Not again (40th taking a beating) UPDATE

[ohenry5]

Well, I have not had the best of luck the past several months. This is the second time in the past months that my car has been damaged by other people. This time I was in St. Louis and someone hit my car I think while it was parked at our hotel. Of coarse no note or anything, so now I am stuck with a dented car and the bill if I fix it. Here are the pics. Oh by the way, got an estimate to get it fixed, $874. So its going to stay this way unless I figure something out. No one happens to have a Dark Cherry Metallic Fender I could buy????

[harofreak00]

Sorry to hear...If you removed that fender you could hammer it out yourself and at least make it look a little better.

[TenGHz]

Wow, that sucks... :(

[RJolly87]

was it backed in when it takes the hit?

[Maymybonneliveforevr]

Sorry to hear, I remember Lisa in Tennesee ( I believe) has a parts car of the same colour but I don't know if she has it. She presently owns a 40th dark cherry .

[spoiledred94]

Henry, you really got dunked. You might try the surrounding business. A lot of office people doing nothing but watching the parking lotl. Might just happen/

Kris

[Sadden]

And if you do find this person.....


I would ALMOST fell sorry for them.. But not enough to save them.

[00Beast]

If you filed a hit and run with the local police, maybe your insurance could cover part of it??

[ohenry5]

I dont live in St. Louis, I'm in Springfield, I was just up there for the weekend. No there were no more parking spaces so I was parked along a curb at the hotel. No chance of anyone seeing it, because of where the hotel is located, plus is was in the back. I never thought about filing a hit and run but again that would mean driving back up there. I was thinking about filing a claim with my insurance anyway because I have accident forgiveness so I dont think my rates would go up. Still I dont want to have to pay my $500 deductible. The car needs some other things and I rather put that money towards them.

Andrew, I know you are a master at this stuff, but how hard is it to remove that fender? I live in a apt and dont have many tools, but the thought did come across my mind of seeing about taking it off.

[harofreak00]

Not too hard.. definately something you could do in your driveway as long as you have a socket set.

The hardest part is going to be the nut at the bottom of the fender behind the wheels. Its probably the most rusted, and if the car has every been jacked up incorrectly you will notice it here.

Remove the headlamp. Refer to Headlamp Replacement in Lighting Systems.
Remove the hood panel. Refer to Hood Replacement .
Remove the wheelhouse panel. Refer to Wheelhouse Panel Replacement .
Remove the rocker panel molding. Refer to Molding Replacement - Rocker Panel in Exterior Trim.

Remove the bolts (3) retaining the fender (1) at the rocker panel.
From inside the wheel opening, remove the bolts (4) retaining the rear of the fender (1).
Remove the bolts retaining the fender (1) at the headlamp opening.
Remove the bolts (5) retaining the upper edge of the fender (1).
Remove the fender (1).

[Mopar Man]

Just for future reference, most hotels will have cameras covering the parking lot. It's undoubtedly too late now, but just something to remember in the future.

[ohenry5]

Thanks Andrew. I found a guy today that does dent repair that said he could fix it for about $150. I dont need it to look perfect and it would probably come out better then if I did it. Plus at that price it saves me the time, etc to try and figure it out myself. We'll see and I will keep you guys updated. Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

[ohenry5]

The person that hit my car did the right thing. They filed a claim and I got a call from my insurance that they were going to take care of it. So the guy from Progressive came out and I got a check for $797. I was going to have one of their body shops fix it, but I am going to have the dent repair guy have a shot at it for $150 and pocket the rest. We shall see.

[Blown93SSEi]

Wow you never hear much anymore of someone being somewhat honest like that... Can you detail a bit more of what happened there?