I did a number on the front of my 2004 Ford Explorer. Basically, I rear-ended a car at something like 10-15 mph (brakes locked). The other car, a Jeep Liberty, looked like it sustained about two puncture wounds to the spare tire cover.
It still ran, no gauges were off, no leakage… nothing seemed bad for about 24 hours. I started thinking, “Okay, it’s ugly but drivable until I can get it fixed” Then I had to restart it and it made a HORRIBLE rattling noise. So much for that idea.
With the provision that I won’t hold anyone to anything, can anyone give me a very rough estimate for repair?
New parts or used ?
Straighten or replace hood ? ( different body shops have different capabilities )
Where’s the noise ? you’ll need the hood up to see the condition of the fan, radiator, condenser and anything else inside the engine area.
My wife recently got in a fender bender in a mall parking lot. Guy came out of Arby’s driveway and hit her right front corner…drivable afterward. 06 Ford Escape Hybrid.
Straighten hood and fender.
New grille, bumper cover, headlight, fog light, washer reservoir, radiator.
paint.
$ 2500.00
The car is my to/from work vehicle, so used parts are fine as well as straightening. The damage is keeping me from getting to the release lever for the hood, so I can’t look under, but given the lack of leakage, I’m hoping the radiator is good.
But the radiator could be bent as well as the cross support it mounts to, the shroud and the electric fan that mounts to its inside.
Worst case scenario I already see 2500 in new parts.
hood, grille, bumper cover and insulator, grille/headlight frame, radiator, fan, shroud, rad support.
Used parts will bring that down considerably
BUT you have to get that hood up to know more. The collision will have flexed the whole grille area inward and it has bounced back outward to the position you see now. You MUST inspect the inner framework that got pushed.
As an el-cheapo repair you can even choose to NOT replace some minor damaged items AND use the used parts the color that they come without repainting. You can replace these parts yourself as well.
My guess is $1,000 or so just for the visible parts, using used parts. You really will have to pop the hood pretty soon. I’d guess the horrible noise is from the fan hitting something.
I’ll take a casual shot at it. You need a new hood and bumper and grill repair. Plus for sure the radiator support is bent pushing the radiator into the fan. So the suppor will have to be replaced or straightend. There’s really nothing that you cannot fix because you need a good latch for the hood and no point trying to fix what you have. So sorry but you’re looking at about $2000 and up depending on what the inside looks like.
I agree with the others, I’d ballpark it around $2500 based on just what you can see in the picture, if the bumper itself (the bit underneath the cover) is damaged or the radiator support is bent (it likely is) then you can add on another $600- $800.
Also how did the brakes lock up? The 2004 Explorer has 4 wheel ABS standard.
