Alright, well, recently I was hit by van and cause about $2000 in damage to my car, according to 3 local estimates. The whole story with pics is in here.

Damage Pics and Story

I live in Grand Island, Nebraska, and all of the local body and paint shops are telling me that after they fix the damage, it would cost anywhere from $3500 to $6000 to paint my whole car! From everything I read on here, those prices are way way to steep!

So, my dad has decided that we should go looking around in Omaha or Lincoln to find a place that will do paint for a lot cheaper than the places here in GI, and I am hopeful. So, are there any places around GI or the Lincoln/Omaha area that you would recommend?

P.S.
If we cannot find anyplace to go, my dad says that he will paint the car himself in our garage. I'm kinda worried about that though, cause he is not a professional painter by any means. But I really want new paint, so I'll let him do it if we can't find anywhere to go! Thanks in advance!

 

Save some dough, bond with your pops and you two go for it. Sometimes we have to bite the bullet but the memory you will have will last a lifetime. Dads or Moms won't be here forever so if he is willing I say you 2 do it I wish I had the chance to do this with my Dad.

 

For parts: Have you been to the salvage yard in utica, ne? Fehlhafers, inc. I got their phone number if you can't find them in the yellow pages. I know a few years ago they used to have fair prices, they still do on a couple of parts. I dont know, check them out first. They ususally seem to have 3-4 thirdgens everytime i go there.

It would be easier to paint it the same color. I kind of doubt Lincoln or omaha would be cheaper. If you could find someone who paints cars on the side, for example - someone who paints farm equipment, it would be cheaper. I'll ask around in columbus...

 

Sounds good, thanks guys for the tips. I'll keep you updated on the car!

 

Me and my dad painted my car. Job, wasn't perfect, but black is a hard color to paint. Wetsanding became my new hobby, but still, it was kinda fun. You'll learn a bit too. Plus, I couldn't beat the price of free labor and just paying for materials. Just be there to help and don't let your dad do it all.

Gilley's86

 

Ok, so the insurance agent came by and looked at the car today. After taking note of everything and doing some research, he found the car to be worth about $2550 before the wreck. Minus previous damages, which was only the hood, the amount of money I could get from the insurance company was $2100, but that was only if we chose to get rid of the car.

I told him I wanted to keep the car, so he had to subtract more money off and ended up with $1850. I told him I would go with that and he wrote a check for $1850.

Now I am planning on buying the parts and fixing the car on my own so I can save some money. I could probably find the parts in a junkyard or on ebay, but is this going to be a long, hard process? Do you advise me to fix it myself, so that with the money I saved I could get a new hood and other parts? Or do you think I should just take it to a body shop and have them bring it back to where it was before the wreck? Thanks in advance.

 

finding parts shouldn't be too hard. It just look like you need a fender and a door mostly. Can't remember if you had ground effects. I got my fender new from hawksthirdgenparts.com for like $150, but i'd recommend getting a used fender. I had a tuff time lining the fender up.

It depends on how good your paint is, whether or not you want the whole car repainted. It might be better just to have your fender and door repainted. Might also be possible that your door could be fixed but it looks pretty bad.

If anything, look into shaving the antenna, if you dont use it. Since you're going to be replacing that fender anyway. I think our cars look so much better without them.

 

I think shaving the antenna is a really good idea! I think I will do that. Tomorrow I am going to a few junkyards to look around for parts, and if I can't get a good deal from them, I'll hit up hawks'.