GRRR!@! So I walk into my parking lot and some friends say "did you get into an accident??" i'm like uhhh no... so I walk up into my car, and the driver side fender right above the wheel's got like 3 small dents in it and some paint has been chipped off and several scratches. No idea how it got there. I drove up to Boston this past weekend so someone must have hit me then.

Any idea how much this should run me to get it replaced? Or... if it's even worth it to get it replaced? Should I take it into the dealer? I'm gonna guess that neither insurance or warranty will cover this since I can't prove it wasn't my fault and since it's purely cosmetic? Thanks guys.

 

Do you have any pics. Insurance will cover it, but you will have to pay your deductible.

 

and rates will more than likely go up.

i had to report a hit and run when my other car was in a parking lot.
reported, paid deductible, got check, fixed car, was dropped from insurance.

WTF!? insurance is a joke, you pay them tons of money over your lifetime and get all kinds of grief for the little 20-50% you try to actually get paid back to you for damages. stereotyping-demographic-age relations have cost me a ton of money.

since i was 16 it has added up to around 17 or 18thousand dollars paid in....i think i have seen 5000 of that thanks to weather events and a hit and run.


i know its for the big ticket items like medical coverage and junk. but what about the MANY other people that never see any of this due to good driving/luck. lost money for me.

 

Sorry bro. Paintless dent repair should handle the dings, but may have to get the fender repainted. Still, if it isn't bad, sounds like a $400 - $500 total.

EDIT>>> So it's clear, I mean PDR will take care of the little dings where there's no paint damage (the local guy here is unbelievable, the stuff just vanishes). If there are scratches and chipped paint, PDR can't fix that.

 

Oh snap... are you serious?? I have three small dings on my passenger side fender. No idea how they got there...

They're really small and barely visible but you can see them when you get up close and you can definitely feel them.

Weird.

Replacing the fender is out of the question... but a good PDR place should take them out no problem. I'm waiting until the winter is over then I'm taking my car to get the once-over and get those things fixed up.

 

thanks guys. i gotta def contact my insurance guy asap.
if it was just dings i wouldn't care so much. but the fact that there are paint chips makes me afraid of rain etc. i don't want the fender to start rustin lol.

ugh. such a PITA.

 

if the paint is chipped then the only right way is to have it repainted. pdr can get the dents out so you dont need filler most likely as long as the dents are smooth and didnt stretch the metal. i have two minute dings on my left front fender that are barely noticeable unless your up close and really looking for them. im gonna get pdr to take them out soon myself.

 

Yea my insurance said $500 deductable. Ehhhhh.

 

Hey all,

So I took it to the dealer, they recommended their affiliated body shop, and the guy there told me that it was better off to get a NEW FENDER and that the price wouldn't be too different. Here's his quote:

New fender: $267.51
Body Labor 5.5hrs @ $50/hr = $275
Paint Labor 7.3hrs @ $50/hr = $365
Paint Supplies 7.3 hrs @ $25/hr = 182
+ some random little things + 94.96 sales tax

Came out to a whoppin' $1195.
Riiiiiidiculous. I told him I'd think about it a.k.a. never goin back.
I was hoping this was gonna be closer to around $500 or less. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet and go thru insurance and pay the $500 deductable. For a few dents it doesn't seem worth it, but everytime I look at my car I wanna shed a few tears.

Anyone know of a good body shop around the Westchester area or maybe even Queens that can give me an honest price and do quality work? Thanks.

 

Some pics. It looks like it's rusting n stuff. But the orange-ish color was there from the start... weird.

http://render1.snapfish.com/render2/.../of=50,590,442
http://render1.snapfish.com/render2/.../of=50,590,442
http://render1.snapfish.com/render2/.../of=50,590,442

let me know if you can't see 'em. As you can see, there's no actual damage on the bumper besides some scratches which I can bare with. All the actual dents are on the fender. I think replacement is my only choice here... And I definitely mistitled this thread, it's way more than dings.

 

I think they are bending you over.
I highly doubt it takes 5 and half hours to remove a fender and put one on.
I also dont think it will take 7 hour to paint.
Last but not least how are they charging you per hour for paint supplies Charging you for the paint is understandable, go to another shop and get an estimate!

 

Actually, having sustained similar damage on previous cars, I would say that you are getting a pretty good estimate. I mean, back in the 80's, when my Celica Altrac Turbo AWD was 3 -days old, I backed the front fender into my mailbox post while pulling out of my driveway. The damage looked a lot less than that shown in your pix, but even in 80"s bucks, it cost me over $900.

Last Summer, I got $500 damage on my TL's rear quarter panel. I could only see it if I bent down close to the car. I knew the body shop man well by then, and he tried to buff it out for free. But, you could still see a little crease in the metal (surface of paint unbroken). The estimate for that was $400, but I traded the car on my '08 G35x, without the dealer even commenting on the damage.

--Rich

 

Ok honestly dude, how do you NOT notice THAT? I mean that s**t is huge man. I find it amazing that it took one of your friends to point out the damage to you.

BTW, how long ago did this happen? I only ask because there's a huge amount of surface rust on your brake rotors. Being made of cast iron I know this is a commonplace, but it usually only happens after the car has been sitting for a while.

 

I totally hear ya. I swear I didn't notice the rust on the rotors til I took those pics. I drive the car everyday basically. And before winter, I washed frequently. It must be all the rain/snow that we've been gettin in NY recently. When spring rolls around and I change my winters out, I'll take care of that haha.

 

How can one prevent the rotors from rusting?