Stupid: Backed over M2Z with my car.

[DanMan32]

I packed my car this morning to go to church and then go flying, after church, weather permitting.
Packed my M2Z in my Flymore case, put it down behind my car as I packed my laptop and tablet in their proper place. Forgot the M2Z was still on the ground.
As I was backing up, heard a rubbing/grinding noise. Thought I was hitting the garage screen with my car, as I have sometimes done. Pulled forward, shifted left, then backed out. Heard rubbing noise again, but my automatic wipers kicked in, so I thought it might be that.
Got all the way out of my garage and see a grey bag in front of my garage opening. What is that, a plastic bag? OH CRAP! That's the M2Z bag!

There is structural damage to the AC and remote has one broken antenna, but otherwise when I tested it on return from church it is electrically sound. Not seeing much in focus changes, forgot to test zoom but gimbal looks unscathed. Motors start, I get GPS lock, no errors whatsoever. OK, at first I got Remote Connection Error when going into camera view and connected with the included long USB cable, but tried a different cable and that went away. Tried the included cable after that, no issues.
I'm glad I was able to get Care Refresh when I did but if the repair is under $500, i'll keep my two Refresh and just have it fixed. Gimbal appears 100% OK so that cost is out of the way.

I made this bonehead mistake years ago with my laptop backpack. Then I only damaged the screen.
Note to self: NEVER put anything behind the car, always alongside the car if you need to put something down. Always check around before closing hatch/trunk.

 

[DanMan32]

More Pics
What is interesting is that when i manually move the gimbal with my hand, the gimbal tends to rub on the one side of the frame that doesn't show as much damage but clears the side that is clearly bent. I'm hoping it is only the cowl that is bending the sides and that they are otherwise OK.

 

[DanMan32]

I just read that the Care Refresh doesn't cover remote. I'm handy with repairing things and replacing the one antenna seems trivial but having viewed the video on upgrading the antennas, seems somewhat involved. I'm also concerned about voiding the warranty for it should an issue come up, though I suppose the broken antenna already did that.
So, should i send it in with the AC or repair it myself?

 

[quad]

not stupid, happens to us all

 

[BD0G]

Recently closed garage door on the rear of my sport bike. It was positioned just so that the sensors could shoot across through the rear rim so the garage door "thought" there were no obstructions. I saw it and pressed the button to reverse the garage door. Too late. It put some slight scratches in the rear cowl which are trivial. What it also did was slightly crumple the upper two panels of my metal sectional garage door.

I was in a hurry and forgot that I moved the bike out slightly to get something within the garage.

Lesson learned. I will probably pull each of the panels of the garage door off and then decrumple them or this may be a message that its time to upgrade the garage door panels. I have always wanted those smoked / etched style panels .

If you want to repair it yourself or pay out of pocket for the repair @Thunderdrones is well known and respected on the forums. He has literally repaired hundreds of Mavic's

 

[DanMan32]

I definitely would go with ThunderDrones if it wasn't under Care Refresh or potential warranty for any future issues.
I checked the prices of parts for Mavic Pro, they are quite reasonable for body parts. Granted that's not the M2 but in the ballpark. Remote antenna is only $2 for the part. Labor might get me though.
I'll send the remote in.

I came close to carrying my portable 2.5" harddrive that I keep my recordings on in my Flymore bag. That would have been on one of the outside pouches and surely would have been damaged. Whew!

 

[BD0G]

Back all that video and picture information on the 2.5 inch hard drive up to another source as soon is reasonably possible. I have all of my flight video and pictures backed up to multiple locations.

 

[stealth.pilot]

With DJI Refresh you don’t have to use one of your two replacements if the damaged parts are on the list of replaceable parts

They can replace gimbal, camera, batteries and propellers without having to replace the entire aircraft.

 

[DanMan32]

Gimbal is perfectly OK and AC is electrically OK. Issue is mainly structural with two front arms/legs damaged, and bottom cowl. I'm hoping the body sides aren't permanently distorted and it's only the cowl that's the issue.
Also remote antenna but I'd have to pay for that anyway. Not part of refresh.

 

[dioriosigns]

if you had state farm ins they would cover it.

 

[DanMan32]

So will care refresh. However if I put in a claim with SF, they would then drop the coverage. I'd rather use SF if I had it for when the AC was unretrievable and I'd want to use refresh for more serious incidents. The AC is electrically sound and gimbal unscathed. That's where the expense would be.

 

[dioriosigns]

you need a different SF agent . i put a claim in on my inspire 2 and i still have coverage still have mavic pro and mavic 2 pro. there are not telling the truth. you need a different agent. good luck..

