Is this body damage fixable?

[The motor guy]

What has to be done to fix this? The paint flaked off where the crease is so it's going to need to be painted but can they bend that back and get it back to the way it was before?

 

[The motor guy]

It needs a new side step too since that got bent up. I already took it off.

 

[Mud]

Doesn't look too bad, a decent body shop should be able to pull it out and finish it out. Since the truck is white they may be able to spot-paint and blend the repair unless its easier for them to just paint the side of the bed or to paint from a body line downward.

 

[Rand]

That does not look real bad.. I think a door crease would be harder to fix... That all being in the open might make it significantly easier.

 

[The motor guy]

I got one estimate today, they wanted $820.00. That didn't even include the replacement of the running board. They want to repaint that whole side of the truck bed. That was only one estimate though so who knows.

 

[The motor guy]

so about 7-800 dollars in damage. What a shame. That doesn't even meet my deductable. Really makes me mad cause i'm the type who takes care of stuff and keeps it forever.

 

[andyd]

It is good steel, it should be fine with a little extra paint. Longevity shouldnt be compromised. Cheap as far as life lessons go.

 

[addyguy]

What happened?

 

[The motor guy]

Truck ran over a boulder at the end of the island in a parking lot. I took the turn too sharp because a car was coming from the other direction that I didn't notice and it caused me to alter my turn instead of swinging out like I would normally do.So basically the boulder got wedged underneath my running board and bent it up and hit both doors and then wedged underneath the body where you see the damage in the picture. Boulder must have been 2 feet tall. I think they put the boulders their to keep people from turning too sharp and going up the curb like I did. Luckily it didn't get wedged under the frame or anything else that would affect the driveability of the truck. I'll probably just buy a new set of running boards and call it good.

 

[The motor guy]

All those white scratch marks are all the way to the sheet metal. I know it doesn't look like it in the pic.

 

[The motor guy]

Do I just take a rubber mallet to pound it back out? They quoted 10hrs with of body work and about 5 to paint it. Like someone is going to sit their for 10hrs straightening that small part out?

 

[MNgopher]

Question is what do you want to do? You could drive it this way, and let the damage be, and just accept the rust from the damaged paint. Millions of people do so.

Or, you could take it to an auto body shop, pay the bill, keep your insurance out of the whole thing since it doesn't meet your deductable. That is minor repair work for a competent body shop. Afterwards, you likely will be the only one who can tell it was repaired. Millions and millions of cars on the road have way more significant damage repaired. You can still keep it forever.

 

[The motor guy]

I'm not sure yet. Probably just put a new set of running boards on the truck and then live with the rest of it. I doubt i'll be able to find just one.

 

[paulo57509]

It's fixable, but shop around. Estimates for painting the whole side of the bed doesn't surprise me. Every dent and repair strategy is different so it pays to shop around a little.

I backed over the lifting pad of my floor jack with the LS400 three years ago.

The jack swung around and tipped into the rear fender with the handle putting a nice, fist sized shallow dent in the fender right behind the door.

One estimate I got, the shop wanted to paint the entire damaged fender, the entire roof and the entire opposite side rear fender citing there was no panel demarcation lines (panel lines) where to mask off. The guy also said something about paint aging and fade. Estimate was close to $6500.

This is the shop that the local Lexus dealership farms their body work out too.

One of my co-workers that does auto restorations sent me over to a local shop that he uses. I showed Ray the earlier estimate and he laughed out loud.

Five hundred and twenty-five dollars to repair and paint the fender. When I picked up the car two days later, he told me there was a spot on the rear door belt line that got kissed by the handle that he repaired as well (no charge).

Paint fade? I still cannot tell that there was ever a repair made.