Repainting anything is expensive. A good body shop can do magic, it will look afterwards as if nothing ever happened with a perfect paint match and a smooth finish. A lesser one, not so much.

I believe something like this falls under collision coverage. My wife had a similar event about 6 months ago and with my insurance company, any claim under $1000 doesn't affect future premiums. Her job came out to be $975, so we had it done with just a deductible payment. We are in a high cost area, though, and if you're not, job costs could be cheaper.

Check your coverage AND go to a good body shop to learn where you stand. Good luck.

(If the scrape came from contact with another car, I hope you left a note with your name and contact info)

Visit a few body shops. Google for reviews on each. Like Elmer said, a good body shop can work magic. I recently had the hood and two front fender panels on my 2000 4Runner repainted. Looks like new! Paid $800 cash. Credit card would have been more expensive.

Sorry to tell you, but that sounds about right. At least here in California. For a reputable shop. You could go through your insurance.

Wow--I didn't know that any claim under 1000 didn't affect insurance. Hmmm. But, I wonder if car body places charge more to get more from auto insurances? I can pay cash. That is a good tip. I will get on the google tonight! Thank you.

No, they can't. They have to answer to the Bureau of Automotive Repair. And actually, the insurance companies get a better rate than cash paying customers.

Thanks Rita. I appreciate the info. Also, I checked Angie's List for reviews and my dealership where I bought the care got good reviews.

I only got 1-1/2 hours from the dealership before ruining the rear bumper of my brand new red Dodge Caravan! Worst thing about it, I backed into my DH in the Jeep! We have a high deductible and just paid cash for the repair. I think it was around $1,000.

Sorry to hear about your car.

Kathyg--thank you for sharing. I know this is really silly but I feel going to dealership for repair because I turned down the ding/dent program they offered. I feel even sillier that I'm close to 50 and don't want my Dad to know. Isn't that insane?

How long does a repair like this usually take? Thank you.

When my car was hit, it took three days for paint (prep/paint/cure).

Yes, 2 or 3 days. The paint has to dry.

When I did mine I cried the rest of the way home, a 2 hour ride!!!

A quote should be a quote, no matter who pays. The under $1000 practice was for State Farm in California, other companies and other locations may be different.

In California, a customer can go to any body shop, it needn't be one recommended by the insurance company. State Farm has a Select network that provides the following extras (along with probably an extra discount to State Farm) if you choose to use one:

• Quality, professional repairs
• Written national limited lifetime repair warranty
• Guaranteed completion dates
• Washing and vacuuming of the vehicle
• Pick up and delivery service upon request
• Direct payment to the repair shop upon completion of repairs
• And other convenient services

Insurance companies get better rates. Most insurance companies have similar programs that Elmer J Fudd referenced above. They get a discount for sending work to a particular shop. One of their 'preferred' shops. But, it is true that you can take your vehicle to any repair shop you want. I'm curious, what was your dealerships ding/dent program? And sorry about your car....i know how you feel, 2 weeks after I got my new truck, someone keyed it up and down both sides.

I will call the insurance company also. The ding/dent program was something like you pay a thousand dollars and they take out dings/dents in your car. I didn't get that or the extended warranty. Rita--I think your story is worse--keying someone's car is really horrible. I"m sorry that happened to you!

DS's gal got rear ended. Only visible damage was a scrape you and I would not even notice. Car four years old. $1500 to repair. And yes her Insurance would go up if she made a claim. Yep its real and the paper work's a 'itch!!

I feel better about the warranty now. Thanks. I will go out tomorrow and get some quotes. I am leaning towards not filing insurance because I read that you have 2 claims in a year, your insurance could go up tremendously. I have no other claims but you never know what could happen.

I'll chime in too with sympathy. I was driving my brand new car for like the third or fourth time when I ran over "something" in the middle of my lane. It was a piece of metal that leapt up and hit the side of my car, bottom, near the fender. :(

Thanks for the sympathy. I found one auto body place open today--only a couple blocks from the house so I'll pop in there for a word.

So what did you hit?

I was pulling into a parking spot--guess I swung too wide (and too fast apparently) and hit the concrete--the spot was the last one in the row and had a concrete curb to the side separating the parking spot from the grassy area.

Better than what happened to me. I was walking across the parking lot toward my car when I saw a lady in her huge SUV parked next to my, walking around her vehicle to look at mine. She was pulling into the spot next to me and nailed my bumper, rear panel, passenger door and front door as she was pulling in. Fortunately I was right there so she couldn't deny or get away. She tried saying the damage to her front bumper was from when she hit some garbage cans and I informed her that her silver paint was all over the side of my car. (What I couldn't understand is how she hit my car and proceeded to park anyway. I mean wouldn't you normally stop at the sound of the first crunch rather than keep going?? I mean she scraped the whole side of my car!)

Then she confessed that she'd also not pulled her vehicle in the garage far enough and closed the garage door down on her car. She complained that the vehicle was just too big for her and she couldn't judge how big it was. I agreed she'd be better off with a smaller one.

I finally got my car back. So fortunate to have a terrific body shop and they negotiated with the insurance co. so they paid in full. My car looks better than new now, they did such a great job! But I did have to live without it for 10 days.

I guess the moral of the story is, if you get a new vehicle, presume it's larger than you think so you don't hit things.

Thanks Annie--I was really just careless--it's a compact car. Too wide--too fast--too careless. Turns out that Google was wrong--auto body near my home was closed today but there is a big street with about 6 of those places so I will just figure it all out tomorrow.

Just chiming in with sympathy, it's easy to misjudge things when learning a new car, and so much better to scrape a concrete thing than another vehicle! I'm sure you'll find a repair shop able to fix it good as new (and hopefully at a decent price).

Nickel--I like that your glass if half full. Thanks.

Just popping back in to agree with ratherbesewing. Any additional warranty or 'program' is a waste of money. And there's probably so many conditions to it, they'd find a way to weasel out of it. Good luck tomorrow.

I don't have time right now to read the responses, but boy do I feel your pain!!! I have a new car as well and a couple of months ago, while parked in a lot, someone must have been backing up into the space in front of me, gone to far/hard, and literally rammed the front of my car. This is only a guess as I didn't even realize the bumper was completely cracked until I was leaving a store and walking towards the front of the car.

It could not be repaired, the quotes I received were all to replace it with a new one and paint it. $850. Since my deductable is 1000, I chose not to make a claim to the insurance and I would have had to pay another 3.5% if I chose to use a debit or credit card. It hurt! Especially because a month after I got the car, my windshield cracked when I turned on the heat! That was 150.00 to replace!

Oh dear. That is really bad Irish. I am getting estimate tomorrow due to torrential rain.

Got the estimate--body shop with very good reputation--$300 to repaint bumper--will take 3 days. SO RELIEVED.

Whew. I was holding my breath. Sounds good!

that's great!