How much is this doosy going to cost me?

[subliminally incorrect]

Hi all, I just came back from my vacation in florida a few hours ago and I left my Mazda3 parked in the park-n-fly airport terminal knowing that it would be safe. anyhow, so I get into my car check everything out and proceed to back up and then CRUNCH! i hear my left bump collide into a yellow waist-high parking post that I could have never seen...

anyhow, i got over my stupidity and now i will have to pay for it. how much is this repair going to cost me and where should i go get it done? (I live in hamilton)

I appreciate the comments and suggestions

[subliminally incorrect]

C:\Users\Si~\Pictures\k790\New Folder\DSC03324.JPG

[subliminally incorrect]

hmm i cant seem to post an image off my computer...

[b.rabbit]

hmm i cant seem to post an image off my computer...

You need to upload it to an external site like Photobucket and then post the img tags here for it to show up.

But that sucks man... :(

[kaval]

Hopefully there is no structural damage to your bumper as this is what will cost the most to repair.

9/10 times, you'll have to repaint the whole bumper to get a good match. Judging by your avatar, your car is white. Blending this colour is fairly hard as well, so it's that much more important to get it done properly.

As b.rabbit said, upload your pics to a third-party host. Use tinypic.com as you don't need an account. Post up the pics here and we can all give you some input.

Hope you had a great vacation!

[Wild Weasel]

Honestly, considering the time of year... if it's just cosmetic then I'd leave it until the spring. I mean, the odds of getting rear-ended or something and having to repair the bumper are far higher through the winter and you'll kick yourself if you pay to repair it now and it ends up getting painted again on someone else's dime later in the season.

[rajin929]

^ ^ ^

good point, guess it all depends on how bad the damage is.

on the flip side, maybe shops aren't too busy right now and might be able to get this small job done at a decent price before the snow really starts to fall and shops are busy with lots of collision repairs....

[SonicBoy]

Too late. I believe last week has the shops full right now.

[Go_Habs_Go]

as long as it's just the bumper and there isn't any steel exposed that would rust, then maybe it's not a bad idea to wait till the spring to get it fixed like Wild Weasel suggested.

On the flip-side, if you choose not to get it fixed, then you gotta look at the damage on your car the whole winter! :-( I know that would drive me nuts.

Check out a few shops and get some quotes, maybe it won't be that expensive and you can just get it done right away in that case.

[She_Prime]

I live in Hamilton too and I got into an accident with my 3 last weekend.

That said, I'm planning to take mine to Carstar (specifically the one on Gage between Barton and Burlington St. ) The guys there are super nice and they back their work up by warranties. And they will use whatever parts you bring to them. You don't have to pay full price for the parts when you can buy aftermarket or see if you can get some good deals on the site.

Get it assessed first and see which parts you need. Then go from there.

Hope this helped! And good luck... I know how much of a pain it is :flaming

[Alan]

yeah, i agree with CarStar. My uncle's car needed to be repaired in an accident he had, and we went to the Arvin Ave location in Stoney Creek. Car looked and felt like new after. Really top notch service

[MAZDA Kitten]

Carstar is a rip off guys I cant believe people actually deal with these schmuks. That is like going to Canadian Tire to get car service :loco

Not only are they expensive but the paint they use is pure garbage (yeah research that a little further...) When I had my bumper damaged at Wal Mart parking lot, they (Wal Mart) requested that I obtain three price quotes for bumper respray which would be covered by them (yes its called Owners Liability Act - they say they dont but they will if you fight). The price quote I got at Carstar was RIDICULOUS. Like $100 more than what D'Angelo and some other place quoted me. They also fed me a bunch of b.s which I didnt appreciate. I just walked out since I just needed a quote.

I used to deal with D'Angelo Auto (Hamilton) when I had my hit and run 4 years ago. Sadly the owner is really old and his son was running the shop. They decided to close the business. They were awesome to deal with (family owned not some chain).

