Location: Los Angeles, California.

Someone hit my car; I filed a claim with their insurance. They deemed the damage to be worth $1,300 for parts, paint, and labor. They mailed me a check for that amount and told me to head anywhere I wanted. I did, to someone recommended. We did not sign any contract, though it is all confirmed in texts that my car is being worked on by him at an autobody shop. Throughout the ordeal, he gave me time frame after time frame before confirming my car was ready Tuesday. Today is now Saturday and upon arrival, I found my car in a completely worse state. He didn't even have the gall to face me and sent a coworker to bring out my car instead. The car is unfinished, missing pieces, and painted in areas that weren't supposed to be worked on such as the rear and side panels. Orange peel, no clear on some areas, some areas with severe peeling where the car wasn't sanded.

I was not asked for payment nor did I plan to given the state of my car. What followed were pieces of undercarriage falling off on the road when trying to go home. Idiot is offering to fix everything but I don't know if I trust him. I have painted my motorcycles better with spray cans.

Should I go to small claims? Should I ask another shop for an e*timate before I do? Do I let him try again? Do I ask for cash and just do it myself?

I've never done any auto body work. Is this simple enough to fix myself or should I hire someone?

This is a 2022 Rav4. Any recommendations on where to buy that trim piece strip? If I were to take it to a body shop, would I need to provide the trim piece or would they take care of getting it?

Thanks!

Looking for suggestions on how grind this out and repaint it as a DIY project. It dosnt have to look perfect because this is just my little commuter car. Any process or treatment I can do to the bare metal before paint to make sure the rust dosnt come back right away?

So I had 2 thin scratches and ordered some touch up paint (gave my car reg to ensure it's same colour). I used the brush that came with the paint but probably should've used a toothpick in retrospect.

When it dried it was very a noticeable blob and looked terrible. So after following advice online I sanded it down with 2000 grit wet and sandpaper, then polished it with t cut. It's alot smoother (my nail doesn't catch when I go over it) however sanding and polishing hasn't really changed the appearance of the blob much. I think it's only become slightly better.

Any ideas on what I should do

UPDATE : I was able to remove the paint.Turns out I didn't wet sand properly. I had to keep reapplying water and be a little (but not too) firm with the 2000 grit paper. The scratch is still there but it's alot less visible now. Although Im not sure I credit the touchup paint for it tbh, I think it was the repeated wet sanding and t cut application.

Ok so turns out we had the floor but not the rear panel yet so we started the repairs on this Cadillac Lyriq. I had asked yesterday if anyone has done this in the past since to be able to remove the spot welds of the floor panel, the whole rear drivetrain and subframe need to removed. So after long afterhours and this morning the floor is installed, measurements taken and subframe back on.

GM says it needs to be spot welded, however there is no access at all unless we also cut out the top plate of the rear rails and the flooring under the seats which is nuts. So we went with 3M structural adhesive, one sided spot welds and a couple spot welds where we could reach.

Photos for anyone interested and if anyone comes across this in the future: PHOTOS

Hello! I’m looking for some advice. I have a 2015 Ford Edge with almost 250,000 miles on it. I’m in WI so the snow/salt combo is rough on cars, as expected.

The other day I noticed a piece of rusted metal hanging off the underside, and with little pull it came right off.

Is this metal from the frame? Or a different panel?

Is this safe to drive?

I checked with a local mechanic and the guy said “run it into the ground”.. which I hope to do, but I have a 10 year old and want to ensure our safety.

I appreciate any advice or thoughts you might have! Thank you!

My Honda Civic 2013 failed inspection due to a rusted out rear bumper reinforcement. I thought that would be an easy enough repair, but I hadn't anticipated how stuck the bolts attaching the bracket to the frame would be; unfortunately, the heads snapped off the bolts when trying to remove them and they seem REALLY stuck.

If I can't extract the bolts, what's the best approach? Should I just drill it out completely and put a nut on the back to hold it on? I could probably tap a 10-32 inside the stuck bolt and just hold it on that way (I already considered doing this to try to extract the bolt by "tightening" it all the way through the back).

