# Body Damage (paint and slighty bent in wheel well)...Stupid mistake. Any suggestions?



## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

Welcome to the cruze talk Be cool stay cozy keep cruzen and Best Wishes ! Dang Dawg Really had to hit that cement thing Hah . Sorry to read that from you and now You decide to join our wonderful community .. well comprehensive kicks in about now . Good Luck .


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## Epickphale (Jan 30, 2013)

I had a tiny dent from a hit and run last week estimated at $1500. Full length body repainting will be more pricey. Good luck.


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## APCruze (Mar 7, 2013)

I hate to say it but you are probably going to need to use insurance for this one, I'm going to guess $2500 -$3000. let us know what the shops quote you at.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Someone sideswiped one of my cars and it looked pretty similar. 2000+ for the paint work, plus whatever you did to the wheel. 


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## sciphi (Aug 26, 2011)

Agreed, you'll likely want to call insurance for this. Unless a buddy is a body-repair guy who can cut you a deal.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Could be worse, only dent I can see is on the door where the handle was pushed in. But best view is taking a photo from the front that would show all the ripples in the bright light.

Major job would be to sand off all the clear coat, this would be the entire door panel with very careful feathering where the quarter panel reaches the roof and that pair that blends to the front of the trunk.

With color for the base coat, can practically get by with murder, even with a satin finish, incredible how clear coat can hide sins. Use to do a lot of auto painting in my younger days, was lots of wet sanding between coats, clear coat is so much easier. Even your wheel can be sanded and repainted.

Think about this stuff once in awhile, don't believe my old solvent based spray guns can handle water based paints they are using today. But this is why I carry collision insurance. My Chevy dealer spent a small fortune for a whole new paint booth to deal with water based paints.


Here is a bit of a Hot Rod Magazine article on it.

Painting With Waterborn Paint - Hot Rod Magazine All Pages

My son also wishes he came over to clear the snow off our boat, I was laid up after surgery. Ice broke three windows that have to be replaced. But could have been prevented.

Stuff happens, but least you didn't lose a limb or an eye. Wife sees a lot of this at the hospital she works at. With what you have to deal with, not the end of the world.


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## Patsguy (Mar 22, 2014)

Thanks for all the great feedback gentlemen! Yeah I really didn't wanna go through insurance because of the hit I'll take. I'll see what they quote me at. Might check out Maaco because they specialize in paint jobs. I wish I was more of a gear head because then I'd be able to take this on myself. As for the rear passenger door I think its the lighting in the picture. I think the wheel well was only bent. Anyways, much appreciation guys...thanks!


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

*Body Damage (paint and slighty bent in wheel well)...Stupid mistake. Any sugg...*

They may not ding your insurance premiums. I had an accident a few years ago, and as it was my first and a small, one vehicle collision, they "forgave" the accident. 

Don't do Maaco on a brand new car. It will look like crap. 


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## Patsguy (Mar 22, 2014)

Thanks for the advice bud, I'll check with the insurance. No Maaco it is then! Haha...I'm in Canada but does anybody know that of any solid body shops? Cheers lads!


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## chevycruze2012 (Nov 13, 2012)

Patsguy said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> First off I just joined this site and think it's great that we have such a large community of Cruze enthusiasts. Anyways, my first post starts on a bad note unfortunately. Here's my issue. Driving home after finishing my 16 hour shift at work I return home to my dreaded underground parking complex. The parking areas are so tight and it seems impossible at times to park. I have a truck and a concrete post next to me. Unfortunately this concrete post also slightly invades my inner parking spot and this truck always bridges the line. Being tired and impatient I got home and tried pulling in forward cutting a tight angle to the point where it was inevitable I was either hitting the truck or the post. I should have took my time an guided it in but my stupid mistake was already in motion. I scraped the post enough to cause the wheel well to bend in slightly. Not enough to impact the tires in motion but it's still noticeable. Also I have a lengthy scratch in various spots along my rear passenger door, including the handle, which seem deep enough.I know what you're thinking what an idiot, this is an absolutely costly mistake but there is no way I'm going through insurance. I'll be paying more in the long run more less. Haven't got any quotes on it yet. But I thought someone may have had similar damage and could potentially give me an idea. I'll attach a picture of the damage.
> 
> ...


Well Im sorry you did this to your own car. Believe me, I know it sucks when its brand new. I didn't have nearly as much damage on my cruze as yours....but **** man, that's a lot for a pole. If I was you, id still go through insurance because the only thing your going to have to pay is your deductible over paying full repair for parts and or just a paint job. You will spend over 2 grand on that easily. I know you said you didn't want to go to the insurance but its the easiest way if you ask me. If you make bank money which it sounds like you do because you work 16 hour shifts and I can only imagine what your salary is, id say go for it paying out of pocket, but if you don't have that kind of cash right now, id let the insurance take care of it and you just pay the deductible. Hope everything turns around for you so you can get that nice cruze back on the road.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Took our Cruse to our Chevy dealer, uses all OE parts and has an up to date paint booth after a deer hit the right front fender. If you are saying that is not a dent in your door, just a repaint job. Our dealer has to do more painting than what you need, came to $960.00 with a new front fender. 

For blending, repainted the hood, bumper and right passenger side door as well. But you won't know until you get a quote. Damage is totally undetectable. Every bolt that had to be removed all also repainted, no tool marks whatsoever. Just like it came from the factory,

Maybe because I am dealing with a small town dealer, city prices can be a lot higher.


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## CW_ (Jan 31, 2013)

jblackburn said:


> They may not ding your insurance premiums. I had an accident a few years ago, and as it was my first and a small, one vehicle collision, they "forgave" the accident.
> 
> Don't do Maaco on a brand new car. It will look like crap.
> 
> ...


