Alright, so first off, on my way back home with my g35 i was hit by a storm of rocks when an oncomming truck passed. My windshield partly cracked, my hood scratched and my infiniti logo was damaged. I have to pay my deductable to have this fixed ($200) and there is about $1400 in damage. This includes replacing the windshield, repainting the whole front hood and replacing the 3M clear bra, and replacing the infiniti logo.

Then, just today, i'm turning a corner from a two lane street to a back lane that i'm unfamiliar with. It had been snowing most of the day and so there was snow and covering everything pretty well. There was a small cement curb piece that was laying about a foot away from the actual curb. So anyways, my front tire must have just missed it, but my under body right after the the front driver tire. I scrached the side skirt for about 8" or so, before I noticed and was able to stop (i was going really slow). So now I have a scratch thats mostly under my car from some stupid cement piece that was laying in the middle of the rode about 4" tall so it was just barely able to hit my car.

Anyways, I'm now pretty pisssed because this is a new car to me and now i'm dropping money for stupid stuff that is not my fault (in my opinion). So I will be taking my car in for repair in the near future.

My questions are: Instead of repainting the hood, do you think think an autobody shop would simply repaint the front bumper instead. The hood is actually in perfect shape minus a couple nicks here and there (stone chips), the bumper has a few more significant rock chips. What is the difference in painting costs between a bumper and a hood, i've heard hoods are more expensive because they must be absolutely perfect because they are right out in the open and smooth and flat.

Second question, how much will it cost to have either part of my sideskirt or the whole thing repainted? (assuming i want oem or better quality).

The reason why I ask this question rather then just asking the body shop myself is because i know that they would love to just say no and that it will cost a lot more money to repaint the hood even if it isn't that way they can squeeze a few extra pennies outta me.

 

I hate having to bump, anyone? someone with bodyshop/paintshop experience.

 

just pay the deductible everything should just be under a grand.

 

I am paying the deductable, only thing is I am wondering if the body shop would repaint the front bumper instead of the hood. And how much it would cost to have a side skirt repainted, or part of it.

 

No they will write there own estimate then go through the insurance company to get the work done and if they need a supplement for the work its out of your pocket for the bumper instead of the hood that needs the work. I am sure you can find someone to do the work but if you ever have a problem with the shop not doing it write you dont have the protection of the insurance company to fall back on. Just trying to help you out. I had a front bumper repainted and its usually about 7 hours of work between taking it off, prepping it, painting it, clearing it and reinstalling it. Depending on your local area that would be somewhere between 250 and 350 bucks for painting the bumper.

 

I already have an estimate for the work, it is at $1400. this includes replacing windshield, repainting hood and replacing 3M kit on hood and replacing the infiniti emblem. I'm simply wondering if i can swap out the hood and front bumper as far as painting goes. the estimate for repainting the hood is around 500 bucks including the 3M kit.

 

I think you should be asking your bodyshop.. if you have a bodyshop that's trying to screw you you should check out another one

 

To have avoided this, when you got the car you could have got the 3M clear bra installed and your wouldn't have these problems, But it would be a good bit of work to repair all of the stone chips.

 

I actually already have the 3M kit, only a few of the rocks were so big they went through the 3M, and several others missed it.

 

If you have a check in hand from the insurance company deposit it. Go to the body shop, tell them what you want done and let them give you an estimate. If the estimate is less than the check amount then you are good. If the check is written to both you and the shop its going to be harder cause the shop will have to call it in to the insurance company to let them know whats being repaired. If you find a body shop willing to do it under the table get that done but good luck.

 

I agree with Jay15, take the cash and get them to give you the cost on what you want done, then pay them.

 

^i don't get cash, i get a printout to give to the autobody shop. the autobody shop then does the work, and bills the insurance company directly. Manitoba has a public insurance company (run by the government). Most body shops don't have a problem with doing these things because our insurance company really doesn't care, either way they will pay that amount to the autobody shop...exactly the amount appearing on the estimate that they made up.

My question is, is it cheaper to repaint a hood or a front bumper?

And how much will it cost approximately to paint my sideskirt?

 

Probably about the same or close to for the hood versus the bumper. Side skirt will probably be about $150 or so per side.