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Sigh . . . get out the hankies.
Was driving south on I-75 here in Atlanta on my way home from work and looked into the rearview mirror for a lane change and THWACK!! Continuing to look into the rearview mirror I see the shovel that I just ran over bouncing to the retaining wall. It was the metal piece of the shovel left after the first poor sap removed the handle when he hit it or else when it fell off the truck.
Sensing that I had not popped a tire, and since the car seemed to drive fine I continued on my way praying that the shovel had hit the underside of the car or even plastic skirt, but to my chagrin when I pulled into the driveway and got out I was greeted to a deep gash on both the driver and passenger doors (on driver's side) with significant damage to the trim on the driver's door. Unfortunately the new trim is the least of my worries. You can see pictures at the provided link.
These are a LOT deeper than your average scratch as you can imagine what the blade of a shovel would do to sheet metal at roughly 70-75MPH. I'm sick that I didn't see the shovel, but looking away from the road for the mirrors is just part of driving. Worse is the knowledge that had I seen it in time the car would have allowed me to most likely miss it completely.
So, I'd like to solicit the advice of anyone here who might have experience in getting this sort of damage repaired. I haven't even called my insurance company yet, and am not sure if that's the thing to do as getting it fixed by them may ultimately be more expensive in higher insurance rates - won't know until I get estimates. My agent is closed now anyway.
Can this be repaired short of replacing sheet metal? The driver's side is dented around where the gash is so I'm guessing that can be pulled. Assuming malformations of the metal can be removed, is there any good way to fill the gashes prior to a repaint of the doors? No matter how you slice it that was one expensive run-in with a shovel. Since I will most likely end up paying for this out of my own pocket my goal is a balance between invisible repair and reasonable costs. I know down the road there is likely to be some paint mismatch between these doors and the rest of the car since my paint has most likely faded somewhat. If I keep it long enough I'll repaint the entire thing later. I'm looking for advice and suggestions, and reaching for another Sierra Nevada.
In the Viggen vs Shovel matchup - I lose!
John
Atlanta
'01 Viggen
posted by 68.155.208...
, Tue, 13 May 2003 20:57:22
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