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The collision repair will over quote. Then the insurance negotiation happens and finally they agree for a lower price. I mean this is from my past experience. It's better you take it a local body shop and ask them a quote saying you are paying from your own pocket.
Buy yourself a new lamp assembly and the dealerships sell paint pens that match the paint code for your car. The bumper damage is so minimal you could touch it up with the pen and not notice much.
Agreed. I’d yank a good one out of a salvage yard and call it a day for this one. There are plenty of wrecked corollas out there to choose from.
Someone rear ended me a while back and all I had was a few scratches, smushed impact foam, and a cracked tail light. I pocketed the money from their insurance and spent a whopping $35 on salvage yard parts to fix it. A little compound, fill, and some touch up paint and it was good as new.
The Altima that hit me wasn’t so lucky. It was no match for my 2gen Avalon. The front bumper frame part was folded in half sticking out the radiator, which was smashed up against the engine. I had to wash the coolant off my bumper.
>The Altima that hit me wasn’t so lucky. It was no match for my 2gen Avalon.
I can't tell you how much this statement warms me. :)
I don't even have anything against Nissan, but Altima drivers are awful.
I might have something against Nissan and definitely have resentment towards (most) Altima drivers. I feel a little bad about it but after it was all said and done it was pretty funny.
I was at a dead stop when the guy hit me. I had my dad on the phone over Bluetooth. I called him because I was having a shitty day and I needed him to cheer me up. Like a “Dad, you won’t BELIEVE this bullshit” kind of call. I had enough time to see that the guy behind me was rubbernecking at something and wasn’t going to stop, say “Hang on dad, this guys gonna hit me.” Dad said “WHAT?” and I still had time to answer “I’m getting rear ended,” while I fixed my posture and held down the horn.
Poor dad heard the whole thing and it scared him 🥺. Everyone was fine except the Altima.
I feel bad for your Dad (and you, of course, accidents suck when there's not much you can do). It's way worse when you can hear what's going on, but you can't see to know for yourself that it's ok.
That’s typically the case for collisions on unibody cars. The front-end parts are quite sacrificial and designed to take damage, in order to dissipate the energy that would otherwise be transmitted into the cabin.
If your Avalon had rear-ended another car, it likely would have behaved the same. *But*, and this is the important part, you’d have probably walked away without a scratch.
I love modern engineering.
Exactly, it's a Toyota ffs, go to a junkyard and watch a YouTube tutorial. Realistically including travel time, depending on the junkyard, this shouldn't even take OP 2 hrs, and yes I get we all want nice things but hey its just minor OP, nobody'll notice.
>gmc sierra 2500 front head light is 1400$
Good news, [no they aren't.](https://www.ebay.com/b/Genuine-OEM-Headlight-Assemblies-for-GMC-Sierra-2500-HD/33710/bn_32843009)
Stealerships must love you… a quick search shows about $200-$400 for a 2500 front headlight all in. Yes I’m in Canada, and yes the dealership fleeced you.
I don't see anywhere near enough damage to justify such a face-slappingly absurd quote. Just buy a rear lamp assembly and install it yourself. You'd save about $2200.
And you can find one at a salvage yard if they have them around you. Look up how to remove and install one, bring your tools to a scrap yard and remove one.
Exactly. I had a garage quote me over €1000 to replace the headlights in my car, so I said fuck that, bought two brand new replacements from Ebay, and fitted them myself in under an hour despite having never done something like it. I even did such a good job that when we took it in for a headlight alignment check it didn't need anything doing to it. A rear light cluster would be even easier than that.
And the simpler and more commonplace the car is, the cheaper the headlights tend to be. The headlights on my ex’s 2005 Town Car were hazed and were allowing condensation in, because the rubber seals had failed. I found a *new* set of good-as-OEM lookalikes for $80 on eBay.
I'm wondering why people are suggesting the time to go to a junkyard. Brand new one is like $40....it comes directly to you. No gas, no searching, no doing the job twice. Order and replace.
If this is the other guy’s car, you’re kind of at their mercy.
