Elise got T-boned, and did pretty well.

[DeathTrap]

Back before the Austin Lotus dealerships went out of business, one of the salemen there had mentioned a body shop in Austin, Texas that works on Lotus. Does anyone know what that place is named?
I caught a glanceing blow from a full sized van. Got me right between my drivers door and the rear wheel with the passenger front corner of the van. The Lotus came out amazingly well. The damage isn't very apparent. I could almost live with it..almost.

The van had to be towed. They bent their rim, blew out a tire, breeched their radiator, and bent their A-arm. Any one of those things would have taken them out. I can't believe their monster car took such a beating while the petite Lotus shook it off.

[Monsi]

it may look better than it is... you really need to have a dealer check it out to make sure there is no irreparable damage

[RichS]

DeathTrap,

Call Billy Harp at First Class Collision. Tell him Rich S in the black Exige sent you. They've done LOTS of great work on Lotus cars.

Billy Harp
6820 Guadalupe Street
Austin Texas 78752
512.458.1222

Sorry to hear about your car, I hope everything turns out alright!

Good luck!

Rich

[DeathTrap]

Originally Posted by Monsi

it may look better than it is... you really need to have a dealer check it out to make sure there is no irreparable damage

If there was an Austin dealership, my Elise would be there right now; but the nearest dealer is in San Antonio. Which means that I have to impose upon someone to follow me there and then drive me back to Austin. And then do it again for pick up. It's not an easy sell. It seems to be driving the same as it was and it sounds fine too. I'm hoping that someone will remember the name of that Austin body shop that used to work with the deceased Autostrada. I'll let them check it out.

[Noisycow]

"I can't believe their monster car took such a beating while the petite Lotus shook it off."

Neither can I.

[DeathTrap]

Originally Posted by RichS

DeathTrap,

Call Billy Harp at First Class Collision. Tell him Rich S in the black Exige sent you. They've done LOTS of great work on Lotus cars.

Billy Harp
6820 Guadalupe Street
Austin Texas 78752
512.458.1222

Sorry to hear about your car, I hope everything turns out alright!

Good luck!

Rich

Sweet! Thanks!

[RichS]

Actually, I've had Billy and team look at my car before and then arrange to have it taken down to San Antonio and back. They go that way quite often to get parts from the dealership. If you need someone to follow you up to Billy's shop and get you back home, I'd be more than happy to help you out.

[...m...]

...if you can't readily transport it down to lotus of san antonio, here are a couple of other austin contacts...

Lotus of Austin--Closing or Moving Again??
Lotus of Austin--Closing or Moving Again??

[carlover]

STAY AWAY from Lotus of San Antonio!! I had my car towed there and asked them to remove the front clam to inspect the frame so that the insurance adjuster would have a better idea if it was salvagable or not. After "yessing" me for three days that they would do this, they didn't. And here is the kicker, I emphasized to Joe Stubblefield (the service manager) that with a 6000 SUV over one suspension point (see the link in my signature) that the suspension and or frame MUST have damage and to find it because I did not want that car back, the a$$hole had the nerve to TELL THE ADJUSTER that I TOLD him to damage the car so that it was totalled. DO NOT TRUST THAT MAN OR THEIR SERVICE CENTER. I swear all of the above is 100% true, PM me if you need more details.

DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR TO SAN ANTONIO UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET SCREWED.

[...m...]

Originally Posted by carlover

DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR TO SAN ANTONIO UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET SCREWED.

...i don't want to enflame your contention - you've reason to be upset about your experience - but honestly, i do think it was just a one-time anomaly...to be fair, there were significant mitigating circumstances at play in your car and it's not too difficult to see how miscommunication could have ensued...

...so many of us have had exemplary service at lotus of san antonio since joe stubblefield took over that i think it's a mistake to condemn their work wholesale...

[sleepe]

Originally Posted by DeathTrap

Back before the Austin Lotus dealerships went out of business, one of the salemen there had mentioned a body shop in Austin, Texas that works on Lotus. Does anyone know what that place is named?
I caught a glanceing blow from a full sized van. Got me right between my drivers door and the rear wheel with the passenger front corner of the van. The Lotus came out amazingly well. The damage isn't very apparent. I could almost live with it..almost.

