be like my mom, trading her 03 altima for an 05 altima for an 07 altima and not having a care in the world. She loved her Altima SE, but I'm sure the moment she has the keycard for her 07 Altima the 05 will be out of sight, out of mind. I just can't do that. Maybe I should funnel my money into my computers (lawl to anyone who knows how many computers I have running in my room right now or can even make a close guess) and just get a car that I am happy with stock (since dumping money into a car is rarely an investment anyway).
I'm going to spent the rest of the morning on autotrader and local dealership sites looking for a car that I can live with and then probably throwing away the last three years of my life. Goodbye GT25R, goodbye callaway manifold, beautiful corksport downpipe.. goodbye front mount intercooler, carbon fiber hood, tokico struts, goldline (yuck, they were due for replacement this month anyway) springs, racing beat sway bars, stunning racing beat cat-back exhaust, MAM catted midpipe, ngk wideband, daveB gauge rings, shorty antenna, mazda6wagon rear wiper, canadian blacked-out headlamps, led rear turn signals, HIDs, wrinkle red valve cover, cold air intake, beautiful wheels and sticky tires.. goodbye stealthy window tint, front door speakers, my brand new Premier P880PRShead unit, my hand crafted black leather with silver 4-seam stitching shifter boot with matching ebrake boot, my greddy black chrome counterweighted gearshift knob, my twm short throw shifter, kartboy bushings, prosport gauge set, carbon fiber interior trim pieces, mazdaspeed pedals, floor mats, and engine cover..
and now I quote a song by The Used:
" From the way that you acted
to the way that I felt it
It wasn't worth my time
and now it's sad cause all I missed
wasn't that good to begin with
and now that I've started you begging
saying things that you don't mean
it isn't worth my time
a line's a dime a million times
and I'm about to see all of them
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you, you're taking up my time [x3]
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you
You call my name when I wake up
to see things go your way
I'm coughing up my time
each drag's a drop of blood a grain
a minute of my life
it's all I've got just to stay down
why the **** am I still down
I'm hoarding all that's mine
each time I let just one slip by
I'm wasting what is mine
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you, you're taking up my time [x3]
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you
My time [x3]
I'm about to see a million things
I thought I'd never see before and I
I'm about to do all of the things
I've dreamed of and
I don't even miss you at all
[x2]
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you, you're taking up my time [x7]
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you"
it's not true though, I will miss her. I hope I can be reasoned with and stopped from throwing this all away, but my heart is telling me to go ahead and close this chapter of my life. And yes, I am this much of an emo b**** for anyone who wants to ridicule me for that like usual
and gave her a bath:
oh great, the fender and front door don't match the rear door (original paint).. uggggh:
.. oof, later that day I noticed another big underlying issue.. I knew that the grille wasn't properly clipped in and wouldn't go for whatever reason, that the hood latch had broken in the accident (and was included in my insurance company's estimate) and they hadn't replaced it, but this just added another to the ever longer list of quite less than perfect things with my car post-accident:
yes, that's my radiator support really improperly aligned and poorly repaired.. also the top tab for my headlight not fitting in properly, hence my headlight being sunken in to the car more than it should be and not being able to get it aimed properly no matter what (not good when you have HIDs).
I finally got back to Vogels today during the 8-10am window that they are open on Saturdays to allow people with busy schedules to pick their cars up without taking time off from the work week.
With list in hand, I walked in to ask Randy what he could do for me. He was instantly cold and rude to me, as I had come to expect from him after showing him how poorly aligned the hood was on the day I picked the car up. He snatched the list out of my hand and starting going through it.
-- Clouded clearcoat on front bumper and hood, fenders and door panels not matching the rest of the car. He said "there's nothing I can do about that, we used the same paint" (which is total bs, it's a clearcoat issue on the hood/bumper, and I know for a fact that they have the ability to match paint properly with their PPG equipment (re: my fiber images hood)).
-- Hood latch broken, causing really loud rattling from the hood. He said they could order one and get that fixed right (hooray, finally a small success).
-- Radiator support misaligned, causing headlight and grille fitment issues. He said I'd have to come back sometime during the week (WTF, don't have time for that!!) and they would look at it.
-- A weird brushed look texture on the basecoat along the crease on my fender and door panels. He had no comment about that.. I won't put up with anything less than perfect since I know they have the right equipment and have at least one employee who can handle it.
