Anyone know of a good body shop in or near the San Fernando Valley? I was working at a freelance job in Downtown L.A. today and someone was kind enough to hit my truck while it was parked on the street. They left no note. Just the broken pieces of their headlight and turn signal. They glanced off the side of the truck, creasing the bottom section of the driver's door, put a small dent on the lower corner of the fender, scuffed up the fender flare and completely tore off my Bully step. It also looked like they bounced off the front tire as well, enough to turn the wheels slightly. The truck drove home fine and I don't see any suspension damage. No body damage where the step was mounted either. The step just sheared at the brackets that held the small tube section. Anyway, it looks like I'll be stuck fixing this myself. Especially, since I have a $1000 deductible on my insurance. At this point, I don't have the $$$ for the repairs, but I'd like to get an idea of what it will cost. Thanks.

I dont know any in your area, but my whole car was done here:

Ziggy's Auto Body

Brett, check with you insurance company. Often times even with a deductible on C & C, if you have uninsured motorist coverage that will have no deductible. All they can say is no.

Hey Russ,
I do have Uninsured Bodily Injury coverage, but not the Uninsured Deductible Waiver. Also, I swear that when a body shops knows it's an insurance repair, their price quote increases.

I'd like to get an estimate strictly based on if I were to pay for this myself.

Another option I'm considering is possibly trying to do the work myself. The door is mainly bowed with a small crease at the front. The fender doesn't look too bad, either. If I removed the flare, the dent could probably be taken out with paintless dent removal.

The flares I bought prepainted to match my truck from GM Parts Direct. I can probably get a new front set, so there'd be no paint needed there.

Then it's just replacing the step. This time around I'm going to go with the new Go Rhino Dominator II steps. A little more money, but they'll run the full length of the cab.

Here's some pics:

Once you mention anything to your ins co its immediately a claim. And whether they pay or not it could come back to haunt you.

There were some guys selling some stuff ZP4 or something at the Shell at Burbank and Sepulveda today, that might work. I heard them telling someone how easy it removed scratches.

That's why I'm hesitant to call my insurance.

I have my Mother's Clay Bar, Meguiar's Scratch Remover and some Z-Best Polish. I've made pretty good headway in getting all the black marks off. Gonna wait till cools off this evening to work on it some more.

The good news is the paint isn't messed up on the door. Just the fender flare. If I got most of the dent out of the door, I could live with it for a while.

No plans to head back downtown. I cancelled on the job I was doing. I was concerned about going there in the first place since it was East L.A. Should have gone with my gut.

Yea, dont call them. They'll just tell you sorry your deductible does not cover the loss and the next bill you get will be higher.

The dent doesnt look all that bad to leave there, to me. Maybe get a paintless dent removal specialist to give it a shot, probably the cheapest and easiest way out.

Some times if the dent isnt that bad and the paint is ok, so it doesnt rust, you are better off to leave it alone.
A body shop would punch holes in the door to pull the dent then filler then overspray called blending that looks like $hit in 2 years.

With a lot of elbow grease, all the black marks are now gone and I have clean paint again. Looks better. Not great, but better.

I've got a couple suction cups for pulling dents and a body hammer. The main part of the dent I should be able to pop out. I'll probably hit Harbour Freight on Saturday to see what other body tools I might be able to use.

After that, it's hunt for a new fender flare. Once I have steady income again, I'll order the new side steps.

Remember, as soon as that paint cracks you are up the creek again.

Sorry to hear that you have become a statistic of this economy.

The small dent in the fender should pop out. With a new fender flare, it will look nothing happened.

For the door, I'm just going to use my suction cups and pull out as much as I can. Ideally, what I'd like to do is find a complete door off a donor truck and just transfer over my door panel ...etc. That way, no body filler and the truck is good as new.

Latest update. GM has discontinued the pre-painted fender flares. Can't find one to match my truck so far. I may just have to go with a paint-to-match flare.

Called All Truck Parts in Sun Valley and they have complete doors for $450. I would just need to transfer over my mirror and trim. If I got really lucky, they could have one that already matches my truck, so no painting would be needed.