 

[DanMan32]

How long have you had your policy and do you have any other coverage with them?
I was going by the discussions on insurance in this forum. You have to know when to play and when to pay. Right now in the long run I believe it is better to pay, but we'll see when the repair quote comes. If I'm wrong and the repair quote is high, I'll take the refresh, but I suspect it won't be too bad where I'm better off taking the refresh for a more serious crash/accident.

 

[Lon Denard]

How long have you had your policy and do you have any other coverage with them?
I was going by the discussions on insurance in this forum. You have to know when to play and when to pay. Right now in the long run I believe it is better to pay, but we'll see when the repair quote comes. If I'm wrong and the repair quote is high, I'll take the refresh, but I suspect it won't be too bad where I'm better off taking the refresh for a more serious crash/accident.

You're right about State Farm, I had two crashes in a year and now I'm banned for life...well maybe not for life but it's been two years and it's still a no.

As far as sending everything in. That's what I would do. DJI is very reasonable when it comes to repairs. Someone broke their usb in the controller and DJI quoted them $11 and then just waived the charge. I'd send it all back, DJI will give you an itemized quote for the repair. You can decide to use your Care Refresh or just pay for it yourself. If the remote isn't covered, they'll quote the repair. The best reason for sending it to them is that it'll still be covered under warranty. Not to mention that they pay for shipping both ways.

 

[DanMan32]

The M2 is on its way. I hope Michael doesn't delay it's progress.
Back in I think Jan 2016 I seriously crashed my P3A. DJI did me a solid by replacing the gimbal with a refurb but charging me for its repair. That or they did a REALLY good job on the repair. Gimbal and camera came back looking new with shipping stickers and packing. Only gripe was I asked to send me props and they didn't. I also thought they lost my gimbal guard/camera cover but found it at the bottom of the box buried in peanuts a year later.

 

[Lon Denard]

The M2 is on its way. I hope Michael doesn't delay it's progress.
Back in I think Jan 2016 I seriously crashed my P3A. DJI did me a solid by replacing the gimbal with a refurb but charging me for its repair. That or they did a REALLY good job on the repair. Gimbal and camera came back looking new with shipping stickers and packing. Only gripe was I asked to send me props and they didn't. I also thought they lost my gimbal guard/camera cover but found it at the bottom of the box buried in peanuts a year later.

Ha I heard that story before... We've been on this forum too long, bro!

 

[DanMan32]

DJI acknowledged receipt of my M2Z. Arrived 1 day later than UPS originally said it would arrive on account of sever weather. I wish UPS would provide more frequent updates.

 

[DanMan32]

DJI was a tease earlier today. They sent me an email saying they evaluated the damage but nothing was entered into the case. Then i read further in the email that I would get a n invoice in 2 to 3 business days. 4 hours later, I do get my quotes. They put the remote in a separate case # which they did not attach to my login account.

Anyway, cost of damage wasn't too bad. They indicated all 4 arm modules and middle frame module needed replacing, plus 2 hours labor. Total cost: $119.
Repair of remote antenna is only costing me $2.
I did ask for a set of props, nothing in the repair about that. Same as what happened with my P3A. They didn't indicate anything about the gimbal cover but I assume they'll replace that.

The rear arms were scuffed where it brushes against the body when folded but didn't look damaged. Those only cost $21 each though.
It's a shame as individuals, we can't buy the parts as inexpensively as they quote for repairs.

Repair cost is equal to the refresh cost, so I'll do the repair and still have 2 replacements still available.

 

[Lon Denard]

DJI was a tease earlier today. They sent me an email saying they evaluated the damage but nothing was entered into the case. Then i read further in the email that I would get a n invoice in 2 to 3 business days. 4 hours later, I do get my quotes. They put the remote in a separate case # which they did not attach to my login account.

Anyway, cost of damage wasn't too bad. They indicated all 4 arm modules and middle frame module needed replacing, plus 2 hours labor. Total cost: $119.
Repair of remote antenna is only costing me $2.
I did ask for a set of props, nothing in the repair about that. Same as what happened with my P3A. They didn't indicate anything about the gimbal cover but I assume they'll replace that.

The rear arms were scuffed where it brushes against the body when folded but didn't look damaged. Those only cost $21 each though.
It's a shame as individuals, we can't buy the parts as inexpensively as they quote for repairs.

Repair cost is equal to the refresh cost, so I'll do the repair and still have 2 replacements still available.

Good plan! I'm not convinced that you can't buy the parts. I've purchased parts for DJI drones before.

 

[DanMan32]

DJI did sell parts for at least some of its models, but not all parts and prices were considerably more than what they charge for the parts in a repair.

Anyway, I had planned to save my refresh even if the repair is higher. Only if it was way higher, say more than $500 would I take the refresh option.

What's funny is their form letter on the quote. It essentially said "we're sorry but we can't cover this under warranty", as if I expected it.