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Comment by Moto7451 | Hacker News Reader

I was rear ended about 8 years ago. I was in a lane that is parking most of the day (like when I stopped) and no stopping/anti-congestion during rush hour. My Camaro was hit by a person traveling at least at the 45MPH speed limit. They were on their phone and thankfully were so angry they unintentionally confessed it all to the police office taking the report. I ended up not paying a cent to fix the car, but I did get a copy of the bill.

All in all the cost to repair it was in excess of $18,000 from a third party shop that didn’t do a great job on the finish. That was only $5k less than the Kelly Bluebook value for my car at that point in time.

In short, it costs a lot to repair crash damage. That’s something people probably don’t think about too deeply if they have comprehensive coverage and pay just their deductible.

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A dent is much different than a 45mph crash. At that speed you have to replace half of the car. We have done those at our shop on an occasion. It’s rare as it’s a pricy repair.

It actually wasn’t far off from the “one panel” as the 5th Gen Camaro has a long panel that stretches from the bumper to the tip of the A Pillar. Otherwise it was a bumper cover, crash structure (which is disposable above 10MPH) and a trunk lid. The biggest cost was the panel.

I had a VW Sirocco back in the 1980s and had to replace a rear taillight assembly; brake, turn, stop lights. I think it cost about $200 at the time which was a shocking amount. I probably only made $200 per a week in my job.

My uncle who knew a lot about cars gave me some advice. He said check how much an alternators costs before you buy a car. VWs seemed to be cheap to people but the parts were astoundingly expensive. But me as a teenage ignored all that. Kind of like people now buying Tesla for the looks, technology but pay dearly for any body damage.

I find it funny that all the Porsche guys try to find interchangeable parts with VW. Makes sense there is probably overlap between the manufacturing. I do the same thing with my old cars.

> In short, it costs a lot to repair crash damage

...and I suspect the car will never be "right" again.

Mine was actually fine. GT3 race cars get straightened on the same rigs after crashes so it apparent works ok for a harder use case than daily driving. The computerized rigs are better than the old days.

In my case I did have a couple trim pieces that didn’t completely match.

The challenge with these repairs is that they only focus on the body part. However, nobody knows the damage to the other systems in the car when hit at 45mph. Imo, it would have been better for the insurance company to total the car and pay you to buy another one.

I drifted into the back of a car on snow and ice. My car was going 10-15mph. $15K of damage repaired at an independent shop... (they did an amazing job and fought the insurance company for OEM over pattern parts). Car was worth under $20K. Maybe $17K?

If I showed you a photo of the damage you would believe me even less...

(The morning I got the car back, someone drove into the front and caused another $12K of almost identical damage. That was a great day)

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