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My car - Lexus IS 350 (2016) was hit by someone in a parking lot when I was shopping. I have asked the shop's staff for help with the camera surveillance but it's beyond the camera reach so I do not know who did it. I also called the police and they helped me file a claim to the insurance company (StateFarm) and then the claim team asked me to use their application Pocket Estimate for getting an estimation by sending them images of the doors' damages. Honestly, I do not believe in the estimation based on photographs so I would like to ask you a question. How much do you think to fix the dents and scratches on my car's passenger doors? I plan to take my car to the Lexus dealer to have them replaced the rear door and fixed small dents + scratches at the front door.
Thank you very much for reading. Any comments would be appreciated!
Please see the attached photos for further information.
That's industry standard to use photos to desk-adjust a simple repair estimate. Also doubt they'd be replacing the door. That's 4-5 hours of labor. Pretty minor/run-of-the-mill every day stuff.
Not sure what's up with your 1" and 4" notations.
They'll repair both door skins, blend the rear quarter and blend the front fender and possibly repaint the adjacent sill cover. Not that big of a repair. Probably $2,500-$3,500
That's industry standard to use photos to desk-adjust a simple repair estimate. Also doubt they'd be replacing the door. That's 4-5 hours of labor. Pretty minor/run-of-the-mill every day stuff.
Not sure what's up with your 1" and 4" notations.
They'll repair both door skins, blend the rear quarter and blend the front fender and possibly repaint the adjacent sill cover. Not that big of a repair. Probably $2,500-$3,500
I just downloaded a random mobile app for measuring so I have no idea about this information as well. I just wanted to show them the closer look for the damages with 2 parallel long scratches: the above one is 22" and the lower one is 17" according to the app. I also double-checked by a ruler and they are quite close. If the estimation is below $3000, is there any auto shop giving better estimation for free and how long will it take to get the car fixed? (I'm living in Auburn, AL).
A few years ago, someone backed into my 2IS in a parking lot and took off. I also had state farm at the time. My Lexus dealer was a part of their network so I just dropped the car off there, Lexus quoted it, the adjuster approved it, done deal, no police report or anything like that. The deductible in a hit and run case at the time was only $250, so it was a no brainer. I can imagine some things have likely changed under our current circumstances, but wouldn't worry about it too much. Just take it in and see what they say.
Last edited by Tungstn-IS; Sep 10, 2020 at 04:48 PM.
A few years ago, someone backed into my 2IS in a parking lot and took off. I also had state farm at the time. My Lexus dealer was a part of their network so I just dropped the car off there, Lexus quoted it, the adjuster approved it, done deal, no police report or anything like that. The deductible in a hit and run case at the time was only $250, so it was a no brainer. I wouldn't worry about it too much, just take it in and see what they say.
But I can imagine some things have likely changed under our current circumstances.
The deductible for my case is $500. I think I will go ahead upload these photos and see how is their estimation before having the auto shop checked. Thank you very much!
Yeah the insurance company uses industry standard estimating software which body shops (are supposed) to use. There may be some variations in quoted labor time, but generally speaking they both pull prices/data from the same industry-updated pricing sheets for your zip code. It all comes down to whether or not the shop and your adjuster agrees something should be included. In some cases, your insurance may pay more, in some cases, the body shop. As you say, just get the check from your insurance company (along with estimate) and see if your preferred body shop agrees. If a change needs to be made, the shop will call the insurance company and tell them XYZ needs to be changed and usually if it's not a big deal, the insurance company can supplement with another check. Usually on small jobs like that, no one will really bat an eye at a supplement, so long as it's reasonable. Make sure you get set up with a rental too!
BTW too, if the gouges are deep enough in the steel to where it's overly stretched, they may re-skin your doors. They don't replace entire doors usually, they get re-skinned. The skins are fairly inxpensive. You keep the inner door structure, speakers, insulation, etc. They just take a cutter, strip the outside skin off, hammer on a new skin and re-seam with sealer. Having a second look at your pics, i think they could go this route as the repair time may exceed the time and parts to just reskin. this is where an insurance company and an actual body shop may differ once they tear the car down/inspect it.
I just used their suggested mobile app called Pocket Estimate to submit photos of damages along with the required information. I will let you know when they give me the estimation. Many thanks for your detailed explanation. I really appreciate it!
BTW too, if the gouges are deep enough in the steel to where it's overly stretched, they may re-skin your doors. They don't replace entire doors usually, they get re-skinned. The skins are fairly inxpensive. You keep the inner door structure, speakers, insulation, etc. They just take a cutter, strip the outside skin off, hammer on a new skin and re-seam with sealer. Having a second look at your pics, i think they could go this route as the repair time may exceed the time and parts to just reskin. this is where an insurance company and an actual body shop may differ once they tear the car down/inspect it.
Let us know what they propose!
UPDATED: I got the initial estimation from StateFarm and it's $2400 (before the deductible) for 26.4 hours of labor. They just wanted to repair the doors as you said. What do you think about it?
Hit-and-run issue
