Recently someone saw it fit to side swipe my my Lancer, so right now I am facing the prospect of repairs. As such here is my question - is it better to repaint the entire car all at once, or should I only have the side with damage repainted? Not sure how much is going to be covered by insurance - meeting with the adjuster next week.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

 

that sucks, just get in doors/skirts painted, will be cheaper and wont look that "off"

 

just get one side done.

my friend had his celica keyed up one side and was flipping out about how the paint wasn't going to match right and the whole thing needed to be sprayed.

that didn't happen and the car looks fine.

 

thats not too bad. just get that part repainted.

 

Thanks for the information - I'm going to see the adjuster next week to see how much it will put me back.

 

So, you got side swiped... and it's costing you? Did you get their insurance info/license plate #, etc?? Get the estimates done at a body shop and the other persons insurance covers it. Maybe it is a bit different in the US? I got hit from behind last november (2005) and the body shop took care of all the insurance claim stuff for me and the other guy got the bill...

As well, I'm also assuming that you possibly came out of some place and just saw the damage and some idiot was after running off without leaving a note, etc.. in which case, you may wanna consider paying for the paint job yourself in order to avoid your insurance premium increasing and costing you more in the long run than if you just fork the whole amount over now out of your pocket.

Either way... good luck with it all.

PS: As the guys above have said, you will not need to have the entire car done. The body shop will be able to match your paint easily and can do those sections alone. She'll look like herself in no time once that other lowly drivers residue has been removed

 

I actually have a full police report on the accident - but the insurance company automatically accepts responsibility for the accident if it occurs while you are changing lanes unless you can prove otherwise.

However, the police report notes that the damage is to the other drivers front right wheel well/bumper and mine along the side of my car as you can see in the picture. Traffic was only moving about 5mph and there were several car lengths worth of space for me to move into so it should have been a typical lane change. However, the running theory is that she was distracted by something (i.e. cellphone) and didn't realize how much space there was between her and the car in front of her and hit the gas without paying attention to the situation. I was actually a good deal of the way into the lane when she hit me - the cars where actually at a slight angle in relation to each other.

Not really much I can do about it at this point except for try to learn from it, get the car fixed back up, and keep an eye out for drivers that look like they might be distracted when driving so that I can try to avoid them.

 

Yep... it's like my folks used to say when I was young and would try to reassure them with "I know how to drive.. I'll be fine!" which resulted in the response "Yeah it's not just you, it's the other drivers out there on the roads with you". It becomes crystal clear what they meant when you get rear-ended and there was absolutely nothing you could do to stop/avoid it.

 

Well your car is a Pearl White. That means it's a triple coat.

You'll need to pain the entire side of the car, atleast. If you just paint the doors, in time you'll be able to notice the differences in the paint and they'll be mis-matched.

Trust me, I made this mistake and now it freaking annoys me. Even if it's just me that notices it all the time... I'm trying to save up and get my whole entire car repainted.

 

Drive as if every other driver out there is a complete moron.

 

That's what I was wondering. I used to live in Texas and a number of people have told me that the sun can fade the colors in cars and if you only get part of the car repainted you will be able to tell the difference. However, if the insurance covers enough of the bill I might be able afford making up the difference to get the whole car repainted - there are some token nicks and dings that could afford some paint on them - nothing bad enough for a repaint though unless you have a reason.

 

most are complete morons

 

just have the damage repainted. a lot of shops will do a good job of matching the color, just ask around town for people that have used different shops. if you really don't mind the extra money a few places (shops around here that specialize in repairing cars for dealerships) have a weird computerized analysis on the paint color to match it perfectly..... fading or not. either way, it will be good and a hell of a lot less than repainting the whole car.

 

Even if you had sun damage the body shop will only have to paint with the base and pearl coat the doors and the side skirt and will be able to blend it in with the front fender and rear fender by using different air pressures and paint methods, but the entire side of the car will have to be recleared to finish the blending process and paint job. Just remember when you get it back don't put wax on it for 6 months to a year in order for the paint to cure completely, but you can use a hand glaze that will still let the paint breath, depending on the shop and how bad the car really is it will run anywhere from 2,200 to 4,500 bucks hope this helps you out.