Prospero

Okay, so 3-weeks ago I was hit by a tourist visiting from the Netherlands. The guy had a friend rent the car for him and therefore was not covered by any of the insurances (or so I was initially told.) After placing a bunch of calls and bitching an adjuster from the rental agency looked at the car and is allowing $981.00 for repairs. Now it will be another week+ before I actually get the $$$ in hand; but have a choice to make.

The rear bumper cover is creased and pulled down to the point where I cannot get my key into the trunk keyhole and the trunk lid has a bit of a lift to it. The quarter panels are fine and there was no damage done to them; therefore it looks like a little pulling and a replacement cover is all that is needed. (Tail lights are perfect and can’t see anything else that looks damaged.)

So enter my issue… the car is black and the paint is shiny and looks alright, but does have tons of “acid rain” damage and etching from bird poo and whatnot. My wife and I fell in love with the Porsche Boxter S “limited edition” 8C6 orange color. We have a limited budget but can add maybe another $500 or so to the fund. (Could be more if I get my tax refund back soon…but don’t really want to hold off too much longer since water is leaking into my trunk now.)

Anyhow, I’m torn on what to do. The bumper cover needs to be replaced since it has a crease in it and I don’t really have a good source to get a “raw” cover. Should I just replace the cover myself and pocket the difference or should I go out and have the car re-shot on a tight budget in the orange color we love so much?

I’m hoping that someone here has similar experiences that they can share and maybe help point me in the right direction. I don’t know what to do since I’m really hung-up on painting the car orange; but can’t do a full $3600 custom paint job. What would you all do if you were in my shoes?

Thanks and cheers!
Prospero

Zabac

iTrader: (39)

You need another shop, you can get a decent paint job for way less than $3600.
Mine cost under 1K and included door jams, not the greatest paint job you've seen, but it looks good.

Toddcod

iTrader: (8)

Most maco's suck. But the one by my house does great paint jobs cheap. We had my brothers car painted for 579.00. With clear coat. It looks as shinny as a new corvett. Yea it has two runs in unoticable places. But for 579.00 and as good as it looks. Who cares?
There is a place here in Dallas that sells aftermarket abs parts cheap. Everywhere told $200-up for the Camero front bumper cover. Some of those were used. They sold us a brand new one for $65.00.
I'll try to get their number for you.
Something to think about. When you change colors and you get a chip. The old color shows through. I have a couple of red dots on my yellow car. Lol. But I like the yellow.

Ben

iTrader: (33)

I would not do any sort of cheap or budget respray, especially a color change. The rear bumper cover itself should be cheap and easy to locate.

Oscar

iTrader: (2)

you got his name? I'll go kick him in the nuts for ya, holland isn't that big anyway

Prospero

Cool, my car would feel better if the dud who hit it were bending over in pain!

His name is R. Fischer and I'll post his phone number later on... it's at the office.

But hell yeah, a good nut cracking will make us all feel better over here!

Most honorable, kick in the nuts! Cool!

Cheers,
Prospero