I had a young lady back her SUV into my parked car the other day. She did the right thing and found me, got the insurance process started and so on.... I've got two estimates already and am waiting for approval to get the work started. Just for fun, lets see who can get closest to the final repaired cost (before tax) without going over. Preliminary it looks like just the fender & paint blended into the neighboring panels to match. The winner will receive nothing but PC kudos.
Doesn't appear to be suspension issues as I've been driving it a few days. Looking at how things lined up, her bumper was taller than the tire. All my estimates are for a new fender. Bondo or filler would be unacceptable to me. The weekend and looming holiday are bugging me since I want it fixed.
I had hail damage on 2 of my cars last year and my boy works at the body shop. He said sometimes the insurance co. will have them take the door and fender skin off and put new skin on. Never heard of that. But dentless repair worked out for them.
It's going to get a new fender or a good used one. It depends on what insurance you are dealing with. In any case, a paint and blend will have to be done. If it's a Pearl White, the whole side with probably wind up having to be refinished. That's why I'm bidding on $2957.64.
Hopefully they will just replace the fender skin... not that much material and way less labor than fixing the SUV modified piece. Matching the the Prius "Nautical Blue" shouldn't be a problem, if as reported, there's no other damage to surrounding metal sections or bumper. Why would they have to "blend" into other surfaces?
Don't forget to inquire about demand diminished value. You're driving a wrecked car now. It will never be "accident free" again. God Luck!
A professional can correct me if I'm wrong, but with auto refinishing you blend into the adjacent panels as you will never get a 100% color match on the panel due to a variety of factors. Blending fades the new paint color into the old so that your eyes can't perceive the color difference. It's not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.
The reason for blending the panels is not because of the color difference. They pretty much have color match down to a science with computer and spectroscope technology. It's the way the paint is laid down by the Human. It is simply impossible for painter to apply the product with the same signature as the automated, factory paint robots. Blending adjusts for these differences.
