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I hit a cement post in a parking lot

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by LuckyName, Jul 31, 2015.

  1. LuckyName

    LuckyName Junior Member

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    It's been a very long day. I've been running on three hours of sleep today due to finals. I stopped by the grocery store and hit a cement post when I was pulling out. I don't know how I missed it but I did. The door is dented, scratched, and beat up. There are two spots that look extremely metallic / white compared to the others, which I believe means it might have gone deeper.

    It's almost midnight right now, which means I can't do anything about it at this moment. I'll be taking it to get fixed tomorrow. I don't know if I should pay out of pocket. I don't know if I should get my insurance involved. I don't know how much this will cost me. But come tomorrow morning when I take it to the body shop (or dealer?), what should I be expecting them to tell me? What will I have to do?

    I can't believe this happened to me. I've had the car for a month. I feel really down and depressed because of this. This day has just been awful. I have a feeling I did bad on my final and then this has to happen to me. Any advice?
     
  2. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Ouch, fortunately, most of the damage is confined to the rear door.

    Still, body work, refinishing, and blending in with the surrounding panels won't be cheap.
     
  3. LuckyName

    LuckyName Junior Member

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    I know it's different everywhere, but what do you think a reasonable price range would be? I don't need a new door right?
     
  4. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    No, you won't need a new door. I don't think they'll even reskin the door with a new panel.

    I'd rather not speculate about the estimate. If it's out of pocket, the shop might be willing to do it for less.
     
  5. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    $700
    No new door.
     
  6. LuckyName

    LuckyName Junior Member

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    So what will they exactly be doing? Buffing out the dent and painting that small part? Will they repaint the whole door? Would the dealer be able to do this or should I find a random body shop off yelp? Sorry, never been in this situation before. So I have no idea what my next steps would be.
     
  7. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    They'll grind down to bare metal, apply plastic body filler, prime and repaint entire door and adjacent body panels to blend in the repaired/repainted door.
     
  8. LuckyName

    LuckyName Junior Member

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    So body shop opposed to dealer? I don't think the dealer would do something like that?

    Kind of a stupid question, but how exactly do body shops get the exact color of your car? I mean there's so many shades and types of one color.
     
  9. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Relax, manufacturers have paint codes that tell the body shop what paint will match.

    Most dealer's can refer you to their preferred body shop.
     
  10. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    Dealerships rarely do body work anymore. They will refer you to some place that can do it of course.


    To get the exact colour of your car when it was painted at the factory, you have a paint code inside your front driver side door jamb along with other pertinent info like VIN number, recommended tire PSI, etc. They take that code along with the the make (i.e. Toyota) and out pops a colour.

    Since you're stressing out about final exams I am guessing you aren't old enough to have owned a car that has weathered over time. But I am sure you have seen some. Cars that the hood and "top sides" of the car are light compared to the body and stuff like that. It is natural, when the sun hits the paint, the colour changes. Slightly, but over time it can really add up. If you go take a 20 year old car and get the exact colour from the factory, it will stick out like a sore thumb.

    A good body shop will use the factory code as a starting point, but then match and blend into what you have.

    If you like your car, and it seems you do since you want to get it fixed, do this correctly. You have damage on the 2 doors and on the long metal piece under the doors. This means you will need to get a full paint and blend for that area, it will most likely take up 2-3 feet out from any damage. Which then means even the rear quarter panel will need to be painted too.

    As for finding a good body shop, I like going where the classic cars are. Thinking is if you love and baby your car like people with classic cars, you aren't going to take it to a crap place. More than likely you have years of work into the car, and for it to be ruined by some monkey with no training giving it a poor paint job that doesn't match and oversprays onto the glass, that just wont do.

