classy37

Well it took less than 2 weeks for me to get hit (literally) with some bad luck. I was in the truck lane and some debris fell from the bed of a dump truck and slammed right into the roof of my G37

The damage is nothing major. Just 4 deep nicks, one of which has penetrated the paint layer- a half-finger nails size of paint has chipped off. The other 3 nicks/scratches could possibly be buffed out (I could be wrong, have not consulted a detailer), but this fourth would need at least a touch up to prevent rust. I got an estimate from a body shop and they quoted $550 because they would need to repaint a section of the roof.

The truck company and their insurance are cooperating but I'm debating whether I should even get these repairs done for 2 reasons-

1- I've had terrible luck with body shops. I've had work done from bumper replacement/repaints to major work done on doors and pillars and was not terribly pleased in either case. Is it worth repainting a roof and risking a crappy job to repair some small paint chips?

2- I purchased this vehicle, so resale value is important to me. Will going through the truck co.'s insurance and getting this work done at a body shop be logged in my vehicle history? In other words, I will probably not go through with this if means that it will be seen in the vehicle's carfax. How does this work exactly? Is an accident logged only if police are called? Police were not called in this incident.

TIA.

aznutx

ouch that kinda sucks and seeing as how u have the MW i bet gonna be hard to color match too, sorry couldnt have been any help except to give my advice, is that yes, i would let the claim go thru and have my hood fixed, having to look at 4 deep nicks for the rest of the car's life would suck majorly.
try doing some research in ur local area of good body shops or take it to the dealer and request the dealer do the work and not outsource to some 3rd party

nogoodname

iTrader: (3)

any colour can be paint matched, just take skills, that's all.

classy37

Hey, thanks for the response. The damage is on the roof, not the hood, so it is not in a prominent spot from a bystander's point of a view. (Except that it is directly in the driver's line of sight as he is entering the vehicle).

This body shop was actually recommended by the dealer, but I was not too impressed.

nogoodname

iTrader: (3)

my dealership has a bodyshop in it, they repainted and reclear parts of my G and did a good job in the end....took like 6 months to iron it all out

link

if you leave the scratches, that hurts resale.

if you fix it, that could possibly hurt resale if it gets on carfax.
But Carfax is so crappy these days, that nothing every gets reported on there. Not even real accidents. carfax is just a big joke and scam. insurance companies have no incentive to report anything to carfax.

so, offtopic rule of thumb- never only use carfax when buying used cars.

classy37

abs(Negative effect on resale value of an accident reported on carfax) >
abs(Negative effect on resale value of a small paint chip)

No question. So, at this point I'm most concerned with whether this accident/repair will be reported.

mello03

I would just get it fixed but like said above do some research on what body shop to use. As with anything from doctors to plumbers no two are equal so make sure you find a good shop. If I was looking for a car, and even found out about some slight body work that was done (professionally) I wouldn't care as long as it looked very good.
It is gonna eat you up if you don't just get it fixed and have to look at it every day. JMHO.

2009g37xs

go through the insurance get the check... then go get it fixed yourself... I think you'll have a greater chance of it not showing up on a carfax report if you get it fixed on your own rather then a place their insurance recommends... but thats just my opinion

wannabe g

can you post pics?

Boomer-Bob

iTrader: (1)

I think you may deserve a few $$ over the cost of repair . ;-)
I'd get the repair costs to do it right from a top painter, the whole roof to the section breaks, some $$ for "Demunition of value", and the cost of a rental car while job is being done.
I know this sounds extreme to some, but, crap ain't supposed to be falling off trucks. It can hurt a prized ride or result in injury or death. You should at least be compensated fully IMHO.

w0ady

iTrader: (1)

sorry to hear. i know what its like to have your new g beat up. personally i couldnt stand to look at the damage so i had to get it fixed. a quality body shop should have no problems matching the paint and keeping it looking new.

Vasher

A quality body shop doesn't attempt to "match" yur paint, they'll use your paint number to get your exact color from a dealership. At least, that's how it worked last time I had something like this happen.

mello03

That's exactly what they will do. They will get that paint from Dupont or whomever makes it. I think when people are talking about matching paint maybe they are referring to blending it so it is not obvious that it was repainted. I would think that painting the roof there would be little chance of someone ever noticing that it was repainted. The angle you see the roof from is so different from the other body panels I would think that it would be hard to tell. Plus detecting over spray? They usually look in the fender wells (quarters) and under the hood or trunk since that is where most damage happens. I would get the money as stated before and get it done on my own to fly under the radar. You will be fine.

CHI-TOWN G37

^Yep. Carfax is less than reliable, but you need to fix it. I couldn't drive around knowing I had scratches like that on my roof. Good luck!