Bad Dent - What to do?

heavycat · #1 (**permalink**) 03-16-07, 08:14 PM

I really hurt my 2000 Cat tonight

. I hit a patch of ice in a parking lot and slid the driverside rear quarter panel into a pole. 2 years with this cat and ive never hit anything. Last snowfall of the year and I hit a pole. I'm not sure what to do. Is it possible to pick up a quarter panel pre painted, or am i better off just going to maaco or something to get it repaired. Take a look at the pics tell me what you think. Let me know if you have any sugestions.

CadillacSTS2003 · #2 (**permalink**) 03-16-07, 09:51 PM

that probably can be pulled heck you can prob get inside and punch it out to make it look better but it will never look perfect...

guardian · #3 (**permalink**) 03-16-07, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heavycat

I really hurt my 2000 Cat tonight

. I hit a patch of ice in a parking lot and slid the driverside rear quarter panel into a pole. 2 years with this cat and ive never hit anything. Last snowfall of the year and I hit a pole. I'm not sure what to do. Is it possible to pick up a quarter panel pre painted, or am i better off just going to maaco or something to get it repaired. Take a look at the pics tell me what you think. Let me know if you have any sugestions.

Boy, bad luck! Sorry to see it.

Seriously doubt you can buy painted panel new. Outside chance you might find one at a wrecking yard.

Cannot say much more without knowing how many miles are on your car.

Most likely you will just have to have this repaired at a body shop. If miles are VERY, VERY high, cost of repair might exceed value of your car.

I hope you are corect about this being the last snowstorm of the year. But I doubt you are right. This year it's gonna snow in April.

ariza034 · #4 (**permalink**) 03-17-07, 12:23 AM

i agree with cadillacetc1997 take out the spare tire kick it out or somthing hammer it out and then if its bad and wrinkled put bondo over top sand it down nicly and buy some paint and paint it that would be the cheepest

heavycat · #5 (**permalink**) 03-17-07, 02:15 AM

Theres about 150,000 km, so I got a couple more years out of her. Has anyone dealt with Carstar before? Im going to try and punch it out tommorow, but worst comes to worst im goin to take it in and get it repaired.

todd2fst4u · #6 (**permalink**) 03-17-07, 02:36 AM

it would be more difficult to try to replace the quarter panel then to have it fixed. it looks like there is some damage to the bumper as well which would require replacement of that too.

heavycat · #7 (**permalink**) 03-17-07, 03:50 AM

The damage to the bumper is no more than some scratches, it managed to take the impact without cracking.

guardian · #8 (**permalink**) 03-17-07, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heavycat

Theres about 150,000 km, so I got a couple more years out of her. Has anyone dealt with Carstar before? Im going to try and punch it out tommorow, but worst comes to worst im goin to take it in and get it repaired.

OK, you've got about 93K on her. I was thinking it would be more. Wrong.

That's a lot of miles but your car will go further if it's in reasonably good shape and has been cared for. I agree you have a couple more years - perhaps more than that.

So anyway here's the calculation:

A 93K Cat in (whatever) shape but without the dent is worth, well, whatever it is worth. I would guesstimate maybe US$4K to US$5K. Don't go by what I say, but DO go into the repair shop (if you go in at all) knowing the repaired value of your car. In other words, know for how much you could replace your car out on the open market.

When you get the repair quote, play it against the value of the car post repair. This will help you decide what to do.

Also, the car will never be the same in repaired condition. Two cars looking the same superficially, I would rather own the car that never was damaged over the car that was damaged and then repaired.

Bottom line, do not over-pay for the repair. This is especially easy to do with a Cat because sale prices, for even undamaged cars, are so low. And of course mileage impacts sale value heavily.

Good luck!

frank moran · #9 (**permalink**) 03-17-07, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heavycat

I really hurt my 2000 Cat tonight

. I hit a patch of ice in a parking lot and slid the driverside rear quarter panel into a pole. 2 years with this cat and ive never hit anything. Last snowfall of the year and I hit a pole. I'm not sure what to do. Is it possible to pick up a quarter panel pre painted, or am i better off just going to maaco or something to get it repaired. Take a look at the pics tell me what you think. Let me know if you have any sugestions.

from the picture that panel is repairable, don't go hitting it with a hammer, you'll do more damage by stretching the metal beyond practical repair.. Any decent body man should be able to fix that.

PEETYZ · #10 (**permalink**) 03-23-07, 06:14 PM

Hey i had the Exact same problem on my black 98 and the repair shops were charging me soo much because of labor cause they wanted to take off back bumper and possibly get new 1/4 panel total was like 1,200 i finally found a guy who repaired the 1/4 panel and touched up bumper and it looks pretty damn good really good actually for 500 bucks expensive but the paint and labor is not cheap where ever you go best of luck -Pete