    My Prius GenII (also red) was in a prior accident or something by the gas cap. Wasn't disclosed on the car report so it must have been fixed discretely. But you could totally tell in the sunlight because the car was shinier everywhere the paint (and therefore extra clear coat!) was as well as the red was too dark but juuuuuuuuust barely. I bought the Prius second hand sight unseen, but it was noticeable when I paid for it. I had it properly resprayed shortly afterwards because I couldn't stand it. I doubt most people would even notice, but I did and I wanted it fixed. Cost about $1500 to get a good body shop to blend nearly the entire rear of the car.

    In my Leaf, someone rear ended me and I also had a giant door scratch where someone got out of a parking space and their car creased my 2 doors in all the length of the car. Stupid drivers... I still had temp tags on too. It was $1350 to fix the rear bumper, including foam replacement so about $1250 for the new bumper ($600) and paint job. It is plastic so it was painted off the car since the plastic bits don't match metal anyways. The doors however required the 2 doors, the bottom metal and the rear panel which extends all the way to the front A pillars to be painted and was close to $2500 including 2 new door skins since they are aluminum.

    All the $$$ amounts are trying to show you that body work isn't cheap if you want it done right.

    Another thing to consider, is heat. When you paint the body panels of the car they need to be painted while on the car. They can't be removed like a bumper or a car with a chassis. That means when the paint goes to dry the whole car goes in. At the factory it is just a shell of metal so the heat can be super high and the paint job comes out excellent. Now you have plastic and cloth everywhere so you can't turn up the heat as much. But they do turn it way up to make it cure faster generally.

    The shop I go to knows about batteries and heat. For the Leaf they dropped the entire battery pack out of the car and left it outside the bake chamber and baked at a lower temperature for a longer time. Then sprayed again, and baked again. For the Prius, same thing. They took the whole battery out and set it outside the bake room, and did 2 sprays and 2 low temp bakes. This takes longer but it is better for the car and the paint job looks just like from the factory, although it took an order of magnitude longer to do. If you just go to Maaco or something they will bondo it, prime and paint and you'll be out of there for a few hundred bucks. But I would never let them touch my cars.
     
  11. Beachbummm

    Beachbummm Senior Member

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    no dealer ..the accident will show up on the service history of the car through the dealer and they will charge you double..a good body shop should be 5 to 700... always ask for a cash discount after they give you the estimate..might knock some money off
     
    #11 Beachbummm, Jul 31, 2015
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2015
  12. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    LuckyName, I remember days like that in college. Let's work on YOUR problem first. It's over. It's done with. There isn't anything you can do about it. Relax. After midterms & finals we went out drinking.

    No matter how bad you feel or how bad it looks, tomorrow is another day. The sun still rises in the east. At the very least, you'll feel better when after speaking with the guy in the shop you come to realize that what was a complete disaster in your eyes is a simple, routine job for the shop.

    Now for the CAR. NEVER randomly pick a shop. Get at least two estimates. Start with the dealer's collision center and AAA. Look for reviews. Look around the shop. It should be clean & neat. I like the idea of including a shop known for handling classic cars. Ask how they intend to fix the car. Don't forget the little bits of plastic film.

    As pointed out, you touched two doors & the rocker panel. That white stuff is most likely primer. I wouldn't be in a hurry to get it fixed but I would want to get it done right. This isn't a reality show so the car isn't going to be done in an hour--or a day. Add rental expense to the body shop's bill.

    Can you negotiate a better price than the insurance companies? Maybe. Maybe not. Unless you have a super high deductible and don't have rental coverage it'll probably cost you less out of pocket filing the insurance claim.

    How long do you intend to keep the car? 10 years? Until it is totaled or has to be scrapped? If so, the next owner isn't going to care about the repair. I don't sell a car, I scrap a car so having the repair on record isn't an issue for me.

    Welcome to the club--that will buff right out. (Almost forgot to say that.)
     
