Body Repair Info And Advice

[_danny_]

Hello all

I have a 2008 RX400h, my pride and joy. Yesterday it had an accident. It was our fault, and I'm only just getting over the feeling of wanted to cry every 5 minutes!

It's had a small (doesn't feel small to me, but I guess it is) rip to the body work, the left rear wheel arch. I don't know anything about car repairs or maintenance - never needed to - and was hoping someone here could help.

What I'd like to know is how serious is this thing? Can you get this type of damage repaired without replacing that whole side panel? Is it a big job? Am I going to have to remortgage the house, or I will looking at a few hundred (or less, or in between)? As you can see, I really don't have a clue whether this is incredibly serious, or whether I just need to tighten my belt for a wee while and get it fixed. Any advice or info would be very, very appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Danny

[donmar]

Sorry to here about your lexus and i would feel the same ?shop around it may not be as bad as you think, are you not protected on insurance, there is a place over here spray masters and would prob charge about £150/£200 and they do a good job, my mate had his lexus done on a bumper scuff and a ding on back wing, i think they charged £75 for the bumper scuff and £100 for the ding, hope this gives you some idea

[_danny_]

Thanks donmar, but don't you think this is more than a 'ding' and a 'scuff'? I mean, this is actually a hole/rip/tear to the body work. With a 'ding' I would imagine you're 'just' pulling or pushing the metalwork back out, and a scuff gets treated the same way as a scratch, but this is actually a hole - bits of the car are missing, if you like (although no doubt, still attached to the car, just in the wrong place!). That's what I'm worried about. What do you think?

[donmar]

from what i can see it looks like the hole could be filled

send these a photo and ask for a price i know its not in your area but it will give you some idea

www.paintmaster-telford.co.uk

tracyw12@hotmail.co.uk

[mikeyv]

Hi Danny, it doesn't look too bad, though you can't be 100% from a photo obviously.

The most important thing now is to get a good man to do the job.

Ask around as much as you can to get somebody who will do a quality repair.

Good luck with it.

[_danny_]

Thanks donmar, I'll give them a try. And thanks mikeyv.

Great to see that no one has replied with "Oh my god, that's screwed!!!" :) I swear, I was practically suicidal all day yesterday. I'm not a "car man", but have always wanted a Lexus, and I finally picked this one up in January of this year.

If anyone else can help with opinons, advice, info or possible repair places, please do let me know.

Thanks

[steve2006]

I had my accident damage shown below after and before, repaired by a local old school bodyshop. They reshaped the edge of the wing and bonnet, repaired the cracked bumper, resprayed as required including a complete bonnet respray, perfect colour match and panel alignment, also had a rear bumper scuff done at the same time for £650.00.

Yours should be a lot less of course just find a good bodyshop and expect to pay 150-200.

I think I had the camera setting wrong for the after shot the colour is the same believe me!

[ROYT]

From the pics, looks to me like a handy body man would use a stud welder to pull the tear together.

Then weld it together, then sand fill and spray.

It's not a disaster, the worst part is a getting a quality matching paint finish.