-- Deep scratch on the brand new front bumper and the (old) headlight right above it. He said they'd fix it on the bumper but since the headlight wasn't new they wouldn't touch it. I let him know that I have photo evidence from the scene of the accident and from the repair process showing that that scratch wasn't there until the day I picked the car up... he brushed it off angrily.
-- Bumper misaligned, horrible fitment. He said they wouldn't even consider fixing anything about the bumper because I have an aftermarket intercooler installed.. I again explained to him that aside from the part sheared off of it, the old (also oem) bumper was fitting perfectly on the car before the accident. .. he angrily crossed that off my list.
-- A few fasteners missing from the new fender liner. I noticed this when I was washing my wheel wells the other day while putting my summer wheels on. He said they could order those, no big deal.
-- Pinched wiring in door panel shorting out my speaker system. Since I already fixed this one myself ($500 down the drain on a new head unit only to experience the same problem with it), it was just something I wanted to let them know about. He instantly retorted: "we didn't touch your door wiring at all". I said "You technically had to, because you removed the mirror, door handle, and some trim pieces to paint the door panel and the tweeter (the wiring that was shorted out) is on the sail panel that must be removed to remove the side mirror and also to remove the inner door panel (which was removed to get the door handle off). He angrily crossed that off my list.
I came in there with my list to just politely discuss what they wanted to do to fix it properly. He was rude to me from the start, and I held in how upset I was getting, only letting out a "My insurance company knows this isn't over yet" as I walked out the door to go in my car and scream for a while.
The whole time driving back to my house I was going over in my head what the hell I am supposed to do now. They mangled my car and are refusing to fix half the s*** they ****** up. My insurance company said they would only guarantee the work if I took it to the shop they wanted me to go to. I chose Vogels over any other shop in Rochester because I knew that they were capable of good work and expected that all their work was of that calibre.
I was in tears during that drive, and I'm not afraid to admit that to anyone. The many hundreds of hours I have put into tailoring the car to my likes and dislikes, keeping the car perfect, etc.. all thrown out the window the moment I let the car leave my hands for the first time since I bought it for someone else to do work on it. It's all ruined now, there's no going back. People on the Mazda forums after seeing the accident pictures commented "Hopefully it's totalled, because it'll never be the same ever again". That made no sense to me. Sure, the car is made by crazy anime robots in Hiroshima ( :mrgreen: ) but I was sure any decent body shop is more than capable of making the car good as new. Plus, I was offended that anyone could suggest that I just throw away all the time, effort, blood, sweat, money, tears, etc that I put into my car over the years. She was a shining example that not every intoverted, scrawny, socially-retarded computer nerd was only that and nothing more.
At this point, I'm done with this car. I want it to be out of my life forever, all because of some body shop who employs people who don't take pride in their work and is managed by a man who doesn't stand behind the work of his employees. In the 20-30 hours of labor they spent on my car, they managed to ruin the years of work I had personally put into her before that. Even informed that I was quite anal about my car being perfect, they decided it was ok to try and pass off a shoddy job and get me out of their hair. Even after during the last week of repairs I was visiting the shop every day during my lunch break to check on the car, talk with them about the repairs, and taking many, many pictures of every single bit of the car.. they chose to do a bad job. It wasn't the aftermarket parts on my car like Randy Holtz loves to blame (Randy, I'm not asking for a ******* handout, this isn't warranty work.. you're getting paid to fix my car right and you'll ******* do it!), it wasn't the quality of the parts (they were all new and OEM), and it wasn't their facilities (their paint matching system and the newer paint booth are both really friggin awesome), and it isn't that the job is too hard (the car wasn't damaged that badly at all, it could have been worse and still not have been totalled). It also isn't the fault of the tools, the environment, or the art/science of collision repair. It is the fault of Vogel Collision's employees not taking pride in their work, and the management not giving a damn about the customers.
The way I was treated today was unacceptable, and I won't just sit back and take that from anyone (hence this novella of a post). I have already filed a formal complaint against Vogels Collision with the BBB, and on Monday I will be in talks with my insurance company and also my lawyer. I gave Vogels a chance to right their numerous wrongs today, and Randy Holtz blew it.
Where the hell am I supposed to go from here? I told my mom on the phone today that I was done with this car, that after all the work I've put into it I can't stand to even see it at this point. I told her that I want to get rid of the car as soon as possible so I can go on with my life. She understood how I felt but at the same time didn't even want to discuss getting a new car because well.. she just traded in her 05 Altima SE for an 07 Altima (I tried sooo hard to get her into a Mazdaspeed6 but she didn't think it had enough power off the line :roll
last night and doesn't really feel like buying two cars in one weekend.I have the title for my car in a secure safe in my bedroom in CT. I could drive back there right now and get it without my mom's consent, that's no biggie (except that I'll be fuuuucked hardcore with all my school work that I need to do this weekend). Then I would be free to get rid of this car whene ver I want.
