What would you do?

[GMoose]

Alright so I was wondering about opinions here on what everyone would do in my shoes. Story behind the problem. Well parked my car at a buddies house, which had at least 10 parked cars. So I found my self a decent spot figured I'd be the first to leave, was I wrong. Well turns out whom ever left first hit my car not once, but twice..and well I'm wondering what would you guys do as far as fixing it sense it seems my insurance is taking there sweet time and the rear hit is starting to form surface rust.

The front:

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The rear:

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Now if the insurance company finally speeds the process I will let them handle fixing it, but for now I was just wondering what everyone would do as far as repairing these dents.

 

[FadedBlue]

That front one could probably be popped out pretty easy if you know what you're doing, that rear one though I would suggest just replacing the panel or the other solution just load it full of bondo and paint it over.
Why should your insurance have to pay though, whoever hit the car should be the one paying for it how did they even make that rear dent is what I'm wondering

 

[99ECLIPSEGSXDSM]

If your insurance hasn't seen the car in person DO NOT TOUCH IT. Any chance of finding the person who hit you? Who do you have if you don't mind me asking? Everytime I've had something happen it's been jumped on.

 

[Quadsportz]

Ouch sucks he did not man up and tell you

 

[GMoose]

FadedBlue: Well yes I agree, but the person whom hit it just drove off. Which made it a hit and run when I filed it with the police and the insurance company. I have suspect names, but I'm not 100 percent sure. The kid who I think did it sense where I was parked and how he was parked made me point fingers at him..and he had a little lift on his truck and he was most likely drunk and backed up hit the front with his tire and in the back of my car he hit with his bumper. As far as damages on his truck, nothing that points out he hit my car sense he probably just had to rub the paint off.

99ECLIPSEGSXDSM: I haven't touched it at all, its been weathered on now but still haven't laid a finger on it. I have All State insurance, and it just seems they call me at the worse times(when I'm working). Than when I called my Claim Owner back, the person is just never in..I even leave a good time to call me, still nothing.

 

[91-GS]

Front: take off the wheel liner and the headlights, see if you can't push most of it out by hand. You can also try using a suction cup dent puller on the dent. If that does not work, take off the fender and use some hammers (including a rubber hammer for finer work) to beat it out, use a block of wood with an old blanket over it (to keep from scratching the paint) as an anvil.
Rear: since this panel can not be taken off you would have to work it from the back side. Remove interior panels, the taillight, the antenna, and beat/pry the dent out using wooden blocks, prybars, hammers, anything like that. Would have to repaint the pannel after it's fixed.

Get some body filler and use it to smooth out the area after you are done beating on it. Don't use too much filler (no more than about 1/4" thick), or it will crack. Prepare the area by sanding it with 80 grit sandpaper to get most paint off, wipe off dust, apply filler. After filler hardens, take 40 grit 'paper and knock down the high spots. Use 80 grit 'paper to get it close to final shape. Use 120 grit to finalise the shape, flush area with water to keep the dust down. Let the water dry and spray (spraycan) primer on the area especially if you are planning on driving it for few days like that. Don't leave bare filler since it will over time soak in water and allow the metal under it rust.

Edit: While it is better in your case to let insurance fix it, it is also possible to get fix it yourself and get reimbursed (sp?) for the materials/time you spent fixing the car.

 

[3kgt2nv]

sadly the insurance company might total the car because the rear panel. personally i would ask the people there who hit it and make them fix it.

 

[Smknem]

Not much of a buddy if he let this happen.

 

[tkelly27]

Add turbo and all wheel drive with insurance money, pretend body damage does not exist.

 

[GMoose]

91-GS: Hey thanks! That's something I actually have been thinking about doing if the Insurance company doesn't do much.
3kgt2nv: If that were to come to question I'd tell um to hit the road haha. I got this car for a WAY cheaper than KBB values in the worse condition, and figured I'd do some touch up work here and there. Do 2 years of college, and probably be able to get a little more than what I paid for it.
Smknem: Can't really blame him though, he tried to figure out who did it even came up with the same guy I was thinking...just nothing we can do to prove it as there wasn't anyone outside to as an eyewitness :/

 

[91-GS]

Have you ever done body work before?

 

[GMoose]

91-GS: No I have not, I'm a really quick learner at things. I have popped dents from prior vehicles, but never really sanded/primed/painted.

