Rear Quarter Panel
 

Today someone backed out of the parking while i was passing by and hit the rear driver's side quarter panel. does anyone know how much it cost to replace the quarter panel + paint? luckily the rear bumper + door + side skirt seems fine. the wheel is kind of scratched up and the valve stem was broken off.

$0. The person that hit you will pay or there insurance company will.

Assume it will be pricey - considering the area damaged.. Hell - the wheel will likely need replacing too. But I agree with Spohn.. The cost is immaterial to you. Its the other driver's concern.

I really hope that is the case... and also get that wheel replaced as well cause its still a brand new car with less than 9k miles. =(

the only thing im worried about the most is how the paint will settle in with the metal since i have ppw. Ive read some horror stories about people trying to match the paint color and failing miserably.

The repair cost on that will be $5000+ if not more...

Good god... $5000???? i really hope i win this case... i mean.. i dont know about other states, but if you reverse out of a parking space.... you have to yeild to on coming traffic. therefore, giving the right away to the flowing traffic.. regardless if you "finished" parking or not??? yes??

The way it happened was... he was going in to park and he gangster parked it in middle of the line going half way in.. and i guess he decided to reverse out to correctly park it. and i was right behind him and passing through. thats when he clipped my driver's side rear quarter panel and his rear bumber passenger side was torn to pieces.

i would be worried about the suspension components too on the rear driver side. a lot of damage is hidden underneath sometimes... and yes, pearl white is a very difficult color to paint match. they will probably paint the entire side of the car.

as for the accident you should be fine as far as who caused it. especially damage to the side of the car, insurance will quickly decide that you did not hit him, rather he hit you. my wife was hit the same way while driving a corolla (new at the teim) which i hated to hell and i was so frikken happy when this middle-aged woman backed into her while she drove by. it was a perfect accident. wife was not hurt, no kids in the car at the time, and enough damage to sell the pos and get a nicer dd. :p still smelled fresh paint when i traded it in right after repair (before carfax). :D

kenchan you are the man!!! I did the same thing with my old lexus haha some lady decided to slam her brakes on while we were on the express way. I was all but stopped when abs kicked in and literally her rear bumper hit downward onto my hood and bumper and put a hole in my radiator. needless to say I did not see the leak from the radiator was like I can drive this outa here and then clunk 1/2mile down the road motor siezed. I was like Mother F*cker!!! got the repairs done from progressive... which they did a sh*tty job and traded it in before it hit car fax... I made out on a dealer for once lol

to the OP you will be fine the other driver is at fault. Now the rear QPs are spot welded on similar to that of an s2000. I watched as Artcraft took one of my buddies rear QPs off because some A**hole decided to ram his car's rear end. What happens is they will order the unit... undo the spot welds and re-spot weld the new one in place. very simple process just time consuming. Now definitely have your suspension checked always best to have a shop of your choice do the work no matter what the insurance company says and ask your shop to tell them the suspension needs to be replaced... if it doesnt take the check and get coilovers ;)

thats awesome. Im planning on keeping this car so im not too worried about the trade in value or anything like that. I just really hope my car is back to the way it was before and win this case because like you said, he hit me. I really dont want my insurance to shoot up and pay a 500 deductible. =(

I hope they also check my suspension area as well. hopefully everythings all intact. =) ill post up the pics of the damages and maybe the pics of the other person's car too cause we are in the same garage. lol

You have to basically tear apart the rear of the car in order to do this. There is a lot of cutting, welding, grinding, body-filling, and sanding involved in replacing a quarter panel.

Simple process? Not really, and very time-consuming and easily messed up.

I just got a new passenger quarter panel, door handle, and rear bumper paint fixed. Cost $2600 for everything. The passenger quarter panel's msrp is 5xx from Nissan.

It was done in 8 days.

All those steps depend on the amount of damage and what parts were affected. His case seems very simple and I have watched the process first hand. It is not rocket science and is like I said a simple process. There will always be some tweaking that has to go on in any repair. yes it is time consuming and honestly if you pick the right shop they will do a great job and you wont even know anything happened to the car... Artcraft has done amazing work on my cars when they were damaged and 10 out of 10 times it came out better than the OEM work and my car was fully detailed for me... Jeff (the owner) walked the entire vehicle over with me showed me where the damage was and showed me what they did to fix my cars. I am very hands on with my cars and Jeff respected that and showed me all of the steps and even took pics for me of the process if I wasnt able to be at the shop.

