noel48

I had the rear quarter panel of my ZO6 scraped in a parking lot.Body shop said they will remove rear bumper,paint and re-install.Cost is 350-400.Is this reasonable?Paint is Torch Red.

Mikec7z

much better to go that rout than bad carfax and insurance claim. I would say make sure you find a body shop who is known for matching paint well, and after that, go for it.

tertiumquid

Toddiesel

yeah, the color might be slightly off. it's really tough to get an exact match. fortunately they can blend the adjacent panels for not too much more. In the future, park in the back 40 and against a curb.

dale fehrenbach

this is good advice.
but pretty often some fool will driving a 74 Vega will park next to you. Happens a lot to me.

Mikec7z

Picture of the damage would be helpful. your other option is to hunt for a take-off fender in the same color that you have.

If it were me, i would not have the paint blended to the other panels.

If you go to sell the car, it makes it easy to know paint work was done. Sooner or later you will find the take-off panel and swap out for the perfect panel again, and sell your repainted one off to some racer or something.

Mad Dog 24

I own a large collision shop and repair a lot of new old and new Corvettes. To answer your question on cost I would say its cheap, to cheap, and as with about anything in life you get what you pay for. BTW red is one of the most expensive colors in all paint brands. We have a 16 Z06 coming in soon with similar damage to the Qtr. panel. Yes the rear bumper needs to come off and we would also remove the qtr panel from the car repair and paint it. That way there will be no tape lines or signs of refinishing. If the marks are near the door than do the same blend the color and clear into the door but first remove the door and strip all the trim off it. CARFAX is picked up from ordering parts for your car from Vin # NOT the insurance co.claim.. So if it needs no parts I wouldn't worry about it. Good luck and demand its done right, Jeff

Mikec7z

i agree that the ordering of parts may show on carfax, but the insurance claims absolutely do as well, so im not sure what you mean by "dont worry about it"

As far as ordering parts goes, you just use a dummy vin off a car from autotrader which is a clone to your car, but again, i dont think if I order a new quarter panel from a GM parts department, that carfax has the right to ding my report that i have been in a collision.

Now, if a body shop orders it, that is a different story. And since you are a body shop, then sure. Nor do you have the luxury of using dummy vin's since that would be illegal since you are a shop.

Again, an insurance claim, will show on the carfax. How could it not?

ZR1Bob

I tend to agree--sounds too cheap. Last year I had a lady in a Range Rover back into the rear bumper of mine and scraped the paint. Very minor damage--really just a paint scrape. I had a local body shop with Corvette experience (and recommended by a couple of Chevy dealers) do the work. Their estimate was about $920 to remove the bumper, sand, fill as needed, paint, clear and replace it. No blending with the quarter panels needed for me. They also had to replace the CORVETTE emblem as it loses its tape when removed, or so I was told; about $60 included in bid. Anyway, as I have been involved in the car business in one way or an other for many years, I felt this was a reasonable and fair estimate and the work they did was fine and not noticeable.As noted by Jeff, I would think a quarter panel repair might need blending as it sits right along side the door.--Bob

SnowyATX

Sucks for the OP.

You guys that are giving advice on avoiding CARFAX......you are the same ones that wouldn't buy a car that had issues listed on CARFAX and would be livid if duped by someone got around CARFAX with some damage.
Real trustworthy bunch of folks. Remind me to NOT buy a car from you.

Mikec7z

while i see your point, the only reason i would avoid a car with a bad carfax is because it hurts me on the resale later as well.

So, if damage can be remedied without reporting to carfax, it is usually a minor surface damage that does not affect the car's frame.

If a car has frame damage, i dont think there is really any way to solve that problem inexpensively, so at that point, a person should turn it into their insurance company, and if it occurred from the fault of someone else's poor driving, then go after that person for "depreciated value" claim and "loss of use" and come out smelling like a rose... as the bad carfax depreciation is taken care of by the other parties insurance company, and paid to you the owner of the damaged vette.

Mad Dog 24

OP, in some states is fairly easy to file a 1st party claim against your insurance co. for the diminished value of your car after the accident damage is repaired. In the case of 3rd party liabilities claims that is possible in all states. Most of the time the higher end the car the more of a loss in value like our Corvettes. Seems 10 to 20% is the range I've heard of payments from insurance co's . Worth trying if you go thru your insurance co.

BTW... my information on where Carfax info comes from is directly from many insurance employed claims folks. Been told, why would an insurance co want to give out info on a damaged vehicle they paid to repair and closed the file. The question arises what is in it for them? Ive also been told that Carfax and the like purchase the info from the manufactures data of parts sold to a particular vin#. It is possible that some insurance co's or salvage companies may do the same, who knows for sure. I am all about full disclosure and probably sold 50 previous wrecks in my 40 years of business and bet led than 30% had any type of damage history, sad. NO need to argue this issue, I am spending my time typing here so may be it will help out some fellow owners.

Mikec7z

yeah, but now onto the next issue, if he files the claim and there is no guilty party and no police report pointing blame on the 3rd party, his insurance rates go up afterwards most likely.

trevor90

that seems really cheap for a bumper job, i usually charge about 450+


TR is easy to match, although it depends where the damage is. Bumpers are always slightly off in tone from the rest of the car. Any questions on repairs, pm me. glad to help. I paint for a living.

petepd

Yeah, that sound too cheap to me, too. I'm not a body man ( and I have great respect for them) but I'd get a second opinion. Get it right the first time.

Mikec7z

just depends on who you meet and who you know.

Dealerships have over 50% of cars that come onto lots, front bumpers and rear bumpers repainted, the paint guys come out with a tent one or 2 days a week, and do them right there on the spot. Dealer cost on this is about 250 to 300 a bumper.