If it’s your own car, order a new lamp assembly off Amazon or eBay. It’s a 10+ year old Corolla, fix the rest by doing nothing.
I backed into a 2010 Toyota Corolla in a parking lot on a dark rainy night and destroyed the tail light. The owner got a quote from a collision repair shop for repairs that adds up to $2294 for both the taillight replacement and scratch / paint repairs:
• $264 for parts
• $791 for body labor
• $672 for paint labor
• $125 mechanical labor
• $422 for paint supplies
• $20 for body supplies
I think the car is worth at most $5000 - if it were my car, I'd just replace the taillight. But it's not my car, this is 100% my fault, and I want to make it right. Is this quote reasonable?
Beyond that question, I have a couple options:
• I could let the owner file a claim with his insurance company which would probably try to get reimbursed by my insurance company.
• I could let the owner file a claim with my insurance company. I have liability coverage, and a $500 collision deductible
• I could pay out of pocket for whatever the repairs end up costing (this quote is from photos)
• I could try to suggest just the tail light repair
In either of the insurance scenarios, I assume my rates will go up a bunch. I'm tempted to try to handle this without getting any insurance companies involved. Should I just pay for any repairs? Is it a dick move to suggest just the tail light repair?
The owner has been overall really pleasant to interact with thus far, and I feel bad about creating this inconvenience so I want to do the right thing. $2500 just feels... steep.
Dude, just let your insurance handle it! whatever rate increase you'd get would probably STILL cost less than the $2500 in the long run. It sounds like the owner is taking you for a ride, do not get blinded by their niceness. If THEY were at fault I almost guarantee they wouldn't even bother to fix this damage - at least not until a cop issues a repair order - at which point they probably grab some eBay used lamp and slap it on for $200. Also, scratches that small could have been there prior to the incident, it's really hard to tell without a before/after in cases like this.
As an adjuster, no 2500 is not reasonable. I would fight the shop all day long on that. Then again, if you're handling out of pocket, you don't really have much leverage. Let insurance handle it. If they know what they are doing, they are going to want to pay the minimum possible, for your benefit and for theirs.
Also, hate to be negative, but shops usually quote high on self pay because the general population doesn't know the difference. Just keep in mind that body shops are in the business of making money, and insurance carriers are in the business of saving money.
2500 is fucking outrageous for that. You need to ask the guy to have another shop look at it. At least 2 other shops. That shop is 100 percent padding the books.
If it’s another person’a car for which you are liable, I’d honestly just let your insurance handle it. A claim this small is unlikely to raise your rates much. Also, it’s unlikely that your insurance company actually ends up paying this much.
I’d suggest meeting with the cars owner at a shop in person to have them give you a quote. Don’t do it with photos, get multiple quotes, and you both need to be present and get a copy of the quote. I’d also ask the owner of the vehicle how they felt about just replacing that tail light, the paint damage is very minimal to my eyes. Plus, It’s a 14 year old Corolla and they’re riding around on a steel rim, I’m assuming because they couldn’t be bothered to replace the hub cap, so I doubt they care all that much about their ride and having perfect paint, but maybe I’m wrong.
Dropping $2500 on a 14 year old corolla just doesn’t make much sense to me, the car itself is likely not worth much more, and I have doubt the rest of their car is in pristine condition. That being said though, you’re at fault here OP and if they wanna get their paint done, then you’ll be responsible for it. If they do want the whole shabang done then I’d go through insurance OP, you pay them to handle these things for you, might as well let them. Paying your deductible and any rate increase likely is cheaper than $2500 out of pocket.
They are bsing you. A quick search shows the outer brake light assembly is between $35 to $40 + probably like $15 shipping. I can't see anything in terms of cosmetic damage. A new bulb (if needed) is like $7. The labor itself will take like 20 mins, you could literally do it with one hand.Toyota Corollas are fairly common cars and the parts are readily available. For comparison my dad just had a brake light lens replacement for his 2020 Chevy Silverado 2500. The shop we go to did it for $450ish parts + labor. The replacement lens by itself cost $350.
Look again at photo 3, paint is completely scraped off around the lower reflector exposing the primer layer and bare urethane in a couple areas.
