Hey everyone, I was curious how the rear quarter panels are repaired. Recently I got my driver side one crunched in (right where the fenders flair it's been "flattened") at the point closest to the rear bumper. How on earth is that going to be repaired, because the piece seems to extend over the doors to the A-pillars?!?

Also, if you're familiar with what I'm talking about, any idea as to how much such a repair would run? Needless to say I'm extremely irritated over the whole situation, but that type of damage is not something I can abide by considering the age of the car. Thanks in advance.

 

Need pics.

 

need pics to give you a better description.
But base on your description, you will need to replace the whole rear fender. Then you need to see if there is any other internal damage such as your body frame. Below are some pics from my car where I damaged my bumper, tail light. I had to replace a new bumper/tail light and misc other items and repaint to match my car.

Here is what your car may look like after your bumper is off on the driver side rear.



Here is what your car may look like after your bumper is off on the passenger side rear. This is the side I damaged my bumper where it almost
hit my body frame.



good luck.

 

If the quarter panel is not torn or completely destroyeds, they will pull and straighten it out as close as they can to the shape the quarter panel should be at and use a body filler (Bondo) to fill, smooth and shape the damaged metal to the way the panel should look. Then they will putty it to get rid of the sanding scratches in the filler and prime/paint it.

 

Thanks for the input, and I tried to post pics but I have no clue how. I snapped a couple with my cell phone and emailed them to myself, but I don't know how to get them in a post.

Anyway I have the car scheduled to go in wednesday, so here's hoping it won't be more than 2k, although I'm not optimistic considering just to paint the rear bumper runs ~$600.

 

I had damage to my driver's side rear panel in the summer. The body shop was able to repair it and repaint to as good as new. However it cost me 1500K so I went through insurance and paid the $500 deductible. Here is a pic of what my damage looked like below. Hope this helps.

 

^ Good thing you got that repaired.

 

Thanks a lot for that pic, my damage is basically everywhere on and in between that whole smear on the left to where the scratch on the right turns towards the left. From the looks of the pic though it doesn't seem like you damaged any of the panels, just had it scraped really badly. On my car, where paint is all over on the left of your's has been flattened (where there should be fender flair).

How much did your premium go up for getting that done through insurance? I had never even considered it, but seeing as how I'm probably looking at ~2k+ I should probably think about it. Hell, even if it goes up $50/ 6 months for the next 3 years, that's still considerably less than what would go out of my pocket today. Thanks again for the input JABOO, you've given me more to think about. Any other opinions/input on this would also be greatly appreciated.

 

There is a couple options.

If the damage is small they can usually reshape it as much as possible, then fill in inperfections, sand, and paint it.

If the damage is bad enough it can be quicker to cut out the damaged portion, and weld a replacement panel in. Then sand down the welds, prime, and paint it.

 

The rear quaters, i thought were part of the car's frame, so wouldn't cutting and rewelding make the entire frame wealer? Pic show below:

 

I agree with you 100 %.
The fender will not effect the frame structure.

 

Not much if at all. The quarter panel is actually welded in at the factory. In the picture below, if there is damage where the red X is they will most likely cut it where I've made the red lines. The bottom line is where a factory weld is. The trunk seam is another factory weld location, and also the door jam. Take a look at your trunk seam next time you open the trunk, and you'll see the weld. They don't do a good job cleaning it up.

 

Wow, pretty good info wilsel. I have to keep this in mind! (I hope that I never NEED it though!)

 

Yeah I initially worried about the premium going up. However, I've been with my insurance company for years and never had a claim or speeding ticket so the agent I spoke to said it would not have any affect, eventhough it was an at fault claim. In actuality, my premium decreased when it was time for renewal. It all depends on your driving history and how long you've been with the company. Although it is hard to visualize, there was some body damage to the panel along with the scaps but yours sounds alot worse. Like you said it's gonna be at least 2K+.

After finding out the price discuss it with your insurance agent to find out if there's a possibility of a rise in premium. Then again, my thought was that is why I bought insurance for occasions like this or worse