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Thread: Repair bill for Aston DB9

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    Icon6 Repair bill for Aston DB9

    From Richmond news Canada

    Richmond driver of Bond-style car shaken, stirred over bill.

    Jessica Liu’s 2014 Aston Martin DB9, with its Skyfall silver paintjob, sits inoperable in the driveway of her home near Blundell and No. 2 roads in December of 2015. Liu claims she’s being overcharged by the autoshop that specializes in fixing Aston Martins. Photograph By submitted
    Imagine, for a second, you’d just shelled out $200,000 for a very rare sports car that was made famous by the James Bond movies.

    Then, fast forward the dream scenario and picture a nightmare where you crash the car — a very lightly-used, Aston Martin DB9 in Skyfall silver — have only basic insurance and are facing a $132,000 repair bill.

    That is, however, exactly the situation a Richmond resident, Jessica Liu, finds herself in, having driven the stunning limited edition — only 100 were made — for only a few kilometres before she inexplicably veered off the road and hit a large stone near Blundell and Garden City roads in December 2015.

    It has been more than a year since Liu — who regularly travels to and from China on business — has driven the car and seven months since she has even seen it.

    Since then, Liu’s 007 replica has been languishing in the luxury bodyshop of Burrard Autostrasse (BA) in Vancouver.

    For almost a year, Liu, who lives near Blundell and No. 2 roads, has been at odds with the autoshop over their bill to bring her Aston Martin back to roadworthy condition.

    To put things into perspective, a pot of the car’s silver paint, which is named after Bond movie Skyfall, chimes in at $900 and a single headlight registers at $7,000.

    Neither of those items, however, form the crux of Liu’s contention, with her focus trained on the cost of a pair of brake rotors ($30,000, plus labour) and a completely new subframe ($25,000, plus labour).

    “I’m not going to pay a cent; I don’t even want the car back anymore; I want a refund (from the dealer),” Liu, who is in her 30s, told the Richmond News via email from China.

    “I don’t think it’s safe to drive. I just drove it for two weeks; I don’t trust the car, I don’t trust the dealer and I don’t trust the autoshop’s invoices.”

    Liu, who told BA to stop working on her car last fall, questioned the need to buy a pair of rotors (brakes) when only one of them is chipped and claims she can get the subframe for $10,000 less somewhere else.

    To compound her misery, Liu is being dinged $200 a day by BA for storage of the Aston Martin. On Monday, that fee was $18,000.

    “I shouldn’t be paying storage fees for a car that isn’t finished,” she added.

    An Aston Martin sports car from Spectre, the latest episode of James Bond film, has sold at ******* for £2,434,500 (approx. $3.6 million) - submitted
    Liu bought the car, which can cost $300,000 brand new, for a “bargain” $200,000 in June 2015 from Vancouver-based, luxury car dealer MCL.

    After the accident a few months later, she called the dealership and was directed to BA, where the car was towed to.

    An initial repair estimate a few days later rang in at around $24,000, before rising, under closer inspection to nearer $100,000 in January of last year.

    Not happy with the estimate, Liu took the car to a Richmond repair shop, where she obtained a much cheaper quote for the subframe. However, she discovered the subframe can only be bought by an Aston Martin-approved technician and the only approved facility in B.C. is BA. In July 2016, she felt she had no choice but to take her car back into BA, where it has been since.

    Unhappy with the subsequent bill, she sought legal advice in October and lawyers for each party have been duking it out ever since.

    Explaining parts of the $132,000 bill, Frank Van Pykstra, co-owner of BA, said the brakes are ceramic and, therefore, “they can’t be machined” like regular brakes.

    “This is a car that can go 250 kilometres per hour; we can’t take any chances, it has to be 100 per cent,” said Van Pykstra.

    As for needing a pair of rotors and not just one, Van Pykstra said, “When you’re braking in this car, in any car really, the brakes need to be balanced. You can’t replace just one.”

    The subframe, he said, is a “restricted part,” meaning only authorized shops can buy it. “I’m not sure how (Liu) could get the subframe for that price; it would have to be from a damaged car or something or from someone using the kind of certification that only a very few people have.”

    As for the storage fees, Van Pykstra said he’ll waive them if the matter resolves soon.

    “We’ve done everything we can for this customer,” he added.

    “We’ve made her an offer, which is valid until this Friday; we will take $5,000 off her bill and waive the storage fees.”

    ICBC, which is hiking basic insurance rates next year by 4.9 per cent, announced last November that, beginning this year, it will stop insuring luxury cars worth more than $150,000.

    There are about 3,000 cars worth more than $150,000 insured in B.C. this year, a 30 per cent increase from three years ago. Many of them can be seen being driven around in Richmond.

    Basic insurance must be like our 3rd party cover, stupid woman. Right an old banger off and nothing lost, that car well.

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    She clearly knows **** all about cars.

    Loads of money and no sense.

    I'm sure she can get the parts made in china cheap enough though.

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    would love to know what - "have only basic insurance" - is.
    I only know of "Fully Comprehensive" or "Third Party".
    If they have Third Party on a £200,000. car then they deserve it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dark Cloud View Post
    would love to know what - "have only basic insurance" - is.
    I only know of "Fully Comprehensive" or "Third Party".
    If they have Third Party on a £200,000. car then they deserve it.
    I'm pretty sure, over there, you get free insurance when you pay for a tax disc, so it is just like TPO.

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    That is, however, exactly the situation a Richmond resident, Jessica Liu, finds herself in, having driven the stunning limited edition — only 100 were made — for only a few kilometres before she inexplicably veered off the road and hit a large stone near Blundell and Garden City roads in December 2015.

    More money than sense , more bhp than sense and driving experience , what else can you say.

    it does not say if the car has been repaired ? , im sure shes only been given an estimate from what ive read , only over the water would you seek legal advise on an estimate ,

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    That reminds me of the idiots round near me who hire fancy cars to show off in that they could never hope to be able to afford to buy, run or insure which are far more powerful than their abilities or experience. Unfortunately the end result is usually something like what happened here :

    ="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/groom-crashes-ferrari-240000-house-wall-hire-rental-wedding-burnley-a6990881.html"]http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/groom-crashes-ferrari-240000-house-wall-hire-rental-wedding-burnley-a6990881.html
    Last edited by A; 14-01-2017 at 09:40 AM.

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    There are a couple of car episodes, I recall, on Fast & Loud, where they bought a Ferrari, cheap, that had been driven into a wall, I think while one of the Ferrari mechanics, working on it, was just driving it to the workshop, so he wasn't going very fast.
    The damage was substantial, including to the sub frame, which had to be straightened, by a professional, taking a lot of time, and specialist tools.
    The prices, for the parts, and particularly for the specialists, that worked on the sub frame, were incredibly expensive.
    Even a service, with a tune up, is very expensive, as are the parts, and because they are fast, powerful, cars, everything needs to be right, especially the sub frame, brakes, tyres, and steering, to avoid serious accidents.

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