CRASHED MY LEXUS!!! ADVICE PLEASE...

[quicksilversurfer]

Hey guys, it's very nice to see and be a part of such a vibrant community. 

I recently bought a 1998 LS400 this year, and it was everything I hoped for. I took all the great advice here, and made this decision, so thank you for that.

Unfortunately, all this didn't last for too long, when just the other week I hit the front of the car into a wall because of freak incident. Now the bonnet, damaged, front side panel is bent, and the the front bumper has cracked and broken. It seems like significant damage. 

I really don't know what to do here.. I'm not sure if I have the money to throw at it, and honestly have been too scared to find that out. I was wondering if you guys had some advice, or tips of where I can start from. I live in Central NJ, so any pointers would be awesome and I would really appreciate it.

Looking forward to hearing to what you guys have to say, I'm really in a fix and I don't want to part with my LS. It's my first car. 

Thanks

[jamesm182]

Hi Prateek sorry to hear about the crash. It's always especially bad when it's a car you really care about.

Have you got a photo of the damage?

[quicksilversurfer]

Hey @jamesm182, thanks for the quick reply. I'm at work right now, but will try and take a picture today and upload it as soon as possible. Thanks again.

[Exhaustgases]

If the structure is not damaged, (so we need under the hood pictures) what I would do if it was mine is look for same paint code parts at wrecking yards or where ever, and replace the ruined parts. Wrecking yards usually have a system where they can check nation wide for parts.

[M.Yasir]

welcome prateek, '98 LS 400 is also my first car and I am loving every bit of it

Very sad to hear that you got into an accident I hope you were not hurt, regarding the spare parts yeah and like bob said go to a scrap yard you should get easily at least the bonnet and the front bumper, are you still able to start the car? is the radiator damaged? what about the windshield, is it still in place?

[sha4000]

We definitely need picks of the car with the hood /bonnet raised.

[billydpowell]

are you having camera problems? no photos yet?

[quicksilversurfer]

Hey guys... Sorry for the delay, work has been a little hectic. It's the reason why I've taken the pictures at night too. But hopefully you get an idea of the damage. I think mostly the damage is to the side panel and the radiator and the body are mostly secure. The car starts up and runs fine. 

Thanks a lot to everyone who has replied, I will try and look at the wrecking yard idea. If you have any suggestions of yards in central NJ, that would be awesome too.

Anyways, here are the pics, I'll get better ones if these are not good enough.

[billydpowell]

4 majors and a few minors and you are good.. fender,hood, headlight & bumper, with them out of the way, the little things will show up//

[Exhaustgases]

Looks like just replace the damaged parts type of deal. I would find the correct paint code, I would not do a repaint. Most all repaint is garbage. I work with a guy that had some slight damage on a door fixed on a Mercedes, they blended the front fender and other areas, to me its a mess, and he's not happy with all the nibs, I can't wait till it sees a nice hard freeze maybe it will blister then, good old no stick to the primer and non dried water borne crap paint. He should have found a good paintless dent repair person like I said to do.

[sha4000]

It will be very hard to find those parts with the same paint code. Especially on the east coast.

[quicksilversurfer]

Thanks a lot guys for all the inputs.

Seems like finding a wreck yard to get parts is probably my best bet. I've also been considering looking in eBay, to find something that would match perfectly. But yeah, don't know how good that looks. 

Could you guesstimate a quote of all the expenses? At least I'll be more prepared that way.

Thanks again, don't wish this for anyone. Such a pain.

[Exhaustgases]

At the right wrecking yard maybe 300 max.

At a body shop about 5000.

[jamesm182]

Agreed, you need to get lucky and find the right wrecking yard otherwise it's going to get expensive at a body shop.

[sha4000]

Silver hood in Phily for $200

http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

Silver fender in Voorhees, NJ for $250

http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

The bumper will be a little more tricky so I'll let you look. I would ask around to see if yours can be fixed. You'll be surprised what ppl can do with a plastic welder.

http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

You can buy the headlight case from eBay and transfer over the internals. Are you sure your radiator support is not bent?

[quicksilversurfer]

Hey @sha4000, thank you so much for that. You can't believe how much this helps. I'm kinda new to these things ( crashing cars).. So didn't know where to start my search from.

I think the major parts you've covered, and the headlights and stuff I'll order from eBay. That should be fine.

i think I'm quite sure the radiate support is ok, the collision happened mostly on the edge and was very low speed. I looked around the damage, and it's only the fender and headlight that took most of the damage. 

I'll keep you guys updated on the progress, gotta get this done now, been too long.

Thanks again, really appreciate it.

[quicksilversurfer]

57 minutes ago, sha4000 said:

Silver hood in Phily for $200

http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

Silver fender in Voorhees, NJ for $250

http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

The bumper will be a little more tricky so I'll let you look. I would ask around to see if yours can be fixed. You'll be surprised what ppl can do with a plastic welder.

http://www.car-part.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi

You can buy the headlight case from eBay and transfer over the internals. Are you sure your radiator support is not bent?

 

[Exhaustgases]

Keep us all posted on how it goes with this project.

[billydpowell]

wow, this group has done all but go after them for you. good work guys.. "Pat on the Back" 

now make it look new again..

[sha4000]

Good luck with the repair.

[M.Yasir]

You are lucky only body parts are damaged and not the engine parts, good luck

[Exhaustgases]

Personally I'd much rather engine parts damaged. Body and paint is the most difficult to get right.

[M.Yasir]

Atleast you have wheels bob, you dont have to rent a car or take taxi to hunt down the parts

[jamesm182]

Hope all goes well with the repair Prateek!

[quicksilversurfer]

So.... here's some interesting updates.

I realized that I have car insurance from my company, and here is a summary of what has taken place when I talked to them.

They consider the car to be a total loss, and will reimburse me to about $4800 if I decide to salvage it. If I keep it, I'll probably get around $3000. 

The appraiser did a repair estimate, which came to around $5400 in damages. Here are the things that he included:

• Tires - It has a gouge in it, could work with it, but added because it's a safety concern - $200
• Front Bumper - Reconditioned, Molding, Bumper Cover retainer bracket - $760
• Hood - Replacement - $1200
• Fender - Right replacement left finishing to match color - $400
• Front Lamps - Right replacement, signal lamp assemble, side marker lamp, parking lamp, fog lamp replacement - $750
• Radiator Support - No estimate
• Wheel Balancing - $12
• Miscellaneous Charges - $30

I'm actually thinking of keeping it but I will have to go through some trouble to fix it and not sure of the final charges. Oh and by the way, I haven't been able to pass emissions and when I took it to a mechanic they said that I might have to replace / repair my catalytic converter or exhaust. That's a pretty expensive repair, but I was willing to go through with that before this happened.

In case I don't keep it, I make a very small loss on buying the car, but I lose something I have started liking very much. Not sure if I can find another nice Lexus anytime soon.

So that's where it's at right now, I have time to think over the weekend and decide early next week. Thought I'd bounce this off you guys.

Let me know if you guys have any suggestions.

Thanks and TGIF.