So my car suffered from a minor coming-together on the freeway last week.
Other person’s fault, and they didn’t pull over. I called the cops, but when the CHP guy arrived, he said that he couldn’t really arrest the other party for failure to stop because the damage to my car was minor enough that the person could reasonably argue that they did not know they hit us. The cop was very nice and very sympathetic, but he also pointed out (correctly) that it would also be a case of the other guy’s word against mine about whose fault it was.
So, i’m left with a ding on the left quarter-panel, just above the wheel well, that needs taking care of. It’s a 2008 Honda Civic Coupe. Here are a few cellphone pics to give you an idea of the damage. The damage is about 10-11 inches across.
I took the car to a body shop around the corner today to get an estimate, because i wanted to work out whether it’s worth going through insurance.
And fuck me, it looks like i’ll have to. I admit that this is not my area of expertise, and there’s no reason that my own sense of what it should cost is actually accurate, but i was pretty surprised.
The estimate was $2,121.75.
19.4 hours of body labor
10.4 hours of paint labor
plus about $374 for paint supplies
Now, if i go through insurance, this isn’t going to cost me much at all. I have a $250 deductible, and rental car coverage. But i was, i admit, quite staggered at the price. Now i want to know whether i was simply ignorant about the costs of body work, or if the shop if unusually expensive.*
I know that there are people on the Dope with expertise in these things, including people who have worked with cars, and people who work in insurance, so i just thought i’d ask: does that price seem about right to you?
Any info would be most welcome.
- The shop certainly seems like a good one, in terms of quality. They are always busy, and they get excellent reviews on Yelp etc. I have no doubt that they would do a great job of actually fixing the problem.