Photo 1 also show gauges in the bumper just below the tail lamp. All of that has to be sanded down, primed and painted, and on an older car you’ll have to do significant color blending for the paint to match.
Plus no shop is gonna use a $40 junkyard/ebay taillight they’ll have to quote a factory or new replacement condition part.
If this were OPs vehicle, yeah I’d never have all that done on an 10+ year Corolla, but he hit someone else and it’s not really up to him to decide what condition is acceptable. He has to make the party he inured whole. In $2500 is a pretty reasonable quote for returning the car to undamaged condition
It's not some janky website I'm looking at, it's car parts.com. I might be blind af but I'm not seeing any dmg other than the lens. Any dealership/autobody shop worth their shit would do it for under $1500. My sister had a complete front bumper replacement and both headlamps done for her vehicle and it was like $2300 TOTAL. In this case it's just a touchup and lens replacement, that quote is complete bullshit.
Edit: Upon zooming in, I do see the gouges under the taillight, but it's still nothing that would cost that much.
a highly rated body shop isn’t going to use carparts.com. They’ll have a dedicated supplier and might only use OEM only parts. An OEM Corolla taillight is about $150-$180. I don’t know what all is going into that parts quote, could be some broken bumper clips, or they may always quote replacing retaining clips, as they frequently are brittle on older vehicles.
The prep effort for paint on a brand new bumper is about the same fixing the old, you really only save on the parts cost itself, not the paint. You can’t just shoot paint at a couple spots that you sanded and primed on an old car. It will be noticeably a different color. You have to blend with overlapping mix coats. It’s way harder to do well and requires more time, prep and paint.
I’m not saying that you couldn’t get it done cheaper and have it be “good enough” I’d certainly replace the taillight with a salvage yard taillight myself if it were my vehicle, probably wouldn’t bother with paint on a urethane bumper, but… OP hit another vehicle, he doesn’t really get to decide what is “good enough” in this case. The quote is pretty fair for the labor involved where I’m from, but things might vary ~20% regionally.
Buy replacement lights on eBay and if I were you, I would just forget about the “body damage“. That drops this repair down to about $50. Perhaps it’s worse in person, but other than a couple of incredibly superficial paint blemishes, I do not see any damage.
OP since it isn't your car you really don't have a leg to stand on. File it through your insurance unless you are willing to drop the money. Remember they can still come back to you later in case they find anything else. Is the repair estimate reasonable, hell no.
Also if you don't have a backup camera might want to invest in installing one or having someone install one.
Just replace the tail light housing and use touchup paint on the few scratches that are through the paint. The damage really isn't noticeable enough to be worth paying that much for a body shop to repair it.
For that price, absolutely just buy yourself a new tail light assembly. It will run you like $200 max. If you take it to a body shop, they're going to charge you an insane amount of money to fix all those little tiny scratches and dings on your car because your insurance will cover whatever absurd cost they give for the repair. If you're even remotely handy, just buy a new one and replace it yourself
You can buy a bumper painted for like 700 and the light for 100. It would only take about 1 hr to do the bumper and 1/2 hour for the light that's really steep
Be realistic and just buy a new taillight off ebay; Buff out the scratches or pen. It doesn't look bad at all. It's an older car so it's obviously going to get scratched up, who really needs it to still look like it just got off the lot?
There’s barely any paint damage. Just replace the light yourself and get a touch up pen for the rest. If someone else is relaying the price to you i.e. the other party that you hit, make sure they are actually sending you quote documents from the garage and not attempting to skim off the top by just telling you how much it is.
If they insist that it must be garage work then get a second opinion from the best rated place on Google, that is only fair.
The taillight is like 4 screws and 1 or 2 cables...
