last summer i got nailed with a hit and run in a parkin lot. it rippled my driver side quarter panel a fair bit in the area between the tail light and gas cap.
i'm gonna have my car painted this spring before i take it back out, and at the same time have the quarter fixed. however i now saw a brand new quarter panel on ebay for 100 bucks. is it worth it to buy this quarter and have it replaced or just have the dents pulled and filled when i paint my car????

 

TTT

 

Get it fixed, don't replace it. Replacment will be more expensive and is truly surgery on a camaro, it involes lots of cutting, drilling and welding to get a quarter panel off. If the damage is repairable, I say repair it.

 

Front fenders are a piece of cake, but rear 1/4's are something else entirely.

 

Buy the replacement quaterter panel....$100.00 for that is a good deal... It's a very surgical deal to get them put on...I had my rear quarter replaced and the guy was off like 1/2 and inch and it was really noticable.

 

Your car will also be more prone to rust if you replace it, because it actually needs to be cut away from the body and the new panel welded on- to do this properly will cost a lot of money and you will still be prone to rust.

I went through the same route and ended up having my panel hit out and bondoed, even though I HATE knowing that I have bondo under my paint, I still preferred that to the alternative.

 

I just had a quarter panel replaced by GM... it's expensive, thank god for insurance.

I've got the sheets from GM here, looking it up:
New Quarter from GM part#12512748 $805.25
14.1 hours to replace with a belt splice below the roof panel.
2.5 hours for paint, clear coats etc.

Plus depending how bad it is, you'll want them to pull out the quarter first (basically shape the damaged one to somewhat like it was before so they can make sure nothing else is messed up) which took 3 hours on my car.

BTW that price is what the insurance company paid for the part, probably less if you bought it from GM... and also that's in Canadian dollars.

 

Wow! Thats really labor intensive. I knew they were welded on, but didnt realize it was that much of a task. Thanks for all your responses guys, I will definitely be having it pulled.

I was a little uneasy at first about have it pulled and filled cause i hated the fact of knowing it was there, but i realize now it isn't worth the money, and nobody else will know anyways.

 

Have you had a body shop look at it and tell you if it can be repaired or not? Although my damage was worse than yours sounds, I just wnet through the same thing. Got a quote from Maco for like $1300 to fix it. A friend who does body work told me NOT to install a non-GM panel on the car or I'd regret it. They never fit right and are normally thinner. He got the parts for me (like $525 his cost) and did it at home in a weekend. Absolutely blew me away. You can't even tell it's been replaced.

Dumb question but, why didn't you have your insurance fix this. Even if you only have liability, your uninsured/ underinsured motorist coverage will pay for this. My sons car got hit in a parking lot recently and even though he only has liability, Statefarm paid for it (minus a $250 deductable).

 

Well, I never had a professional quote done, but when i was at my mechanics shop having some exhaust work done, i asked him about it and he said it was worth it because of the labour involved. I just wanted a second opinion in case from people who might have had some experiences like this themselves.

Like i mentioned in my first post though, i'm havin it painted in the spring. This will be through my dads friends who work in a paint shop (but the deal will be under the table), and they said they could pop out dent easily at the same time as doing the paint for next to nothing extra (maybe 50-100 more). This is why this route would be a lot more affordable.

The reason why I didnt get my insurance company involved is because hit and run, so if i claimed it, my rates would end up increasing because there was no other party at fault to charge.
I really can't afford it for my rates to go up right now either, i'm already paying $282 CAD a month without collision cause i'm only 21. And that is a good price compared to some of my friends that have sports cars.
Plus my deductable is $500 (keeps my rates a little lower).

 

wasn't worth it i meant to say

 

In this case your rates would not go up. A hit and run is beyond your control and you can't be punished for it. I've had my insurance pay for several small hit and runs and numberous windshields over the years and it hasn't effected me a bit.

 

I had my rear 1/4 panel fixed up with a brand new one plus a little bit of other work done. I got it done by my g/f's friend's dad for $700. He did a great deal of work plus painted the area. The paint matched so well that you couldnt tell it was touched. Try and find someone who does side jobs if you want it cheap but expect to pay a lot for the work involved.

 

my deductible is 1k