Good point and thanks. Gotta get it fixed soon.
Thanks for the info, Bing. Yeah, I see it’s a good idea to call the insurance company and let them cover the repair in my case. No lien on the car, well, it’s just I’m moving to Philly soon, heard the parking is pretty bad there and people end up fixing their car on a monthly basis. But anyway, will call the insurance company.
Not only the four thousand, but anyone looking at a car that has deferred maintenance or repairs can only wonder what other defects exist which weren’t repaired.
you’re being awfully diplomatic . . .
It see it as . . . they buggered up their car, and the only door, fender, etc. at the junkyard was the wrong color, so that’s how it worked out
Style . . . 
When doors get banged up that bad it’s my opinion that it is easier and cheaper to replace the doors; preferably with a matching paint color from the salvage or at worst mismatched color that can be repainted.
You might try calling one of the larger salvage yards in your area and if they do not have it ask them about the Hollander Parts Locator and Eden database. That is connected to salvage yards all over the country and they have something like (last I heard) a 150 to 200 million parts available.
When my youngest son got his Camaro right side door whacked pretty hard while it was parked at college the other person’s insurance paid off for doing the body work. We found a matching paint door at a Camaro/Firebird salvage in OK City for 75 dollars; complete with electric windows, mirrors, and even the same window tint. What are the odds. Half a dozen bolts, adjust the striker plate, and done.
My pickup was recently broke into
This was $800, mostly labor
I can see yours pushing $5000
Yes, rust will develop in the damaged areas, and then that rust will begin to spread.
If this was an old car, then it might be an option to leave it as-is.
But, to fail to repair this damage on a one year old car would be very foolish, as it will cause the trade-in/resale value of the vehicle to plummet.
1 Like
If it was a Tesla, it would cost $33,000 to fix, it would be salvaged, and supercharging would be disabled. Thanks, Elon.
About a dozen years ago a guy backed into my Lincoln at the time and left a 4" crease by the left side taillamp. It wasn’t deep and barely noticeable. He was nice enough to leave a note with his phone number and stated to get him an estimate and he would pay me in cash to keep it away from his insurance.
The estimate on that little crease from 2 body shops was 1100 and 1200 dollars respectively so I just provided him with the lower of the two. And that was 12 years ago.
The reason I mention replacement doors is because that can often be far cheaper than straightening mangled metal which is labor intensive. I am not a fan of 3 pounds of Bondo being applied to anything.
I’ve done some body work and absolutely hate it. Nasty, dusty, and quite a lot of elbow grease involved.
Many years ago, someone hit the back of my father’s '63 Plymouth, and it resulted in some damage to the trunk lid. He got estimates from a few body shops, and in his naivete, my Dad went with the one that was FAR lower than the other 3 estimates.
A couple of years later, when the 3 lbs of Bondo on the trunk lid began to crack, we realized why the drastically lower bid was so low. Unfortunately, nobody in my family was knowledgeable enough in those days to know about the Bondo effect.
Yes, Bondo should be applied very sparingly but unfortunately in many cases it means working Bondo is far easier than working metal which means of course easier money if not a better body work job.
I don’t know if you are familiar with the Mr. Norm Dodge Hemi Darts of the late 60s which were big on the drag strips at the time. There’;s an outfit in FL i think it is that builds recreations of those Darts and it’s stated that they do not use rust buckets. They revamp solid cars or ones with body damage and they spend 400 hours per car on body work with zero use of Bondo. It’s all done by hours and hours of tapping, filing, and sanding metal into shape. Pure metal when done and that explains the 6 figure price tags too.
How do you supercharge an all electric vehicle?
Supercharge via Tesla allows recharging in minutes. At limited sites. Dealer. I don’t own one so I don’t know where all the sites are. There is a std charge cable and a SC cable at these sites. Elon uses software updates to disable SC on salvage Tesla’s. He hates salvage. He wants you to buy new cars only. Thought Elon’s tricks were well known.
And any body work on alum Tesla’s is $$$$$
That is the same with other manufactures, once the vehicle is declared salvage, all warranties, warranty extensions and amenities are canceled.
Okay, Tesla-eze to replace the more common term quick charge.
Tesla has 480V charging capability that they call Supercharging. That differentiates it from the 240V fast charging that will provide about 80% charge in 6 hours. The 480V charge to 80% takes about 30 minutes.
More than you want it to, especially since it looks like you caught both doors. Are you concerned with function or appearance? You can probably get the door to work for cheap. Looks will be extra. Reskinning is pretty labor intensive. What about a door from a junk yard?
Did you not see where the person is calling their insurance to get this fixed properly . Besides , this is only about a year vehicle .
3 Likes
Yeah, he said he would, but he doesn’t want to. First there’s the deductible, then there will be the increase in rates since he did this himself. If it happened to my car I’d look for a pair of doors from a junk yard. Depending on his insurance company, that’s what they might do. Ordering new OEM doors would be prohibitively expensive. Playing with door skins both expensive to do and to fit. A good set of used OEM doors would be better than some cheap replacement.
How much body work have you done?
It does not matter how much body work I have done . If he can even find 2 doors for a year old vehicle in good shape is doubtful . Plus the paint and cost of doors it is quite possible he will spend more than the deductible and rate increase . I do know that even less damage to one of vehicle was close to 3000.00 .