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Friday I was coming home from work and about 2 miles from home a truck pulling some farm equipment came into my lane and struck the side of my car. I have felt awful all weekend about the damage my car received. I keep telling myself that I am lucky because it could have been worse if it would have cut into the passenger compartment.
Two new doors are a given, it`s that rear quarter that poses the biggest issue bodywork wise. Whether to try and patch-weld and straighten the damaged sheet metal or cut out and weld in a whole new rear quarter panel. A good body shop should be able to make it look like new again, but however that rear quarter is repaired it will eventually start to rust out from within in a few years so I would not hold on to this vehicle for the long term.
Two new doors are a given, it`s that rear quarter that poses the biggest issue bodywork wise. Whether to try and patch-weld and straighten the damaged sheet metal or cut out and weld in a whole new rear quarter panel. A good body shop should be able to make it look like new again, but however that rear quarter is repaired it will eventually start to rust out from within in a few years so I would not hold on to this vehicle for the long term.
Having changed 1/4 panels on these myself, if correct repair procedures are adhered to its as good as factory, getting the factory look to the visible seam sealer is the only problem.
If you get a chance, Youtube a few bodyshop repair videos, they will make you feel better.
vtuned garage or LNC collision. After you see how they replace a rear quarter panel, you should feel a lot better. Obviously you'd hope your bodyshop is just as talented.
I'd be really pissed if that happened to a new car. I just lived this nightmare with an old car, and it was horrible. My 2011 Jaguar XF was in great condition when it was side swiped a few months ago, and it looked very similar in damage, with an SUV coming into my lane. The driver was given a ticket and thanks to my dashcam footage, the other driver's State Farm insurance took responsibility.
I took the car to a high end body shop that works on Lambos, Ferrari, etc, as well as regular cars. I was planning to sell the XF before the accident even happened, and buy the GLC. I bought the GLC while the XF was in the body shop, so that helped with me not caring too much about the result of the work on XF. I am very particular about my cars and they look brand new even when they are 10 years old.
Good thing, because the body shop did a crappy job. The paint was far from a good match in color, metal flake, thickness and orange peal. They got overspray on all 4 wheels and added wheel damage somehow to one of the wheels. They put on a replacement driver's door and lots of wind noise was coming in from whatever they did wrong. They got grease stains all over the place and put a scratch in the leather steering wheel. They cleaned the interior with some strong detergent that made it smell like a high school urinal. They dented the leather in the rear seats by leaving stuff on the seats for the 2 months they had the car. And they killed my battery by leaving it in a fully discharged state.
As soon as I got it back, I spent several days cleaning it up, putting a new battery under warranty, and making it presentable to sell, and sold it quickly.
Thank goodness because the last thing I wanted to do was give the car back to them for 2 more months for them to try to fix all their screw ups, only to create new ones. I just wanted that tainted car gone.
I hope you have better luck! But these days, the workforce is pretty horrible, so your odds aren't good.
Since Michigan is a 75% state, see if you can get it totalled. That honestly will be the best option for you if you really care about your car because it won't be as good as new with all that damage to repair. And it's a pain selling a car with accident damage. If you try to trade it in, they will hit you hard for such a major accident on the record. And it will be on the record. And good luck getting a depreciated value claim paid from the other guy's insurance.
Last edited by 2020GLC300; 11-27-2019 at 02:28 PM.
11-25-2019, 08:02 AM