The van had to be towed. They bent their rim, blew out a tire, breeched their radiator, and bent their A-arm. Any one of those things would have taken them out. I can't believe their monster car took such a beating while the petite Lotus shook it off.

It is worse than you think.

[carlover]

Originally Posted by ...m...

...i don't want to enflame your contention - you've reason to be upset about your experience - but honestly, i do think it was just a one-time anomaly...to be fair, there were significant mitigating circumstances at play in your car and it's not too difficult to see how miscommunication could have ensued...

...so many of us have had exemplary service at lotus of san antonio since joe stubblefield took over that i think it's a mistake to condemn their work wholesale...

I'm just telling it like it happened and to warn others before they have a similar experience. I too had been happy with the service, but only at first. When he got promoted to general manager things returned back to the way they were before he got there.

Mitigating factors or not, for him to tell the insurance company that I wanted him to commit insurance fraud on my behalf is beyond bad business, in fact it is a violation of civil laws.

If you want to take your car there, be my guest, I won't be and I cannot recommend them to anyone.

[choi0706]

Mick used to do all the autostrada work.. Though, I dont know where he moved in austin..

[Seb]

Pics plz?

kthxbi

[DeathTrap]

Originally Posted by Seb

Pics plz?

kthxbi

Here are the pics. Not really very impressive. Perhaps someone that has been in a similar fender-bender can do some image forensics and make a prediction as to what may be crushed under the shell. And what it cost you to fix it.

The image of the wheel had an elegant sliver that looked like a curly and beautiful aluminum pork rind, but I poked it at the crash site and the best part of it fell off.

[Dragon]

Impressive, now your going to have to change your forum name.

Definitly check the rear links, A-arms and sub frame for damage as the wheel probably took most of the impact...

[DeathTrap]

Originally Posted by Dragon

Impressive, now your going to have to change your forum name.

Definitly check the rear links, A-arms and sub frame for damage as the wheel probably took most of the impact...

Yeah, not too bad. It sounded horriffic. It was my fault; I've been driving for 25 years and this was my first accident.

My wife and I were traveling on a feeder road below an elevated highway and crossing all these one way streets. I was planning to cross the intersection we were coming to but my wife suddenly remembered some shoes that she wanted to buy to our left. Out of no where, with all the shrill hysteria of someone that was being attacked by a shark, she screamed 'TURN HERE!!'...She scared the hell out of me and I just did it without looking and pulled right in front of a dude that was racing off the freeway to beat the light.

She's been very clingy and cried a few times today because she thinks I was a hair away from being killed. She had a half hour fit of uncontrollable shaking at the accident scene, and didn't seem to hear much of what I was saying to her. When she began to compose herself she asked how I could behave so normally when I had almost died? I said, 'eh'...that upset her again, because I'm not in touch with my feelings, see?

She's been really nice to me all day, so I took advantage and made her help me dig trenches for a sprinkler system. She's an indoors girl and never would have helped me dig in the dirt had I not crashed that car. That’s been the only silver lining I've seen so far.

[louish55]

That's the best story that I have heard today. So is your wife doing fine? I really hope that she get will get over the trauma soon.

And same to your car too.

[Dragon]

Originally Posted by DeathTrap

Yeah, not too bad. It sounded horriffic. It was my fault; I've been driving for 25 years and this was my first accident.

Rookie..

Originally Posted by DeathTrap

When she began to compose herself she asked how I could behave so normally when I had almost died? I said, 'eh'...that upset her again, because I'm not in touch with my feelings, see?

She's been really nice to me all day, so I took advantage and made her help me dig trenches for a sprinkler system. She's an indoors girl and never would have helped me dig in the dirt had I not crashed that car. That’s been the only silver lining I've seen so far.

[xtn]

I'm looking at the pictures. You claim a full sized van hit you?

I think you need to lay off the drugs man. You've been hallucinating. I don't even think you have a wife. You were probably digging ditches in your neighbors yard without permission too.

xtn