Hey guys. I've been lurking for a long time and have found a bunch of helpful on this site so thanks everyone!

My G has been very good to me so far and today I finally had an incident. Long story short I had to swerve due to another driver and went over a big curb. I checked for any damage and saw that this part that is located directly next to where you would put a jack to jack up the front right tire is indented pretty badly (I know these pictures are really crappy but it was raining pretty hard and I didn't want to get my phone soaked):


This is what it's supposed to look like (that bottom right part that's blue is basically right below the passenger door)


This is what it looks like now

It's really kind of hard to tell the extent of the damage but it's dented up pretty good.

I dont know a whole ton about cars so that's why I have come to you guys to help me out. What exactly is this part? I'm not sure if this damage is something that needs to be fixed asap or can just be let go. The car seemed to run fine so far afterwards.

Thanks!

 

Rocker panel. Picture isn't great, but if you can still jack all four wheels up, and no harm has been done to the black cables/tubes visible in the first shot, I think you're fine.

 

That sucks. Did you know by you doing this the other guys is at fault? I hope you got his license plate number so you can bring this to your insurance.

 

Nope I wasn't able to get anything . It sucks and I was pretty pissed but if it's not going to do any harm then I'll be able to get over it pretty easily.

 

EVEN IF YOU DID have the other guy's info . . . if the other guy's car wasn't damaged in any way, and there wasn't any direct contact between your cars, and there weren't any witnesses to corroborate your version of the story, then I could pretty much guarantee you'll get nothing from filing a claim against the other driver.

If I were you, I'd have a reputable body shop look at the damage. It may be purely cosmetic (and even then only visible to someone under your car), but it is also possible to compromise the cabin structure by denting the rocker in certain places. Think of an empty aluminum can with zero dents in it; if you step gently up onto it, it can support your whole body weight, but if there is just a small dent in it's side, it will readily crush under your weight. If it did require pulling the dent, it shouldn't be expensive since there isn't any real painting involved; just a little primer and undercoating.

 

I'd probably be more concerned about the damage to the rims or the suspension components than the dent you are mentioning.

I've run over curbs before and the first thing I check for is that my alignment is okay and that I didn't damage any of the suspension/steering components. If you run over a big curb, first check your alignment. You may have damaged more than just the underbody. It's very difficult to visually inspect damage to the front end unless you put it on an alignment machine to make sure the tires are aligned properly.

It's also easy to damage the wheel hub assembly going up a curb, so you should also check to make the wheel hub bearings are okay. Have a mechanic assess your damage and make sure your car has no other problems than just the underbody.