Storm Damage Dilemma (Pics)

[Loyal Toyota]

Hello everyone, first thread here. Unfortnuately, its not on a more positive note.

We had a huge storm blow through exactly a week ago. I parked my car out on the driveway the only time out of the last 2 years because we needed space to work on the lawn mower. The winds blew a piece of shingle off and it hit the front quarter panel area of my car. The scratches are down to the bare metal.

I just talked with my insurance guy. My deductable is $1,000. The damage is about $1350. So they will only give me a check for $350 and I will have to come up with the $1,000. They will have to replace the front bumper chrome piece as well as the plastic trim on the top and the front left corner light. The fender flare and body panel will need to be buffed and repainted.

I'm not sure as to the course of action right now. I planned on having it done at the Toyota Dealership. I'm pretty much dropping $1,000 into the car for purely cosmetic reasons. I don't have a lot of money to play around with as a college student.

Any help and input is greatly appreciated.

The lawn mower now sits outside.

Thanks in advance,
Michael

 

[rjaudi]

If it was me I would have the fender flare and fender resprayed and that is it.

 

[SCRunner12]

I say leave it. Not work 1k for some scratched paint. Also the dealership will be the most expensive and auto body shops can do just as good, if not better job. Just be patient and you could pick up most of those parts on here for cheap. The corner lights should be easy to find. Lots of people replace theirs with clear corners. There are a lot of things you can do with 1k and since the damage doesn't affect drivability you can wait and price it out better.

 

[Nelsonmd]

If it was me I would have the fender flare and fender resprayed and that is it.

x2... Live with it, it's not bad. For the love of all that is holy, don't spend a grand to fix a little scratch like that. I wouldn't even have called insurance, because mow your rates are going to go up (assuming you didn't have and claims before).

Even if you do fix it, just do the repaint on the quarter panel and flare. Screw the chrome and plastic scrapes, they are minor and don't stand out bad.

 

[Nelsonmd]

If it was me I would have the fender flare and fender resprayed and that is it.

x2... Live with it, it's not bad. For the love of all that is holy, don't spend a grand to fix a little scratch like that. I wouldn't even have called insurance, because mow your rates are going to go up (assuming you didn't have and claims before).

Even if you do fix it, just do the repaint on the quarter panel and flare. Screw the chrome and plastic scrapes, they are minor and don't stand out.

 

[Loyal Toyota]

I was somewhat thinking the same way with you guys. I definitely need to do the paint so that it won't rust. It's just disappointing as we've had the truck since new and the exterior is practically mint.

There's quite a few body spots and auto collison places here. I had the check made out to me, so I can take my time going around getting estimates.

Thanks for the advice, gentlemen!

 

[J-money$$$]

get the $350 and run. Those little scratches are barley noticeable, and i doubt they will rust since it looks like it only went to the primer on most of it. For $350 i would let you scratch my truck up like that

 

[CobraSpdRH]

Wow, you are very particular about your truck, proprs to you. Assuming it is down to bare metal and rust might be an issue I would either have a body shop sand it down and repaint (which shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred bucks tops) or find replacement parts at an auto yard somewhere. Definitely wouldn't have involved insurance over something like that. For a 10+ year old truck, minor cosmetic damage like that is really not a big deal.

 

[Nunyabiz]

Could probably remove the fender yourself, do all the prep work yourself, get out the small dinks and sand it all nicely.
Take that to a body shop and have them spray it for you, I would think that should be less than $200.
Put the fender back on, then you can probably buff out the scratches on the light lens yourself with a little fine sand paper and some rubbing compound with a nice buffer.

 

[BrianSD_42]

Could probably remove the fender yourself, do all the prep work yourself, get out the small dinks and sand it all nicely.

This is a LOT more difficult than it looks from afar.

BTW, in CA that would be more like $2000 damage easy.

 

[Nervo19]

Replace the fender and flare with a same colored one from a junkyard. Do a search on Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market Fenders from 1996-2002 will fit. The dark green was a popular color. I just found a fender in your color with the fender flare still attached. It cost $200. Front fenders are pretty easy to replace.

 

[Loyal Toyota]

Here's a little update everyone:

I went to 4 different shops in my area. This is what they want:

Gerber Auto Collision: $827.53
Toyota Dealership: $688.19
Parson's Collision Center: $707.71
Quality Auto Inc.: $501.93

This is only to fix the paint on the fender and fender flare and NOT touching the bumper at all. I still have that $350.00 insurance check I can still apply.

For kicks and giggles, the dealership was the only one I told I was going through insurance. The rest I said out of pocket.

You guys are definitely right, I could live with it as it is 11 years old. I'm only hitting the paint for rust issues, especially around Illinois and Iowa. The scratches are down to the metal from what the guys have said.

I'm still open to options. I find it hard to believe a few scratches is $1350 damage. Go figure.

 

[matthinnant]

I would cancel the claim b/c your gonna end up spending hundreds even thousands of dollars extra on the insurance going up plus that isnt that bad of damage get some touch up paint for now and a new corner lense all call it a day and when you finally save enough up get the rest of the car painted and dings taken out. save yourself the pain of insurance rates going up

 

[Loyal Toyota]

My rates aren't going to go up, I made sure to ask the guy when he was looking at it. I don't think this car has ever made any claims whatsoever. I just bought some touch up paint and a friend that knows a bit about this stuff, so it's all good.

I think I'll get a transmission cooler out of this

 

[DocMT]

Are you sure that's down to the bare metal? It doesn't look that bad in the pics. You should try to buff out the scratches and see how bad it looks afterwards. I bet most of those marks will come out...even if some of it is down to bare metal, I doubt all of it is.

 

[Hepar]

Are you sure that's down to the bare metal? It doesn't look that bad in the pics. You should try to buff out the scratches and see how bad it looks afterwards. I bet most of those marks will come out...even if some of it is down to bare metal, I doubt all of it is.

I agree with that statement. Hit it with some good rubbing compound and see what exactly you're dealing with.

 

[matthinnant]

My rates aren't going to go up, I made sure to ask the guy when he was looking at it. I don't think this car has ever made any claims whatsoever. I just bought some touch up paint and a friend that knows a bit about this stuff, so it's all good.

I think I'll get a transmission cooler out of this

Thats what they all say I got into a lil fender bender with my Gf and they told me my rates wouldnt go up then bam as soon as it was my renewal time my **** shot up. goodluck insurance ppl are crooks