dont total it!! it's gonna cost you more. like i said, pull it out and bondo that **** up. after primer and paint, no one can tell the difference.

 

vultures...

 

I only had liability so insurance wasnt goin to cover me, thats y I bought another car. Get a couple quotes and if the are more than say like 2gs start lookin for another car and keep yours for parts and part out what u dont want. I made a couple hundred that way after keeping what I wanted/needed.

 

This looks bad, but really isnt at all, all you need is the quarter panel, reattach your bumper, lights, and cheap valvestem. your trucklid is not even messed up.

 

Advice for the future:
Either get collision insurance or drive a beater. In my younger days (early 90's), I paid $2000 cash for an '81 Accord 4d and rolled it a few weeks later. I had no collision, just liability. I'll never make that mistake again. =/

As far as fixing it, get at least 3-5 estimates on the cost to fix, then save up money to get it done. Don't try to do anything yourself if the car is still driveable and legal.

I had a very similar accident during a big rainstorm on the grapevine in California. Another car clipped me in the same spot and I did a couple 360s. Cost about $2k for a shop to fix it, if I remember correctly.

 

yeah, i'm 17 and collision is kinda out of the question. i was planning on getting a beater but none of this really has anything to do with the fact that my car is smashed up.
if its 2k i will be pretty damn indecisive. i was gonna put another 2k into the car to get the 3.5 swap...so 2k would basically just put me back to square 1.
i would have to find a steal on a maxima.

but whatever, im gonna get some quotes first.

 

dam man, i feel for ya. it sucks to see 'your' ride like that. at least the whole panel isnt fuked. try to take a good look under the car for more hidden damage. whoever does it should be able to weld a new piece up. like you said, dont even worry about paint know if thats gonna run more $$$ that you dont have/want to spend. just get it back to looking good again. hey, when i was 17 i didnt even have a license. good luck man.

 

thanks man.
a route im going to consider if i get high quotes is doing it "myself". actually its my dads friend, he's restoring an old muscle car and has re-welded the fenders on his car a couple times (perfectionist) due to rust. but as far as getting a quarter panel, thats somethin else i'd have to look into.
this whole thing is stressin me out, i just want it fixed so i can get back to doin my thing.

 

I know nothing about body repairs or cars in general, but i swear that looks like at least $2000 in work

AT LEAST!

Sorry to hear about it though.

 

if the metal is creased they cant pull it out. they will cut whats crap out and replace with a new quarter. then weld it in grind it smooth, light bondo coat, prime paint and clear it. want my advice ? go to the boneyard and get a full 97 rear. take a portable battery powered dewalt grinder and cut a BIG section of rear quarter out of the junked car. take the WHOLE thing to the body shop and save yourself some cash.

 

Looks like a total to me. That would be assuming you had insurance.

Anyway, probably not worth it to fix it.

Car in trade-in value without any damage is worth about $4K - $5K.

Spend $3K to fix a $4,000 dollar car, and the car is still worth only $4,000. Well maybe a bit less from the fact it now has accident history.

It might be much easier and cost effective to simply go and buy another 95-96 Maxima, sell whatever you can out of the wrecked one (engine, transmission, etc.), and get proper insurance next time.

 

ouch that sucks man but i know how it feels. yours looks like it will need to be replaced though. here is what mine looked like when i was fixing it.
]

 

Sorry to hear that about ur car its no problem i had exact damage I went to a bodyshop it was $420 and the car is like new

 

i talked to a buddy at a junkyard and he said he had some 1/4 panels so i think im gonna do this. the only thing im not sure about is the brackets and stuff, i guess i'd have to snag those as well.

 

wow where did you go? do you have pics?

 

It doesn't look that bad. My niece rear-ended someone, and I think the repairs were about $2500. I hate to ask, but do you have collision insurance?

 

Well I dont actualy have the pic of the actual accident ive attempted it to fix it my self i have a pic of that and it didnt came out that good and then i took it to the shop and payed 420 and its like new ill upload the pics in a sec

 

yea can u put up those pics?

 

This is the pic of what I tried to do my self



This is after $420 and a bodyshop

 

your damage was no where near his based on the photo even after you tried to fix it. $420 is about right for smoothen and painting the rear panel.

 

well it looked teh exacly same some guy ran into my car when i was parked when i saw it it was pretty much the same the picture above was the one that i tried to fix it it want really smooth but it wasnt that bad best suggestion hamer as much as you can so the bodyshop have less work to do well thats what i did

 

what??
yeah your damage didnt look anywhere near mine.
but what im gonna do is get a quarter panel if the shop says they would need to weld another one in. i can get one for 200 bucks, hopefully that will keep the cost down on the repair cause at that point it would mostly all be labor.
i just dont know how much of the 1/4 i need to get cut from a yard.
that spot just looks hard as hell to repair...if the ycould pull it out i would be amazed.

