Hit a deer...
45-50 mph, drivers front corner. f@#ker splattered all over the windshield. Headlight, bumper, hood and fender are junked. Drove home and car drives fine. Should I ask the insurance to paint the whole car so the new panels will match?
A good independent bodyshop should be able to custom match your color. Ask folks who have collector and muscle cars where they go for body & paint work. (These folks can spend $10K or more for a quality paint job.) When I had the front bumper cover replaced on my 04 CTS, my shop had me bring the car in, clean, on both sunny and cloudy days so they could match the color. The cloudy day was also snowy earlier, so the owner ran it through a car wash before doing the paint match. When I bought my used LS430, it needed lots of TLC (both bumper covers refinished, three panels on the right side of the car - they painted the whole right side, and the trunk lid). The owner said Lexus had a lot of variation in the Flint Mica color (blue-gray) and they brought in a paint company rep to help match the color, flake size, etc. He said the first test sprays had too large of a flake and it looked like a bass boat. Anyway, I knew it would be great because the owner's wife drove a beautiful LS400 that they rebuilt and repainted after being totaled.
it's doubtful an insurance company will pay to repaint any areas that were not damaged. Doesn't hurt to ask though.
be sure to follow Car Compulsive's suggestion and find the best shop you can. You can ask them what the incremental cost would be to spray the rest of the car---should be a discount off normal rates as they are already buying the paint, etc.
good luck!
be sure to follow Car Compulsive's suggestion and find the best shop you can. You can ask them what the incremental cost would be to spray the rest of the car---should be a discount off normal rates as they are already buying the paint, etc.
good luck!
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Dropped the car off at the dealer today, and I know their estimate will be outrageous, and the insurance will pay it. Can anyone guesstimate what the cost might be for the aforementioned damage? Anyone else had similar damage repaired?







