California... With a Twist

[christian900se]

I know most people probably don't want to hear a long drawn out rant by me so I will do my best to keep it short. I shipped my car to California via enclosed car carrier because I thought that would mean my car would be taken care of between CT and CA. I spent the better part of 70+ hours going top to bottom in the weekends before it left, making sure every part was perfect. Now I didn't expect my car to be spotless when it got here, but I sure did not expect this.

Products+Process:

-Washed with DP Rinseless W+G
-Dryed
-IPA wipedown
-Polished with various polishes and pads to deal with the large degrees of defects
-IPA wipedown
-Duragloss Aquawax on rims and windows
-Optimum Opti-bond on trim and tires
-Waxed with Lusso Oro (two layers)

CT:

CA befores:

Doesn't look too bad right? Lets get some light going!

I was feeling pretty deflated at this point, even more so when the CEL came on again. The other half of the car that didn't have the level of swirls above had light marring and random scratches. These are kind of a mix of befores and afters:

[

 

[christian900se]

Now for my next nice discovery: the carrier people scratched the rear drivers side rim for my entertainment.

Those series of scratches in the beginning were knocked down to this, but there is still a crease in the panel unfortunately...

And Finally, the teaser afters: I hope to get some real shots after xmas since I am going to get a Canon TiR or Nikon D5000

Anyways, thanks for making it this far... I wish I didn't have to go through this again and spend two days to get it back to the way it was (maybe a bit better than before) and it left me feeling pretty gutted; especially about that deep scratch and dent in the rear quarter. I am filing a claim for the rim since I won't let that slide like I will the paint condition, but I did the best I could with the rest of the car haha. Merry christmas by the way.

 

[Rebelranger]

Wow,
I had a similar experience when I moved out this way... I feel your pain. Add to that the pleasure you had in getting it prepped for the trip .. Sorry to see this!!

FWIW I was fully reimbursed on my claim in about 15 days......

Hope yours goes smoothly from this point...

 

[2003 GMC Denali]

You must be upset, you posted so many of these Threads.

 

[jpegs13]

Car looks great. Good luck with the claim. It should be no problem for you, 99% of the car truckers are insured to the gills. Unfortunatly they move a lot of cars and I guess yours was taken off the truck so they could load another car. And lucky you, it was raining, then the trucker tried to be a nice guy and wipe off your car with his favorite sponge bob beach towel. The scratch, well, he don't drive so good. It's all going to work out.
Merry Christmas!

 

[Mike PhillipsMike Phillips is verified member.]

Nice save.

:xyxthumbs:

 

[Meghan]

That really stinks... glad you got it back to a beauty!

 

[LincolnZephyr2006]

BRother..... if it makes you feel any better my Dad works for the Army and the cars soldiers and civilians ship out to foreign countries get A LOT more messed up than that! It sucks though to see your prized possesion come back like that to you! This is one lesson my dad learned... and that is to buy a cheap hooptie when overseas so his nice cars stay in storage until he gets back!

 

[Wax Gorilla]

Make sure you also seek a DIMINISHED VALUE CLAIM - this is seperate from the repairs and restoration to the condition it was when you gave it to the shipper. Example: I recently had $2850.00 in damages repaired and taken care of by a party injured by GEICO - I then also received a $3200 DIMINISHED VALUE Check. go online study this little know area of the insurance industry. You almost never hear about it but it is available in all 50 states. I spent about 6 hours in data collection and documentation to secure that additional $3200.

 

[Rebelranger]

Make sure you also seek a DIMINISHED VALUE CLAIM - this is seperate from the repairs and restoration to the condition it was when you gave it to the shipper. Example: I recently had $2850.00 in damages repaired and taken care of by a party injured by GEICO - I then also received a $3200 DIMINISHED VALUE Check. go online study this little know area of the insurance industry. You almost never hear about it but it is available in all 50 states. I spent about 6 hours in data collection and documentation to secure that additional $3200.

Absolutely correct ..It's a little known fact and rarely discussed claim and most companies don't tell you about this.

 

[DARK HORSE]

I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune my friend. At least you have the skills to fix everything. Good luck with the insurance claim. I'm sure everything will work out ok. May the bastards that did this be damned to a life of driving an under powered, overloaded (with rocks only) semi, with a leaky radiator, up a hill with 35% grade for all of eternitiy...

 

[christian900se]

Wow,
I had a similar experience when I moved out this way... I feel your pain. Add to that the pleasure you had in getting it prepped for the trip .. Sorry to see this!!

FWIW I was fully reimbursed on my claim in about 15 days......

Hope yours goes smoothly from this point...

Thats great to know you were able to get reimbursed, I am hoping to at least get some money for the rim right now.

You must be upset, you posted so many of these Threads.

