Minor Body Repair Fiasco

[Mandretti]

Geez - got into a minor fender bender with my newish Premium AWD. Damage to the left rear bumper and wheel well. Maybe 18” on the rear and side. First no parts. It took 8 weeks to get the few parts the body shop needed. Then a week or two to finish the job - meanwhile no car the whole time. The estimate was $2200. Wound up being over $6000. Huh?

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[generaltso]

Welcome to the world of collision repair.

 

[RickMachE]

Geez - got into a minor fender bender with my newish Premium AWD. Damage to the left rear bumper and wheel well. Maybe 18” on the rear and side. First no parts. It took 8 weeks to get the few parts the body shop needed. Then a week or two to finish the job - meanwhile no car the whole time. The estimate was $2200. Wound up being over $6000. Huh?

I don't see the issue.

First, parts are scarce for every model of vehicle. Not new news. Just to note, my Mach-E needed the front shutter piece and the lower black bumper piece replaced. Parts were immediately available.

As to cost - you haven't specified what was parts and what was labor. My two parts were over $1,400, and then I had like 7 hours of labor. Totaled just under $2,000. No painting involved. Initial estimate was less than 1/2 that, but then the lower part was cracked, and the hours of labor were much higher than they guessed before looking them up. Between the two parts there are literally over 100 clips.

 

[Neil4Real]

This is definitely not MME or even Ford specific. When I was in an accident, my body shop had been waiting for a Toyota part for over 3 months lol. Mine took about 6 to 8 weeks for all of them. Some parts are on no ETA backorder lol. You should count yourself lucky.

 

[Mandretti]

My body shop said they have 15 cars of all kinds just sitting waiting for parts. Ford and Toyota had the worst backlogs. So don't get in an accident!!

 

[pony juan kenobi]

I had a minor accident when my parked MME was hit by a sick confused patient driving to the ER. Hospital police witnessed the whole thing. Patient fortunately is OK. Funny though - had it been prior to February would have been my 2008 Ford Edge with 200000+ miles and I would not have given a crap. It's not been fun given the number of hours I've spent dealing with the other driver's insurance and calling many different body shops.

Damage to rear left quarter panel, bumper, and wheel well. Duct taped and drives fine but knocked out the backup alerts and parking assistance and some other electronics housed in the back bumper.

Was sent by the other driver's insurance to a body shop 30 min away and when they saw the car they said "Oh yeah we can't work on those" (would think they'd have known that when they knew I had a 2021 Mach-E). Estimated damage $2500 and about $2000 of that is labor. Seems like less than 10% of body shops work with aluminum.

If your MME gets in an accident and you need body work, make sure to ask the shop if they work with aluminum before you go in for estimate.

Scheduled for eval and repair on 5/24.

 

[RickMachE]

Go through your insurance company, let them deal with other driver.

 

[pony juan kenobi]

Thanks. I spoke with my insurance company and they said I could do that if things didn't work out. The other driver's insurance company already is sending me a check and is taking care of rental car and said that after all is said and done they'll deal with claims about diminished value. Will see how it goes.

 

[pony juan kenobi]

Things turned out fine after many hours of pain. Ended up going to another Ford dealership in the area with a body shop. Got it back last week. Looks good as new. Just need to circle back with the other driver's insurance company to see about compensation for diminished value.

 

[Maquis]

I guess in the grand scheme of things, a “minor fiasco” is the best kind of fiasco to have!

 

[ChuckA]

Back in 2002, I ordered a Honda CR-V in its 1st model year and built in Japan. Someone hit the spare tire mounted on the tailgate a month in. $4000 of concealed damage and no parts available in USA.

My body shop acquired a freight damaged tailgate shell and did body work on that part to use it for my repair.

BTW, I still own the CR-V. Nothing worse then needing repair of a car with no spare parts availability.

 

[MyLittlePony2022]

I did a minor scrape on the fender flare (1/4" x 1/2") and it cost me a little under $1000. They had labor to pull it off the car and then install it, labor to paint it and the paint. It all adds up. You get what you pay for in body repair. If you want cheap go to Miracle paint or Earl Scheib.

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