tgcattle

Saturday past, a women failed to yeild the right of way and smacked my right rear quarter panel. It took a chunk of the fender from just in front of the R.F tire to the the door. I swear I have had more near misses in my corvette than I have had on my motorcycle. I think the women was texting and driving. She said she didn't see me. Which leads me to believe corvettes are hard to see, due to the number of near misses I have incountered. I try to drive defensively which is probably how I have avoided an accident untill now. Oh and the wheel now leans in. Probably knocked the camber out, or worse. I intend to have a body shop do the repairs, but I have a couple of questions. I wonder will they just repair the fender or replace the fender. Will they paint the whole car or just the quarter panel as the paint is not original to the car and I am a little worried they cannot match the paint. You know, nice shiny new paint on the quarter panel and not so new paint on the rest of the car. Opinions welcomed.

Easy Mike

The bodyshop folks can answer your questions. If you have the broken pieces and depending on the damage, your quarter panel might be repairable.

Listen to what they have to say. You're paying for their expertise.

wombvette

That would be a question to ask them. I don't know whether it is insurance or not. I hope it is, since it was inflicted by another driver. You tell them what you want to do. Its the insurance companies responsibility to make you whole. If I wanted a new fender, thats what I would get. Don't let the insurance co jerk you around.

hwcoop

I would also take it to a shop that specializes in Corvette repair so it is repaired correctly with the bonding strips, suspension etc it there was any damage there.

You don't want to be taking it to Bubba's Garage to save a few dollars

tgcattle

I got some estimates for the repair today. They all said they could just patch the fiberglass. Two said they would have 2 gelcoat the repair, one said that wasn't necessary. Any thoughts?

Gearhead74

I agree with hwcoop in his comment about using a shop familiar with Corvette body repairs. I talked with a number of shops before having my car painted. The better shops said they wouldn't do my car unless they were allowed to gel coat it. Costs more - but when I finally had it done the results - with gel coat - were outstanding. I had two areas in need of repair. One he was able to fix, the other (left front) needed a new quarter panel. If the shop is good, they'll know what they can repair and what needs replaced.