flatlander_summit

I hijacked a couple posts and didn't get much of a response, I figured maybe I should just start my own.

Last weekend my best friend's wife backed into my car while it was in their driveway, and put a couple scuffs that came out with wax, but her tailpipe made a half moon impression on my bumper. I've been bummed about this all week because the car hadn't had any body or paint work done on it and was immaculate before this. The color of the car is DSOM and I'm afraid the paint will never match again.

What do you guys think my best options are? Get it fixed or leave it with a small half moon that bothers the daylights out of me each time I walk by the car? How much is this little bit of body work going to impact the resale price of the car?

Scottys78

How far away are you from selling the car?

If it bothers you that much get it fixed. And I believe your friend should absorb the cost

Johnathon59

As you said it BOTHERS you & probably always will, I would at least contact a reputable (corvette) body shop & get an estimate, might not be as $$ bad as you think, good luck

MPA

If the fix is done well, it shouldn't affect the value at all - it's not like it was a front end collision, it's a minor event.

flatlander_summit

I actually just bought this car on the 4th of July so if I sell it, it won't be for 3-4 years if I ever sell it. My folks have a burnt orange 72 so I would like to hold onto both if funds allow.

As far as fixing it, I'm more concerned about the value of the Corvette after the body work. My buddy is taking full responsibility for fixing it, that's not an issue, My buddy and his wife are great people. He invited me to stay with him and his wife for the weekend to hang out and my car got ran into, I don't know who felt worse him or his wife. This was a situation where I couldn't even get mad, I thought I was going to vomit after it happened, but his wife topped that and spent over an hour crying because of what happened.

JAvery20

Its a corvette, if you drive it, you'll have to paint the front bumper eventually. Both my Corvettes have been repainted on the front fascia from the rock chips alone. Still cheaper than the clear bra route. Go get it fixed!

Eric ray

If you have a front license plate, relocate, over the imprint.

Gars08vert

My 2 cents: I'd go get a couple estimates. But first ask around and see if you can find an excellent body shop that has the word of mouth approval. Those types of places do amazing work. I just last week brought the wife's car (2012 Crosstour) to a body shop because the AH snow plows put a dent in the passendger's door with the plow blade back in Feburary. A small dent and a scrape about 1 foot by 1 foot and the dent was small (2 of em) and about 1/4 inch deep. When I picked it up I was amazed at how it looked...no matter how hard I tried I could NOT see that anything ever happened. The franchize name is CARSTAR...I believe it is nationwide. They offer a lifetime warranty for free... so if your not 100% satisfied, they will redo it... and with your DSOM, u cant go wrong with that!! It cost us 488 bucks total.

c54u

You can fix it.
You can look at it for 3-4 years.

Those are your only options.

Will the next buyer want an indent in the bumper.....probably not.
Will you look at the indent for your complete ownership of the car....probably not.
Will fixing the dent and repainting the bumper have an effect on the resale value of the car.....no!
Will fixing the bumper be the best option.....yes....you will be happy, your buddy and wife will feel better by fixing it, and the car will look great!

Good luck.

Red08

You say that he's your best friend, so I assume that he has already offered to pay for the repair without you having to bring it up. Get a couple of estimates and tell your friend how much the repair bill will be.

EVRose

If you are near San Diego or Las Vegas there is a place called Bumper Medic that specializes in repairing plastic bumpers. I had a Grand Prix with a 6" crack in the rear bumper. They repaired it without replacing the bumper cover and I could not tell the crack was ever there when they finished. Paint match was also perfect.

Boomer111

I'd just live with this minor flaw especially if concerend with mismatch paint.

I have a inch long gash down to the door panel material on my MS passenger door. It is located very low and hardly noticeable unless looking for it. I was told by multipal shops that touch up would draw attention and a repaint of the door panel with blending of other panels was the correct fix.

Never did it and I have forgotten about it for the most part.

Give it a month and if it still is on your mind then act accordingly.

A off color match would be more irritating.

AORoads

The above and Gars' post. Just get a couple of estimates and try not to knock your friend out of the box with the two highest estimates.

Based on your friend's and his wife's reaction, I'd go get a couple of low estimates, ask him to pay some of the estimate.

Then, really, I'd go find an excellent shop (or EVRose's suggestion of/in Las Vegas or San Diego), and get it done by real pros. It will take time, art and effort to get that paint right and it can be done. But time is worth money in everyone's book, so don't expect to pay $15/hr for three hours' worth of work plus paint cost---ain't gonna happen.

Then, again if EVRose says that's what it costs, I will not doubt him. I just know that paint and body shops charge more and usually do more, but maybe not in his example.

If you don't know already there are dozens of ways to find the best paint shops (some, like in San D. won't even paint whole cars any longer---too time consuming and tedious). I'd start with what I call, the usual suspects----such as, Corvette clubs, Porsche clubs, high end service dept. mgrs's recommendations (Lexus, Porsche, MB, etc.), hot rod/street rod clubs, etc. You may be looking for a classic car restoration shop, for instance, and Corvette has many of those starting with the national club, NCRS.

Good luck. You'll have to decide if it's worth zero $s to leave it as is, $40-$200 to just fix it, or more to get it really done so it never looks like it was done. No one will know if you do it out of pocket and don't tell/ask for reimbursement from your insurance company. That's the way it is.

flatlander_summit

Thanks for all the input guys. I appreciate it! It is going to bother me to leave it. I'm going to start looking for an appropriate body shop somewhere within a couple hundred miles of here. I hope I can find something. I'm in Central ND where body shops don't necessarily know what it means to match paint.

purvistechie

IMHO, you HAVE to fix it. Unless it's "just a car" like it is to many on this forum, you will go nuts every time you see it.

If it's "just a car", buy a nice looking bra and call it good. I highly recommend Speed Lingerie, I have one for trips that I would leave on all the time if I didn't care about the paint underneath (you need to remove and clean under it each time you wash the car if you care).

Rebel Yell

Like you it would drive me nuts just knowing the dent is there. As stated above a good body shop can fix it with no problems. It's good to hear that your friend is more than willing to repair the ding. Like others I would probably help pay the repair cost because a friend like that is priceless. Good luck.

AORoads

Here's a start:

Corv. clubs: https://www.google.com/search?source...595&gws_rd=ssl

No lexus there, but Porsche: call http://valley-imports.porschedealer.com/

North Dakota Street Rod assn.: http://www.ndsra.com/

COMMANDER2OOO

yup totally agree

cegusa

If it didn't break through the paint and is more of an indentation, do to the the flexibility and natural memory properties of the pliable composition, you may find that over time in the heat and sun that it may lessen enough to not worry about it. If you are convinced you are going to fix it, I would find someone handy with a heat gun that may be able to help coax it some. Maybe a good paint protection guy would be a good choice. I have seen this work on interior panel materials that got scratched one way or the other. Good luck in whichever way you decide to go about it.

flatlander_summit

I did think about this that it might work its way out if I parked it out in the sun and it flexed and came back. I have a pdr buddy that I might get an opinion from to see if he knows of anyway to work that back. I know hail dents can do this in steel.