The current place that Mountain Mazda uses (they used to deal with D'Angelo) is AMAZING. They fixed my rear wheel rust issue that Mazda covered. Wow. The work was stunning. The blending was FLAWLESS. When I say flawless my bf's buddy works in a body shop (in the GTA) and he was really amazed at the quality of the work. I am the most anal person in the world when it comes to body work on my car and this job was amazing. It takes a lot for me to promote a business and I wouldnt be saying all this if I didnt feel they deserve the recongnizition. I have the name of this shop written down somewhere or just ring Mountain Mazda and ask the name... its also family owned and they use Sikkens paint who are one of the best. It is IMPORTANT to research what type of paint the shop uses. I cannot stress this enough.

kthanksbye

Edit:
Here's their info

Oakland Auto Body (http://members.hamiltondirect.info/1-905-529-7964/)


139 Oak Avenue
Hamilton, Ontario
Phone: +1 905 529 7964
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=139+Oak+Avenue+Hamilton,+Ontario&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=27.26845,78.75&ie=UTF8&ll=43.261316,-79.849555&spn=0.007501,0.019226&z=16&g=139+Oak+Avenue+Hamilton,+Ontario&iwloc=addr

[She_Prime]

hmm interesting.

I still haven't got my car fixed so maybe I'll pay them a visit. They are in my general area too so all the better.

[MAZDA Kitten]

Girl... trust me. I've been dealing with body shops since I've had my hit and run accident 4 years ago. Been there done that. Pay them a visit. Atleast see what they quote you. Tell them you went to Carstar and show them the quote you got there. I bet they will beat it and you will end up with a better paint job in the end :)

[kaval]

Had a VERY bad experience with Carstar (in Brampton) myself. Someone ran a red light and hit me. Luckily I saw her coming so I swerved out of the way, resulting in very very very minor damage. Nonetheless, here's a basic rundown of what I experienced.

1) Damaged my hood. Tried to pin it on me. I took pictures before I brought the car to get fixed, so they looked pretty stupid.
2) When I went to the shop to bring the pictures, I found one of the techs squeeling the tires on my car in the parking lot infront of the other workers.
3) Did a HORRIBLE blending job. I could have done a better job with my eyes closed and a rattle can - no joke.
4) Took forever (1 and a half weeks) to finish something that should have taken them 8 hours.
5) Manager was extremely rude.

[KenYork]

My guess is just under $1000. That is what it cost to replace my bumper when I was rear ended last year.

[She_Prime]

Girl... trust me. I've been dealing with body shops since I've had my hit and run accident 4 years ago. Been there done that. Pay them a visit. Atleast see what they quote you. Tell them you went to Carstar and show them the quote you got there. I bet they will beat it and you will end up with a better paint job in the end :)

I actually went down to Select Mazda and they gave me a price for $200 cheaper. That includes my TM3 discount of course. But I am still going to pay these people a visit. Possibly tomorrow.

[icecubetray]

dam, D'Angelo closed?!

they were awesome........I was hoping they were still there....

[Mazdanow]

Carstar is a rip off guys I cant believe people actually deal with these schmuks. That is like going to Canadian Tire to get car service :loco

Not only are they expensive but the paint they use is pure garbage (yeah research that a little further...) When I had my bumper damaged at Wal Mart parking lot, they (Wal Mart) requested that I obtain three price quotes for bumper respray which would be covered by them (yes its called Owners Liability Act - they say they dont but they will if you fight). The price quote I got at Carstar was RIDICULOUS. Like $100 more than what D'Angelo and some other place quoted me. They also fed me a bunch of b.s which I didnt appreciate. I just walked out since I just needed a quote.

I used to deal with D'Angelo Auto (Hamilton) when I had my hit and run 4 years ago. Sadly the owner is really old and his son was running the shop. They decided to close the business. They were awesome to deal with (family owned not some chain).

The current place that Mountain Mazda uses (they used to deal with D'Angelo) is AMAZING. They fixed my rear wheel rust issue that Mazda covered. Wow. The work was stunning. The blending was FLAWLESS. When I say flawless my bf's buddy works in a body shop (in the GTA) and he was really amazed at the quality of the work. I am the most anal person in the world when it comes to body work on my car and this job was amazing. It takes a lot for me to promote a business and I wouldnt be saying all this if I didnt feel they deserve the recongnizition. I have the name of this shop written down somewhere or just ring Mountain Mazda and ask the name... its also family owned and they use Sikkens paint who are one of the best. It is IMPORTANT to research what type of paint the shop uses. I cannot stress this enough.

kthanksbye

Edit:
Here's their info

Oakland Auto Body (http://members.hamiltondirect.info/1-905-529-7964/)


139 Oak Avenue
Hamilton, Ontario
Phone: +1 905 529 7964
http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=139+Oak+Avenue+Hamilton,+Ontario&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=27.26845,78.75&ie=UTF8&ll=43.261316,-79.849555&spn=0.007501,0.019226&z=16&g=139+Oak+Avenue+Hamilton,+Ontario&iwloc=addr

Hey what wheel rust issue? did it have to do with discs/rust build up on the rotors/breaks when you initially turn on your vehicle and reverse and break or go forward and break? there would be a grind/squeak?

