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Old 27 Oct 2009, 06:04 am
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Candyman Candyman is offline
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Smile Re: Hit 'n Run Monday... Large Photos

Hey their Travis2k7,

Sorry to hear about your incident their. Now keep in mind that I am not an accident investigator, but rather just a body and paint guy, but for what its worth, here are my objective thoughts on your damage.

From the pic's the damage looks to be consistent with a pick up, van, or suv due to the height at the point of impact. A car would have most likely left marks much lower, most likely leaving damage on the front left side of the bumper filler, and lower valance area's as well a the wheel itself. By the damage being higher up indicates a vehicle consistent with the one you have in question.

The Paint flaking is due to the type of crease in the fender. Think of your paint as a kind of M&M so to speak. The outer shell is reasonably hard unless you bite in to it at which point it cracks and flakes apart. Paint is bonded to the surface of a part kinda like a thin shell. If the part is changed suddenly to a hard crease, the paint with crack like this and cause it to flake off.

From what I can tell, it looks like he hit it right close to the front of the fender and continued moving along until just a little short of the door where he stopped, and then gave it a little more gas causing the creases in the rear of the fender, and stress damage into the door. I drew on your pic to show you where I think the point of impact is and where it looks like he may have stopped and given a little gas causing further damage..



If their is any trace of paint transfer, I would guess it to be from his rear bumper, and should be somewhere around here.



If I were going to fix it, I would be looking at replacing the fender, door, door hinges and hardware, and then re-spray blending half way into both the hood, and left rear door. I would be betting on a rough estimate of somewhere between $1900.00 - $2300.00+ for the fix. Its hard to say if their might be a little internal damage behind the front fender but I kinda doubt it. I think it is just cosmetics. You are lucky it didn't damage the hood, headlight, or bumper filler as well adding to the parts list, as well as, you also have an easy color to work with which will make life much easier for the repair shop as well.

When you see see your Adjuster, as well as wherever you take it for the repair work, make extra sure you mention that you want to use "OEM" Replacement Parts, and not Aftermarket Parts which are a cheaper knock off version of replacement parts which are made using thinner material which do not hold up to factory spec's, are very cheaply produced, and are well known for causing major issues with fitment, and quality! If you do not specify, you may get a cheaper job which you do not want, so be very careful!

And lastly, just for what its worth, it kinda sounds like the guy knew he did it, and feels bad about it. If he wants to try to talk it out, and work something out with you, I might see how it plays out. If he gives you any problems, or argues it, then I would just call the authorities out, file a formal report, and let them investigate it. You can call the authorities out before hand while he is at work, but an accident is bad enough, a Hit & Run, is a whole other issue all together.

That is my two cents for what it is worth. I wish you the very best of luck on this one, if you have any questions on the repair, or what to look for to find a decent body shop, as well as what to look for after the repair, please let me know and I would be happy to help guide you through a couple of things you should look for.

Go easy, and I will catch you later.

Candyman
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