 

i noticed when i turn on the right blinker it blinks really fast, but the left blinker blinks normally.
i think im gonna buy the 1/4 panel and tackle this with my buddy, he's gonna take a look at it.
this would save so much money.

 

bummer to hear about this. especially after you just put in those tails! but isn't the rear 1/4 one giant piece that includes the roof? can you just go to a junkyard and sawzall what you need?

 

Dude I know...but whay can I do about the tails? I mean at least they were free you know?
I'm gonna do 97 rear...its the only way to come back..
And yeah the junkyard I'm goin to is gonna cut me what piece I want so I just have to figure out how much I actually need. The rear door lines up weird so I might need a bit

 

To be on the safe side id say cut it from the tire because u can always cut it to size, and about the damage like i said i didnt really have the pic of the damage with out the work really done to it so you can really see the extend of the damage

 

bring it to a shop before u mess it up more. if there is fram damage your car will be a body shop abortion. do it right the first time

 

why do yall think there is frame damage? would i know if there was or not by driving it?
i slid off the road and swiped a fence post which just folded that back piece in. i doubt it hurt the frame.
i drove the car and everything seemed fine.

 

I had the same problem with my car, only on the other side. I was told to take the front bulb out and clean the connector. After i did that it worked normal again. If it doesn't work on the front then do it on the back one.

It sounds weird but it worked. The problem hasn't came back.

 

if you want some money, i'll take those rims off your hands.

 

 

i'll check it out. i think its just cause the harness broke back there and i dont have a bulb in it.

 

Dude your going to have to get a 97+ bumper, lid and red clears. . . you cant go back to the stock lights. . .

Did your antenna motor get damaged? I would be right in the location where the car was hit.

 

you know i am! im doin the conversion for sure.

actually my antenna was fine. i bought it, aftermarket, from a guy on the org. and for som reason it just never worked. but i kept it in there, i dont use it, i listen to xm radio. so i'll just have that hole shaved when i bring it in.
i think the antenna actually kept it from getting smashed in more. i took it out and it was wedged in there but still retrievable.

 

hate to tell you this dude, but the quarter panels on cars like this do not just "bolt" on like the front fender would, it gets cut off b/c it is welded to the roof line and a couple other places, and there are alot of angles that have to be just perfect to get that thing back on there properly. at my dad's shop when a car needs a quarter, we order the entire back-half of another car and get the pieces off that way. IMHO this is definatley NOT a job you could do yourself, no matter how much help you have if you do not have a full service shop and the proper tools to do it right. even if you did manage to get the old one off w/o f**king up your car, there is no way you would be able to get the new one on,fitted right, welded in and finished cleanly without something short of a miracle. not trying to discourage you or offend you or anything trust me, but just telling you what I know as I have seen many cars like this come through our body shop and none of them have been cheap/easy to fix...

and yes it will probably cost more than 3g's to fix it. sorry man

 

we'll just see about that. im going to get quotes tomorrow. for all i know they can pull it out and it doesnt need to be replaced.
either way I'M buying the quarter panel if it needs one. so if you have any advice let me know how much you think i need to to buy. the whole rear? not just the corner?

 

If your looking at, atleast $3k to fix Chillin, you might want to get another Maxima (maybe 5speed) swap over mods, and part out the rest of the car, then sell whats left to a junk yard or recyclind facility.

Thats if paying $3k to fix it, is out of the question.

 

I have done a couple of quarters on Maximas but they were both 3rd gens. Its not too bad but is very time consuming. you have to pull all the interior out the back, pull the window, cut all the spot welds out etc.

I havent read all the responses here...someone sent me this link so I am offering my input.

I doubt there is frame damage because it doesnt look that extent to me but its hard to tell until you get one and really look at and measure it.

You might be able to pull it but I am not big into using a lot of bondo and it would take a lot of hammer/dolly work to get it slick enought to use little bondo.

you can check my 93 site out to see my quarter panel replacement on that one if you like. Good luck.

 

dude if its even 2k im considering making it a scrap maxima.

 

thanks man, i appreciate it.

like i said, if this is gonna be expensive, im buying a new car and doing this one myself. if i buy a new maxima....i just dont know. cause it'd have to be cheap and i still want to keep this perfectly fine one.

edit- wow i just looked at that. you did that yourself? whatd you use to weld? how much of the REAR section did you cut?