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Hawaii Babies
SanHawaii08
member
nbr wwyd (w/clicky poll!)
SanHawaii08
member
this is a very random wwyd, b/c i can't decide!
i have a 95 camry, runs great, but totally ghetto looking - the hood is bent up and a headlight is crooked, due to me running into a hitch (the hitch won, obviously), and there's a huge crack in the windshield. the problem - one of the valets at work snapped the driver's side door handle off. he couldn't figure out how to get into the car - you have to use the remote (the key cylinder is busted - i told you it was ghetto!) and the remote's a little finicky, so...who knows how hard he was trying to open a locked door. there's a tiny bit left of the handle on one corner, so it's still possible to open the door if you catch it just right w/one finger, but it's a pita.
option 1 - file a claim with the parking company. it's possible their insurance may reject it as "normal wear and tear", given how old the car is. if accepted, i have to get quotes from 2 different places, they send me a check, and i go get it repaired. the plus side is that if they accept the claim, I will have a door handle that (hopefully) matches the rest of the car (more or less) - or i suppose I live with it as-is and pocket the cash, which would be somewhere around $200.
option 2 - one of the head valet guys offered to order a new handle and replace it himself. says he and another guy both know how to do it, he's done it on his own car, and it's a 15 min job. the handle would be black and unpainted, which does not match the rest of the car - they wouldn't be able to match the paint job. i don't know anything about this guy, except that he seems to know what he's talking about. the plus side is that i'm (hopefully) guaranteed to have a handle that works, though it's ugly, and it's no time or effort on my part: i show up at work, drop the car off with the valet - no door handle, work all day, pick up the car at the end of the day - new door handle!
so - wwyd?
[poll]
This discussion has been closed.
Re: nbr wwyd (w/clicky poll!)
Luckily, DH has a friend who's dad has an auto shop, so they were able to order the handle for us (I think it was about $200) and do the labor for free. At first we thought we'd have to get a black handle, but we were lucky and they were able to order a painted handle for us. If the valet guy is offering to do it, and he seems trustworthy (?) -- I'd let him do it. I watched my husband's friend do it, and it didn't look too complicated. I'd probably stay with the car and watch him, though.
It doesn't seem worth it to me to file a claim with insurance, especially if you have a deductible.
This sums up why I voted to let him do it as well. From what I can tell from Mr Google Mechanic, it's a relatively simple job as far as car repairs go, so he can probably do it without effing it up.
And yeah, it wouldn't seem worth it to file an insurance claim to me if you have a deductible to meet (you didn't mention it, so I'm not sure?).
heh - the votes are 3 to 4 right now - see why I can't decide?! however, jamie - good to know it's happened to you too (though i'm sorry it did! hah), and that it indeed is a pretty easy fix (for someone who knows what they're doing). and hehe, lisa - thanks for checking with mr google mechanic.
MH was like, "of course they have to take responsibility for it - door handles don't just snap!!" and I was like, um...the guy that did it is a complete twig, skinnier than me, i really don't think he was using excessive force...he was probably just at the wrong place at the wrong time...
the claim would be filed against the parking company's insurance, so I wouldn't have to pay anything. but given that it's a 16 year old car, I'm really not sure they're going to take responsibility for it, especially if it's not that uncommon with older camrys!
I really just don't want to deal with the hassle of having to get quotes, leave the car somewhere, etc - it will take so much time to do all this, and we'd have to take E with us to drop off and pick up the car, or i need to figure out bus routes, which are super inconvenient from our neighborhood - ugh it gives me a headache to think about it! and that's assuming that they accept the claim at all!
hah, my first thought when we got valet was - are we *that* spoiled?! but it's really out of necessity. the parking garage is so full that they need to double park a ton of cars every day.
hrm. i'm leaning towards just having the valets do it... thanks ladies
Ditto - if my car was newer than I'd file a claim.
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
I'm sorta torn between the two options...so I had some questions...
Could you potentially just get the guy to fix it if the claim didn't go through? Like backup? OR would filing the claim involve possibly getting the guy in trouble or worse yet, fired, for breaking your door handle? Would they know which guy broke it if you filed the claim or could you just say you forgot who it was?
I guess the reason why I ask is because if it would get the guy seriously in trouble for breaking the handle, then I'd probably just let him fix it since he's trying so hard and seems like a nice guy who was just "at the wrong place at the wrong time", as you put it. But if he won't get in trouble for it, then I'd just try to get the claim, but that's just me...does a handle really cost $200 though? That seems kinda steep for just a handle, considering I just got my windshield replaced (including labor) for $145 out the door a month ago...
LOL.
I'm wondering, is there any reason he couldn't use a metallic outdoor spraypaint on the handle first? (I really don't know - there very well could be, I have no idea how paint sticks to that kind of surface etc.)