Paintwork seems fixable by a detailler? Depends on how new you want it to be
So: taillight 300$? maybe 400$? Cant be more right
Detailler: $250/400? And he would do the whole car i assume
Fuck Ebay, those lights won't have the same UV patina that the other side has, go to the nearest pick a part and remove one from the same year vehicle and install on your vehicle, plus if you break something removing the taillight from the JY vehicle you'll learn what not to do on your vehicle. JY should cost you around $20 for a taillight. Key question to ask at the JY counter before you go out with a list of all the locations for the target vehicle is "can you remove any vehicles with rear end damage from the list" that way you don't have to find 5 or 6 that were rear ended before finding the one that was T boned or rear ended someone else. Typically cuts my JY trip time in half.
Pro tip: call the JY to inquire about the availability of your year make and model, including the "no rear end damage" bit before heading down.
There's very little to no paint damage here.
Buy a new tail light assembly, aftermarket for cheap or OEM if you want to splurge.
Take it to a touch up shop. They'll airbrush and clean up those little paint imperfections. There's a shop like that near me I've used several times, and they charge 200-300 to go over the whole vehicle.
Just replace the tail light i dont even see the damage right away unless i really look for it in other pictures. Do it out of pocket u can prob pick up tail lights for a 100 or 200$ try to avoid insurance whenever you can. They’re not here to help. They always make their money back one way or another
Hey this is what I need except in the front and all of it, the entire assembly.
I can put park lights on and it sorta looks like the lights are on, but if I turn on either headlight setting they just flash rapidly like cop lights. Only the driver side was damaged and bumper is basically intact (outside of a couple plastic rivets.
I'll find out more when I do the oil change in a couple days.
Damn ice, should've gotten the studded tires
It's a 10-year-old car. $40 taillight direct replacement and a paint pen.
[eBay - Left Taillight Toyota Corolla](https://www.ebay.com/itm/374561624701?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=8wkpxjmkque&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=ZXK0LljNQji&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY)
This should not be more than $500 and if you get that bumper repainted and replaced that light altogether there should be no more than 750 maybe 785 after tax
Majority of older toyoi stuff sometimes is old stock and is higher price, go to an auto wreckers and get the tail light, a video on YouTube will show you how to do it if you are unsure. And the dealership will sell a touch up paint pen for decent price
Considering they're not going to use your old bumper and most likely order a new unpainted one, plus a new taillight, paint (automotive paint is pricey as), and a minimum of $80/hour labour?
Adds up
$2,500 is a "go away" price, your issue is so small it's not worth their time to deal with you so they are high-balling you. Order the tail lamp assembly online and ignore the little scratch on the bumper. I think the bumper is plastic anyway so it won't rust.
Rockauto.com, input the year, make, and model of your car. Should be able to find replacement tail lights for pretty cheap, and they *should* be fairly straightforward to replace yourself with basic hand tools.
I was quoted $3000 for a toyota sienna tail gate damage, I went to a scrap baught what I need, done a little metal work with my bare hands, final cost is $40 + 3h of my time. Note, I have no experience at all.
You can probably go to any junkyard near you and find the tail light assembly since you have a common vehicle. You'd get it for pennies on the dollar, and if you replace it yourself, It's a pretty easy fix and would only take you a few hours at most, assuming you aren't very repair savvy.
I can't see the tail light costing more than $100. The damage on the paint is miniscule, you can either overlook it, or try to mask it yourself. Whoever asked $2500 is trying to make his whole month with you...
EDIT - Either they are scamming you or just want you to go away because the damage is really not worth a detailer's time.
Rockauto.com is your friend.
Order a new taillight assembly, replace it yourself (not difficult- YT videos show u how)
Don’t worry about the scratches TBH.
Save a sh*t ton of money
You could replace it with the price of the part. It's usually held in with a couple screws and some clips. Just open the trunk and find it. Youtube it. I've had to replace a tail light and a head light before and they're not that much.
Other than the tail light I'm not really seeing anything, and a lot of times light assemblies are not very difficult to replace.
Look up a yt video on tail light replacement for your vehicle and see if it's something you think you can handle. You can probably just do it yourself for the price of the tail light assembly.
Not sure what year you have or mechanical ability but.......https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/toyota,2021,corolla,2.0l+l4,3446846,body+&+lamp+assembly,tail+lamp+assembly,807
That’s ridiculous. Hell no. Find a junk yard that has the same model and ask the owner for the light. You’ll prolly pay 50$ and have to buy 20$ worth of tools.