Since my mom isn't keen on buying another new car right now since she hasn't worked at all this year and didn't work most of last year because of illness and injuries (and a few surgeries).. my only option is to downgrade to an older or crappier car. Why put myself through that? Because I'm an emotional wreck right now and even my emo soap can't help me. I need to distance myself from this car and close out this once wonderful chapter of my life so that I can move on and not flunk out of school from all the stress and lost time.
Right about now, I would trade my car for a mid-ninetees miata, even if it had over 100k miles and the body wasn't mint.. even if it had a *gasp* awful tan interior and slaughtered cow skin stretched over the seats. Pretty much as long as it isn't an automatic. As long as it isn't an automatic and has at least a drivers airbag I'm all for it. Note that I said trade.. I know my car is worth more than some 92 miata with 120k miles on it, but I'd forget about the money to just be done with it and in a car that hasn't been raped, pillaged, and ravaged by a horrible body shop.
From taling to Max at work last week, he said there's no decent paint shop anywhere near Rochester.. is that the truth? Could it have been much worse elsewhere? I can't imagine that any shop would have treated me more poorly than Randy Holtz at Vogels Collision has. The problem is, I'm sure my insurance company won't even pretend to consider the thought of giving up on Vogels and going to another body shop (Dorschel Collision? at this point I don't care who, what, or where fixes my car as long as it is done right and in a timely fashion. My insurance company shouldn't have to pay any more to get it fixed somewhere else though, especially if it's at the place they wanted to have fix it in the first place.
I think the worst part about all of this is that in the end, even though some idiot failed to stop at a stop sign, clearly failed to look for oncoming traffic, and pulled out when I was 20 feet away traveling at probably 45mph.. MY insurance rates are going to go up because of this. Even though he admitted full fault in the accident to the police officer at the scene of the accident, Geico is only accepting 90% fault and is placing 10% fault on me because I didn't do a good enough job avoiding the accident. They said under New York Law (which I'm admittedly not that familiar with and never wanted or planned on being familiar with) they can do that.. what the hell kind of crap is that? Making it even worse, without even talking to me (the insured) or my Mom (the owner of the car and head of the insurance policy) my insurance company accepted that offer! My mom talked to them after the fact and the insurance rep out of Buffalo handling the case said that they'd have to take it to court to get any more out of Geico and it would be a big hassle. WHO tHe **** CARES, YOU'RE AN INSURANCE COMPANY THAT'S WHAT YOU ARE FOR!!! Of course they accepted the 90% offer, it's easier for them and now they can freely triple my rates for a few years, just after my rate had just dropped from over 3k a year to 1k a year (still with full collision coverage and wild bodily injury coverage).
Geico should be ******* thankful that I didn't t-bone their client, totalling both cars and sending us both to the hospital. We both walked away from the accident with no injuries, not even any soreness. Their client's car was still driveable AND road legal (just missing the rear bumper cover, the core support was untouched).. ugggh
I don't recommend putting as much work into a car as I have with my dear Protege5 to anyone. Why? As should be quite apparent from what I have written, you can grow quite attached to your car. I wish I could be like my mom, trading her 03 altima for an 05 altima for an 07 altima and not having a care in the world. She loved her Altima SE, but I'm sure the moment she has the keycard for her 07 Altima the 05 will be out of sight, out of mind. I just can't do that. Maybe I should funnel my money into my computers (lawl to anyone who knows how many computers I have running in my room right now or can even make a close guess) and just get a car that I am happy with stock (since dumping money into a car is rarely an investment anyway).