[bluemazda3]

Hey what wheel rust issue? did it have to do with discs/rust build up on the rotors/breaks when you initially turn on your vehicle and reverse and break or go forward and break? there would be a grind/squeak?


not rust on the wheels.. wheel well.. on the body of the var..

[Hives]

This is ur opportunity to pay some more money and buy a bodykit!

[subliminally incorrect]

talk about resurrecting a semi-dead thread, but it's time to update my quest to fix my car's bumper and show you all what kind of damage I'm talking about here (old man winter is hopefully gone and I can finally be rid of this issue).

http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/subliminallyinc/DSC03326.jpg


So, I've gone to several places for repair estimates, and so far, they all seem to unanimously agree that it's only the bumper that needs to be fixed and no internal damage is present. All the work that is done is apparently a 3 stage painting process due to the pearlescent nature of the car paint. Also, the tail light cover is cracked and every dealership wants me to fork $329 for the LED tail light assembly (this includes the full tail light and not the cover). Oddly enough, an incandescent tail light is only $179 for non GT models.

Leggat auto (in burlington, burlington mazda uses them for repairs) $1109

Carstar (wentworth st. off of barton) $1369

Barton collision $958 (for some reason, the service tech only quoted me for a non-led lamp assembly which would explain the odd price drop. this leads me to an idea that I will later-on mention)

Oakland autobody $1293

City chevy (on Cannon St.) $958 (FOR THE BUMPER ONLY!!! WHAT A RIP!)


So, those are the five body shops that I've gone to in the past two weeks from the reccomendations that I've gotten from the awesome people on this forum. Should I just bite the bullet and just go for the cheapest quote?

O yeah and about the tail light assembly: i was wondering if anyone knew if the components of the LED assembly could fit into the incandescent assembly. This way I could Just dismantle my current LED assembly, Order an incandecent assembly and gut it. the pop my LED assembly into the new casing.

sorry for the delayed reply. I feel like I just regurgitated a load of info, but I appreciate your replies :bana

[Thrizzl3]

damn thats a nice hit...and $1000+ to fix it?:whoa

[dsichewski]

just out of curiosity, what is the cost of a new bumper? might be able to get one from joe at MOT???

[subliminally incorrect]

just out of curiosity, what is the cost of a new bumper? might be able to get one from joe at MOT???

the bumper itself is $280 or so, but the real cost is due to labour in painting the bumper to the correct colour as mentioned before (the three-stage paint). it , depending on the labour flat rate of the shop and paint, around 300-400 dollars.

[She_Prime]

the bumper itself is $280 or so, but the real cost is due to labour in painting the bumper to the correct colour as mentioned before (the three-stage paint). it , depending on the labour flat rate of the shop and paint, around 300-400 dollars.

Joe quoted me for a new back bumper at 228.18 plus taxes. So you're looking at $257 for a new one from Joe. Still saving yourself $20.

[subliminally incorrect]

Joe quoted me for a new back bumper at 228.18 plus taxes. So you're looking at $257 for a new one from Joe. Still saving yourself $20.

is just saving $20 worth it to drive from hamilton to Toronto?

You're probably right on the price though. I dont have the quote in front of me, and I was just throwing figures out without double checking.

does anyone know if I can fit the LED assembly of a tail light into a incandescent casing assembly? I'm fairly technical so maybe I could just shave off a few dollars by just buying the tail light assembly and ask the service tech to not install it.

[Soyabean]

Just get some clear that used for fixing cracks in tail lights. Thats what i did for my gf when she cracked her tail light. Its not worth getting another one for $300. Just pay for getting the bumper fixed or i actually recall someone selling a rear SPORT GT bumper in CWP. I think JohnnyGT is selling it or something. Search around, it might be cheaper to buy that and install it yourself

[jonjon72]

It may actually cheaper to get a set of after market tail lights. Supershyguy in the sponsor area has some nice sedan tailights going for $160. Check with him if he can get you some for the hatch. Just a thought!

[subliminally incorrect]

thanks for the great advice guys. I'll try looking into third party parts before I go with a collision shop repair.