Update: Several Ferrari Club members recommended Protech Collision Center to me. I spoke with them earlier and emailed them some hi resolution pictures of the damage. They went over the pictures carefully and deemed the car not repairable. I emailed my insurance lady and let her know.
...and your insurance company knows that which is why it is going directly to their auction guys. FYI, just to give you a sense of the damage look at this car which was totaled with an estimated repair cost of $63k. https://www.iaai.com/Vehicles/VehicleDetails.aspx?itemID=22537368&RowNumber=0 Also note that the ACV is stated at $93k. Probably a better idea of actually market prices than the listings on Cars.com, etc.
Unless there was also water ingress into the engine, that repair figure is an error. A friends 355 had far worse damage than that a few months ago and the insurance repair cost was £15,000/$20000 with all new parts from Ferrari inc which took forever to arrive on back order.
Not unrepairable at all, but uneconomically unrepairable using all new parts from Ferrari which is all an insurance company would be interested in. Do a $$$ deal with Sev on the salvage and make a nice profit to dull the pain, he buys these up all the time, and is a trusted fchat member and I can then have the remains after that from him, I think you would quite like what it will end up as, it will live another day, just not as a 355
When reading those numbers never believe it's a real number, someone threw that out of their ass. But pricing out of all the sheet metal from ferrari will be crazy. Ferr parts has a lot of front structure parts for 355s. Would be a couple thousand just for all the under structure parts then the cost of removal and install will be thousands in man hours, then the cost of headlight, fender bumper ect it adds up fast. Not to much aftermarket for 355 body parts.
You think? How about this 430 with $57k damage? https://www.iaai.com/Vehicles/VehicleDetails.aspx?itemID=21479646&RowNumber=3
In addition to the front damage, if you look at the other photos, the rear sheetmetal is banged up, engine lid out of alignment, and the rear wheel is cocked, which means that the rear suspension and likely engine cradle and rear body framing / cradle attachment points are tweaked... maybe gearbox needs a look, depending on how it hit, if it sent a good shot up the axle shaft to the pinion gear/LSD unit.
FWIW guys, I was quote $30K starting price for a bar metal respray from a very reputable shop (out of state) and that figure was with the car coming to the shop disassembled (meaning all parts removed from panels such as lights, door looks, etc). If you want a job done right, it takes hours and those hours add up.
There are some great shops in the my area, that do great work and the cost would be significantly less than 30k for paint and stripping. That seems very high to me Dave especially if no body work is needed.
What speed do you guys work at over there! I can get a complete car down to a bare shell in a single weekend!
Paul Its different here buddy. Economics, politics, shops trying to get reach on one body work. You know, insurance is involved so might as well charge them. Reputable shop, Ferrari designated, etc. Remember when a crumbled metal was hand moulded back into a fender. We still have those but in limited capacity. All they want now is new primed parts ready to install. My blind grandmother who just passed away can do that. Remember the 355 GTB build that I did 4 years ago? I wont take credit for it but those shop employees did a miracle. The guy who put the two 355s together was 70 years old back then. Go figure.
Hey Jim, I'm not selecting that shop I'm considering a local shop and the owner is planning to come to the house so we can review in detail. Small amounts of body work - very minimal. One rocker has a chip, the front bumper has the factory skid pads partial ground down like most do and I'll have the buttress cracks handled too. Remember, this is all door jams, under hood and elsewhere black accents. It's a ton of work. I highly doubt I will be under $20K (that's the number in my mind anyway that I'm prepared to spend). Oh, and I told the shop owner I must be involved so no doubt he tripled the cost as he will need 2/3 for therapy
There is a well known shop local to me that does the paint on high end Ferrari restorations called Alsa Automotive, the owner Al is a very down to earth guy, they also paint factories and peoples humble runarounds, last time I spoke to him he just said "paint is paint" its all just work at the end of the day whatever they are applying it to, they don't sprinkle holy water over the Ferrari's when rubbing them down next to a VW.
The two shops that are located near me can reproduce just about anything. They have English wheels, sheet metal brakes, machines to fabricate special tooling to replicate body surfaces. The most important thing is they have the skill to use them. One of my friends use to give them his OEM Detomaso body parts and they would replicate the parts for him at a fraction of what the factory sheet metal would cost. One of the shop owners built an early 1900's Rolls Royce body from scratch out of aluminum. I saw the work in progress before paint and the metal work was phenomenal. Of course, these are not your traditional body shops.
If you do a Google search for: "Ferrari 348 getting a respray at Alsa Automotive", I don't think Angelis (whom I assume is the same Angelis who is a member here), was very impressed with Alsa Automotive four years after his 348 had a total respray!
A friend and fellow forum member paid AU $15K back in 2010 for a full bare metal respray on his 355CH here in Australia. They removed the glass and all, so it was done properly. The engine was out being rebuilt, so he took the opportunity for a full bare metal respray while the engine was out and it ended up being a fantastic paint job. And I am sure part of that $15K included having 3M clear bra film fitted over the front end of the car and the rear 1/4 panels to protect the paint when mechanics work in the engine bay. I think US $30K is a little excessive for a full bare metal respray on any car, but that's just me.
Pap - your friend got a great deal at $15K (if that is close to US funds). I've got $3K into bumpers alone on one car.
Wow, seems you must pay a premium for paint in your part of the world Dave. I reckon we pay too much here for paint here in Australia, but perhaps we have it too cheap. A friend owns a paint shop here and he quoted my friend $10K for the same bare metal re-spray, but the logistics of getting the car from there to here and back was not worth the effort. It would have cost $3000+ in transport, so it was easier to spend another $2000 and have it painted locally for him.
Pap, given I know a little bit about paint and prep work , the labor hours to do the job correctly are simply over the top. The amount of time we spend on refinishing (little chachkies, as Socal calls them) is beyond belief. Like every thing in life, you have varying degrees of detail. Go to the TR section and check out the restorations Newman does (and ignore the body work - just look at the paint) - that is what I want - nothing less
Well they are still going strong, so clearly have a happy customer base in general, not had a look at their website for a while which used to show lots of Ferrari and other works in progress. Many satisfied clients used to sing their praises on pistonheads from all over Europe. Edit, here is their price list, VAT needs to be added on top at 20% http://www.alsaautomotive.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=50&Itemid=83 and some of their work http://www.alsaautomotive.co.uk/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=category&id=12&Itemid=118
Cheers Dave, I help my friend out every now then also and I can appreciate how much time is involved in doing things properly also. It definitely is a huge task. I will take a for Newman's thread now, cheers mate.
Couldn't get ahold of the insurance lady yesterday. She must have been off. I emailed her and left her a voicemail explaining that I'd like to have this settled before it's moved. I'm tired of thinking about it and just want to move on.