Vehicle depreciation due to accident

@Slappy Doo Hoo,

BMWs are not repaired with aftermarket parts.

that would lead to a lawsuit.

(i **** you not)

ok, 3 series, but they aren't real beemers...

1 Reply

@Rockhead,

You're right, it's an OEM part, but it's still aftermarket paint.

And Nick, it doesn't increase the value on a modern car. Maybe on an older car that needs work, then yes, but not on a 1 year old BMW.

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@chai2,

chai2 wrote:

You act like we're paid to be here, and so are obgligated to be on our best behavior at all times.

No, I act like I wish that a site that was created to help people for free featured more actual help. Instead it's often a place where newbies get to hear an earful of nonsense from people who don't know the answers but who feel compelled to give them a piece of their mind anyway. If you aren't willing to be helpful without being paid then it's probably best not to bother responding to the questions. There are other folk who are more than willing to.

I can't count how many times I've seen people say "I won't answer this homework question" when I know full and well that they couldn't if they wanted to. Then there's folk who say "how much is this answer worth to you" again, when they don't have the answer anyway.

It gets to be a bit much. I try to help people here, yesterday I spent 20 minutes writing free code to answer someone's question. I even had to ask Nick about some parts of the answer that I didn't know about. As a result I learned something and so did the person asking the question. I didn't have that time to spend on it but I really didn't want the person to get another sarcastic "answer" from the regulars here who often have nothing useful to contribute to the questions but who aren't about to let that stop them.

1 Reply

@sstainba,

Did you complete and sign a Proof of Loss before the insurer issued the cheque?

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@chai2,

chai2 wrote:

After the initial post, he/she got 11 answers were it was obvious the intent was to be as helpful as possible. It's no one's fault that those answers, attempts at helping weren't what the OP wanted to hear.

About this specifically, I know that many times people are trying to be helpful. But the OP, who I agree was rude, had a specific question and many specific questions here are answered with chat about what the members think of the question, instead of the answer.

Quote:

After what I thought were multiple opinions that a lawsuit wasn't worth it, we get this (leaning toward snide) remark how no one was reading her posts correctly.

Well the question wasn't whether a lawsuit was worth it and specifically asked for knowledgeable answers, not opinions about whether the lawsuit was worth it.

Quote:

Well please forgive all the posters who up until that time had the audacity to answer as best they could, while at the same time injecting their indiviual thoughts.

Well forgive me for injecting my individual thoughts about how it's not often helpful to respond to specific questions with a piece of your mind that doesn't answer it.

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@Slappy Doo Hoo,

Slappy Doo Hoo wrote:

People do get way too off topic, or start pointing out useless things on this site too much....

There you go. Here it is in a nutshell.

Not everyone here is here for chat. With questions they often prefer one good answer instead of a bunch of useless attempts, no matter how well intended.

1 Reply

@Robert Gentel,

No, your comment definately implied that people should adhere to some sort of code of conduct....with nothing provided in an answer that you personally find unnecessary.

I did not say, nor did I imply anything about not being willing to help provide answers without being paid. Rather than the word "paid", substitute the word "obligated" or "pressured" to behave in a Robert Gentel approved way. Pressure doesn't have to be hard, it can be subtle.

Things change Robert. They evolve and become something else. If you want to start afresh with developing another forum where only the serious, the staid, the intellectuals hang out and answer questions like automatons, you're certainly experienced enough. Good luck with doing that though, because the nature of the beast is it will change.

Threads evolve and change. Thank God they do or this forum would be death. I've learned quite a number of things here, usually from conversations that take place after the initial premise of a thread is long forgotten. Embrace the ebb and flow of information. The breaks and lightheartedness. Face it Robert, they are very few things that are asked on here that can't be found out much more easily on Google....A2K is never going to be a Google. However, I gotten damn good feedback on the state of the human condition, by addressing people, and seeing what makes them tick.

It's like you don't mind when people speak in their own voice or fashion, but only to a point where it doesn't cross some invisible Robert line of accepted communication.

1 Reply

@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

Slappy Doo Hoo wrote:
People do get way too off topic, or start pointing out useless things on this site too much....

There you go. Here it is in a nutshell.

Not everyone here is here for chat. With questions they often prefer one good answer instead of a bunch of useless attempts, no matter how well intended.

oh....that's rich, quoting a person who has oft times expresses his feelings toward having sex with bilateral amuputees and midgets. Or whose idea of developing a relationship is by deceiving women into thinking he cares about what they say.

