*Updated - Branch fell on my car - Body Shop estimate is in!

[InFiD3ViL]

We had a nasty storm come though today. I have a massive oak tree in my front yard and it dropped a branch on my car, rear passenger quarter panel. This happened less than an hour ago and I still feel like I am going to barf.

Anyhow, anyone here that has experience of/with PDR, does this look repairable via PDR? It's not massive or anything, but it's the location that has me worried. It's slight bulging on the side of the quarter panel from the impact as well. Homeowners insurance says nope, call your car insurance company. If not PDR, any guesses at repair estimates I will get from the auto body shop? What a way to ruin a day.


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UPDATED:

Ok, just got back from the body shop, and as expected, their estimate is MUCH higher. Actually very close to what some of us here had guessed and more based in reality. Part of this is because I also noticed 3 small dings from the branch in the trunk lid after washing the wood debris and crap off the car, so that will be repaired and repainted also.

I had previously mentioned that I wanted to get my factory unpainted GFX side skirts and rear GFX valence paint matched and clear coated while it's in there (Out of pocket, of course), so that price is also listed separately below.

Original Insurance Company Estimate: $444.74

Body Shop Estimate: $1575.28...

• Body Labor: 13.4 hours @ $46.00 per hour
• Paint Labor: 8.9 hours @ $46.00 per hour
• Mechanical Labor 1.0 hours @ $85.00 per hour
• Paint Supplies 8.9 hours @ $28.00 per hour
• Parts (Quarter Glass urethane kit, Red SS badge, and Chevy Bowtie emblem) $ 103.72

Additional out of pocket work:

Paint and clear coat GFX side skirts and rear valence: $715.83

Covid has them pretty far behind, so I have an appointment to drop it off on August 30th. Last time they had one of my cars it took them around 2 weeks to have everything done, which I am ok with. At least I get to enjoy my car for the mean time. The best part is I have some pre-existing paint damage in some of these areas that will be getting resprayed.


Pics at different angles:

[gtstorey]

PDR could help it but I don't think it can get rid of it. It looks like a sharp crease in the bottom and I don't think they can do much where it dented at the sheet metal bend.

[InFiD3ViL]

That's exactly what I'm afraid of, right on that hard body line. Already filed a claim with my insurance company.

Oh well. I might take advantage of this being in the shop and pay extra to have my GFX finally sprayed body color.

[Aqua Blue RS/SS]

Yep the crease pretty much kills pdr’s chances.

I would think long and hard about painting them, mine are painted and I personally like them an offsetting color because it breaks the car up some of that makes sense. I’m gonna have mine painted silver ice to match my stripes one of these days.

[redcoats1976]

theres a guy at the daytona flea market that might be able to fix it.been there forever,and has done a couple of minor dents for me,but i have seen his work on major dents and he is pretty damn good. try googling dent ranger in daytona beach and see if he pops up,i had his card somewhere but cant find it.edit...phone is 386-451-5364.perhaps you can send him a pic and see what he says.

[InFiD3ViL]

I appreciate it bud, but that would be quite a hike for me. I am hoping I can find someone in the Tampa Bay area. But if all else fails I will give him a call.

I am thinking this may be my chance to get some other paint work in.

The situation with my trees is ridiculous and I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. I am just lucky that it was only a 2 lb branch. I have massive Florida Live Oaks on both sides of my driveway that are getting a serious cutback in the next week or two. I have tons of branches and dead limbs hanging over all 4 cars out front. I am going to have every single branch that hangs over my driveway cut so there is nothing but clear skies above. Otherwise next time it might be a crushed car.

[Redrockit]

It sucks what happened, but with all those heavy limbs it could have been so much worse.

[InFiD3ViL]

Originally Posted by Redrockit

It sucks what happened, but with all those heavy limbs it could have been so much worse.

Oh yeah man, I am well aware of that. I knew it was only a matter of time. I just got complacent and lazy about it. These pics below will show how lucky I am that it hadn't been worse already.

[InFiD3ViL]

So just wanted to update the thread. Not sure if the insurance company is lowballing this, but I got their quote to repair the damage.

They are saying only $445 total. They won't cover replacing the side stripe as it was not a factory installed item. I am fine with that. I talked to the adjuster and he said this is with it being done right, not using PDR. He said PDR would be very unlikely to get it perfect since it was creased right on the hard body line. Also, PDR could likely be around the same cost or possibly even more, depending on who I use.

This is less than the cost of my deductible (I know, I'm an idiot), so it will be totally out of pocket. This means I am definitely getting my GFX painted and maybe some other work done as well while it's in there.

Does this seem a bit inexpensive to anyone else? I will be heading to my preferred body shop next week the get their estimate and compare.

[AG454]

That seems a bit low. I'm thinking closer to $1000.

[hunter1660]

Insurance is always lowball. Take it to a quality body shop or two and get there estimate. You may be renegotiating with the insurance adjuster.

[InFiD3ViL]

Originally Posted by AG454

That seems a bit low. I'm thinking closer to $1000.

That's what I was thinking. I will make sure to print this out and bring with me to the body shop.

Originally Posted by hunter1660

Insurance is always lowball. Take it to a quality body shop or two and get there estimate. You may be renegotiating with the insurance adjuster.

Yeah, that is what I'm preparing for.

[Danial]

$445 for PDR? Not where I live. I paid $160 to have a thumb-sized dent (length, depth and width) removed right at the crease line repaired. The dent was bigger and deeper than the pic indicates. They guy even came to my work to do it. Had to remove the inner fender well and worked on the project for about two hours. He did a perfect job.

Here's a before and after pic:

[Silveradoss573]

That would easily be a $1500.00 to $2,000.00 minimum fix in my area. If my pdr guy could remove that and I do mean if, maybe $100.00 to $200.00 max.