  13. LuckyName

    LuckyName Junior Member

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    I took it to the body shop today (I found this small place with amazing yelp reviews) and he was really helpful. He said he has to order a skin? (what is this?), fix it, and paint it. Apparently the damage is worse than it looks. As for the paint job, he suggested I blend instead of just painting one door because it wouldn't look right. This was no surprise to me since I did read @2k1Toaster's post before going in this morning. He ended up telling me it would be like $2,000 to blend pretty much the entire side of the car. He said he would take off like $400.00-$500.00. So I would end up paying like $1,500.00. I decided to just contact my insurance and file a claim. I felt like that was the best option. Thank you guys for all your help last night and today.

    @JimN school is too hard. I'm over it. Haha but thank you so much. What do you mean by plastic bits of film?
     
  14. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Maybe insurance is different in the states? In British Columbia, Canada, there's pretty much one insurer, virtually a wing of the government. They're not that bad. If we're EVER in an accident, I get them involved. No handwringing, no should-I-shouldn't-I. And it's dead-easy: there's accredited body shops, authorized to assess the damage and contact the insurer, our's is one of them. We just go straight to our body shop, they make the assessment, they contact the insurer, get the ok. Put us in a loaner, all is good.There may be an uptick in our insurance, or not. It's never that significant.

    Regarding the car: your guy is spot-on with the blending suggestion, it's the only way to get it so you can't tell. IF they're good. Careful masking, careful finishing makes all the difference. Hopefully you've found a keeper, and someone you can stick with, for the next time...
     
  15. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    Glad you found a place. I don't usually trust reviews from sites like Yelp for things like this. If you get 10 people who give it 5 stars but have no idea what they are talking about but it "looks pretty" after it is returned, it gets rated high even when 1 person gives it a 1 star review that notices all the swirl marks and overspray that others don't. I don't buy into that herd mentality.

    It is literally the "skin" of the door. The exterior metal that is welded to the door framing to make the specific outside body shape. The. "Outer Door Panel" in the picture below.

    [​IMG]
    Your price quote for the work to be done sounds reasonable.
     
    The Electric Me likes this.
  16. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    Yeah insurance in the US works nothing like in Canada. (I'm from Ontario). They value their "freedom" to be screwed by privatized companies.
     
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  17. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    I agree.

    The internet is a great resource for evaluation and information. But with body shops it can be really it can be REALLY challenging.
    The times when I've been forced to try to find a body shop, that's exactly the problem I found with most reviews.

    I'd find people giving a body shop a great review because "Bob" gave them a free cup of coffee and a doughnut while they were waiting.
    Or "Larry" was such a friendly guy. Or other Non-Results orientated "positives".

    But few reviews about the actual quality of the work.

    It's not impossible to track down a well respected body shop. But you do have to be careful and discerning about the reviews you read.
     
  18. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    when i was in college? duck tape. but i was driving a beat up 10 year old tr4a with no heat or floorboards. all the best!(y)
     
  19. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    There are two pieces of plastic film that are likely to be removed. There is a roughly triangular piece at the bottom trailing edge of the back door. There is also a piece on the front edge of the rear fender that wraps around. They were there in 2010 but if you don't have them then Toyota discontinued them at some point.

    It takes a lot of time to repair a panel and labor isn't cheap. It is faster and cheaper to replace the panel than to repair and it will look better.

    After you file the claim the insurance company will send an adjuster to look at the car. When that's done, get the car scheduled for the shop & get your rental lined up. Prius rental through the local dealer is reasonable.

    If the insurance company has a lower estimate ask the shop if they will accept the settlement as payment in full. This is relatively minor damage so I wouldn't expect any complications.

    My insurance company mailed a check for their amount payable to me before the car left the shop. They already knew what the insurance company paid and accepted my check for that amount as full payment. Payment for the rental was separate as I didn't want them billed directly.

    Bisco, yeah, these college kids have it easy. I had a 15 year old Dodge with rusted out quarter panels and partial instrumentation but at least I had heat & floorboards. You mean you had heat in the summer & air conditioning in the winter.