On Track Slappy.....yeah, that's how I think of him in my mind.

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@chai2,

this is the NEW slappy, chai.

he's a verra serious dude...

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@joefromchicago,

Um, 'wrong?' and 'irrelevant' Not.

I stated KBB is a good place to start.

You'll even note that some of your comments mirrored what I said in my helpful post which included the idea that deprecation on a vehicle is hard to PROVE.

When determing the value of a vehicle, private buyers and dealers will likely know of a price range of the vehicle to be purchased. In this case, the original poster has not yet sold the vehicle and therefore does not know what the difference is between what she purchased and what the consumer will actually pay for it. Until that action happens, it's hard to PROVE the full dimished value of the vehicle due to the accident.

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@chai2,

chai2 wrote:

How about addressing the other statements I made Robert? Like the fact that people were being helpful, or trying to?

I did in a subsequent post.

Quote:

The OP had more than adequate information presented to her to make a decision.

I disagree, and so did the OP. If you feel otherwise that's fine but it's not your question.

Quote:

No, your comment definately implied that people should adhere to some sort of code of conduct....with nothing provided in an answer that you personally find unnecessary.

Yeah, I do think people should try to be helpful.

Quote:

I did not say, nor did I imply anything about not being willing to help provide answers without being paid. Rather than the word "paid", substitute the word "obligated" or "pressured" to behave in a Robert Gentel approved way. Pressure doesn't have to be hard, it can be subtle.

I'm not the one who invented the idea of a question being best served by an actual answer Chai. You can try to pawn this off as one of my peculiarities that I'm trying to foist on everyone but that ignores that the people asking the questions feel poorly served by such responses. I didn't invent this.

Quote:

Things change Robert. They evolve and become something else. If you want to start afresh with developing another forum where only the serious, the staid, the intellectuals hang out and answer questions like automatons, you're certainly experienced enough. Good luck with doing that though, because the nature of the beast is it will change.

What nonsense chai, I ask that members try to be more helpful and you tell me to go make another site? I'm not telling you to go find another forum, which would be much easier than me making a new site.

I'm pretty open to the evolution of the site, we are making a lot of features like friends, blogs, groups etc to better serve the social side. But the site was made for knowledge exchange and it doesn't have to stop being a place for that.

Quote:

Face it Robert, they are very few things that are asked on here that can't be found out much more easily on Google....A2K is never going to be a Google.

This site never purported to be a google. If you have a problem with the questions why not just leave them for people who don't and for people who are actually willing to provide answers?

Quote:

It's like you don't mind when people speak in their own voice or fashion, but only to a point where it doesn't cross some invisible Robert line of accepted communication.

Bullshit Chai. Many many other people here get fed up with the nonsensical "answers" and this isn't some "invisible Robert line". Quite a few people find it unhelpful. I'm speaking my mind about it and apparently have crossed the "invisible Chai line" in doing so.

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@chai2,

chai2 wrote:

oh....that's rich, quoting a person who has oft times expresses his feelings toward having sex with bilateral amuputees and midgets. Or whose idea of developing a relationship is by deceiving women into thinking he cares about what they say.

On Track Slappy.....yeah, that's how I think of him in my mind.

Slappy is often very helpful when it comes to automotive questions. He doesn't answer legitimate questions with midget jokes (most of the time at least).

You really don't get it. I'm not saying everyone has to be all serious and intellectual all the time, and I have no qualm with Slappy's jokes. Nor do I have any qualm with the banter here most of the time. There's a time and a place for everything.

But when a specific question is answered by nonsensical banter it's often is not helpful. That is why there are question topic types and discussion topic types. I understand that some will prefer to chat and not participate in Q&A, and I wish you'd understand that some want only the Q&A and not the chat.

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RG, I can see where you are coming from but I seriously have a problem with people who show a lack of respect when people are trying to be helpful.

Even though she felt her questions were not being answered, there were MANY different ways she could have responded which would not have elicited some of the later responses she got. Even a simple "Thanks for the help, but I need more specifics regarding......" would have much better.

Helpful posts, even if not useful for the original poster may be helpful for others. It can also spur ideas that help keep a conversation moving. Many heads are better than one and getting more than one perspective is sometimes necessary for the best decisions to be made.

