Well..., my baby has been hit for the forth time now and I still have never been in it when it has happened. Dropped it off at a tire dealer to have the alignment done on it. Guy in a lifted F-150 was backing out and hit it. Tried to leave but the store employees stopped him and called the State Trooper to come out and do an accident report. Took it into the local State Farm (his insurance) to get an estimate done. Unfortunately, they told me the car is too old and they have no evaluations for parts to do a proper estimate. The agent sent the pictures she took and write up to the "corporate office" so they can do the research to find out how much it will cost.

Take it to your Guy for a estimate.

I SECOND WHAT Mantaguy said! YOUR AGENT!!!!!!!!!!! Your agent is on YOUR side!

As a matter of fact, taking it to my guy (GEICO) today after work for their take on it.

That's good. You don't need to make a claim or anything, just get the write up and evaluation.

I'd find a GOOD body shop, and get an estimate from them. Insurance company adjusters are trained to cut corners...that's not the quote you want.

$3500 would be cheap

Yep, when I worked at the Salvage yard 1/2 the calls were coming from Insurance adjusters, who of course always asked "can you go cheaper?"

Took it to a body shop yesterday after work. The estimate was $1,399. $800+ of that was for labor. I wanted to see what the price would be if I were paying for it vice State Farm. The estimate was for using the damaged parts, no new ones. I also asked for an estimate for a complete paint job as the original 25 year old paint is showing its age as expected. They said they don't do complete paint jobs and suggested I take it to a restoration specialist.

Apparently a lot of shops do not do whole paint jobs,same thing here in Jersey.

Same here in Huntsville Alabama. All the shops want to do is piece work and no complete jobs. Hard to find a good painter/shop now a days

When I had my 91 vert, i went to at least a half a dozen shops for a repaint. They will gladly repaint any panels that are dinged or damaged. But wont do the whole car. By the time they add in the extra labor for "blending", they COULD do the whole car. Probably for less labor, and a cheaper price. But I guess, that is why they don't want to do it.

That $1400 seems a little high for just repairing it and spot painting.I had similar work on mine and the whole car painted for for just under $3000 and the shop supplied the fender and front bumper cover.

Got the check from State Farm yesterday, $1,478.91. Went to the local Maaco and got an estimate as well, #1,398. I asked about getting the whole car repainted and the lady told me to come back this week to talk directly to the body shop manager. I want to get my hood painted since it's just rattle can black at the moment. I also bought a Z-28 rear spoiler. Got a good feeling while I was at Maaco. Saw a '64 Mustang and '81 Chevy Scottsdale getting complete paint jobs. Also talked to a guy that was leaving the shop. He's a local car lot owner and gets his cars painted there. Said they do great work but are slow. Speed doesn't matter to me as my Camaro is not my daily driver. I would rather they take thier time and do a good job. The initial estimate for Maaco to fix the damage, repaint the car including the hood, fill the holes from the old spoiler and add the new one is $2,100.

Looking forward to the finished product

To save some labor dollars, I've been taking off as much stuff as I can prior to dropping it off for paint. Took the three piece spoiler off and hope to remove the body side moulding, front turn signal lindicators, side marker lights, emblems and pinstriping today and tomorrow. Regardless of what's is still on, I will be taking it in on Saturday morning.

OMG. had to send pics to corporate office cause they didnt have the proper paperwork to look up stuff cause its too old!!??? wtf

Insurance companys are such a joke. I bet they spent more money dicking around than if they woulda just cut ya a check..

That's a lot of money for a Maaco paint job. Granted, I am not an employee there and never have been, but from what I have researched and have had family and friends get a paint job from them, it has never even been half of what you were quoted. My dad had his 98 chevy 1 ton dually repainted black for about $700 out the door. It looked ok, and it lasted the next few years we had it, but I have seen people with Maaco paint jobs have their paint start falling off in less than a year. I have heard that they have multiple levels of paint packages, and I have actually heard good things about the higher end ones, but I have also read things online that the lower ones have little to no masking, and they found tons of overspray all over their car. Maybe somebody else on here knows more about the packages they offer?