Cost to repair vs cost to replace fender

[Carpy2]

Hey guys, last week unfortunately I was backing out and a friend of mine in his 4runner was also backing out and we hit. It was not super hard, but enough for his bumper to bend in my driver's side fender, centered above the wheel. The worst part is that it cracked the paint, so it will have to be repainted. I got a quote from a local shop that I trust on repairing, and repainting the fender. It looks like it is going to be $1200-1600. $1600 being on the high side, and I was told that is from the painter and they are trying to get it reduced down to $1200.

I'm wondering how much I will save if I source a new fender, like this one (http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E36-M3-S52_3.2L/Exterior/Body/ES72105/), install it, then take it in to get color matched. From what I hear, the painting is the expensive part because they have to blend it in, which is hard? I don't know anything about painting. I asked the shop this and they said it would be better to stick to the existing fender for fitment reasons, but I am pretty confident BMW is capable of making fenders that match up pretty well.

What do you guys think? I have never done body work before, but it seems straight forward from what I have read. And I have the tools necessary, it sounds like finding all the screws holding in the existing fender in is the only hard part.

Here's pictures of the damage. It pushed my fender liner out a bit, and my front bumper is sagging where it connects to the fender. The clip holding it in (clip right?) probably broke, or ripped through.

495209495210

Thanks,
Michael

[Moron95M3]

find the same color used fender and swap it in. I haven't done the job my self but I think it's pretty straightforward.

[Carpy2]

find the same color used fender and swap it in. I haven't done the job my self but I think it's pretty straightforward.

That is true, I can still drive the car as is for a while, and maybe I can wait for a part-out or something to pop up where I can snag a fender. I'll call around my local scrap yards too.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm mostly more concerned about the paint matching the rest of the car. Can anyone give me a ballpark range of how much it would cost to color match a fender to the rest of the car? I feel like that in itself is probably around $500.

[CMG]

Any color match will require a blend. If car is beater just swap same color used fender. If gargae queen replace with new dot r fender and have pro paint.

[Steve Pratel]

Any color match will require a blend. If car is beater just swap same color used fender. If gargae queen replace with new dot r fender and have pro paint.

+1

[RRSperry]

Look, it comes down to labor costs. Is it cheaper to spend man hours on pulling the dent(s), sanding, filling, sanding, prep, more sanding, blocking, then paint, or replace the fender and then prep and paint. (most quality replacement fenders don't require that much prep.)

The time and effort of painting is the same, no matter which route you take. Usually it's cheaper in the long run to replace the fender.

(say it takes a body guy, 5 hrs to straighten the fender. At $75/hr, it costs $375 in labor, then you have to paint it. If a replacement fender is $250 you see, it's cheaper...)

[Moron95M3]

Look, it comes down to labor costs. Is it cheaper to spend man hours on pulling the dent(s), sanding, filling, sanding, prep, more sanding, blocking, then paint, or replace the fender and then prep and paint. (most quality replacement fenders don't require that much prep.)

The time and effort of painting is the same, no matter which route you take. Usually it's cheaper in the long run to replace the fender.

(say it takes a body guy, 5 hrs to straighten the fender. At $75/hr, it costs $375 in labor, then you have to paint it. If a replacement fender is $250 you see, it's cheaper...)

woah woah woah get this math stuff outta here!

[StarvinMarvin]

$1200-$1600?

It's difficult to see the dents in the fender, and maybe you really do have 10 hours of body work there, but even so, I find that price high. I was quoted $300 to have have my fender resprayed for a small chip, and after one comment, the guy dropped it to $275 and that was just for paint. I think you're getting ripped off.

The reason the guy said they don't like to use replacement panels is so they won't have to realign the panel gaps between the hood, door and bumper.

[TRM]

Cheapest for sure will be to spend some time and source the same color and hopefully same year/vintage. This should take a little time but definitely the easiest and least expensive.

[ihsnshaik]

A. Don't do anything about it.
B. Get a used fender and paint it <500
C. Get a new fender and paint it ???
D. Get it repaired and rust starts to form from improper workmanship and spend close to 2k.

1600 is outrageous! I can get that fender fixed and painted for 300.00 from my bodyshop. You might think thats sketchy but hes done a lot for me in the last decade and never disappointed me once.

The color is Cosmos?

One of the hardest is Dakar, Daytona just the odd colors and especially silver! Hard to blend and make it perfect. A shop that tells you I have to paint the hood the bumper and door to match you need to find a new guy.

[conway]

....

Pay for my flight to Washington and I'll bring a painted cosmos fender and install it for 600 including the fender lol. I'm serious too.

You are getting royally screwed my friend.

[ZainsE30]

A. Don't do anything about it.
B. Get a used fender and paint it <500
C. Get a new fender and paint it ???
D. Get it repaired and rust starts to form from improper workmanship and spend close to 2k.

1600 is outrageous! I can get that fender fixed and painted for 300.00 from my bodyshop. You might think thats sketchy but hes done a lot for me in the last decade and never disappointed me once.

The color is Cosmos?

One of the hardest is Dakar, Daytona just the odd colors and especially silver! Hard to blend and make it perfect. A shop that tells you I have to paint the hood the bumper and door to match you need to find a new guy.

