Repair or just leave it as it... bit of bodywork damage..

[ILoveMondeo]

I had a little bit of an accident the other weekend, completely cocked up and met a kerb side on.

Two wheels and tyres definitely dead... which spurred me on to replace the rubber and wheels.

Just fitted a shiny new set of spiders with eagle F1's and had a bloody good look around, all seems straight and true, and off to get geometry checked tomorrow.

So all in all a lucky escape and could have been a lot worse. Nothing major broken, driver and passenger safe and sound.

However...

The kerb has also done a bit of a number on the underside of the front of the car, picture below.

It's not pretty... but unless you get under the car you cant see it.



Question is, how fixable is this, how much is it likely to cost, and should I even bother as it's completely not visible.

I've never been one for spotless body/paint work as I dont want to be in tears every time I pick up a stone chip. The car is 14 years old and on it's original paint job, but still polishes up well and looks smart.

I'm thinking of selling it next year to upgrade to a Mk3 tuscan or Sagaris, or an F-type depending how the residuals on those look.

The car is in absolute spot on mechanical condition, engine rebuild a few thousand miles ago, new clutch, overhauled gearbox, and dozens of other things all in the last couple of months, but cosmetically it'd need a respray and retrim in the next couple of years, its ok now but will deteriorate over time, it's also silly low mileage at 28k.

So I'm never going to get top dollar for it, but perhaps it'd be ideal for someone wanting one mechanically sorted but wanting to spend some time and money making it look just right... If I thought I'd get a decent chunk of the money back by a full cosmetic overhaul I'd send it off this winter, but I think I'd only see a fraction of the money come resale time.

Just concerned that this ugly bit of damage will either get worse with water ingress or just the stress and strain of being driven around, or completely put off any potential buyer... many wouldn't even know it was there but I'm the honest type so would describe and show a car warts and all if I'm selling.

Edited by ILoveMondeo on Friday 15th August 18:43

[seeby]

If it was me ,I would have it repaired .As you say you are possibly selling in the near future,it is not a very good selling point ,but a very good haggling point from a potential buyer.As you say the the car is in fair body and good mechanical order, you could probably get knocked down more than the price of a repair.

[jamieduff1981]

I'd get that fixed too. Since it's broken rather than just scratched the body will flex a bit and you could get some cracking and flaky paint spreading away from the area that's damaged just nowm

[ILoveMondeo]

Fair enough.

Any suggestions for a decent place to get fixed near oxford?

Anyone know who str8six use?

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

ILoveMondeo said:

Fair enough.

Any suggestions for a decent place to get fixed near oxford?

Anyone know who str8six use?

They outsource any major bodywork to Surface & Design in Blackpool. I reckon that's probably what they'd do in your case.

I had my Chimaera repaired by that route, after a company van rolled into it in the office car park. The damage was similar severity - i.e. non-trivial but not extensive. Very pleased with the work.

[ILoveMondeo]

Cool, thank you. I've got it booked in to str8six next month so they can double check nothing more serious is broken and sort the tracking out. Will have a chat with them about the cosmetics at the same time.

I'm mulling over selling/keeping, I reckon I will probably just bite the bullet and get a full respray and retrim done.