 

[91-GS]

It's not difficult, although can get frustrating at times. Don't be in a hurry when you do it and don't over-work it. If it feels/looks good, don't try to make it perfect, move on to the next step.

 

[5150DSM]

That's an easy $2500.00 for repairs at a good body shop, I doubt it would total the car. It sucks driving around with a beat looking car but in this case, I would wait for insurance. If you're adjuster is not on the ball, go over his/her head to a supervising adjuster and push your claim through. All insurance companies, even the good ones, don't want to pay but they have to and they will; you just need to push, push, push and follow through at every opportunity. I deal with insurance work on a daily basis and it's never anything but a pain in the ass but in the end 90+ percent of my customers get taken care of. On a hit and run like that your adjuster/estimator should have been out the next day to take pictures and get you dialed in with a body shop, if that's not happening, push. Don't let them set you aside, make them do their jobs.

 

[GMoose]

Haha yeah I plan on doing it when spring/summer comes around when I got a good week with no rain. Did some research on the internet, watched some YouTube videos about some Rustoleum paint for the miner paint chip in the rear dent. Hopefully just got find an old piece of metal and practice on that, before I do it to my car. Else wise I'll be doing a lot more sanding than I want to hah. Uh..would it be a good idea to use Rustoleum paint/primers?

5150DSM: Thanks for the advice! Yeah I have a lot of free time tomorrow afternoon, gonna get on the ball everyday till I hear something!

 

[91-GS]

Rust-o-leum is good for small temporary touchups on the car, but use actual automotive paint/clear for final repaint.

 

[gophishy10]

That front one could probably be popped out pretty easy if you know what you're doing, that rear one though I would suggest just replacing the panel or the other solution just load it full of bondo and paint it over.
Why should your insurance have to pay though, whoever hit the car should be the one paying for it how did they even make that rear dent is what I'm wondering

Terrible advice! Do you know what happens when you "load it full of bondo"? Not good. You will be redoing it in a week. Also, do you know how time consuming it would be to replace the quarterpanel? Hours upon hours. First you would have to gut the whole trunk area and interior anywhere near that panel if you don't want the car to set fire. Then you have to drill out every single spot weld holding that panel on. Get the hint??? Don't post if you don't know.

OP, like said, don't touch it if the insurance company hasn't looked at it yet. I work at a body shop and have seen people get screwed over because they tried fixing it before the insurance company took pictures. If you are comfortable enough to fix it yourself, listen to what 91-gs said (saves me from typing out exactly what he did). I would tell you the same process. On the front, I'm betting you could use a smaller suction cup puller. If you use this method, take a body hammer and tap on the high areas while you pull out. This will help keep the dent out. On the back, I would push out as much as I could from the inside and then pull from the outside with a stud-gun. Try to pull out as much as you can because using a lot of bondo on one area will make it more prone to crack.

Good luck!

 

[91-GS]

On the front, I'm betting you could use a smaller suction cup puller. If you use this method, take a body hammer and tap on the high areas while you pull out. This will help keep the dent out.
On the back, I would push out as much as I could from the inside and then pull from the outside with a stud-gun.

Thanks for "tap on the high areas" part. I completly forgot to mention that. This technique can also be used if you are trying to push a dent out rather than pulling it.
As far as a stud gun goes, it's a great tool, but is quite on the expencive side unless a local pawn shop has one. Here's Harbor Freight's version: Stud Welder Dent Repair Kit

For those who never heard of a stud gun, you would use it to attach (weld) a small steel nail (AKA stud) in the low spot of the dent. Then you would use a special sliding hammer to pull on the stud, pulling the dent out. After you'r done pulling, cut off the stud and smooth out the spot where it was attached. Sometimes it is nesessary to use more than one stud on the same dent and pull a little at at time on each one 'till the dent is pulled out.
There are other attachments for the stud gun. For example one of them allows you to heat up a spot so you can then cool it off with water, thus "shrinking" the metal and making the high spot dissapear.

One more thing: before you start working the metal, try to imagine how it got deformed, what part was hit first, what happened after that. Then work the metal opposite of the wreck, basically try to "rewind" and undo it.

 

[GMoose]

Well actually got through with the insurance company this morning. Looks like I'm free to touch it all I want, they said they can't cover it .

 

[snowborder714]

Please try again with a more descriptive thread title. A generic thread title like this does not help me when browsing new threads to see if I can offer help or when searching old threads for info to help myself or others.