Damage estimate for damaged back quarter panel?

NMKENNAA

MEMBER
2011 FORD EDGE
3.5L
V6
2WD
AUTOMATIC
155,000 MILES

I live in a complex with a parking lot. Yesterday, a woman was backing out of her spot next to me and got hit by a work truck. This caused her car to push into my rear passenger side. The photo shows damage to the rear. I’ll definitely need to replace the tail light and bumper. Not included in the photo, but the rear passenger door also was impacted. I can still open it but it clips the frame of the door a bit.

The car runs fine. I test drove it for a few miles afterwards. There could be potential frame damage as the car was parked straight into the spot, but was moved a bit after the hit.

I am waiting for an adjuster to come out from the liable parties insurance company. I am just curious about the estimate while waiting. This car may only be worth around $4,000.00 to $6,000.00. I assume they will try and total it but it runs fine and I do not mind just getting a quick fix with my own guy since I work from home and rarely drive.

Any rough guesses here? I will not let them total it and want a check for the damage.

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1 Reply

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
13,480 POSTS

Being a 2011 and that amount of damage and mileage I would almost say it will be totaled as just the quarter panel replacement and repaint will cost over the ACV of that vehicle. That is before the bumper cover, supports and other pieces are addressed. List price on the taillight is about $175.00. What the other company will likely do is total it and tell you that you can buy it back for XX. XX Then repair it. Hard to say without a full teardown and verifying the actual damage.
Be careful with what the insurance does, They will try to shift things around to make it better for them. So the work truck insurance could say they were not liable because it wasn't their vehicle that hit yours, then that company will argue that the work company is a fault and go round a few times before they do anything.

For a full repair I would say you are looking at closer to $2,000.00 easy. That is due to the quarter panel not being an easy part to replace, essentially they have to cut the entire part off which is far more than you would think as it runs from the rear bumper up to the roof and forward to the front windows all as one body side panel.

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