So excited about this new dent

Was at a restaurant last night. Parked the car on the street because thats where you park. Came out of dinner and someone has put a nice dent in the driver's side quarter panel. Hit and run says the accident report. Cops were nice but now I have to deal with the whole "is this worth filing against insurance" business. Might actually be able to catch the person because there is a bank near the accident. They are looking through their tapes.

Going to get a quote on the damage now. My insurance guy is a fellow car nut and he told me if its less than $1,000 they won't raise my rates. I have a $500 deductible so that means I am coming out of pocket $500 regardless if I do file. Never had an accident (with this company and only one in my life) so they said rates shouldn't increase. Although I like my insurance guy, I have to call shenanigans.

So I need some advice. Its a quarter panel and paint. Less than $1,000?

Everyone loves a picture:

What kind of car?

Volvo something or other from the looks of it.

Just a wild guess on my part.

Not a wild guess, thats definitely a Volvo. XC somethin.

Yea, Volvo XC90. The certified Volvo repair people said it definitely would be more than $1,000. So I guess this means I need to go through insurance.

Trying hard to not launch on a tirade. I am heading to the bank now to see if their tapes have anything. I doubt it, but its worth a shot.

Would insurance force you to go through those people?

Just from that picture, and i may be missing something, but that certainly does not look like a $1000 repair, unless you want it back to showroom new, nobody would ever know that it was ever damaged even if they dismantled the entire car.

I had a rusted out rear wheel well, and i do mean RUSTED OUT repaired on my last celica for $600. They had to cut out a LOT of metal, and when i got it back, i couldn't even tell it was done.

I'd shop around for quotes before you start worrying about it.

It is one of the people they use but I don't think I have to use them. The insurance guy is coming out to look at the car and give an estimate. From my dealings with them this morning, I have learned they (insurance) can give you a quote but until they send you a check they won't look into your rates. Not sure on that entirely.

Just wish this was our TSX that has taken a beating this year already.

Prices for bodywork vary greatly, but the going rate for good paintwork around here is about $400 per panel. I doubt the hammer/dolly work to fix that dent is $600.

I'm no expert, though.

What year XC, and color?

Just by doing a quick search, fenders alone are in the mid $400 range, unpainted, but you may be able to find them cheaper.

If you have Comprehensive coverage that includes uninsured/underinsured and filed a hit-and-run report with the police then in most states your insurance company cannot charge you a deductible. I went through this last summer with my RX-7.

Also you have the right to use whatever shop you want for the estimate and/or repair, you do NOT have to let the insurance adjuster make the estimate nor do you have to use their shop.

Also if they raise your rates for a hit-and-run unattended you can sue them in most states. Educate yourself on insurance laws in your state and be prepared. My rates stayed flatlined (and in fact went down on my next renewal) because Washington is a pro-consumer / anti-insurance state.

I filed a very similar incident with Uninsured Motorist coverage (car was totaled by a hit & run). I only had liability. Didn't cost me a dime, not even a deductible. My insurance also did not go up (Georgia). File it like it is, Hit & Run, and have the police report to back it up. Shouldn't cost you in any way.

Bummer. At least is fairly minor and nobody was hurt.

I got rear-ended on the way to work this morning. The gecko is doing the estimate now. Crappy way to start the weekend.

Off topic, how do you like the XC90? Looking to get a CPO one for the Wife in the next month (before her current Pilot lease ends) and having a hard time finding a V8 with the options I want (all of them ) for a reasonable price.

I had a fender replaced with paint on my V70 back a few years ago. Got the fender in mail order from a Volvo dealer that discounted on parts and had a friend with a shop paint and install it, it was around $500 IIRC for the whole thing, but good paint would probably cost that much alone these days.

CM, make sure you filed a police report and get yourself checked out by your doctor sooner than later. If you are in a no-fault state file with your carrier for medical ASAP so you don't miss any deadlines and screw yourself if something medical turns up later.

I am in Florida. It is no-fault regardless of the type of accident. I am pretty sure I have to come out of pocket the deductible but don't think the hit (if any) on insurance will be too bad.

It is an 05 XC90 and the color is Metallic Crystal Green.

The repair people I went to was Auto Crafters. Looks like they are a national chain. They are the Volvo certified people in the area. He said to get this paint right requires blending into the hood, door and front bumper.

GRM needs an angry emoticon.

pigeon wrote: Off topic, how do you like the XC90? Looking to get a CPO one for the Wife in the next month (before her current Pilot lease ends) and having a hard time finding a V8 with the options I want (all of them ) for a reasonable price. I had a fender replaced with paint on my V70 back a few years ago. Got the fender in mail order from a Volvo dealer that discounted on parts and had a friend with a shop paint and install it, it was around $500 IIRC for the whole thing, but good paint would probably cost that much alone these days. CM, make sure you filed a police report and get yourself checked out by your doctor sooner than later. If you are in a no-fault state file with your carrier for medical ASAP so you don't miss any deadlines and screw yourself if something medical turns up later.

I did file a report last night with the JSO. I was not in the car thankfully, so other than my voice going out from cursing, I'll be ok.

