[APKhaos]

My college-going daughter has front-ended her Accura 3.0CL. Damage to the hood, bumper, radiator & support, and lights. No fender damage.

The quote for a fix with new parts is crazy - more than I paid for the car!!!
The objective is to get the car back on the road - NOT a concours job. Anyone know of a shop that will do a decent job using some used parts to keep the price reasonable?

[TntPorsche]

My son damaged 4 cars in one day within 2 weeks of getting his license. One was his own (318 is). . . rear ended his friend (328). His car was the hood, right front fender, lights and bumber. His buddies was just the bumper . . . he literally dove under the left rear trying to avoid him. I called in a favor from a friend who runs a body shop . . . banged out what we could and replaced what we needed . . . after hours work by one of his younger employees. Glad I had such a friend.

He also decided to test drive our M3 the same day . . . not used to the clutch on that car and hit the garage door frame while backing out . . . panicked and backed into the Suburban. So in one day, he managed to damage three of our cars and his buddies.

A year and a half later (and accident free since that infamous day) you can almost laugh about it. I'm sure he will never forget. By the way, the repair on his car took about 6 weeks . . . pretty tough for a kid who was so anxious to drive.

[John Clay]

Originally Posted by TntPorsche

you can almost laugh about it

I did laugh about it....until I thought about it hapening to me in 7 years.

[APKhaos]

Arlene,
Nothing teens do should surprise us, right?
Rebecca was given the almost 200K mile beater to drive for her first 18 months. I figured she woud have some minor shunts, but the beater was both strong and disposable. No a scratch.

So, she got her 'nice' car - the 3.0CL. Three weeks later, she smacked the front right side on a pillar while pulling out of a parking space. Less than a year later, the lastest rear end incident.

Wish I had your friend in the bodywork business, or someone like him.

[TD in DC]

Tony,

Have you considered sourcing the used parts yourself, installing them, and then taking it to a shop just for paintwork? Maaco would probably spray it real cheap.

Used parts for that car should be plentiful, and your description makes it sound as if it would largely be a matter of replacing parts and then painting. Of course, if more is involved, then probably not worth it.

TD

[Vicegrip]

You need the slide hammer again?

Post pix, lets see how bad it is. I can ask over at the body shop if any of the guys moonlight if you like.

How about you let her deal with it too? She can help work on it, help find parts and the like? Good lesson in future defensive driving!

[Eli]

I agree with TD. Another option is to get used parts, than find a body man on craigslist to put them on, etc.

[Mark in Baltimore]

Deer?

[Trak Ratt]

www.crasyrays.com Any hood $75, radiator, $35, crossbrace ?? Paint $2.75/can Memories from fixing the new "beater" for less $$ priceless!

Edit: My bad! it's www.crazyrays.com but the site seems to be down. Do a Map quest for number and diections.

[lpsalsaman]

Originally Posted by APKhaos

My college-going daughter has front-ended her Accura 3.0CL. Damage to the hood, bumper, radiator & support, and lights. No fender damage.

The quote for a fix with new parts is crazy - more than I paid for the car!!!
The objective is to get the car back on the road - NOT a concours job. Anyone know of a shop that will do a decent job using some used parts to keep the price reasonable?

When my son went to college, we let him take our old trusty 1990 chrysler voyager and he rear ended some SUV. Needless to say that the front grille, radiator support and a little of the front chassis. However, like anything I got the parts needed from the local junkyard and I straighten the front myself. Put everything together and it was back in the road in one weekend. Just make sure that nothing got messed up in the engine compartment. The take it MACCO and he it done for a couple of dollars. Good luck on the project, since it won't be the last one.