Kyle, did you consider anybody other than a dealer to do the repair? I have no relationship with my local dealer (bought it out of state) and have an acquaintance that owns a highly regarded body shop....trying to figure out my next move.

 

My insurance company offered a couple options and I chose the dealer (which wasn't one of them)...but I got to choose where it was going (as you should too) so I'd say go wherever you feel most comfortable.

 

I am amazed by how well a good body shop can make a damaged car look just like new. We had a Jetta Sportwagen (-"en" not "-on" ). We were parked at a Little League game and some Neanderthal in a pickup truck backed into the front fender, front door, and crumpled the hood. The car looked like a freight train ran into it. When we picked it up from the body shop it looked exactly like it did before the accident....exactly.
I'm sure your Mustang will look like new as well )

 

This is a better explaination, as when I read your first post...:

"....she then tries to whip around and do an illegal u-turn across me and a double yellow line.

I accelerated hard as I saw what she was doing, but couldn't avoid her...."

...I questioned you simply did not slow down and allow her to do the stupid manuever she was doing, but now from this second post, I see you are explaining that she started the U-turn after you were almost in front of her, and then tried to accelerate by to avoid her turning into you.

The police officer should have written her up for an attempted U-turn over a double yellow line as well.

 

I see people all the time backing up to off-ramps on the highway, cars causing traffic because the driver missed a turn and is now half in the street, cars cutting people off be because they chose the wrong lane, etc. How about you take 2 minutes to turn around legally somewhere? The world doesn't revolve around you!

 

Update: finally got my Mustang into the body shop today. The genius woman's insurance company estimated $3,300 to repair, but my shop guy says that is probably $1k too low.

The cherry on the pie? I got a FREAKING VW Beetle as my rental (paid by her insurance). Geez.....

 

Sorry about your car... I remember several years ago when my truck got hit. Was in a PT Cruiser for something like 3 weeks. Even my dog looked at me funny when I tried to get him in it!... Hope everything goes well! Good Luck!

 

Could be worse they could have given you a crapmaro?!? :-)

 

I am really sorry to hear about the damage to your Mustang.
Most insurance companies MUST use OEM (ford) parts in a repair for a number of years (3 maybe 5?) from new, so you would most likely be getting a full quarter panel stamping. Now how the body shop puts it on is another matter.
Most will chop off the sail panel (top part that goes up to the roof) and weld a seam at the fender top to the roof line. to install a full quarter panel correctly, you would need to remove the rear glass (rear defroster, etc) the tail lamp, the rear filler panel trim, bumper cover, bumper support, part of the interior, quarter glass and a host of other items.
In order for the body shop/insurance co. to save time (read money) most body shops will take the shorter quicker cheaper (more money in their pocket) route and it will come out pretty much as good. Most times an insurance company will only "allow" a certain number of hours for a job.
Given my choice I would want the full quarter, but it may cost you additional for the extra labor.
Sadly, its all about the money.

 

ha you inspired me to read it. Basically make sure you get a nice size diminished value check when its all said and done. Have it done by someone that can pound it out <-- hard to find these guys and or have it totaled.

 

Agree 100%. That's why I skipped the dealer, who has a real "cozy" relationship with the insurer and went with a local independent shop. He laid out the plan to remove all the parts you mentioned and go with a full quarter panel replacement.

Still makes me sick to the think about it.....

 

***Updated for progress pics of repair***

The car has now been in the shop for 3½ weeks, but I am scheduled to pick it up Monday 6/9. Going by on 6/6 to give it a full inspection in the daylight. The idiot driver's insurance is not bad - they've provided for a rental car and should not cause any issues paying out the entire damage amount. Here are some pics of the process:

- Inner body wheel well was crumpled. Not evident until the body panel was cut out.



- Hammered out



- This one made me sick. You can see where the quarter was cut, but those are the only logical places to do it, without getting into the roof panel. You can see how much of the car was dissassembled to do this part.



- New quarter installed; lots of work left to do



- Primed and ready for final paint:

 

It coming along. Not to be a downer but I recently had a fender bender and got the car back it was mainly the rear bumper on my car and they only pained the bumper and it doesn't match it close but they are going to redo it and maybe blend the paint into the other panels.

I hope they do a better job on matching the paint.

 

That color has got to be blended into the adjacent panels. Did they prime the inner fender where they did the body work?
They look like they are doing a good job.

 

Yes - this picture was taken last Friday. They primed everything beginning with the inner fender. They even matched the inner panel paint to the same greenish color as factory.

Final exterior color blending into the door, bumper and trunk is happening today.

Total cost now sits at $5,600.

 

around 3 months ago, this guy I work with, his wife did the same bonehead move. she took his van home from dropping him off at a hockey arena, ended up t-boning some guy. Caused around 11k damage to the van and yes, surprisingly, the insurance didn't write it off... I have no idea how much damage was done to the other car, if it was even salvaged. I have no idea why people just don't look! at least everyone was safe! Needless to say, he's now un-insurable. nobody would touch him with a 10' pole thanks to his wife.

 

Sounds like your car is in good hands.

 

That's the nature of the material when you put paint on metal vs plastic. If you look closely, every cars bumpers aren't exact matches even from factory.

You should see performance white. It's very obvious.