I like the XC90 'ok'. The car is big and comfortable with decent gas mileage (17 mpg city and 22 hwy). I would have liked to picked up the V8 but instead we opted for the 2.5T FWD. We got a great deal and a 100k mile warranty. I have some good friends at the Volvo dealership. They always enjoyed my S60R and the tales I would tell of it on the track. Still hold the fastest stock 1/4 mile time for that car at 13.6 @ 102 mph. Also have video of passing a Corvette Z06 and a 911 at Roebling.

I would recommend the car but definitely drive it. It feels a bite cumbersome in the 2.5T trim. My cousin has the V8 and has had an issue with the transmission. Otherwise he loves his (aka the wife's).

Do NOT under any circumstances let them "blend" paint!!! That is 100% total utter BULLE36 M3. "Blending" causes massive damage to surrounding panels by covering the already A-OK base/clear with a "fogged" base/clear because the shop was too lazy to properly paint match and then cut/buff. Blending is a sign of a SUB-standard shop. RUN AWAY!

I dealt with a regional chain who "blended" the paint on my Nissan pickup and flat out ruined it. Ended up with a flipping branded title and sold off for less then 40% of KBB because of slip-shod work. The insurance company paid out the wazoo 3 times for that mistake.

Yeah I had a hit and run back when I had my Porsche (but I got the guys plate and had a witness). I called the cops filed a report. Guy mouthed off to the cops, he got arrested I got a big fat check from my insurance company to pay for repairs on the car and I never had to pay a dime. Fixed the damage for almost nothing because we had most of the parts I needed floating around the shop in the right colors. Just had to swap things around.

P71 wrote: Do NOT under *any* circumstances let them "blend" paint!!! That is 100% total utter BULLE36 M3. "Blending" causes massive damage to surrounding panels by covering the already A-OK base/clear with a "fogged" base/clear because the shop was too lazy to properly paint match and then cut/buff. Blending is a sign of a SUB-standard shop. *RUN AWAY!* I dealt with a regional chain who "blended" the paint on my Nissan pickup and flat out ruined it. Ended up with a flipping branded title and sold off for less then 40% of KBB because of slip-shod work. The insurance company paid out the wazoo 3 times for that mistake.

Did not know this. Thanks for the insight. I will start shopping around for another company. Thanks!

Yeah, there's no need to blend. Assuming the painter knows what he's doing the break at the panel line will prevent your eye from noticing a slight mismatch.

I had a couple of panels on my Montego Blue (a tough color to match) Miata repainted last summer and I can't tell the difference between the repainted hood/front facia and the original fenders right next to them.

I had a similar sized dent on our 89 Chevy Pick up. Went to get three estimates, insurance gave us a check for the middle one. The check was about half the value of the truck. After that, we go to a guy that we know, he quotes us for 500, and when we pick it up, he only asked for 200. I gave him 300, but we ended up making $1000 on the dent

mtn wrote: I had a similar sized dent on our 89 Chevy Pick up. Went to get three estimates, insurance gave us a check for the middle one. The check was about half the value of the truck. After that, we go to a guy that we know, he quotes us for 500, and when we pick it up, he only asked for 200. I gave him 300, but we ended up making $1000 on the dent

In some (probably most states) i believe that's considered insurance fraud.

That looks like a fender, not a quarter panel. If that's the case, I'd leave insurance out of it and just keep your eyes open for one that is the same color from a junkyard.

Not fraud. You do not have to use the insurance money to repair the vehicle at all let alone for quoted price.

Back to my Nissan truck horror story I let the first shop fix it and get payed directly (how the insurance company likes doing things). I even went with their "5-Star Recommended" shop, #1 in my area. They blended the paint, used about 2 gallons of bondo, charged the insurance for new replacement fenders (when in fact they had just bondo'ed the old ones), used an inferior part for the radiator support instead of OEM specified, failed to do any seam seal work, broke the A/C, etc, etc, etc. After threatening to take the insurance company to court they took back what they could squeeze out of the first shop and estimated a re-repair that was know more extensive (front clip, new A/C, and total-repaint). This now "totaled" the truck (thus branding the title). I took the cash and elected not to repair the truck as pouring that much money into a branded title 10-year old Nissan seemed ridiculous. 3 months later I sold the truck for less then 40% of the original KBB value (fully disclosing all of the damage, repairs, etc). The difference in value was within $200 of the amount I got from the insurance, making it a square deal.

When the other half's car got broken into she kept the money and I did all the repair work myself using spares which is also legal.

93celicaGT2 wrote:

mtn wrote: I had a similar sized dent on our 89 Chevy Pick up. Went to get three estimates, insurance gave us a check for the middle one. The check was about half the value of the truck. After that, we go to a guy that we know, he quotes us for 500, and when we pick it up, he only asked for 200. I gave him 300, but we ended up making $1000 on the dent

In some (probably most states) i believe that's considered insurance fraud.

Nope. We looked through everything that they told us. It ended up being that we had to get at least three quotes from body shops that they approved of. We did that. They wrote a check.

That is absolutely not fraud if the check is issued to you.