shamusodoofus

I was driving back home on the QEW when a piece of debris fell off a transport truck that was beside me in front. I heard a very loud audible bang, and the truck merged off and exited. I would have followed the truck and gotten the plate, but as I mentioned earlier he merged off and I was going too fast to slow down and merge several lanes over to follow. I figured it must have just hit the windshield when it occurred and didn't think about it until I got home about 15m later. I look at my passenger side and see this...





The pictures make the damage appear to be lighter than it actually is. The gashes are down to the metal and have left quite a large dent where it hit. How bad do you guys think this is? Anyone know of any shops that could repair this? I'm considering calling my insurance company tomorrow morning and seeing what my options are. I have a $300 deductible, but compared to an accident or parking lot incident, the damage appears to be quite minor. I do not want to drive the car around like this, because as I mentioned earlier both gashes are down to the metal and I'm sure it will start rusting if not repaired soon.

Himura357

Since your deductible is so low, you can always go the insurance route, but that means a respray. The problem with resprays are they are almost never as good as oem, can have problems matching, and are detectable by picky buyers. But, if you know an excellent shop, you might get around most of that.

The other option is to brush on touch up paint yourself. Do it carefully and paint inside the damage, not outside it. Best to try with a brush only, not a pen.

zeroptzero

There's only one way to have it fixed right, from a professional body shop. You could use primer and touch up paint and hide the appearance a bit, but it is one of those things that will just bug you enough every time you look at that area.

I've been hit by so many objects on the highway, and that is one of the reasons I prefer to run a hardtop. I'm always worried something is going to hit me in the head one day , lol.

d1000rr

Pay for it out of pocket and get it professionally done... if you have a body shop hook up it'll be drastically cheaper than paying full retail.

Go through insurance and pay your $300 deductible... but then you have an insurance claim on your car history.

Himura357

I say do the touch up first. The area seems fairly small. If you are not happy with the results, consider a respray.

shamusodoofus

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'm going to go the insurance claim route. I went to 427 Auto Collision today to get a quote, and they said they would sand down the affected areas, pull the dent(s) and paint all affected panels to ensure a matching colour. In total that will be 3 panels that will be completely redone (Passenger door, rear quarter panel, and rocker panel). They said that it would definitely run me $1000+ to get it done. I honestly don't mind the claim on the car's record. I've owned the car for 7 years now and do not have any intention of selling, so resale value isn't a concern. The only concern is the damaged area.