Zwoobah

honestly, all of that could be fixed for $5-600 if you are willing to do the labor. she should be thrilled to pay that little if the real estimate is nearly $3k. have her pay for the parts out of pocket, do the work for free since she's family, done.

Biscuit141

need. On to of that I also don't have a place to work on it. When I used to live in South Bend I had a barn at my parent house and all my dads tools to use. Now I am in an apartment in Indianapolis with no garage and no place to work in the winter. Aside from that, I find it hard to believe it would only cost me $600 bucks max. i would need to find all the used parts in silver and in good shape to avoid repainting, not to mention that aside from scratches, there is nothing wrong with the bumper cover, so that just needs repainting.

Here is what I would need to find:

- a silver hood (with grill)
- drivers side headlight
- silver trim piece below the headlight
- condenser

plus all the labor I would need to do to get it back in shape. A couple trips back to South Bend to get it done, plus unless I find a silver bumper cover without a million paint chips in it, that would still need repainting.

I also thought maybe just wait to fix it and maybe someone will run into me in the winter, but I think that is a long shot. And since I have snow tires now, I hope my days of sliding into people are behind me. (knock on wood)

islingtonaudi

with our assistance w/ used parts, etc., pretty reasonably. See what she'd be willing to offer and remember that in-law goodwill is always a good thing and you might need her help sometime...

Biscuit141

I know, but see my post below Zwoobah...

austinado16

Man, just when I thought I was a survivor of 14-1/2 years with the worst In-Laws in the free world.......

Here's the good news:
1) The bottom of that hood is week and should pull right back out with just your hands. Take your time so you don't bust the paint.

2) If you have a paintless dent repair guy in your area, he can probably get that hood dent straightened out. We have several here....some are mobile and travel around to the local dealerships on a weekly basis and will make house-calls to individuals as well. Some have small shops and you go to them. I've had amazing results.

3) You can fix that section of the headlight with plumber's tape (that metal strap material that comes on a roll).

4) If the condensor isn't leaking freon, leave it alone and take your time looking for a good one.

Good luck and good luck with the In-Laws. Remember, they are her parents, they're never going to go away, she's never going to cut the apron strings, you'll always just be borrowing her, you're merely a supply source for the grand kids that they can't wait to start ruining, they will always be 3,000mi too close, they'll hold a grudge longer than you can even remember, nothing's ever going to be good enough, and it's not going to get any better.

|skolnick

That sucks! I have a good condenser if you need.

chiitown

You know Biscuit, sometimes life is a bitch and you have to eat losses. By no means, am I sticking up for your MIL. But if were your own mother and the situation was the same. What would you do then? Being a newlywed, you should be planning on spending the rest of you life with your wife. It also means the rest of your MIL's life. People get dealt **** sandwiches every day. You're gonna need to learn, life is too short to sweat the small ****. More importantly, marriage is too long to sweat it. My advice is to eat it. $3k in repairs is small compared to a lifetime of your MIL pissing in your wifes ear about the situation. Not to mention it will always be your personal wild card in every fight you and your wife have. And trust me you'll have many. But what do I know??? Thats why I'm pro escorts... Cheaper than a wife, like a pizza they come to you + you can get something differant everytime. And when they leave, you can rest assured that you've already payed them and their lawyers wont come back for more.

Biscuit141

I have never done body work before. I know I can replace the condenser with my dad and if I can fix the headlight great. My problem is with the hood and bumper and trim piece under the headlight. The hood has some scratches to the right of the grill. The bumper has scratches on the top, where her bumper went on top of mine and it also has a crack in the front. I will post some more pics tomorrow.

I don't know, I just fell overwhelmed by the body work and don't think I will be able to get it back to normal by myself. Do I just suck it up and make do with it? It sucks because it feels like I am being punished for my MIL's bad driving. And yes I know she be around forever, but on the other hand, for the 5 years my wife and I have been together, I have done a lot to help my MIL. she really feels bad about this to the point of embarrassment, she knows how I take such good care of my car. Somebody please just shoot me.

Biscuit141

Honestly, I do not have any money to put into this repair right now. So if it doesn't get repaired by insurance it will stay this way until things get better for me financially. However, my MIL will not be angry about this situation whichever way it goes. She is well aware that it was her fault and a stupid mistake at that. My current thinking is that sure her insurance might go up a bit, but neither her nor I have the money to pay for any repairs out of pocket. When I was younger and had accidents on my record I paid the price of higher premiums as well. At least her rates are spread out over the course of a year and she can afford a slight increase over that time period.

I know it sounds like I don't like my MIL, but thats not true. She is just a very...interesting person and doesn't always take the time to think things though.

crusininda944

There are plenty of hoods, AND bumpers listed there that can suit your needs. Many in silver as well..

Sucks that your car got hit, but from personal experience, I would say get used parts.

New parts, especially bodyparts for this car are quite expensive. When I had my car the first week, it was rear ended and there was <b>seven thousand dollars</b> of new part damage and labor.

It was fixed for a little over 3, to replace &amp; paint rear bumper, rear right tail light, front right headlamp lens, and bending my right rear quarterpanel 2 inches back into the standard position...

It does suck to have an insurance claim with a relative, but, paying $4k out of her, or even worse your own pocket isn't all that advantageous either.

Another option you could consider is reporting the claim to the insurance like you would normally do, however when it comes time for the work to be done and parts to be ordered, it would probably be less expensive for you to obtain the needed parts yourself and simply have a skilled body mechanic install them.

This will cut costs considerably, and, more often than not, you will end up with some change left over.