Is this really £1k of damage?
Discussion
Had a minor accident the other day, went diagonally into a barrier at low speed (10-15mph at a guess), was able to drive away and have driven the car over 100 miles since without noticing anything untoward, but the insurers recommended bodyshop has given me a quote this morning of £1k to fix the damage, shown below:
(the grey crap under the light should come off, I think it's only the marks above the light that are damage to the paintwork)
I'm not likely to be going through the insurance as my excess is £1k anyway, so my questions are:
a) is this a realistic quote - they said the front wing/bumper need replacing and they need to check the tracking/geometry, although on the face of it the steering appears ok.
b) do I need to bother getting the panels/bumper replaced, aren't these purely cosmetic issues? Is it something that needs doing to pass MOT?
(the grey crap under the light should come off, I think it's only the marks above the light that are damage to the paintwork)
I'm not likely to be going through the insurance as my excess is £1k anyway, so my questions are:
a) is this a realistic quote - they said the front wing/bumper need replacing and they need to check the tracking/geometry, although on the face of it the steering appears ok.
b) do I need to bother getting the panels/bumper replaced, aren't these purely cosmetic issues? Is it something that needs doing to pass MOT?
Edited by SoilPants on Saturday 13th November 10:39
Bumper looks like it has been pushed back, might have broken a mounting bracket or peg on the bumper - probably means a new bumper. Wing would be replaced then you'd need the whole lost spraying and color matching. + checking for any unseen damage would probably get you to around a 1k quote.
If you wanted a cheapo job you could probably beat the wing into shape and fill it, and you'd have to check what the damage to the bumper was.
It's probably not an MOT fail unless there are any sharp edges on it.
If the wing is metal you'll want to put some protection on it, especially this time of year or it'll rust to bits.
If you wanted a cheapo job you could probably beat the wing into shape and fill it, and you'd have to check what the damage to the bumper was.
It's probably not an MOT fail unless there are any sharp edges on it.
If the wing is metal you'll want to put some protection on it, especially this time of year or it'll rust to bits.
Wing wont cost much, look in this list (bumper on first page, wing on second)
http://www.nicedeals.co.uk/index.php?cPath=1_192_1...
Bumper £70, wing £35.
Note these are almost bound to be pattern parts and thus fit may be a bit iffy.
Try your local body panel supplier, see what they say. Solent Car Panels in Southampton would probably do these bits if you get really stuck, but you'll find a local supplier I'm sure.
Painting the items will be a few hundred, don't use main dealers or even big bodyshops, find a small back street place locally, prices will be lower.
The kick comes in the fitting, thats where the time is.
Also, what else is damaged that we can't see ? are the headlight mounts ok ?
Bumper crash bar ? maybe even the collapsible crash structure on that side ? oil cooler/lines ? air con condenser/lines ?
http://www.nicedeals.co.uk/index.php?cPath=1_192_1...
Bumper £70, wing £35.
Note these are almost bound to be pattern parts and thus fit may be a bit iffy.
Try your local body panel supplier, see what they say. Solent Car Panels in Southampton would probably do these bits if you get really stuck, but you'll find a local supplier I'm sure.
Painting the items will be a few hundred, don't use main dealers or even big bodyshops, find a small back street place locally, prices will be lower.
The kick comes in the fitting, thats where the time is.
Also, what else is damaged that we can't see ? are the headlight mounts ok ?
Bumper crash bar ? maybe even the collapsible crash structure on that side ? oil cooler/lines ? air con condenser/lines ?
retrorider said:
If you are going to pay for it yourself, then you should be able to find a good bodyshop that would do the job for half the price of the insurance estimate.Make sure when they paint it though,they blend the door or it will look obvious that its had a repair...
Thats not necessarily true nowadays with better paint matching technology. If they can match the paint well enough and the paint isn't too old / faded etc, then it's beneficial not to blend especially with metallic paint with laquers that dont like being painted over and blended. We recently had the front end of the wife's metallic black Altea repaired after a crash, the front wings, bumper and bonnet were all new but there's no blending in on the doors or A pillars, but it looks spot on. SoilPants said:
a) is this a realistic quote - they said the front wing/bumper need replacing and they need to check the tracking/geometry, although on the face of it the steering appears ok.
b) do I need to bother getting the panels/bumper replaced, aren't these purely cosmetic issues? Is it something that needs doing to pass MOT?
a) yup. Got quote £600 to strip and repaint my bonnet the other day for instance. Fitting is also a big expense on time.b) do I need to bother getting the panels/bumper replaced, aren't these purely cosmetic issues? Is it something that needs doing to pass MOT?
b) can't see it being a problem with the MOT but you'll look like a pikey if you don't get the wing done. Even if you try and source a silver wing from a scrap yard - it'll look much better than what is there. You could do the latest style, seen on many Sprinters, which is just to replace the wing and leave it as matt black unpainted.
£1k sounds about right through insurance, I think they will be using new, Skoda parts. Add in a courtesy car for 2/3 days.
If you're not that fussed don't have it repaired (though INS co will know you've had a prang)
You could fix it for less than a grand, using scrap yards/auction sites
If you're not that fussed don't have it repaired (though INS co will know you've had a prang)
You could fix it for less than a grand, using scrap yards/auction sites
My OH has a dented wing repaired and the front bumper resprayed on her BMW 1 Series. The bodyshop did a perfect job and charged £220. However, her wing just had a simple dent in it - The OP's looks a bit more crumpled and like it may need replacing. £1k still looks steep, but there may be more damage under the surface that is factored into that quote.