Sooo to the OP find a shop that has a great reputation not only for Customer Service but for Quality work! You will find yourself only going to that shop with all your work! Also, ask your shop to tell the insurance company that the parts in the suspension need to be replaced and that way you are covered if they are tweaked you have new ones if the shop feels they are fine take the check and buy some mods... its the other guys insurance companies money ;)

No, all of those steps will have to be performed to some degree on the quarter panel and surrounding panels regardless of the damage. I would know, I've been involved in replacing one on one of my unibody cars before.

It's a lot of work, so have your expectations set realistically when getting a quote and waiting for the work to be done. A good shop will likely give you a quote over $4500. If you're lucky enough to find a good deal, you may be looking at $3000. Anything less, and I'd start to question the body work and the quality of the paint work.

the damage done to the quarter panel is not as extensive as it sounds.. it looks like someone judo chopped the side with his hands. ill post up the pics later tonight. maybe the shop can just fabricate the quarter panel and straighten it out and repaint? or is it better to completely replace the unit?

considering the car is still brand new, if the body shop can do it well... id prefer a new unit. with new wheel and new suspension.. =)


oh and thanks Big J for the info.

wait, i thought judo you flip people over, not chop them up like karate?

The only way to repair it correctly is to replace the whole quarter panel piece with a new one, unless the dent can be massaged out. But that's not a possibility if there are any deep scrapes or creases.

^^

You're probably right. I just hope this shop I was referred to (New Concepts) do a great job fixing it and trying to match the ppw color as best they can. =X

No problem. The place I went to was also one of the best in my area so I think these 3-5k estimates may be a little high. But then I could be wrong, maybe the area I live in has something to do with it as well.

The area has a lot to do with it.

I was once quoted $11,000 for a rear quarter panel + trunk floor replacement on a 2001 sedan. I didn't end up paying that much, but it was still $6000

Here are some pics of the damages... =(

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...ion2010268.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...ion2010270.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...ion2010267.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...ion2010275.jpg

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/a...ion2010263.jpg

The claim is still under investigation to see whos fault it was. T_T

Oh, I was completely off base. That will be much cheaper because it looks like there is no actual surface blending to be done. I forgot how the body panels laid out on the Z, my bad.

you dont think i need to replace the whole QP unit yeah?

Yes, they will replace the whole thing, but that panel doesn't physically join with another external-visibly surface so they won't have to do a lot of grinding, body filling, sanding, etc. I'm used to 4-door sedans where the rear quarter actually meshes with the C pillar.

i see... i really hope this will be a smooth process. from where you see the damages.. you think ill win the case?

I was really curious why you were going on and on WarmandSCSI... lol just bustin yo balls :tup: anyway yeah its a "simple" fix by replacing the panel and your wheel for sure. its obvious the other guy is at fault too.

Have you not gone and got an estimate yet?

well... ive called and asked progessive (the other guys insurance) to get an estimate and get this ball rollin cause i need my car back and he said he was going to send someone out tomorrow (08/19) to the apartment for an estimate and leave the check at the apartment. the weird thing was after that he said the claim is still under investigation. so if i take the check and use it to repair the car.. and they come back later saying it was my fault. i guess i will have to reimburse the insurance company??

Im confused. I will just wait till tomorrow and pick up the check and take it to the body shop.

The worse that will happen is you'll have to pay them the deductible if you were at fault (given that you have collision insurance, which is almost 100% likely if you bought your Z new). They will cover it either way, that's how it works. If it was the other driver's fault (it obviously was), you owe nothing and your insurance company will seek to get reimbursed by the offending party's insurance company.

That last bit depends on the state though; typical practice is to work through the other party's insurance company if they were at fault.

Well... heres the update:

Called progressive to see why its taking so damn long to see whos at fault. Well the agent that is taking this case is off on Thursday but they had sent agents out to take a look at the cars and take photos of the damages of both cars. A progressive rep tells me that it is still under investigation as to see whos fault it was. He states the guy told them that he was backing into a parking space which is total BS. I would definitely see him and stop if hes backing into a parking space and from the damages that are done to the car, it shows i was clearly past him when he hit the rear part of the car.

My insurance company had told me today that they declined the other guy's claim because they said it was his fault. So now i guess i will just have to wait for progessive to state whos fault it is. God this is pissing me off because its taking forever and it clearly shows who fault it was. argghh.

just wrecked my real end.. :(((
how much was to replace Quarter panel???
did insurance pay for ur wheel too??

I had the rear corner panel replaced on my 350Z a few years ago, I can't remember exactly how much it cost but it was a couple of thousand, and if you throw in your wheel and tire, 5k sounds about right. I would also look into filing a diminished value claim. When I got my 350 appraised at carmax, they offered way below KBB because the rear corner panel was considered frame damage. Good luck.

Thank u for good info!!!!!