I was lucky enough to get an early Christmas gift last night ... A ripped off AUTOEXE Lower lip!
I was on my way home from work when I noticed a road crew doing black top on the city street and they were waiving people through a ditch that had been dug to bury a pipe. The ditch had not yet been black topped; only dirt covered the buried pipe.
I was hesitant at first but I figured I would see just how deep it was ... let keep in mind that I have a MP3 with the AUTOEXE lower lip spoiler and lowered 2'' by SPOOL springs, so I'm pretty low (in the front end at least
)
There was a kid in front of me that had lowered his cavalier and had a loud canister ... as he was clearing the ditch I'm pretty sure his canister scrapped on his way out ... I was next.
I went real slow and they kept waiving me on ... I went in with my front wheels and no scrapping or rubbing or anything, it was not as bad as I thought. Then I noticed that to get out of the ditch it seemed a bit steeper. I put the car in reverse and decided I would find another route. The guy conducting traffic then yells "your fine! Keep going, you got it" I rolled down my window and said "are you sure?" He said yes so I went for it.
Again, I went slow to see if I could hear anything ... seconds later what I heard was "CRUNCH! CRACK! BREAK!" my whole body cringed. I had to at this point go through the ditch and I ended up running over the torn off piece.
I pulled over and kept my cool even though I was pissed off like hell. I walked up to the guy that seemed to be the crew supervisor and the first thing he said to me was to go get a couple of estimates and come back with them. I said I was not able to do that now, it was already 6 PM and it was dark. He said then stop back we will be here for the next couple of days. I asked him who he was and whom he worked for, was he a city worker? County worker? State? Who? He said he was private. I asked him if he was private then why is he working on a city street. He then told me that the city hired him to do the work. At this time I was so upset that I just asked him for his companys info so I could follow up with them in the morning. He wrote down all of his info and game the company name, address and phone. He seemed to be pretty honest and straightforward. I picked up the crushed piece and threw it in the car and bounced.
Here is the problem; I want his company to cut me a check or his insurance to cut me a check because my auto insurance will not cover any aftermarket parts. He does not know that it is not after market, he thinks I ripped off part of my bumper.
I do not want to eat the cost of this because he advised me my car would clear and my gut instincts said to go back.
How can I get this piece replaced and create some form of estimate from a body shop to show actual costs? What can I do to get this taken care of? Please post some ideas, and opinions on my situation. Thanks!
~Greg
I was on my way home from work when I noticed a road crew doing black top on the city street and they were waiving people through a ditch that had been dug to bury a pipe. The ditch had not yet been black topped; only dirt covered the buried pipe.
I was hesitant at first but I figured I would see just how deep it was ... let keep in mind that I have a MP3 with the AUTOEXE lower lip spoiler and lowered 2'' by SPOOL springs, so I'm pretty low (in the front end at least
)There was a kid in front of me that had lowered his cavalier and had a loud canister ... as he was clearing the ditch I'm pretty sure his canister scrapped on his way out ... I was next.
I went real slow and they kept waiving me on ... I went in with my front wheels and no scrapping or rubbing or anything, it was not as bad as I thought. Then I noticed that to get out of the ditch it seemed a bit steeper. I put the car in reverse and decided I would find another route. The guy conducting traffic then yells "your fine! Keep going, you got it" I rolled down my window and said "are you sure?" He said yes so I went for it.
Again, I went slow to see if I could hear anything ... seconds later what I heard was "CRUNCH! CRACK! BREAK!" my whole body cringed. I had to at this point go through the ditch and I ended up running over the torn off piece.
I pulled over and kept my cool even though I was pissed off like hell. I walked up to the guy that seemed to be the crew supervisor and the first thing he said to me was to go get a couple of estimates and come back with them. I said I was not able to do that now, it was already 6 PM and it was dark. He said then stop back we will be here for the next couple of days. I asked him who he was and whom he worked for, was he a city worker? County worker? State? Who? He said he was private. I asked him if he was private then why is he working on a city street. He then told me that the city hired him to do the work. At this time I was so upset that I just asked him for his companys info so I could follow up with them in the morning. He wrote down all of his info and game the company name, address and phone. He seemed to be pretty honest and straightforward. I picked up the crushed piece and threw it in the car and bounced.
Here is the problem; I want his company to cut me a check or his insurance to cut me a check because my auto insurance will not cover any aftermarket parts. He does not know that it is not after market, he thinks I ripped off part of my bumper.
I do not want to eat the cost of this because he advised me my car would clear and my gut instincts said to go back.
How can I get this piece replaced and create some form of estimate from a body shop to show actual costs? What can I do to get this taken care of? Please post some ideas, and opinions on my situation. Thanks!
~Greg
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