Back Quarterpanel

[Darrick147]

ok yesterday i was pulling out of walmart and this lady backed into my 97 Eclipse GST and hit me in the driver's side rear panel and was wondering what this means. I have talked to a few people and they think that it will be totaled because that panel is part of the door jam. What do you guys think?

[SilvrEclipse]

Depends on how bad the dent is and where exactly it is. If it messed up the door jam then it will be a more expensive fix. May be totalled I guess. If its just on the back fender then you should be fine.

[JoeShmoe]

Pictures?

[vanilla gorilla]

If there is no structural damage I don't see how it can be considered totaled. But I don't know how all that works.

[Thor06]

Vanilla, I think they "total" it when the cost of repair is more than the appraised value of the car. For example, pretty sure that if you have a say $5000 car and you get the windows smashed, every panel keyed to hell, and all tires slit, even though the body may be straight except the scratches and it can run fine, if the total dollar value of the damage is over 5 grand, your shit gets totalled.

[gthompson97]

It will most likely be totaled, depending on the size of it, but when you say backed into, I see a whole crunched panel. The quarter panel is not a bolt on part, they have to cut the spot welds and all that jazz, line up the new one, weld on the new one, and then paint it.

Pictures would help alot.

[Darrick147]

I haven't been able to take any pictures of it yet sorry guys. I paid $4500 for the car, there is no structural damage at all, its just the quarterpanel thats crunched. The reason I say it may be totaled is from what one of them said above. It didn't hit anything but the fender but the fender is part of the door jam and so lining that up could cost a lot of money.

[SilvrEclipse]

As long as none of the door jam isint bent you should be fine. How hard could you have been hit, it was parking lot. The rear fender is not a removable part with out cutting and welding a new piece in. Hopefully the dent isin't to bad and can just be pulled out and fixed with a little body filler. I highly doubt the car is totalled.

[gthompson97]

Quarterpanels rarely have any strength to the actual panel though, even a small accident can cause a huge dent. And it's not structural damage that will run up the cost, it's the time it takes to remove and replace the panel, plus color matching it. Most shops will just replace the entire panel if it's anything bigger than a baseball size dent, otherwise it gets too hard to pull and fill them. It seems like it wouldn't be too hard, but when you get into the dirty work, pulling quarterpanels is a bitch, I've done a few and I'd rather not have to ever do it again.

[Darrick147]

I'll try and take some pictures today and I should find out later tonight how much the insurance company is going to give me for it. I'm going to be pissed if they total it because I just bought the car a little over a month ago.

If/When we get it fixed we will most likely get the whole car repainted since the paint is fading on the spoiler and hatch area.

It's a good size dent in the panel. I was hit by a 2006ish Mazda CX-7 which is much like a small SUV/Minivan/crossover, whatever you want to call it. The dent isnt deep but its really big. If you look at a 2g Eclipse, the dent takes up almost all the fender between the door and the tire well. It barely missed the door and small window.

[gthompson97]

If it's that big and it's deep, the quarter will definitely need to be replaced. Pictures would help though.

[rock0134]

Totalling is when repairs to make the car how it was new cost more than 70% or what the car is valued at

[Darrick147]

Sorry the pics are so big**

Hey i got pics of the back fender and i added a couple of pics of the engine and interior.

DVD player has been changed since the interior pic was taken.





1g crushed BOV:

Engine bay needs to be cleaned...cant wait to get a new intake on it.




What do you guys think? Totalled or maybe not? I only paid $4500 for the car.

[SilvrEclipse]

Thats pretty bad. I wouldn't think its totaled though. It may cost a good bit to get fixed, but not 4k worth. I would take it to a shop and see what they say. get an estimate.

[Darrick147]

That's what im gonna do tomorrow...The claim adjuster is supposed to come within the next week and im making sure that the prick isnt going to low ball us. It's taken the insurance guy almost 2 weeks just to come out and look at it.