Having some repairs done after a recent accident. The body shop says they are going to repair the pictured damage to the drivers side quarter panel. There are definitely a chunks of fiberglass missing. Does anyone have experience with this? I assumed it would be replaced.

 

I'm assuming this is an insurance claim?
If so they are most likely making the call. It shouldn't be a difficult repair and ought to turn out fine if you have a good body man making the repair.

 

That can be fixed... new wheel and probably a tire too. Hope nobody was injured.

 

Easy repair for a body shop.

 

 

A lot less work to repair Vs replace. Also a lot less chance of something going wrong. To remove the quarter panel they will have to remove the rear fascia, the inner and the wheel well liner. A lot more chances of something happening since there are a lot more places for somebody to make a mistake.

Bill

 

I would go the repair route - shouldn't be too difficult for a good shop to make it look like new.

 

Update: The body shop pressed out and repainted the fender and it looks great. I requested a new fender but both the body shop and the negligent party's insurance company (Progressive) fought me on it. It would also have caused a significant delay in the repair and my car being out of town, on summer tires, in a seasonally cold place (Lubbock) in late October figured into the decision. Nevertheless, I am happy with the repair because, upon returning to Fort Worth, I took the car to my Chevy dealer for a trade-in appraisal to find out if the Carfax had been hit (it had not) and he gave me an offer based on no damage (more on this below). In other words, he could not tell without much closer inspection that the fender had been replaced.

I requested a negligent damage claim shortly after and it took almost 6 weeks before a different claim representative reverted, then almost another month before they made an offer of $250 (today).

The Chevy dealership appraisal in November came from Bruce Lowrie (Fort Worth) who is my go-to dealership for service. The appraiser gave me a relatively fair offer but when I asked him if he saw a CarFax he said no and it would probably be 6 to 8 weeks before it hit. He thanked me for being honest and told me he would have to knock off $6k to $7k because of the damage, which he could see upon further inspection (some minor differences in the paint viewed from an angle and also you can see that the fender bolts had been removed and replaced). I asked him if he would give me that in writing and he said no...he could not because he not a licensed appraiser.

Also, shortly after I picked up the repaired car, I requested a separate appraisal from the dealership in Lubbock where the repair was performed and received a similar answer ("we do not want to assume liability for an appraisal, etc.")

Today, I requested 2 online offers from Carvana, one without declaring damage, and the second declaring the damage ($1,378.17). The difference between the quotes is $7,117. I saved both to pdf files to provide as evidence in small claims court. I also have the emailed offers that were sent to me directly from Carvana saved in my Gmail account, time stamped and preserved to prove no tampering of the quotes.

The question now is how to proceed. Are the Carvana offers enough evidence or should I gather more? Should I try to find an expert witness from a dealership to testify in court? Given how skittish dealerships are about legal liability, the latter will be a challenge. As for the former, I am considering a CarMax appraisal.

Also, at some point I need to call Progressive back and inform them that I have evidence of $7k+ diminished value and that I am planning to file in small claims court in late January when I will be in Lubbock again. Perhaps this will provoke a more realistic diminished value offer. But, given how hard they lowballed me on the first offer, it is difficult to imagine that they come anywhere close to $7k, so I might as well plan on going to court.

Unfortunately, based on my online research, I cannot sue Progressive directly. I will have to file against my father's neighbor but his insurance company will ultimately be responsible for paying the diminished value damages.

Questions:

1) Should I provide the Carvana evidence "in good faith" to Progressive, or should I just hold on to it for the court to review?

2) Should I hire an attorney as a consultant prior to trial? I have never been to small claims court so I want to make sure I follow good practice procedures both prior to trial (in settlement negotiations) and during trial, if it comes to that.

3) What kind of offer should I be willing to accept to avoid a trial? Given the low cost associated with small claims court, it is difficult for me to consider anything less than $5k or $6k, and I feel like my evidence is pretty strong.

4) How long should I wait to file in court? I will be in Lubbock again in less than a month.


Any answers and/or comments are appreciated.