1 Reply

Too bad posts from someone on your ignore list show up when others quote them.

1 Reply

@Slappy Doo Hoo,

HEH...still, a verra interesting discussion on what A2K is, what it isn't and what it could be.

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@mm25075,

mm25075 wrote:

RG, I can see where you are coming from but I seriously have a problem with people who show a lack of respect when people are trying to be helpful.

So do I, I think the OP was being very rude and not very patient about it. And I also think your post, other than the Bluebook part, was pretty helpful even if it didn't specifically answer the question.

But there is a conflict between the site's Q&A and the site's discussions that is hard to get right. Unlike what chai is implying I have no problem with banter, in fact without the banter people wouldn't stick around as much to answer questions. They need each other.

But this site has a bit of a problem with off topic replies and piling on criticism instead of answers when it comes to questions. Even regular members get frustrated by it. You ask about your kid and you'll get a bunch of irrelevant nonsense questioning your parenting.

You ask about the law in something and you get a lot of opinions that you shouldn't want what you want.

Sometimes you get a bunch of outright jokes before someone is shamed into trying to actually answer your question.

It's doubly frustrating to me because the site was created primarily for the Q&A portions. I learned everything I know in informal settings and I have a passion for free knowledge exchange. That's why I made this site, and the banter is a welcome side effect for me.

But when it begins to hurt the Q&A part, and hurt the knowledge exchange it is frustrating. On other forums you have moderators enforcing the no "off topic" rules but here we never sought to do this. Meandering discussions have their time and place too. They just aren't often useful for the question topic types.

I think one thing that might help would be to keep questions and discussions separate (e.g. separate pages for topics vs questions and not mixed int he same topic lists) but then the questions might suffer from visibility.

It's a hard thing to get right which is why I am spending time trying to get people to help. I know I'm not going to convince a chai but I hope to be able to convince others to try to help folk out more. It really makes me happy to see folk like George spend so much time giving away free help.

I am advocating for more such generosity and an effort to try to make the site a more helpful place.

Quote:

Even though she felt her questions were not being answered, there were MANY different ways she could have responded which would not have elicited some of the later responses she got. Even a simple "Thanks for the help, but I need more specifics regarding......" would have much better.

I completely agree, and nice folk like boomerang are incredibly patient like this. It doesn't tend to do much to stop the nonsense from coming but you are right in that there are much more polite ways to go about it.

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@chai2,

chai: I'm nodding my head positively for nearly the whole way except here:

"At the end, she showed the bitch she was, and I don't believe people should have to apologize for responding in kind.

You act like we're paid to be here, and so are obgligated to be on our best behavior at all times."

We ARE being "paid" to be here. We're being pad back with entertainment, information, humor, and social interqaction. Many of us use this online resource as a community gathering place of sorts. No...it's not financial gain...it's entertainment value. Some could care less if it helps others. Those people should stay out of threads like that.

A constructrive suggestion is for there be a restoration of the chat function and then maybe it could divert some of those chatters elsewhere when they need a fix of live interaction.

I still feel my apology is deserved as I should've been more on topic. She warned readers at the start clearly she was asking for specific no-nonsense answer. She did NOT know that her answer required more insight of other issues than she was looking for. When some of us told her as much, she was not happy with the replies and pushed back...'badly'!

For someone to NOT be a bitch at times was a site pre-requisite, then lots of folks wouldn't be able to post. Bitchy or defensive responses aren't always the wrong approach--just not that inviting for the community. This is a community and if we keep being snarky (guilty myself), then the viability and the community's health suffers. (Witness recent Ogionik thread)

However, in my situation I was guilty of a diversion...and frankly, should have thought through my response more thoroughly. My intent was to broaden the discussion to inform a general audience of car values and depreciation. the author of the thread took exception to ALL the diversions, not jsut mine. She did so in abrupt ,"bitchy" way and then we're off to the races.

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@Slappy Doo Hoo,

correction: it is NOT after-market. There was no indication that aftermarket parts where used. In fact, the author EROTe that she brought it to a BMW dealer body shop I believe. Also, I think it was Rockhead that wrote that you can't USE aftermarket parts on a BMW.

1 Reply

@Ragman,

oops...scrolled back too far.

BUT...how could a BMW dealer body shop use aftermarket paint?

1 Reply

@Ragman,

most likely dupont.

paint must be mixed to match.

1 Reply

Vehicle depreciation due to accident

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