Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related FFQ - Cost of repairing a car

Say your...car...has been slightly dented in a fenderbender. Nothing too spectacular, a few dings, bent fender, smashed headlamp...that kind of thing. Minor stuff.

You take it to a garage. What kind of money would we be talking about to have it repaired - at a garage that's slightly ripping you off, charging what some might call an exorbitant amount? Say, about a third higher than the norm?

As a rough, ballpark figure in the meantime, I've got down $368. Too high? Too low? Just about right? Do tell!

Thanks!

LabRat

I was in an accident in October where the trunk of my Ford Focus stationwagon got smashed.

Using used replacement parts my estimate (which ended up totaling about $3000 in repairs, so don't go higher than that hehe), included among many others:

Replacing rear bumper: 437.00
Replacing rear tail light: 81.25

There were also additions for bodywork labor, paint labor, frame labor, and paint supplies.

Bodywork labor: 38.00/hr
Paint labor: 38.00/hr
Frame labor: 45.00/hr
Paint supplies: 24.00/hr

I doubt with just a few dings you'd need any frame labor though -- that's (I believe), the part where they place your car on a stretcher to uncrunch it ;p

Anyway, hope this helps.

I was rearended last year. Nothing major, but the bumper was dented and cracked, the body dented a little from being pushed forward, the trunk door was open just a tad, and the brake lights broken. The other person's insurance covered it, but we got a copy of the bill, and it was $2000.

My husband had an accident with similar damage to Karen's car last year, and the charge was $1500.
Susan

But are you talking 2005 figures, Rat, or mid-1990s?


Wendy

Thanks, Aria and Karen - just the kind of thing I'm looking for. Was about to say, 'Woah! Looks like my estimate was on the conversative side!' But then Wendy posted.

Very good point, Wendy! This is S1 we're talking about here.

LabRat (who always forgets to do that particular time adjustment)

It's still quite a bit on the conservative side, Rat, especially if you want the price to be a rip-off.

I found this nifty inflation calculator , which unfortunately doesn't do the exact type of conversion we need (from present to past), but we can work around that.

A few examples from figures I plugged in:

What cost $1100 in 1993 would cost $1446.30 in 2005.

What cost $368 in 1993 would cost $483.85 in 2005.


Sara

LabRat, we had a relatively minor fender bender with a deer back in the 80s: fender, bumper, 1 headlight, and left quarter panel, and it cost $800 back then. $348 is way, way too conservative, especially if you want it to seem excessive.

I also depends on the car. My sister-in-law lent her car to her sister in the '90's. I think it was a LeBaron. And to replace the tail light was over $200. I think it was because maybe it wasn't a separate light but one of those panel jobs that wrap around. My brother didn't believe it and called someone he knew and they said yea that on the newer cars that repairs were high.

I was planning to buy a new car then and my insurance agent told me to get together a list and talk to him because certain cars if in an accident had such high repair costs that the insurance companies didn't pay to fix them they junked them if the repairs were over a certain amount. This was mainly on the lower priced cars because of the depreciation that they just didn't figure it was worth pouring money into them to fix them. So you could wind up paying the same amount for insurance for a low priced car that you did for an expensive car.

I looked at him and said it didn't matter that I could only afford to pay so much for a car. That just because I could wind up paying the same amount for insurance on a Ford Escort as I would for a Ford Mustang didn't matter. I did have the money to buy the higher price car.

Anyway hope this helps.

Oh and depending on how the damage is depends on how they repair it. I got in the late 70's or very early 80's and it was close to a $700 on my AMC Matador - steel body that they could hammer out some dents. But because of the way the tail light was smashed in at the joint of side panel and truck they had to cut out part of the panel, get one from a junker and welded in the new part. So also depending on how it is dented depends on the price.

Sara, Sheila, Kmar - thank you! This is just what I need.

Looks like I need to adjust it to a few grand then. That's cool.

LabRat

One minor point no one else mentioned is that we would take a dented car to a body shop instead of a garage. A garage could make engine repairs, but a body shop repairs dents, broken lights, i.e. body damage. :rolleyes:

On the subject of accouting for inflation, the fine people of the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis do have an inflation calculator that can from any year you select to any year you select.

Fed Inflation Calculator

I realize the thread is from last week, but finals have been keeping me busy.

-Em