I'm going to spent the rest of the morning on autotrader and local dealership sites looking for a car that I can live with and then probably throwing away the last three years of my life. Goodbye GT25R, goodbye callaway manifold, beautiful corksport downpipe.. goodbye front mount intercooler, carbon fiber hood, tokico struts, goldline (yuck, they were due for replacement this month anyway) springs, racing beat sway bars, stunning racing beat cat-back exhaust, MAM catted midpipe, ngk wideband, daveB gauge rings, shorty antenna, mazda6wagon rear wiper, canadian blacked-out headlamps, led rear turn signals, HIDs, wrinkle red valve cover, cold air intake, beautiful wheels and sticky tires.. goodbye stealthy window tint, front door speakers, my brand new Premier P880PRShead unit, my hand crafted black leather with silver 4-seam stitching shifter boot with matching ebrake boot, my greddy black chrome counterweighted gearshift knob, my twm short throw shifter, kartboy bushings, prosport gauge set, carbon fiber interior trim pieces, mazdaspeed pedals, floor mats, and engine cover..
and now I quote a song by The Used:
" From the way that you acted
to the way that I felt it
It wasn't worth my time
and now it's sad cause all I missed
wasn't that good to begin with
and now that I've started you begging
saying things that you don't mean
it isn't worth my time
a line's a dime a million times
and I'm about to see all of them
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you, you're taking up my time [x3]
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you
You call my name when I wake up
to see things go your way
I'm coughing up my time
each drag's a drop of blood a grain
a minute of my life
it's all I've got just to stay down
why the **** am I still down
I'm hoarding all that's mine
each time I let just one slip by
I'm wasting what is mine
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you, you're taking up my time [x3]
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you
My time [x3]
I'm about to see a million things
I thought I'd never see before and I
I'm about to do all of the things
I've dreamed of and
I don't even miss you at all
[x2]
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you, you're taking up my time [x7]
Goodbye to you, goodbye to you"
it's not true though, I will miss her. I hope I can be reasoned with and stopped from throwing this all away, but my heart is telling me to go ahead and close this chapter of my life. And yes, I am this much of an emo b**** for anyone who wants to ridicule me for that like usual
Last edited:
Matthew1785
Member
So now your getting rid of you MP5?
GMalatrasi
Member
- :
- 2003 Mazda Proteg5, soon to be Turbo
Wow... I cant say I blame you for wanting out at this point, but it certainly makes me sad. Honestly your P5 was one of those mine looked up to. It had all the performance mods mine is eventually getting and a great sense of style, never overdone.
I hope you do find another car that makes you happy, and that you can let go of your P5.
Good luck
Hope you dont just dissapear from these threads. Your posts are always incitefull and funny. (this one wasnt funny)
Ciao
I hope you do find another car that makes you happy, and that you can let go of your P5.
Good luck
Hope you dont just dissapear from these threads. Your posts are always incitefull and funny. (this one wasnt funny)
Ciao
no one is trying to stop me.. that's not good
this miata is quite tempting, and it's from a shop I know I can trust 150000%
if only they did freakin body work
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=210593785
this miata is quite tempting, and it's from a shop I know I can trust 150000%
if only they did freakin body work
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=210593785
Last edited:
GMalatrasi
Member
- :
- 2003 Mazda Proteg5, soon to be Turbo
I didnt try to stop you because I understand how you feel and it seemed you had made up ur mind.
But I would rather you didnt give up on it.
But I would rather you didnt give up on it.
Ughh. 'Tis the curse of the gearhead. It's tough to come to terms with the fact that nobody cares more about your car than you, that perfection is an illusion and that it seems that for every step forward you take two steps back. I truly feel your pain. Just keep moving forward and stand up for your rights. Do all you can competently do yourself to fix the misc. issues that have cropped up and have them respray it ...
WOW man sounds like quite an ordeal. I can understand that you want to start fresh after what the body shop did to your car. Shame though cause your P5 is so nice. After all you've done it would be a shame to just get rid of it. Hopefully you can get this worked out legally so you can get the car fixed properly.
Bought my car 1 year ago. I only now have the time to do any tweaks or mods on it. And I'm SOOO excited about it. Been spending SOOO much time reading this forum that my wife just doesn't understand why. I'm really starting to fall for this car....HARD. Although I'll never be an automotive genius (like some of you clearly are), I understand your pain. Don't let your bad experience taint or over-shadow the good ones you've had. Good luck, Kansei. And thanks for your advice over the past few weeks!
GhostMercury
Member
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- MazdaSpeed 3 08.5
i am at the same point you are with the msp now cause the tranny is messed up again. But if i were you and wanted to keep the car i would take the guy to small claims court or even take the body shop there and demand you get your car fixed RIGHT!!!!! show the judge the pictures and s*** and then she or he will rule in your favor
If you're getting laywers involved and BBB complaints and all, why don't you try to see how far that goes and whether they can fix the car any better?
OK, so you don't want to deal with this car anymore, but it would be unwise to just trade it straight up without any consideration to its value.
