Well, it was bound to happen: First major body damage. Need your input and advice

East87 · 10-20-2009, 05:33 PM

My girlfriend's sister backed out of her driveway and clipped my front passenger side while the car was parked out front. In her defense, it's pitch black out front of their house, but I was far away from the driveway entrance. C'est la vie...

My girl works at Enterprise and sees these things all the time. She thinks I need a new fender, new passenger side headlight housing, and new front bumper. ~$5,000 job. The fender is buckled pretty bad around the headlight housing, and the bumper is warped under the headlight. The headlight housing itself is scratched pretty bad. The hood is scratched a tiny bit where the front corner of the hood meets the fender. It can be sanded down and repainted. Thank God...

I am taking it to some body shop in the area soon (anyone in the DE area know of a good place to go for Mustangs? haha). I don't want to pocket the estimate money as I am not willing to replace a fender on my own, and I don't want to run the risk of a new aftermarket fascia putting me over budget as I have ZERO money to spend on the car right now. That said, I'm concerned about a few things:

1. For those of you who have experience here, (and this is the inner child in me crying out) will my baby ever be the same again? I have no idea where the body shop is going to source a fender and a bumper, and I don't want to mess around with a new fascia as I'm sure some of you will invariably suggest. But how *good* are "good" body shops? I've taken beater cars to some fly-by-night one man shops, and I don't care about the quality on those cars, but if it's anything close to that on my Mustang, I'm going to puke and then sell the car. Nothing is to be half-assed...

1a. I have HID's (bulbs are very sensitive and cannot be touched, etc) and other stuff under the hood that should be taken care of during a fender replacement. Do I need to point out everything to a body shop or will they pretty much understand that they need to take care of the car while they work on it? I have trust issues...

2. I have the CDC classic chin. If that's 3M-ed to the front bumper, will I lose that when the bumper is replaced? Anyone have any experience in dealing with this?

3. I have vinyl stripes as you can see. If the bumper gets replaced, those stripes have to be redone. When the fender comes off, the rocker stripe will have to get redone too. I'm sure my red stripes have faded, and I'm worried about the color disparity. Not to mention, who is on the hook for replacing these? I sure don't have time anymore...work sucks. Anyone ever been in this situation? Please share...

Pics are below.

^^I was able to save my passenger side clear turn signal lens, as it was totally unharmed...whew.

^^^ Chin spoiler seems to have come out completely unscathed...

^^ Note the rocker stripe segment that would have to be replaced should the whole fender come off.

Ugh, I'm sick...

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GhostHorse · 10-20-2009, 05:42 PM

Wow. That sux. My sympathies.

I'm going to call it and say you need a new fender. Headlight housing might can be buffed clean - unless its a scratch, not a scuff. I would think the chin can be removed and reused, yes?

Is that metal flake paint, btw? If so, is it a custom color? *winces*

Stripe: You may well have to replace the entire side.

Who's responsible for replacing them? I've learned in life its not who's responsible, but who's gonna get stuck with the tab... Ugh. Man. I feel for ya.

East87 · 10-20-2009, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GhostHorse

Wow. That sux. My sympathies.

I'm going to call it and say you need a new fender. Headlight housing might can be buffed clean - unless its a scratch, not a scuff. I would think the chin can be removed and reused, yes?

Is that metal flake paint, btw? If so, is it a custom color? *winces*

Stripe: You may well have to replace the entire side.

Who's responsible for replacing them? I've learned in life its not who's responsible, but who's gonna get stuck with the tab... Ugh. Man. I feel for ya.

Nah that's not custom paint, that's just my Dad deciding to cut some wood in the garage...it's factory black clearcoat.

killdar · 10-20-2009, 05:50 PM

gt500 conv

GhostHorse · 10-20-2009, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by East87

Nah that's not custom paint, that's just my Dad deciding to cut some wood in the garage...it's factory black clearcoat.

Well, that's a relief! I thought... ooohhhh my God... I hope he knows the paint code or who mixed the paint!

Formula · 10-20-2009, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by killdar

gt500 conv

+1 It would probably end up being cheaper than $5k.

I had the fender replaced on my Corvette and it ended up being around $700.

pascal · 10-20-2009, 06:54 PM

$5000 in damage??
Not even close... $2500 sounds more like it.
Run away from that shop!!

Aren't you using the girlfriend's sister's insurance?

Anyway, at least a CS front bumper would be a nice upgrade...
Good luck.

07CaliGTstang · 10-20-2009, 07:04 PM

Andrew, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I am so sorry to hear that. I saw you posted this and my heart just stopped. It doesn't look too bad.......

Edit: I just read your entire post. I would see what the estimate is going to be first before I do anything. I hope your GF's sister's insurance company is going to take care of it. I have never had experience with this sort of thing, so I can't recommend/suggest anything. If you were closer to me, I know a shop that does really good work.

Again, sorry to hear of this. And it sucks because this weekend was the Catoctin Mtn. Cruise!!!

East87 · 10-20-2009, 08:09 PM

Thanks all.

Yea L, her insurance will cover everything. I'm just nervous that mere mortals will be handling body work on my car and possibly laying new vinyl. This is one of those "die a thousand deaths before it even happens" situations, but I can't help but get worked up over it when I think about how much faith I have to put in total strangers to do a near-perfect job...

war machine 115 · 10-20-2009, 08:36 PM

For shops Andrew...Rhodes Custom Auto or Iron Hill Auto Body.

Rhodes did my whole bodykit, hood, and shaved antenna. Great job but they're kind of far from us.

http://rhodescustomauto.com/

Been going to Iron Hill and really pleased with them. Randy is a cool guy and easy to work with.

http://ironhillautobody.com/

Check out to both, they do free estimates.