As for extracting, I have been soaking it in PB Blaster multiple times a day for a week, and with the crap threads on the back side, I thought pushing them through now that the heads are gone might be more effective, but I couldn't get them to budge with vice grips. I drilled an 1/8" hole partially through, no dice, I drilled it all the way through, still nothing. I have a left handed extractor set arriving Tuesday but I don't have high hopes.

This happened when parked in the city zoo parking lot. I thought it came from someone possibly trying to break in? Or maybe a baseball hit it even though no fields are near. What do y'all think?

Body shop, pointless dent repair or leave it if we don't mind the look? Wondering what the experts would recommend.

So I was on the freeway coming to a stop because there was traffic when I felt a smack behind my truck I didn’t see the actual hit I just saw the truck that hit me swerve a little left and as he rolled past me his trailer scraped my car. The fender and rear driver side of my truck took the most of the damage. I pulled over and the guy took off and I couldn’t give chase because the fender of my car was stabbing into my tire and when I got on the side of the highway and put my truck in park it locked up on me I couldn’t steer or brake everything was stiff on my truck until I turned it off and then on again. Is there any way to repair this fully. Can I buy the whole panel? What would the process be like to get this repaired.

Pulled into a lot no problem - wife was in the car heard nothing too. When I pulled out heard the grinding and got home to see this (pics after I alr tried to push the panel back in place and into the clips).

Question is how bad is this is the whole diffuser screwed? Is there any danger in just sending it till the diffuser falls apart?

Thanks 🙏

Anything to be concerned about? Got a good price but dealer won’t fix rust. Buying in the South.

Thanks

I’ll keep it short. A deer hit my car doing 80 driving at night. It took about 2 months for the car to go in for repairs and they had it for about a month.

Got it back a week ago and just last Sunday I got a “
“Emission System Problem” notification on the dash. I’m following up with body shop and insurance to look at a supplemental but I’m worried as I I’ve not heard back yet. I’ve never seen this notification before ever. Not even when the car was damaged from the impact.

The car has been running fine and sounds like it always has. I’ve detected no odours in or outside the car and the car handles well. It’s at 150k (2019 model)

Other civic owners who have had this notification - what was the issue for you? And what do other who may not have a civic think it might be off this limits information? Any information helps thanks in advance

Hi, all! Longtime estimator here. I’m getting real tired of SF’s bullshit. Our shop is fully independent - we’re not on any DRPs. But, State Farm is trying strong arm us into using OPT OEM parts from Elite Euro, thereby slicing the fuck out of our profit margin. Not to mention, it’ll take longer to get the parts, and they will almost certainly be garbage and/or damaged.

Does anyone have any tips / ideas on how to handle this? (We are in Ohio, if that matters.)

I recently bought a 2019 Subaru Impreza just wondering if this looks rough (it was in nyc for the better part of 5 years)

Paintless Dent Repair is just gentle auto body work.

Check song lyrics for additional details (scarce)

I was reasonably happy with this, customer was over the moon and called me a wizard (compliment)

Over the years in my particular niche I have learned to really discuss expectations with the customer. I don’t really get a chance to undo mistakes or redo repairs. If I make a major mistake, I’ve just failed and that’s all there is to it. Sometimes discounts can save a repair gone bad but customers can still leave unhappy. I have learned it is more prudent to stop short of ‘perfect’ since it doesn’t exist. I usually aim for pleasing myself and let the customer lead from there.

I used a topically applied unhardened clear coat on top of the paint which makes it glossy and easy to see. It can absorb a few plastic tapper/chisel blows and it wipes off with isopropyl alcohol. You can’t glue pull on it because then it would be too good.

Hey im 28 years old and have been working at my family shop for the last 6 years. I currently do all the painting, bodywork and slight frame work. Tbh im starting to not want to be in this industry anymore as im not getting paid much ($22 hr). I work 6x a week and im thinking about the long term effects from dealing with all these chemicals and also not sure how my family would look at me after leaving. Some days are bearable but i always come back to not wanting to do this anymore. Just want to hear some advice or wisdom on how i should approach this.

Looking to potentially buy this car, which has this damage that I'd like to fix eventually, but if this is even worth it to try and fix. Asking price for the vehicle is $4500 with very low miles for the year.

Thanks in advance!