Hi everyone,
The past weekend I was traveling with my friend in her 92 hi ace. While I was driving, a semi-trailer side swiped us, dragging his trailer up the side of the van. Every one was OK. However the semi did not stop and it seems unlikely he will be caught. Insurance does not cover the damage.
The damage is on the left side, with a light scratch on the sliding and front passanger door, the side mirror needs to be replaced, the heavy damage though is on the post between the two doors. The post was pulled away from the sliding door and over the front door (which no longer opens).
The auto body shop says it will be atleast a few thousand dollars, he hasn't been able to do a full estimate of yet and is still crunching some numbers. Because it is a import I am nervouse that a few thousand dollars could balloon into much more.
I feel horrible for my friend , she treated the van really well and saved for a long time to purchase it. This is not somthing that fits within our budgets but it happened for some unapparent reason and we are alive so we will make it work. Any advice or imput that any one has would be greatly appreciated.
I was wondering if anyone has any auto body imput?
Or maybe some dealerships in western canada that deal with hiaces? If it comes to buying a new one I would love to trade this in (whishful thinking I know).
Or any independant sellers?
We live in alberta but any info from western canada would be great.
Thank you all for your time.

A friend of mine with a hiace recently backed up slowly into a tree, denting his bumper, cracking his tail light and bending a bit of the body in the area around the light. As I recall, the bill came to over $5000. Luckily, they were covered by insurance and only had to pay deductible. As well, it took FOREVER for parts and pieces to arrive.

That said, the body shop did a great job and it looks as new. So the work can be done, just takes time and money.

I don't think this is the news you were hoping to hear. Good luck sorting this out.

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