Expert: Michael Kakuk - 7/21/2010

Question
Good day.  I bought a 2007 Sonata a couple of months ago for a fairly good price because of some dents and dings that were not repaired that had actually already caused a few rust spots.  I brought the car to two body shops and both estimated a rear quarter panel repair would cost me around $1800.  There are three similar rust spots in three different areas of the car!  I wanted to ask if there is any way for the insurance company to cover this.

Secondly, if I will have to pay for repairs by myself, how do I lower the price on the repairs?  This may sound silly but I don't know how or what to ask the body shop in terms of lowering the cost.  I don't want to insult anyone's standard of service.  Are there body shops for the back-to-new repairs and body shops for the kind of repairs I'm looking for and how do I recognize them?  Is it all right to ask for a level of repair that will just stop the rust and hammer out as much of the dents as possible?  I'm not looking for the car to look like new, but I don't want it to look like I don't take care of it because I do.  I really cannot afford a solution that will replace huge parts of the car.

Thanks for your help.

Answer
No the insurance company will not cover that.
You will only be able to lower the costs of the repairs by one, shopping around to get the best price and that would save you only so much....assuming that the repairs will be done to prior standards of like new.

Second option is to ask the shop to rough pull the sheet metal with the understanding that it would still look better than it does now and that the cosmetic appearance will not be brought back to the undamaged look.

Shops will try to work with you......just ask and be as specific as you can.

mike