Oh, my mates car got hit by a reversing lorry while it was parked outside his house a while ago..
Since it was fixed he noticed a slight 'wobble' at high speed, like the wheels weren't balanced.
Turns out the truck had hit the tyre also and deformed it - that was what was causing the wobbling. Just thought I'd share that. Could be another £200 if you needed some new rubber on the front (don't shoot me for £200, I'm presuming somthing decent-ish at ~£100 a pop)
Since it was fixed he noticed a slight 'wobble' at high speed, like the wheels weren't balanced.
Turns out the truck had hit the tyre also and deformed it - that was what was causing the wobbling. Just thought I'd share that. Could be another £200 if you needed some new rubber on the front (don't shoot me for £200, I'm presuming somthing decent-ish at ~£100 a pop)
That's a bit steep, but they bodywork quotes, especially through insurers, always are. Get a few more quotes but tell them it's not an insurance job so you want it done at a realistic price. You can probably find someone who'll do it for a lot less.
Regards checking for hidden damage, that dent's not deep enough to hit anything structural- it's just pushed into the void behind the wing. And it's well above the wheel so why they would be suggesting suspension/steering damage is a complete mystery. Unless there was an obvious heavy blow to the wheel (how fast where you going? Did you 'crash' into the barrier of was it more of a passing scrape?) I expect they are just trying to beef up the quote because they know insurance companies will pay it.
Regards peoples comments that fitting panels takes a lot of time, for an amateur it may take a couple of hours but not when you do it for a living.
Regards checking for hidden damage, that dent's not deep enough to hit anything structural- it's just pushed into the void behind the wing. And it's well above the wheel so why they would be suggesting suspension/steering damage is a complete mystery. Unless there was an obvious heavy blow to the wheel (how fast where you going? Did you 'crash' into the barrier of was it more of a passing scrape?) I expect they are just trying to beef up the quote because they know insurance companies will pay it.
Regards peoples comments that fitting panels takes a lot of time, for an amateur it may take a couple of hours but not when you do it for a living.
busta said:
Regards checking for hidden damage, that dent's not deep enough to hit anything structural- it's just pushed into the void behind the wing. And it's well above the wheel so why they would be suggesting suspension/steering damage is a complete mystery. Unless there was an obvious heavy blow to the wheel (how fast where you going?
Going from the height of the scrape on the bumper and how far back it goes on the wing I'd say there was a pretty good chance the wheel was hit.You don't need a lot of force to bend suspension / steering components, you just need to hit them ar the wrong angle.
Don't forget even if you hit something at 5-10 mph there is still over a ton of car pushing against the wheel.
I think there was a fella who in the snow last year slid sideways into a kerb at about 10mph and broke both wishbones on the off side.
Quite easily £1k to fix that.
A kid cycled into my wifes 3 month old car a few months back, while it was parked in a car park. It needed a new wing and some other paintwork.
She works for a car dealers so asked the bodyshop to quote and it was £850 at cost (parts only) no labour. The retail cost was nearer £1650.
The cost of the raw materials has risen massivley in recent years and you need to consider that a part that used to be repairable is now designed to crumple and be replaced as part of the safety features on cars.
The cost didn't matter as we claimed it back from his Dad's home insurance public liability cover.
A kid cycled into my wifes 3 month old car a few months back, while it was parked in a car park. It needed a new wing and some other paintwork.
She works for a car dealers so asked the bodyshop to quote and it was £850 at cost (parts only) no labour. The retail cost was nearer £1650.
The cost of the raw materials has risen massivley in recent years and you need to consider that a part that used to be repairable is now designed to crumple and be replaced as part of the safety features on cars.
The cost didn't matter as we claimed it back from his Dad's home insurance public liability cover.
busta said:
Regards peoples comments that fitting panels takes a lot of time, for an amateur it may take a couple of hours but not when you do it for a living.
You presumably don't work in the trade?For the repair of the OP's car as a minimum the wing and front bumper has to come OFF first before a new one is fitted. I would be dubious if it would take less than two hours to strip and then PROPERLY FIT new parts.
Most half-decent body shops will work to a standard rate/time for a repair and with a main dealer charging at least £85.00 per hour and many new panels (even genuine rather than aftermarket ones) very often needing adjustment to sit with correct gaps and lines the labour element will usually be higher than the parts cost.
To get it repaired properly to manufactures standards that is going to be at least £1k, so I'd say that quote sounds very reasonable. Yes if you use backstreet body shops and get used parts from breakers yards it would be less, but from the picture it looks like a newish car so i wouldn't advise that approach.
LocoBlade said:
retrorider said:
If you are going to pay for it yourself, then you should be able to find a good bodyshop that would do the job for half the price of the insurance estimate.Make sure when they paint it though,they blend the door or it will look obvious that its had a repair...
Thats not necessarily true nowadays with better paint matching technology. If they can match the paint well enough and the paint isn't too old / faded etc, then it's beneficial not to blend especially with metallic paint with laquers that dont like being painted over and blended. We recently had the front end of the wife's metallic black Altea repaired after a crash, the front wings, bumper and bonnet were all new but there's no blending in on the doors or A pillars, but it looks spot on. Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff