Re: Seeking body repair advice in S.NH

["David R. Lefebvre" <drl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

If you don't have metallic paint, I would just get a dent-less used door, 
have it dipped and resprayed. Otherwise, you are going to need blending.

If you can't find a good paint shop in your area, there's a BMW parts yard 
in Florida, and I have a buddy in Austin, Texas who's independent and does 
most of the BMW & Mercedes work in town. His work is better than factory.

At 07:01 PM 2/25/03 +0000, you wrote:
>Last Saturday, in the middle of a really slippery, slushy, snow
>storm in S.NH, a van slid into my driver's door ('92 535i).  It
>was a very low speed hit and damage appears to be isolated to
>the drivers door.  It has a good size dent, the center trim piece
>is trashed, and the door is tweaked such that the upper rear
>corner is pulled out by about 1/8".  The seal in that area
>doesn't and I get some air noise at speed.  The door opens and
>closes fine.  The window opens and closes fine. The locks still
>work fine.
>
>Now, due to the fact that the car is so old, my only option,
>according to my insurer (Allstate...), is to show up at the
>adjuster and drive away with a check.
>
>Before I show up at this scheduled meeting next Wednesday, I
>want to do a bit of homework to ensure that I get the fairest
>possible treatment.  My thought was to get some quotes from
>body shops before meeting with the adjuster.  Also, I want to
>find a quality bodyshop that will provide the best value in
>getting this repaired.
>
>Will this likely be repaired, or will they hang a new/used
>door?
>
>How much should I expect this repair to cost?
>
>Does anyone have a line on a quality body shop in the S.NH
>area?
>
>Alternatively, how hard is it to hang a door myself, assuming
>I could find a suitable donor and I was willing to deal with
>paint matching and all that?
>
>Thanks in advance for any and all advice!
>
>Regards,
>Mike Kohlbrenner
>
>p.s.  After the accident, the other guy left the scene.  I gave
>chase, but while I had him in my sights on a couple of occasions,
>he had enough of a head start to lose me on the city streets when
>I got caught at a red light.  It was almost fun, though, as I was
>sliding around following his tracks in the snow.  One or both of
>the witnesses at the scene did get his plate number, however, so
>the cops bagged him.  Turns out he was driving under suspension.
>They plan to charge him with leaving the scene.  And he doesn't
>have insurance either.  Oh well, at least I do...
>--
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