Accident claim....

[Perfectlap]

^ Basically there's bodywork that can be fixed vs. buying a new panel, I wouldn't trust a lesser shop to pull this off. But obviously they command higher fees much like a surgeon who leave you without a blemish after surgery. But it's still not anywhere near the cost of buying a whole new body panel, at dealer cost, and then charging labor on top of that. It's probably triple the cost for the same outcome. The insurance company settled the claim by simply paying for the new parts. If they decided they were going to force only one repair option on me then obviously I wouldn't be okay with that since I didn't cause the accident and shouldn't be forced to play by their rules. In the case of a sale I would fully disclose that there was body work repair and show pics and I couldn't really do otherwise since it's now on the car history eport. It would be up to the buyer to decide if he wanted to take a pass. But affter spending well over $13K in maintenance, repairs and upgrades this year I don't see the logic in spending it all at dealer parts rates.

I didn't have chance to take pictures. I took the car to my mechanic right after the accident to be checked out for further damage and the bodyshop picked up directly from them right before Thanksgiving. They agreed to take before and after pics. I've haven't had the car for over a month, which is really getting inconvenient now.