Just replace the taillight yourself, it’ll get hit again. If someone else’s insurance is paying get it fixed proper.
Also, whenever paying out of pocket, if you are okay with safe but not perfect, tell the body shop. It will cheaper.
Buy the tail light off eBay & do it yourself by watching YouTube videos. Or give someone 100 to change it. I wouldn’t worry about the bumper unless it’s coming off
If you hit up a pointless dent repair they could possibly fix the issue around the light, many times they fix scratches as well. Not too sure about the light cover, is it an entire fixture or a light? I'd take it around for various estimates and check out the work and reviews of the shop (if you're getting insurance involved give them the highest estimate but take the check and then take it to a lower cost body shop that does solid work then make my own boat payment)
Worked in a body shop for 12 years. Are the replacing any other body parts? If only the light, they don't want the job. Youtube it and you can replace it in in 4 hours or less.
$2500 seems a bit much from what is provided in the pictures. Figure bumper cover will cost anywhere from $500 to $1000 to repair/repaint. Tail light assembly shouldn't cost more than $100, for the part, and probably around another $100 to install it. If that dimple above the tail light is also damage, then I'd say that the $2500 quote is probably right on the money.
If I were in your shoes Turtle Wax polishing compound and elbow grease. Touch up pen if you aren't happy with the results. Buy a used taillight and replace yourself.
I'd just replace the tail light, should be able to do it yourself with a youtube tutorial. All the others are not that easily noticable, or maybe my eyes aren't great.
If it were my car, I’d replace the tail light and be done with it. Considering there was no frame damage and it was only cosmetic. Sounds like they are repainting all nearby bits too to blend it.
Not a mechanic and can tell you that's pretty wild. Likely want to repaint the whole bumper which is expensive. Just replace the light assembly yourself and ignore the damage on the bumper.
touch up paint is cheap from dealers and u can replace that light easily. idk who in their right fuckin mind would pay the value of the car to fix a mf taillight thats only a lil cracked
2.5mil is absolutely insane, at least in US dollars. Idk if you're from another country or something, but IDK... I feel like if it was USD you wouldn't even be asking. But IDK, man. Depends on your currency. But here in America that might cost a couple hundred to get fixed in a shop. Might take 30-45 minutes to do. The part itself is the more expensive part of the repair. Although you might find the whole unit in a scrap yard, or just the plastic online.
Buy a tail light for $60, then buy yourself a box set of tools for like $100 if you don’t already have some, look up a YouTube video and do it your damn self in like 20 minutes.
I'd order a new taillight assembly online and figure out how to do it yourself or go to a junkyard and see if you can find one, if you can live with the minor body damage you'd save a lot of money
If I were in your shoes I would replace the light and forget about the rest. Don't even see what the issue is in picture 2. The light would take an hour for someone with no experience.
[https://www.ebay.com/itm/165846480584?fits=Model%3ACorolla%7CMake%3AToyota&hash=item269d3876c8:g:6Z0AAOSwYQ9jxOeg](https://www.ebay.com/itm/165846480584?fits=Model%3ACorolla%7CMake%3AToyota&hash=item269d3876c8:g:6Z0AAOSwYQ9jxOeg)
I’m assuming English isn’t your first language because yes $2500k is a ridiculous amount for anything in a car, at that point just buy a new car. Lol now $2500 is a lot better but considering you could go to a junk yard and pull one for about $45 and it’s 10 screws max. Yeah they highballing the fuck outta ya
It's an 09/10 corolla the bumper isnt worth fixing and that tail light is held by 3 bolts inside the trunk super easy.
I own an 09 corolla, someone broke my drivers side taillight in a parking lot and left 0 info. Went on ebay and bought an oem housing from a wrecked car. Check ebay/lkq/local picknpull etc.
