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dj_patm
04-27-2011, 03:54 PM
Hey guys,
Was wondering if you’d be able to help me out here. In early October I got into an accident which was my fault. I clipped the back of a Grand Vitara with my passenger side front corner. Her car had some minor damage on her molding while my front end damage was more extensive, but purely cosmetic.

I paid for her damage without getting insurance or Police involved (it was under 2 grand, and yes I have her quote, my receipt and a signed statement that I paid in full for the accident on that date) but I haven’t even looked into getting mine fixed yet besides getting a quote over the phone from the dealer for the parts that I will need. The parts that I got prices for were:

- Front Bumper (No dents but there’s a gash, so I’m assuming it needs to be replaced)
- Passenger side front fender (Pretty mangled)
- Hood (The bottom corner is bent up but the rest is fine, opens and closes normally, fitment on the other side was unaffected, salvageable? )
- Headlight (700 FUCKING dollars for just one. It’s cracked. HID Bulbs and Hi Beams are fine)

I don’t remember the exact prices but the total was $1600 – $1700 and the parts were unpainted. I also need a side marker but I was planning on replacing both of them with clear ones instead of amber ($60 total).

So clearly doing this all at once will put me well over the $2000 dollar “damage sticker limit”. I was wondering though, if this work was worth doing on my own? Is it difficult to install body panels? It seems like it’d be the simplest type of work to do and the hardest to screw up? Obviously I would get a quote from a shop for but I have a pretty strong hunch that it will be well above 5 G’s for everything so I’d love to save money on labor and just pay for parts and paint. Especially if I can avoid getting the cops involved and getting “accident” on my car fax for such a stupid and minor body damage issue.

I’ll post pics when I get home if requested.

Thoughts?
Help is appreciated!

benz_890
04-27-2011, 05:08 PM
It's pretty straightforward, assuming you don't have damage behind the fender, bumper etc. You never really know until you start taking parts off. You can try getting your parts aftermarket, you will save alot of money.


Also , try looking on car-parts.com. You might get lucky and find some parts that are same color as yours and not have to get them painted!

RecoilS14
04-27-2011, 08:06 PM
The one thing i found with doing this yourself was to take your time removing stuff. There is a lot of hidden little things you can miss.

dj_patm
04-28-2011, 08:42 AM
Hmm so maybe this is worth doing over the summer then.

My biggest obstacle is the fact that I only have until September to build some decent savings at my current full time job as I’m going back to finish my last year of school come fall, so yeah… Fix my baby’s looks and cut my potential savings by a pretty hefty chunk, or have an extra 3-4 grand in savings (Assuming parts and paint would cost that much)… For someone that’s only making ~$1300 net income a pay check, that’s a big portion…

How about the hood thing? Is it possible for a shop to bend the hood down back to place? I’d say it’s a 6 or 7 inch triangle in the passenger side bottom corner that’s bent up somewhere between 20-40 degrees?

G-ZUS
04-28-2011, 09:39 AM
^ It's hard to say without seeing it