Parking Pylon Problem (Part 3)

Once I had the repair estimates I checked the book value of the car. It's about $5,900 without damage and about $4,500 as is. There are four plausible alternatives we can choose from.

• Don't repair the car.
• Try paintless dent removal.
• Replace the doors.
• Have it repaired by a bodyshop.

Another big question which will influence the decision is whether my Mom wants to keep the car or sell it. For several reasons, she wants to get a new car.

If she were to keep it, not fixing the dent is out of the question. And with the dent there is probably a greater risk of not being able to sell for even the as is value. Plus I can't test that idea out until after she buys a new car. Otherwise, she won't have transportation. So I feel the car has to be repaired regardless.

Paintless dent removal is an interesting idea. I read up a little on it and there are two main reasons why it isn't suitable in this case. First the dents need to be further from the panel edges. Unfortunately they span the edges of both doors. The second issue is that if the paint has been scraped it's still going to require painting. As you can see, the paint is quite scraped. This process is better suited for door dings, hale damage and the like where the paint isn't damaged.

Replacing the doors from salvage parts would be an interesting option. I've done it before on a Saturn but that car had a molded plastic skin which didn't require repainting to match the rest of the car. With a steel body the paint will probably not match. But I did check to see about local availability and pricing. Each door is $400 (it was only $130 or so for the Saturn), so this is a non-starter since the parts alone would be $800. There's no telling what the labor would be and if the paint would match. But it's unlikely to save any money compared with the other choices.

So the decision is to have one of these bodyshops repair the car. I checked that none had any BBB (Better Business Bureau) complaints. From past experience I know at least two do good work so I'll go with the one with the better price.

Parking Pylon Problem (Part 2)

So I took my Mom's car to get repair estimates at 3 different body shops. All the quotes were in the region of $1,300 to $1,800, depending on whether I wanted to get a separate fender ding fixed. Here's what I learned.

The process is expensive mostly due to the labor. The cost of materials and supplies is about 25% of each quote.  The labor is high since the doors have to be stripped of their trim, the panels repaired and then repainted. Painting is generally estimated to take 25% of the labor, with total labor all quoted in the 25 to 28 hour range at $40 to $42 per hour.

The label in the driver's door jam contains the car's paint code. From this a body shop can use it to look up a recipe for the paint mix. Then the technicians can tint the paint to match a specific car to account for any wear and fade that's already taken place, an art form in itself.

The idea is to match the whole side of the car, though in this case it would require painting more than just the doors. Once the car is painted and clear coat is applied, the car is generally baked at around 150 degrees (F) to finish the job.

This should not damage the car but it does typically require the car to be out of service for several days (all quotes were 5 to 7 days) due to the amount of time the whole repair process takes.

Parking Pylon Problem

 

My Mom called me a few days ago to tell me about a little problem. It seems a new parking pylon was installed in the garage at her office, a pylon which is kind of low which she didn't see when she pulled into her space. Oops! Bodywork is something I haven't had to deal with much so this is a chance to learn what (and what not) to do.

So I stopped over to look at her car and assess the damage. Both doors on the passenger side are looking rough. They open and close fine, so there probably aren't any structural issues. But the dents will need to be worked out and the surfaces repainted.

What now? I'm going to take the car to get some repair estimates and then report back. Depending on the amount, it may or may not justify reporting it to the insurance company. Though if that happens they will in all likelihood raise the premiums. Stay tuned.