Today was a bad day for the Lexus

The deer came from seemingly out of nowhere and hit my front left fender. I can't open my driver's side door anymore... It sucks having to climb out of the passenger side door. If you've never tried it before, it's not fun.

I'm dealing with USAA now and filed my claim online. I'm heading to see the repair shop this tuesday morning to have it inspected before I bring it to a shop of my choice. I'm thinking of bringing it to the bodyshop lexus uses to repair it's vehicles. I want to make sure it gets fixed properly.

I've never dealt with this kind of thing with insurance so I hope it all goes smoothly

 

Condolences ... driving a nice car today is tough enough, you don't need an animal causing damage. I'd be very selective where you choose to have the work done, even if it costs a few bucks more out of your wallet to get it done right (eg. new fender, door skin, as opposed to bondo / filler).

 

Good thing you're safe and sound.

From the looks of it, via camera, doesn't look very bad actually. A shop who won't try to take advantage that insurance is fixing it, should be able to suck that out using a tool that is similar to a slide hammer, but more gentle. They can suck the bump out, and hopefully no paint damage is done.

Luck to you.

 

I agree with using a body shop the Lexus dealer uses. tHeKiNg911 option may be a good option. The paint depth on the LS is thick and should look like new when done properly. I've had it done on a previous LS and couldn't tell where the damage was if I didn't already know. If you ever head to the Winston-Salem, NC area they have a good shop that did mine. PM me if it is an option for you.

 

Damn that deer.

 

Thanks everyone. I uploaded this pic to my claim online and almost immediately received a call from a USAA representative. She told me that if I can't open the door then the car is deemed unsafe to drive. So the car had to be towed to the dealership's collision center. It'll have to stay parked there for a few days until the insurance inspector goes there to authorize the work.

Now the good news is I had a chat with a guy who works at the collision center there and he told me that the man that does the work there is one of the best in the country that could possibly work on the car. (sounds too good to be true but he was adamant about it) Apparently they had to pay him $80k just as a sign on bonus so he wouldn't go somewhere else. He does work on all the high end dealership cars in Greenville, SC.

I also sent a cell pic to the collision center and they told me that it may be able to be popped out, but because the dent is on a body line from the front wheel then it will never look quite right. Plus there could be brackets underneath that were damaged so the fender will likely need to be replaced? I will see what happens and keep this thread updated. I'm not a fan of anything repainted (AT ALL) but we'll see what happens.

 

That's good news! As stated, I would insist on a new genuine OEM fender since there is a wrinkle in the damaged one. That way, no real body work, just prep for paint, and if done well, won't rust on either side a few years from now. The cost of a new fender is likely only slightly more than the labor cost to "fix" the damaged fender. Your body repair shop can obtain a new Lexus fender at a discount. Do it right.

 

You're lucky. That looks like a raccoon dent not a deer lol. That color should be no problem to match and repaint. Let them replace the fender, or pocket the cash and have them pull it out. You'll likely see a little damage but not much at all.

Is that fur on your rim?

 

That is a good point, I definitely don't want to deal with rust down the line if I keep the car long enough. I'll see what the price differences are and see what all makes sense. The insurance company will write me a check based on the inspection. Hopefully it's a high estimate, but the rep I talked to said if the repair does cost more while they have everything torn apart, they can usually call the inspector back to show him why it will cost more and 9 times out of 10 the additional funds will be sent to me to cover the difference. I'm glad I have USAA, they are very reasonable and easy to deal with.

Lol I wish it was a raccoon instead. I know it could have been much worse. That is indeed fur wedged PERFECTLY inbetween the rim and the tire. If the guy from 'ancient aliens' saw it he would definitely tell me that aliens were responsible for such precision. lol.

I'm beginning to think the rim was the reason why the dent wasn't bigger. If it hit smack in the middle of the panel full force without hitting the rim then it may have been a lot worse.

 

The car is back! I picked her up earlier this week but haven't posted an update yet. Everything went smoothly with insurance and the body shop. Great experience overall even if it took longer than I would have liked.

I really did not think a repaint could look so much like factory. The did a great job in that regard. They blended the paint into the driver's side door. They told me if there's ANY issues at all that I'm not happy with that it has a lifetime warranty on the work. They were very friendly and kept insisting I bring it back if there was an issue. If there's one thing they understood is that the paint quality is what makes Lexus so special and they have that craft perfected!! I still can't believe how well they matched the paint overall. If I didn't know the panel was repainted I'd never suspect it. The paint on the rim however could not be fixed reasonably as all the rims have a bit of bubbling and such. No big deal. I was looking in the picture thread and some of those staggered deep dish rims look nicer than the stock rims. A future project perhaps.

However... Few problems I've noticed so far... I'm going to copy and paste this to an email to the body shop.

-The trim piece running below the window trim is not aligned right with the rear door. It's also loose.
-The driver's side door doesn't shut right. It shuts 'tightly' and is definitely not the right feeling that it used to have.

-The little "L" emblem on the pin striping is slightly smaller than the original one. Not a big deal, but just wanted to mention it.

-At highway speeds there is slightly more wind noise on the driver's side than the passenger's side. This might be nitpicky, but I thought I'd mention it as there may be something wrong.

-If the window is down and the door is shut

This last one bothers me the most but I'm not sure if the body shop will believe me.. It sounds like it's unrelated.
-Sometimes when I go to lock the car or unlock it no longer makes the audible 'lexus beep' sound everytime. It does it intermittently. Sometimes it's fine for a whole day, but the next day it only locks the doors without the sound. I've traced it down to the passenger side rear door only locking halfway between lock and unlock. It only budges about 1/7 of the way it should. But if you keep pushing lock or unlock it will eventually get there. If you leave it halfway between lock and unlock it will always keep making the 'beep' sound when you lock and unlock. I find this strange as this has never happened before.


I'm gonna wait a little bit before sending this as I want to make sure I find any other issues and address them all at once.