You have avenues (laywers, etc) for raising the car's value--once you're through the emotional low, if you do just trade it straight up, you'll be cursing yourself for not fixing the car up more. Heck, you at least have all these parts that can be sold.
I recommend that you do nothing this weekend, as you clearly do not have a clear head on this issue. Do not trade/buy a car. Stay with the P5 until it's fixed up better and your avenues for improving it have been exhausted.
OK, so you don't want to deal with this car anymore, but it would be unwise to just trade it straight up without any consideration to its value.
You have avenues (laywers, etc) for raising the car's value--once you're through the emotional low, if you do just trade it straight up, you'll be cursing yourself for not fixing the car up more. Heck, you at least have all these parts that can be sold.
I recommend that you do nothing this weekend, as you clearly do not have a clear head on this issue. Do not trade/buy a car. Stay with the P5 until it's fixed up better and your avenues for improving it have been exhausted.
I totally agree that I don't have a clear head, but if I got rid of the car and all the emotional pain and such associated with it, it would all be over.
I just want it to be done.. it's been a month already.
the miata I'm looking at is totally base, no lsd, steelies, no rear subframe brace, no power steering, no ac, no floormats.. for 8k dollars, but it's really low mileage, a dealer I can toootally trust
I just want it to be done.. it's been a month already.
the miata I'm looking at is totally base, no lsd, steelies, no rear subframe brace, no power steering, no ac, no floormats.. for 8k dollars, but it's really low mileage, a dealer I can toootally trust
Matthew1785
Member
Kansei said:no one is trying to stop me.. that's not good
this miata is quite tempting, and it's from a shop I know I can trust 150000%
if only they did freakin body work
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?car_id=210593785
I could tell you not to trade in your car, infact i will tell you not to trade in your car, if it wasnt for you, or the rest of the auto turbo P5's out there, chances are i would be still be N/A granted i got alot of influence from Little Beavis, but the same applies here.
First and foremost.. If there is anything i learned in life and this includes buying a car dont let anyone hassle you. Threats are deemed as a last resort. if this fucktard of a body shop did a half-ass job i would march my 21 year old ass and prolly would have to have a police officer escort me out. If he doesnt want to do the work or stand by the work correctly. Call a lawyer. file, with your insurance company.
Also, Chris if thats your name. who cares if your emo, not trying to be offensive, but quite frankly who or what does it matter what anyone thinks about you, your a smart kid going through life changing situations, college graduating. If someone has an opinion about you big ******* deal. its a forum, people are here just like yourself to rant and rave about Mazda Cars and to answer opinion biased questions. Being emo/distressed has nothing to do with cars. as far as im concerned your a nice person who knows what their talking about more then 85% of the time.
Dont sell yourself short to some other POS junk out there, keep the car, give the bodyshop hell. Do what you think must be done in your best intrests. If you really think about it its not as big of a deal as you make it out to be. sure some scratches here some adjustments there. but its not like your car is constantly giving you issues. Keep the car end of story, because if you dont i will come to rochester NY and give you a royal asskicking!
j/k about the asskicking
Keep your Car, and give um hell.
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by the same logic, if you already went through a month of it, what's another week?Kansei said:
What are the next points of action? How long will it take for laywers to come to some resolution? Do you need to wait another week, or another month to make some progress on getting the car fixed?
If you can just wait another week to find out more, why not do it?
And if you do get rid of the car right now, how do you know that it will be all over and something else won't start? How do you know you won't be kicking yourself for getting rid of the car? For getting rid of it without selling the parts?
You will stilll have the hiked insurance rates (strange though that they go up--here in MA, they only go up if you're more than 50% at fault), so you'll have a reminder of what happened for years to come.
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- Protege5 2003
Really sorry to read this.
Anyway, I can see why you'd want to be rid of the car at this point - it's going to remind you of all this frustration even if you do get it all sorted out. Even so...
Painful as it's going to be, you still should persevere until they do the job right. Lean on your insurance company to lean on them. Do have your lawyer write them a letter. Your insurance company can threaten to refuse to pay for any further work at that shop, by anybody, which should focus their attention. I suspect they are in part blowing you off because they see you, as a college kid, as an easy mark. This is dollars in (or out) your pocket: the better the job they do the more the car will be worth when you sell it.