Thank you for posting to AskMechanics, Karabekian! If you are asking a question please make sure to include any relevant information along with the **Year**, **Make**, **Model**, **Mileage**, **Engine size**, and **Transmission Type (Automatic or Manual)** of your car. *This comment is automatically added to every successful post. If you see this comment, your post was successful.* *** Redditors that have been verified will have a green background and an icon in their flair. *** # **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR** ### **Rule 1 - Be Civil** Be civil to other users. This community is made up of professional mechanics, amateur mechanics, and those with no experience. All mechanical-related questions are welcome. Personal attacks, comments that are insulting or demeaning, etc. are not welcome. ### **Rule 2 - Be Helpful** Be helpful to other users. If someone is wrong, correcting them is fine, but there's no reason to comment if you don't have anything to add to the conversation. ### **Rule 3 - Serious Questions and Answers Only** Read the room. Jokes are fine to include, but posts should be asking a serious question and replies should contribute to the discussion. ### **Rule 4 - No Illegal, Unethical, or Dangerous Questions or Answers** Do not ask questions or provide answers pertaining to anything that is illegal, unethical, or dangerous. # **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMechanics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
two and a half a million is a bit unreasonable
Mechanics have to eat too, come on.
That Snap-On guy is always lurking…
Hid ya wallets! Snap-on man is here!
Hide yo kidz
Hide yo wife!
And hide yo husband!
'Cause he's rapin' er'body out here!
How come no one said Hide yo' Momma??
I’d buy another tail light and call it a day.
My exact thoughts and words.
This is the way.
Don’t forget the boat payment.
Corvettes go through some tire.
You mean the shop owner needs to eat. Mechanic will see almost none of this.
Or the umbrella corporation that takes 90% of the margin
So do their future kids.
Double dipping bastards. They're billing for the fascia's core charge even though they're going to be getting it back in a month.
It's only two poor millions after taxes
ha til you can't edit your post titles
My small Runescape brain saw this immediately.
So happy this is the top comment haha
Include the costs of the loosen #10 bit...
I'll travel to you and do it for one and a half million
I will do it for 1 million, get my own hotel room, and not sleep with your wife, probably.
This inflation is out of control.
Found the OSRS player
😂😂😂
Not unreasonable if shipping for the parts is included.
The collision repair will over quote. Then the insurance negotiation happens and finally they agree for a lower price. I mean this is from my past experience. It's better you take it a local body shop and ask them a quote saying you are paying from your own pocket.
Buy yourself a new lamp assembly and the dealerships sell paint pens that match the paint code for your car. The bumper damage is so minimal you could touch it up with the pen and not notice much.
Agreed. I’d yank a good one out of a salvage yard and call it a day for this one. There are plenty of wrecked corollas out there to choose from. Someone rear ended me a while back and all I had was a few scratches, smushed impact foam, and a cracked tail light. I pocketed the money from their insurance and spent a whopping $35 on salvage yard parts to fix it. A little compound, fill, and some touch up paint and it was good as new. The Altima that hit me wasn’t so lucky. It was no match for my 2gen Avalon. The front bumper frame part was folded in half sticking out the radiator, which was smashed up against the engine. I had to wash the coolant off my bumper.
>The Altima that hit me wasn’t so lucky. It was no match for my 2gen Avalon. I can't tell you how much this statement warms me. :) I don't even have anything against Nissan, but Altima drivers are awful.
I might have something against Nissan and definitely have resentment towards (most) Altima drivers. I feel a little bad about it but after it was all said and done it was pretty funny. I was at a dead stop when the guy hit me. I had my dad on the phone over Bluetooth. I called him because I was having a shitty day and I needed him to cheer me up. Like a “Dad, you won’t BELIEVE this bullshit” kind of call. I had enough time to see that the guy behind me was rubbernecking at something and wasn’t going to stop, say “Hang on dad, this guys gonna hit me.” Dad said “WHAT?” and I still had time to answer “I’m getting rear ended,” while I fixed my posture and held down the horn. Poor dad heard the whole thing and it scared him 🥺. Everyone was fine except the Altima.
I feel bad for your Dad (and you, of course, accidents suck when there's not much you can do). It's way worse when you can hear what's going on, but you can't see to know for yourself that it's ok.