I have a dakar :( gotta be careful lol

[Eric98Sedan]

Sigh. You people that think a high end paint project should cost $300 are on SERIOUS crack. Go price it out.

A new fender is about $200 give or take. You can R&R it yourself. This takes a lot of time to get aligned just right. Then, you'll need most of the front end and side of the car painted/blended. This requires removal of all rubber and plastic trim, mirror, lights, drip molding, etc, etc.

$1200 for all of this, including a fender is NOT a rip off. Get a clue. Just a front end "touch up" without any parts is close to $2k.

OR - as mentioned, find a used fender that's the correct color. It'll match pretty well but never perfectly. Might be good enough for this particular car, might not be.

[Carpy2]

Sigh. You people that think a high end paint project should cost $300 are on SERIOUS crack. Go price it out.

A new fender is about $200 give or take. You can R&R it yourself. This takes a lot of time to get aligned just right. Then, you'll need most of the front end and side of the car painted/blended. This requires removal of all rubber and plastic trim, mirror, lights, drip molding, etc, etc.

$1200 for all of this, including a fender is NOT a rip off. Get a clue. Just a front end "touch up" without any parts is close to $2k.

That sounds more correct to what I have been quoted by shops around here. If a hood replacement and paint match is more than $1000, I don't see why $1200 for fixing the fender and painting/blending is outrageous (as far as paying a shop to do it). Replacing a hood then painting it seems easier than working on my fender. My fender will require body work to get it back to the right shape, then prepping, then painting with blending on the hood, door, and front bumper to make sure it looks like it is still the original paint.

That being said, I do agree with most of the other posts saying there is a cheaper route to fixing this, sourcing a bumper, installing it myself, etc. But for what I would be paying the shop for, I don't think the shop is ripping me off with their quote by any means. And I think they will do a much better job than me. My car isn't a "garage queen" per se, but I want it to look pristine, and I understand that comes with added cost.

Thanks for the input guys!

Edit: Rephrased for fairness.

[RRSperry]

One last thing. Just because the color says cosmos black, doesn't mean they are all the same. There are 8 different variations of Cosmos black in the color formula book. Pick the wrong on, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

With metallic colors like Cosmos, there is almost no way to hide the fact that it's been painted without blending.

[GG Allin]

Bavarian Auto Recycling has fenders for under $100. Odds are they have one in Cosmos. If I were in your shoes, I'd buy one from them. If it didn't match I'd take it to get resprayed.

[ThreeD]

One last thing. Just because the color says cosmos black, doesn't mean they are all the same. There are 8 different variations of Cosmos black in the color formula book. Pick the wrong on, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.

With metallic colors like Cosmos, there is almost no way to hide the fact that it's been painted without blending.

Not to mention that the paint around it is likely.faded and won't match 100% even w a polish and the same blend. My paint guy has a camera he puts on surrounding areas to get the best possible match and mix.

[Moron95M3]

Bavarian Auto Recycling has fenders for under $100. Odds are they have one in Cosmos. If I were in your shoes, I'd buy one from them. If it didn't match I'd take it to get resprayed.

I like this

[MIMI1]

1600$ for an E36 fender spray and replace ... what kind of shop is this jesus fing christ?

120$ a panel to spray cheap
to
300$ a panel to spray retarded good.

A oem fender from the dealer is like 170$ ... so please someone tell me where is 1600$ coming from?

[RobertFontaine]

I can get my whole truck cleaned up all the way around for about $500. Is the car for driving or for looking at?

[92Beamer]

Our shop does 50$/hr labor, straightening would be maybe 4 hrs and you would paint fender blend on door, so probably 7-800$.

[bimma360]

A close friend of mine owns a body shop with a paint booth. One of the things he's told me, and from my personal experience have found out to be true, is that painting is cheaper then body work. To me it sounds like that either your shop is over charging you and trying to place the blame on the paint, or the lack of paint booth in house leaves them at the mercy of who they use for paint. It may even be a combination of the two. Personally I try and shy away from any shop that does not have a booth in house, I don't care how good they are.

On a side note, same friend with the body shop had advised me in the past that buying a new panel (albeit it was a bumper) and having it painted and blended would be cheaper then having the shop work on my original one. The shop i took my car to said the exact same thing and the difference in price (including the cost of the new bumper) was from $800 - $1500. Point is, the majority of the cost in something like this comes from the body work and prep work. And my example here is a good testament to that. I am not going to tell you that you can get it cheaper somewhere else, but I would bet you may see a better quote from someone that has their own booth. You may even get truthful advise from them on whether buying a new fender is worth it, since they will be getting your money for paint anyway. Just my $0.02.

[Tinydragon]

A. Don't do anything about it.
B. Get a used fender and paint it <500
C. Get a new fender and paint it ???
D. Get it repaired and rust starts to form from improper workmanship and spend close to 2k.

1600 is outrageous! I can get that fender fixed and painted for 300.00 from my bodyshop. You might think thats sketchy but hes done a lot for me in the last decade and never disappointed me once.

The color is Cosmos?

One of the hardest is Dakar, Daytona just the odd colors and especially silver! Hard to blend and make it perfect. A shop that tells you I have to paint the hood the bumper and door to match you need to find a new guy.

is your bodyshop in Chicago?

[RRSperry]

Nice 9 year thread bump...