My 2007 HCH was struck by a falling sycamore branch in my driveway last week. Very glad it wasn't one of my kids under it when it fell.

I have a 2 inch by 1 inch dent in the right front fender, on the top where it merges with the hood. If you draw a line straight up from the 10 o'clock position on the wheelwell that'll give you a sense of where it is.

It's a busy part of the sheetmetal, and two different PDR places have told me it's not a good candidate because it's on a sculpted surface and there's a crease. No paint damage, no damage to the hood.

My dealer's body shop quoted me $520 to fix, claiming that the bumper and fender will both need to be removed, the headlight realigned, and both the fender *and hood* painted/clearcoated "to blend the color." The last part was the most surprising.

So, my question -- has anyone else with a Galaxy Grey car been told the manufacturer paint is hard to match (I know the touchup is way off)? Does this sound like a ripoff?

My notes on the experience thus far -- I *may* regret my choice of colors, and as it will cost extra I definitely regret the presence of the pinstripes (even though I didn't pay for them the first time). In the future I will keep my car in my garage when it's home!

My best advice is to not sweat the small stuff. After years of obsessing over paint and cleanliness, I decided not to worry about it with the Hondas.

I will now even set things down on top of my cars!!

$520 doesn't seem that steep and you probably won't notice any difference in the color -- it's Grey!

Or just don't get it fixed. 1" x 2"? Sounds like a battle scar.

Sorry, if that's not the answer you wanted. I just hope you don't have worry (regret) over it.

Cheers, nf

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Your auto insurance should cover you on this. It will not increase your premium because it wasn't your fault.

Paintless Dent Removal (PDR) in case someone didn't know what the initial stand for, will work on some cars. depending on where the dent is and how big the dent is will determine if it can be fixed that way. In that car they will still remove your wheel well cover, remove your tire to get to the location. Usually the PDR can tell you up front if it will work.

The other option as you stated here was at a repair shop to remove the fender, straighten it or replace it. Your car is not that old to require matching so you should be able to get a skilled boy repair shop to replace your fender and install it. Adding additional coats of paint and clear will trigger front end damage alert if you trade or sell your car in the future.

I will tell you from experience, silver is hard to match just becuase of its properties and you do need to blend in order to get the uniformed look.

----
1987 Chevy Spectrum - 200,000+ Miles -Junk Yard
1994 Honda Civic DX Coupe - Truck Hit it
1998 Acura 2.3 CL - End of Lease
2002 Acura TL 3.2 - End of Lease
2004 Acura MDX - End of Lease
2007 Mercedes ML350 -Lemon
2007 Honda Civic Hybrid w/Navi - Active

I appreciate the words of wisdom. No loss of perspective for me, thankfully, coming as this does on the heels of seeing so many folks lose everything they had out in CA. Plus, I'm the one who wanted to live in the neighborhood with the 70-year-old sycamores. It's a bruise. I'll just try not to stare at it too much on the days I mail in my car payment. And if I do anything about it (which I may, yet) I will wait until the end of car-hockey season here in PA.

On my ford Explorer it was about 500 to replace and paint an entire new fender. I would try a couple of other body shops and see what they quote.

It has become QUITE common around here (Dallas area) for the "blending" to be overdone. Often they paint FAR more of the fender/hood than should really be necessary. I think it's common now because of lack of talent in the field, but it could be because of all the fancy metallics (mine has THREE DIFFERENT metallic-flake colors in in). They can be quite a beast to match. Reflection in the sun vs. shade can be a real challenge to get right. So most shops don't try. They just paint more of the car. If a spot has to be painted that is near an edge, usually they'll paint at least part of BOTH sides of that edge. This is what you are experiencing.
$520. That's probably in the ball-park, although if you find a mom-n-pop shop (check out their work carefully first), you can probably get it done for $300-350. I had a "Service King" estimate for $500, another "chain paint shop" estimate for $430. I got it done for $200. It pays to find someone without the overhead. They're out there.

Steve

STOP terrorism - Drive a HYBRID

Vehicles:
350 miles a week ------------ 2006 HCH II, Magnetic Pearl, w/NAVI (born on May 25, 2006)
350 miles a month ---------- 2003 Mazda Tribute ES-V6
350 miles a year (for now) - 1986 Mercedes 560SL

"Your auto insurance should cover you on this. It will not increase your premium because it wasn't your fault."


Auto insurance only covers damage from a ficus.

Sigh, got into a fender bender last week so this thread interests me. I have a 1k deduct so it looks like if I even bother to fix it, it's my dime considering the comments in this thread.



If you must know, I wasn't quite paying attention. I thought the person in front made the right turn and was too busy to see if I can do the same to notice that she came to a complete stop and I just rolled right into her. 15th and 75 in Plano, it's a wide (>90 degree) right turn. It was around 5mph, that was all the damage there is, bumper/quarter panel and hood gaps all fine (there is a slight 2mm gap between the bumper and headlamp above the scratches but the other headlight gap is okay).

I have done something similar to that, luckily my front license plate took most of the damage.

We have one of those too.

Remember when bumpers could actually BUMP stuff?

I'd love to put some big strip of rubber (with sticky back) on our bumber, but the wife might not like it.

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