I committed a blasphemous crime towards my Z yesterday... I clipped the bumper of a truck as I was backing out a spot in the parking garage. This has angered the Z gods, and I will have to pay a penance at a body shop.

Fortunately, I do not attempt 5000 rpm clutch drops when backing out of parking spots (I know, I’m weird like that), so my Z was spared any major catastrophes. That being said, the Z did sustain a small dent in the driver's side rear quarter panel as well as some paint abrasions on the rear bumper. I have attached four pictures of the damage to illustrate what I am talking about.

The reason why I am posting this is that I have never been to a body shop, and therefore, I do not have a gauge as to what would be considered a fair price to fix the damage. So, if anyone here has experience with body work, or has had some done, would you be so kind as to take a look at the pictures below, and give me a rough estimate of what I should expect to pay. At least this way, I can be more informed, and less likely to be taken for a ride.

Thanks in advance

 

Can you actually feel the scratch with your fingernail? What's that black stuff, is that the paint from the truck you rubbed up against or is that from your own paint getting scratched off?

 

Kinda just depends on how **** your bodyshop is. I'd guess you're gonna easily be over $500 though.

 

The black stuff is the plastic of the rear bumper showing through. I went over the whole area with a solvent last night to remove anything that might be from the other vehicle, and was able to clean a lot of it up.

I've provided three more pictures below depicting the damage up close. The bumper looks like it will only need a little paint. What bothers me is the dent in the quarter panel. It happened to hit right at the crease of the wheel arch, and you can see in the third picture that the bottom of the quarter panel has been deformed so that it is now closer to the rear bumper. Would a shop try to repair that, or recommend a new panel?

 

*sigh*

thanks man

 

call a paintless dent removal place, i think they can do that small spot.

 

Good idea. Although you will still have to deal with parts needing paint.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll check out the paintless dent removal option first, as I know of a few places that do such work.

Otherwise, does anyone from Florida recommend a good body shop? I'd hate to have to pick one out from the phone book.

 

Since I have to pay for the paint anyways, would now be a good time to shop around for a bodykit?

 

That's up to you. That would add quite a lot more money on top of whatever is needed to fix it.

 

Thanks. Getting ahead of myself over here

 

I would charge around $700-800 to fix it. The good news is there's plenty of room to blend on the panel, so you won't have to blend on the hatch or door. I don't think a paintless repair will help with the. It looks more like a crease to me. When they pull it out the paint will chip off because it's flexxed too much. Good luck. Also if you want a kit put on you're talking probably $600 on top of the repair.

 

Man, if only you were closer. I just got a quote from the dealer body shop. They are willing to fix it for a mere 1200$

 

Oh yeah, dealers charge more than anybody pretty much.