Can I Save Money on This Repair?

[freematt]

My Nissan Maxima ('97) has light collision damage on the driver's front corner. The bumper cover and the fender are the affected parts. The bumper cover is cracked a little around the turn signal and below on the underside and the fender has a little crease that has rusted through where it meets the lower half of the bumper cover. The car has basecoat/clearcoat white pearl paint so matching is a problem. In mint condition the car is worth about $7000. Body shops want about $2500 - $3000 to do the repair. I am told that the pearl paint makes it necessary to repaint a large portion of the car to get a good match.


Can I save any money by buying and installing a new bumper cover and fender myself and letting the body shop paint them. Or do they need to be painted before being installed and then blended into the hood and drivers door after they are installed? -- Matt

[Len]

Matt
The way it would be done in our shop is that we would paint the bumper cover OFF the car and we would paint the edges of the fender before it's installed and painted on the car.

You may be able to save a couple bucks by buying the parts yourself but if you're not set up to do some painting it may be best to just allow the shop to do the entire job. Most shops don't want you buying parts that they will need to install so you better clear it with the shop before you do anything else.

[Henry]

My Nissan Maxima ('97) has light collision damage on the driver's front corner. The bumper cover and the fender are the affected parts. The bumper cover is cracked a little around the turn signal and below on the underside and the fender has a little crease that has rusted through where it meets the lower half of the bumper cover. The car has basecoat/clearcoat white pearl paint so matching is a problem. In mint condition the car is worth about $7000. Body shops want about $2500 - $3000 to do the repair. I am told that the pearl paint makes it necessary to repaint a large portion of the car to get a good match.


Can I save any money by buying and installing a new bumper cover and fender myself and letting the body shop paint them. Or do they need to be painted before being installed and then blended into the hood and drivers door after they are installed? -- Matt

Just wondering if you have the estimate to quote from. What did the shops find for damage; just the cover and fender? What about lights and radiator support, etc. You need to see hidden damage behind the cover. Need more info. Henry

[freematt]

Thanks for the feedback.

I had two shops look at it and neither thought there was any more than cosmetic damage. The last estimator said to leave it alone; Not worth it to repair. Consumer's Reports says that it is a top buy in a used car, so I hate to see it degrade. However, I think the smart thing to do is sell it as-is and use the money I would have to spend on repairs for a clean, low mile replacement.
I live in a bad section of the rust-belt. Cars really take a beating here. Better to start with a nice used version of the same car from Texas or California. -- Matt

[Phil V]

Whats the mileage on your car ?