Also you must challenge the 10% responsibility finding against you. IANAL and I am not familiar with NY law, but this bit is going to have lingering consequences. From your description it sounds like he had a stop sign, and you didn't. If that's correct and he pulled out in front of you he's 100% to blame. It is entirely the responsibility of the people at the stop sign at that sort of an intersection to stay out of the way of oncoming traffic. Never mind what your insurance company says they can and can't do, you should not accept any responsibility for an accident which was not your fault. If you do you'll be paying higher insurance rates for no reason. Also, do NOT believe everything your insurance company tells you, they have been known to be, umm, "flexible" with the truth. Your insurance company was happy to take the deal because it meant they had an excuse to raise your rates. They pay $500 now and you pay twice that a year, they come out way ahead this year and for many more beyond. As you are probably realizing by now, insurance companies tend to be scum. Suggest to them that if they do not make this right you and your entire family will be taking their business elsewhere. If they don't relent, leave, and then report them to the state insurance commission.
Anyway, I can see why you'd want to be rid of the car at this point - it's going to remind you of all this frustration even if you do get it all sorted out. Even so...
Painful as it's going to be, you still should persevere until they do the job right. Lean on your insurance company to lean on them. Do have your lawyer write them a letter. Your insurance company can threaten to refuse to pay for any further work at that shop, by anybody, which should focus their attention. I suspect they are in part blowing you off because they see you, as a college kid, as an easy mark. This is dollars in (or out) your pocket: the better the job they do the more the car will be worth when you sell it.
Also you must challenge the 10% responsibility finding against you. IANAL and I am not familiar with NY law, but this bit is going to have lingering consequences. From your description it sounds like he had a stop sign, and you didn't. If that's correct and he pulled out in front of you he's 100% to blame. It is entirely the responsibility of the people at the stop sign at that sort of an intersection to stay out of the way of oncoming traffic. Never mind what your insurance company says they can and can't do, you should not accept any responsibility for an accident which was not your fault. If you do you'll be paying higher insurance rates for no reason. Also, do NOT believe everything your insurance company tells you, they have been known to be, umm, "flexible" with the truth. Your insurance company was happy to take the deal because it meant they had an excuse to raise your rates. They pay $500 now and you pay twice that a year, they come out way ahead this year and for many more beyond. As you are probably realizing by now, insurance companies tend to be scum. Suggest to them that if they do not make this right you and your entire family will be taking their business elsewhere. If they don't relent, leave, and then report them to the state insurance commission.
pasadena_commut said:
yeah, he was at stop sign, I was on a 5 lane road just traveling along minding my business. he pulled out when I was 20 feet away.
My family did take all of our business elsewhere.. about two years ago. All 4 cars and the house are insured through Travelers, they know this.. and they know that we did leave because of how bad they were before.
Well, I haven't been on here too long, but I'd hate to see you go. Don't know anyone more proactive, helpful, and well-mannered on this forum.
Unfortunately your car will never be the same after the accident, and that will be especially apparent to you as a car enthusiast, and even more apparent because you have invested so much in your car and know its every detail.
My last car was an '00 Miata (dead cow all over the interior, panasport rims, Koni/RB suspension) and it was a perfect driver's car. Had it the whole time I was in gradschool and loved it. But I replaced it with a P5 because of it's highly limited utility value and east-coast winter squirreliness. Basically I'm saying Miatas make great second cars. My $0.02.
Take some time to think this through--essentially you're coping with a loss. But there's not that much you can do as a college student with limited time and resources--one of life's great inequities I'm sure you're aware of. I had some similar experiences as well.
In the end, it's just a car. You've learned a lot from it (actually so have we thanks to your contributions here) and you will surely apply that experience in your future endeavors. Maybe they'll include a Miata, another P5, MS3...who knows?
Unfortunately your car will never be the same after the accident, and that will be especially apparent to you as a car enthusiast, and even more apparent because you have invested so much in your car and know its every detail.
My last car was an '00 Miata (dead cow all over the interior
, panasport rims, Koni/RB suspension) and it was a perfect driver's car. Had it the whole time I was in gradschool and loved it. But I replaced it with a P5 because of it's highly limited utility value and east-coast winter squirreliness. Basically I'm saying Miatas make great second cars. My $0.02.Take some time to think this through--essentially you're coping with a loss. But there's not that much you can do as a college student with limited time and resources--one of life's great inequities I'm sure you're aware of. I had some similar experiences as well.
In the end, it's just a car. You've learned a lot from it (actually so have we thanks to your contributions here) and you will surely apply that experience in your future endeavors. Maybe they'll include a Miata, another P5, MS3...who knows?