Definitely agree on the no Maaco thing - I've seen their 'work' before and I don't think I'd let them repaint my riding lawn mower, a gorilla with a rattlecan could do a better job.


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## Patsguy (Mar 22, 2014)

Right on guys thanks a lot, I know she's gonna cost a couple dollars so I was prepared for that. Love the maaco bashing haha. I'm staying away from there! Might take up what you said about the dealer. That way they'll know how to deal with it properly. The door wasn't bent but that old stubborn wheel well wasn't so lucky. Hopefully I can get it at around 2 grand, that would be a steal! Anyways, have a great weekend my fellow Cruzers!


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Ha, during the 50's through 80's was doing more body work than anything else with both Japanese and Detroit rust. The mechanics and electronics were quite simpler back then. Unibody is the latest throwaway product. Last vehicle with rotted out rocker panels went to the junk yard. Even if you did cut them out, nothing left to spot weld the new ones to.

Always compared what I can earn compared to shop labor rates, not even close. Recall back in 1965 taking may car to an AC repair shop, was making 7 bucks an hour, this guy was charging 35. Spent two hours fooling around and didn't repair my problem. So got a book and purchased the equipment I needed, been doing my own AC work ever since.

And after taxes, my 7 bucks was more like 5, and if you put this on your credit card with easy payments, that 5 would look more like 2. No wonder why the vast majority are deep in debt. What else has drastically changed is the huge escalation in replacement parts cost, can no longer buy a rebuilding kit for a fuel pump for a buck.

Got a bit interested in water based or waterborne paints from this post, a good sprayer will run around 500 bucks. What my son and I are doing are looking at every auto insurance policy, how can they even advertise saving 40% off! Sure living in a era loaded with BS. Leave it up to my son to read the fine print, I get migraines from doing this. 

Ha, always told to drive safely when going home, if I was killed wouldn't make any difference, but get one scratch on my car can be a disaster. So its for this reason I drive very defensively. Last major disaster for us is where my wife parked our car. Was side swiped, and unfortunately for us the store it was parked in front of, their closed circuit TV was out of commission. So our collision had to take care of the repairs. Was a battle, and our rates went up 20 bucks a year.

Now you have to watch where you park your car.


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## j_corr (Jan 7, 2014)

firstly sorry to hear about your damage. 

Second, any insurance advice given in here take with a grain of salt. Canadian insurance is setup completely different than our US buddies. I don't want to sound like a dick, just being up front. Seen to many people take advice from others and get screwed (I'm an insurance professional). Even state to state is different. Where abouts in Canada are you from? We actually have 3 different insurance structures depending which Province you live in. 

Single vehicle accident automatically puts you at fault. Another thing to consider is if you have a loan or vehicle is leased. If so, you are obligated to report it to the insurance company due to a thing called "insurable interest". Whoever gave you the loan or lease has an insurable interest in the car and until it is fully paid off, are part owner. Because of this they want to ensure that if the vehicle is damaged, it is repaired properly, not just the cheapest place possible. You need to look at it from the other side, say for some reason you can't make payments, they are stuck with the car which they will sell to offset their loss. Having a half a$$ed repaired car will lower value, and your in trouble. If they find out at anytime, your screwed and could see yourself served with papers. Deal with it all the time in the office. Do people get away with it? Yup, but insurance companies and lessors are really cracking down, and those they catch, are tossing the book at them. After that, good luck with any insurance moving forward. You'll be in facility for at least 7 years and premiums will be 5-8X what you pay now for life.


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## marden64 (Dec 1, 2013)

First and foremost I would take it around and get some estimates as to how much they want to get it fixed. Do about 5 of them for peace of mind. Then I would way the pros and cons of going through insurance.

I just had my car fixed and it would have cost about $800 to get it fixed. My deductible is $500. So I would have only had to pay an extra $300 out of pocket to get it fixed, which I did. The car is now back to the shape that it was before and the paint job I had done was right on and you can't even tell that anything happened to it.

In getting it fixed myself without going through insurance, I wasn't going to get hit with an increase in insurance cost.

If you do go through insurance, they have certain people that they want used to get the vehicles fixed and it may, or may not, end up costing you more. If it is a leased vehicle, I wouldn't take it to the dealer that you got it from. They may end up telling you that you have to buy the vehicle on the spot. I seen this happen to a buddy of mine. He only had 8 months left to go on the lease and had planned on returning it. They told him that because of the damage, that they wouldn't be able to get a decent resale value out of it and that he was on the hook for the vehicle itself.

The vehicle is yours no matter what anyone says, unless it's leased, and you have the finial say on the matter. Unless you go through insurance as I stated above.


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## j_corr (Jan 7, 2014)

Insurance companies do have "prefered" body shops. They like using them because they know they don't cut corners, do quality work, are fair and most, if done through insurance, offer a 2 year warranty. DO you have to use the prefered body shop? No, when you hace a claim, it is all negotiable. 

As for the lease, read through Lease agreement, it will stipulate what happens if the vehilce is damaged. I think you buddy got hosed. I would have called their bluff. They are admitting their body shop is incompetent or cut corners. If done through insurance any and every little part that is damaged or even questionable is replaced. Or at least should be.

Hearing stories like this makes me made. I would purposely make a big deal about it just to out shaddy people like this. If the car is fixed properly, there should be no difference in resale. The issue is to many people are cheap and cut corners when they drop it off at Billy Bob's discount auto body "we will beat any quote by 10%".

Rant over.


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