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accident; is this repairable?

997 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  Tentin
Someone made a left turn in front of me and bashed my bumper in. I can't get the hood open. Is this repairable? A shop told me they couldn't get the parts.
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That looks very much repairable. You'll have to source second hand parts, but that's not so complicated.
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Someone hit you? They had insurance? Here's what I would do. Go through with the whole claim process, get a quote from the body shop they recommend or whatever. You can choose to get a check instead of getting work at the shop. Tell them you're going to repair it yourself. They should cash you out enough for an ARB bumper and some junkyard parts.

At least that's what I've done. Insurance sponsored me some nice race seats on one of my old cars after a neighbor down the street hit it when it was parked. Then just fixed the mirror he hit myself. Turn a negative into a positive.
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Its impossible to assess the damage by a photo, There is no way on knowing until you have removed all the broken parts off the front and start measuring the frame & body...
With that said;

If the frame rails, x-member & forward bulkhead are untouched its a pretty simple repair.

From looking at the photo it looks like the forward forward bulk head may be damaged some. if so, this will make it difficult to align the grill, lights & bumper all together. It will also take some creativity to aim the head light.

From looking at the photo the front bumper mount is pushed through the bumper. This is a indication of some possible frame damage.

Im not sure how good you are at body and frame work, So im thinning your best option is to slap a off road bumper on it and call it a day.
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Well I got the hood to open. I think the frame is ok but the radiator support is bent in and I have no way of unbending it. I'll try another shop.
How bent? Can you post pictures? I bought my Trooper with a bent radiator support, and was able to bend it back almost perfectly with a chain. Don't get super excited, because I got lucky. When my wife rear-ended a lady in her Camry, I could not bend the radiator support back into place as close as I'd have liked and I had to use a bunch of washers as spacers to get the hood to latch again.

Post a bunch of pictures and we'll help how we can. I have some photos of me fixing my Trooper front end using my Amigo here: Inside cups of Trooper front axle different?
Not at all sure that will be helpful to you though. Best of luck.
The radiator support and the forward bulkhead are the same thing. I can tell its bent by the position of the head light. you can bend it back by the use of a 2x4, chain and a tree or car. it will never be perfect and you may have to get creative with headlight aiming however you can get it close enough. Or.... Just let the insurance take care of it.
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Yeah, the collision people said $4300 to repair but they may not be able to get the parts. But the average car value is about $2600. So I guess it's totaled and the insurance company will take it. I sure don't have the equipment to fix this.
Yeah, the collision people said $4300 to repair but they may not be able to get the parts. But the average car value is about $2600. So I guess it's totaled and the insurance company will take it. I sure don't have the equipment to fix this.
I find it hard to believe how incredibly overpriced such repairs are in the US.
Price depends on the shop. For examples: I just had my Subaru Baja painted - JUST PAINTED. Note that I originally provided the paint, I removed all trim that didn't need painting (door handles, bumpers, mirrors etc). All I wanted was someone to sand and shoot. Quotes: one shop - 2600.00. A "Maaco" chain shop THEIR paint 800.00, and nothing but bad reviews. A facebook guy who "paints anything", 800.00 Finally, a small one man body shop, with a good reputation: 1200.00 - "and I'm going to fix all these dents. I won't do it without fixing the dents". I already knew it would take him "some time" to get to it. Ended up being 6 weeks (I expected maybe a month). My single stage paint with hardener gave him a problem. He had to sand the whole car down and repaint it. Used base coat / clear coat (HIS choice). I ended up at 1600.00 out the door. The 400.00 was his cost for the paint.
My routine body work accident damage for work vehicles has ranged from 2 to 4 K for minor body damage to cosmetic repairs. These are for > year old cars. Many shops will hit you with a high cost because they don't want to work on an older vehicle. Don't forget the "supply chain" crap too. Dennis

BTW: the tree, come along, blocks, and chain can probably fix this. You might check you local facebook, craigslist, or offerup types of media for body work
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Insurance will give you the option of keeping back the car after being deemed totaled. Usually for dirt cheap, like $500 removed from your payout. It really does look fixable. It's up to you though, I could see just wanting to move on.
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