I know, I feel like I probably look like some egomaniac about my car haha but everytime I get the car to the condition I like it in, something goes wrong lol. Thats why every time the car is running without problems, I know it can only go downhill from there.

Car looks great. Good luck with the claim. It should be no problem for you, 99% of the car truckers are insured to the gills. Unfortunatly they move a lot of cars and I guess yours was taken off the truck so they could load another car. And lucky you, it was raining, then the trucker tried to be a nice guy and wipe off your car with his favorite sponge bob beach towel. The scratch, well, he don't drive so good. It's all going to work out.
Merry Christmas!

Thanks! You are right I think, because the worst of the scratches and swirls were on the drivers side. This is probably because people were squeezing in between the car and the trailer wall and brushing up against the paint. The general swirling looks like it was from wiping the paint dry and grinding the dirt into the paint. I'm hoping the fact that my dad signed off on it already won't hinder the claim.

Nice save.

:xyxthumbs:

That really stinks... glad you got it back to a beauty!

Thanks Mike and Meghan, I didn't even feel like driving it in public until I got it back to this state haha. I lead a sad life...

BRother..... if it makes you feel any better my Dad works for the Army and the cars soldiers and civilians ship out to foreign countries get A LOT more messed up than that! It sucks though to see your prized possesion come back like that to you! This is one lesson my dad learned... and that is to buy a cheap hooptie when overseas so his nice cars stay in storage until he gets back!

Wow, thats pretty bad. I expected the car to be dirty, but not even close to how this showed up. Then again, maybe I had elevated expectations lol.

Make sure you also seek a DIMINISHED VALUE CLAIM - this is seperate from the repairs and restoration to the condition it was when you gave it to the shipper. Example: I recently had $2850.00 in damages repaired and taken care of by a party injured by GEICO - I then also received a $3200 DIMINISHED VALUE Check. go online study this little know area of the insurance industry. You almost never hear about it but it is available in all 50 states. I spent about 6 hours in data collection and documentation to secure that additional $3200.

Absolutely correct ..It's a little known fact and rarely discussed claim and most companies don't tell you about this.

Good to know, I will look into that. I need to finalize a letter to send to the relocation company with the pictures of the damage but I did not know that there was the diminished value claim for the dent for instance. I will let you know how that goes, but thanks a lot for the tip!

 

[christian900se]

I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune my friend. At least you have the skills to fix everything. Good luck with the insurance claim. I'm sure everything will work out ok. May the bastards that did this be damned to a life of driving an under powered, overloaded (with rocks only) semi, with a leaky radiator, up a hill with 35% grade for all of eternitiy...

Hahaha, one can only hope. It would be a nice christmas present, right?

 

[_M_]

Great job getting it back to "public display" status. LOL. I'm the same way.

I had a similar issue. The car above mine battery leaked acid all over my hood. The driver felt really bad. He said I put you car in the center because it was the nicest and didn't want to see it damaged. Their insurance took care of everything.

 

[christian900se]

Ouch, that must have been an interesting discovery haha. The carrier company we used is reasonably high end so while they may cost more, the advantage is that they have plenty of insurance when issues arise.

Ps. I just bought a Nikon D3000 so if it is nice out tomorrow, I think I will have a play with it.

 

[christian900se]

I have pretty much got the hang of the Nikon as far as basics are concerned. I love taking RAW pictures since for some reason Nikon chose to go on the soft end of sharpness by default and shooting in RAW corrects this. Anyways, please let me know how I am doing; comments and criticism is welcome.

 

[olbear1962]

Nice save of your car, it looks great.
I feel your pain, just had two cars shipped from TX to MO and also have a claim going in. My vette had raw transmission oil all over the hood, I presume the car loaded above was leaking somewhat..... Thankfully I couldn't see any deep scratches or dents..
Good luck on the insurance and the diminished value claim.

 

[christian900se]

Thanks! I am amazed at how many horror stories I have heard from others who have experienced similar issues with car transportation. I found it highly ironic that both my parent's cars were shipped over at different times and neither had an issue. But of course it always has to happen to you (or me in this case) haha.

 

[christian900se]

I think I am starting to get the hang of shooting with my Nikon, basically through playing around, seeing the results, and learning online. I thought these turned out well; the first one is definately one of my favorite pictures I have ever taken.

Anyways, sorry for constantly uploading pictures, especially if they are redundant. I'm still learning with my camera so there is a bit of noise in those because I mistakenly turned up the sharpness in-camera.

 

[2003 GMC Denali]

I don't mind your Pictures, cause it's your Thread.

The redundant ones I don't like, are from somebody who "Quotes" the OP and includes all their 25/30/etc Pictures all over again in the Quote and then simply adds a little line like "Good Job".

By the way... Nice Work ! Im the MAN

You are inspiring me to "fix" my Black Truck next Summer, once the 3 feet of Snow goes away.