Car paint damage, what to do?

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lNomNoml

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#201871 8-Sep-2016 00:27

I was driving back to Auckland from Whangarei on Monday morning and had passed a truck that threw which must have been about 20 stones on top of my new car. This unfortunately for me has made about 5 chips to the paint, with 1 being on the black painted A pillar which now shows bear metal. 1 has caused a slight dent in the top roof close to the windscreen and 2 are on the right fender.

My car is fully insured with AMI, should I make a claim or just take it to a business myself and have them try and repair the paint? I have only recently had the windscreen replaced due to stone damage about 2 weeks ago.

To add insult to injury I have paint protection on the bonnet but not the areas where the stones damages.

I have never made a insurance claim otherwise.

timmmay

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#1625351 8-Sep-2016 07:28

I'd probably call your insurance company and ask them about it. Might cost $1000 to repair, total guess based on a bit of work I had done a few years ago, someone else can probably give a better estimate.

Stu

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#1625353 8-Sep-2016 07:29

Get a quote from a decent Paint & Panel shop or two. If the cost is likely to be well over your excess, then contact your insurance company. If it's a palatable cost and it's worth it to you then you could pay for it yourself. You won't know until you find out how much damage it'll do to your pocket ;-)

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SepticSceptic

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#1625889 8-Sep-2016 17:04

How damn annoying. :-(.

Time to invest in a dashcam ?

lNomNoml

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#1625906 8-Sep-2016 17:21

SepticSceptic:
How damn annoying. :-(.

Time to invest in a dashcam ?

I was going to get one but it's going to cost aeound$600 and I don't have the money for it currently, besides it was pitch black at the time and it might not have picked it up.

Batman

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#1625914 8-Sep-2016 17:31

Yeah i hate getting stuck behind trucks for this reason. Pass them as soon as possible! The only thing worse is stuck between a truck sandwich (one in front one behind- if you get rear ended bad then you're pancake)

lNomNoml

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#1625936 8-Sep-2016 17:58

joker97: Yeah i hate getting stuck behind trucks for this reason. Pass them as soon as possible! The only thing worse is stuck between a truck sandwich (one in front one behind- if you get rear ended bad then you're pancake)

He came from the opposite direction, it was unavoidable :'-(

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kiwirock

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#1625938 8-Sep-2016 18:00

SepticSceptic:

How damn annoying. :-(.

Time to invest in a dashcam ?

Unless it was an insecure load, can't help stones on the road and what tires do best, grip at speed.

That and of course the grey area... how close were you traveling to the back of the truck, this one is hard to prove. Legally you'd be doing the 2 second rule at all times, including before overtaking (if there's an exit for claiming insurance they'll use it).

Overtaking a vehicle should be done when there is enough room to change lanes without compromising the correct following distance until you're in the other lane. Sometimes that's impossible, and that's what patience is for.

I've owned enough cars now to just touch up chips with a drop of zinc-it primer and a drop of a colour close enough to the body colour. I just get a spray can of automotive made up to my cars colour, around $30 and keep it in the garage. I just spray the top of something sharp and put a drop on the stone chip. It's not perfect, but it won't rust, not really noticeable and takes an hour or two rather than be without the car for a few days.

For a panel repanit, it could easily be more than your excess as each panel is usually painted at around $400. But even then they don't do a perfect repaint as that would involve removing trim, window rubber etc...

edit: Buy a 4x4 or AWD, every chip and scratch really adds to the vehicles character.

lNomNoml

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#1625940 8-Sep-2016 18:07

kiwirock:

SepticSceptic:

How damn annoying. :-(.

Time to invest in a dashcam ?

Unless it was an insecure load, can't help stones on the road and what tires do best, grip at speed.

That and of course the grey area... how close were you traveling to the back of the truck, this one is hard to prove. Legally you'd be doing the 2 second rule at all times, including before overtaking (if there's an exit for claiming insurance they'll use it).

Overtaking a vehicle should be done when there is enough room to change lanes without compromising the correct following distance until you're in the other lane. Sometimes that's impossible, and that's what patience is for.

I've owned enough cars now to just touch up chips with a drop of zinc-it primer and a drop of a colour close enough to the body colour. I just get a spray can of automotive made up to my cars colour, around $30 and keep it in the garage. I just spray the top of something sharp and put a drop on the stone chip. It's not perfect, but it won't rust, not really noticeable and takes an hour or two rather than be without the car for a few days.

For a panel repanit, it could easily be more than your excess as each panel is usually painted at around $400. But even then they don't do a perfect repaint as that would involve removing trim, window rubber etc...

edit: Buy a 4x4 or AWD, every chip and scratch really adds to the vehicles character.

For the record I was doing the speed limit, I suspect though he was doing around 70 in a 50 construction zone.

Thanks for the awesome post I will try and follow what you said in the post and touch it up myself as I did buy touch up paint from the dealership, I live in auckland, a 4x4 will be out of the question as there isn't anywhere to park it ;)

timmmay

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#1625956 8-Sep-2016 18:52

If you ever try to spray yourself, beware, those cans have a wide spray. I did a wing mirror, on the car, and had to cover basically the whole side of the car. Works well, fine to do with an older car, not sure I'd do it with a new car though.

kiwirock

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#1625966 8-Sep-2016 19:19

If the dents aren't to bad, you may also find you can pop them out be removing the wheel arch guards on the fender and pushing from the inside. Same with the roof, although be careful not to damage inside trim. You could also attach a small suction cup (such as one on a GPS or cellphone holder) and try and pull it. Unless the dents have a really good stretch on the metal going.

Scrubb

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#1628175 12-Sep-2016 21:02

lNomNoml:
SepticSceptic:

How damn annoying. :-(.

Time to invest in a dashcam ?

I was going to get one but it's going to cost aeound$600 and I don't have the money for it currently, besides it was pitch black at the time and it might not have picked it up.

They don't have to cost that much! My brother has this and it works well and has good picture. Has pretty good HD picture which allows reading number plates quite easy and smooth framerate too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Capacitor-G1W-C-Car-Dash-Camera-NT96650-Chip-AR0330-Lens-W-Mirro-Mount-Hard-Wire-/281383805904?hash=item4183c823d0:g:k84AAOSwo0JWKK9L

Sorry, a bit off topic, but can be handy with insurance claims in the future if needed (hopefully not).

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BlinkyBill

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#1628180 12-Sep-2016 21:17

You don't have a new car.

BuzzLightyear

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#1628208 12-Sep-2016 22:08

As an alternative to a panel beater quote try final touch. They do some pretty awesome stone chip repairs and much cheaper. http://finaltouch.net.nz/our-services/