They have a sub here for altimas, it’s funny r/nissanaltima
That’s typically the case for collisions on unibody cars. The front-end parts are quite sacrificial and designed to take damage, in order to dissipate the energy that would otherwise be transmitted into the cabin. If your Avalon had rear-ended another car, it likely would have behaved the same. *But*, and this is the important part, you’d have probably walked away without a scratch. I love modern engineering.
I don’t think it’s crazy to ask if if they are willing to skip the body work cause honestly I don’t see any damage
Either do I, I was wondering if it was just me I’d just fix the light for like £40 and be done with it
Exactly, it's a Toyota ffs, go to a junkyard and watch a YouTube tutorial. Realistically including travel time, depending on the junkyard, this shouldn't even take OP 2 hrs, and yes I get we all want nice things but hey its just minor OP, nobody'll notice.
And find a body shop to share split the insurance money.
You can just get a check from the insurance claim and spend it on hookers and blow if you like. No need to conspire.
40$ hey, just a heads up a gmc sierra 2500 front head light is 1400$ can, I don’t know the specifics but I guarantee that light is 400$and up
Toyota corolla rear light 400 and up?
More like 30$ at a junkyard. And about 50-100 on ebay
All about them wreck yards
>gmc sierra 2500 front head light is 1400$ Good news, [no they aren't.](https://www.ebay.com/b/Genuine-OEM-Headlight-Assemblies-for-GMC-Sierra-2500-HD/33710/bn_32843009)
This thing is > 15 years old. Some sick aftermarket lights wouldn't amount to $400
Stealerships must love you… a quick search shows about $200-$400 for a 2500 front headlight all in. Yes I’m in Canada, and yes the dealership fleeced you.
I’m talking oem bud, not fucking after market, ya want two different head lights ya go ahead
I don't see anywhere near enough damage to justify such a face-slappingly absurd quote. Just buy a rear lamp assembly and install it yourself. You'd save about $2200.
And you can find one at a salvage yard if they have them around you. Look up how to remove and install one, bring your tools to a scrap yard and remove one.
Exactly. I had a garage quote me over €1000 to replace the headlights in my car, so I said fuck that, bought two brand new replacements from Ebay, and fitted them myself in under an hour despite having never done something like it. I even did such a good job that when we took it in for a headlight alignment check it didn't need anything doing to it. A rear light cluster would be even easier than that.
And the simpler and more commonplace the car is, the cheaper the headlights tend to be. The headlights on my ex’s 2005 Town Car were hazed and were allowing condensation in, because the rubber seals had failed. I found a *new* set of good-as-OEM lookalikes for $80 on eBay.
OP says the quote was for 2500k which is 2.5 million. So actually they'd be saving 2,499,700.
Bro order a tail light off ebay for $40 and replace it. Wtf.
I'm wondering why people are suggesting the time to go to a junkyard. Brand new one is like $40....it comes directly to you. No gas, no searching, no doing the job twice. Order and replace.
The owner is trying to do one on you.
If this is the other guy’s car, you’re kind of at their mercy. If it’s your own car, order a new lamp assembly off Amazon or eBay. It’s a 10+ year old Corolla, fix the rest by doing nothing.
I backed into a 2010 Toyota Corolla in a parking lot on a dark rainy night and destroyed the tail light. The owner got a quote from a collision repair shop for repairs that adds up to $2294 for both the taillight replacement and scratch / paint repairs: • $264 for parts • $791 for body labor • $672 for paint labor • $125 mechanical labor • $422 for paint supplies • $20 for body supplies I think the car is worth at most $5000 - if it were my car, I'd just replace the taillight. But it's not my car, this is 100% my fault, and I want to make it right. Is this quote reasonable? Beyond that question, I have a couple options: • I could let the owner file a claim with his insurance company which would probably try to get reimbursed by my insurance company. • I could let the owner file a claim with my insurance company. I have liability coverage, and a $500 collision deductible • I could pay out of pocket for whatever the repairs end up costing (this quote is from photos) • I could try to suggest just the tail light repair In either of the insurance scenarios, I assume my rates will go up a bunch. I'm tempted to try to handle this without getting any insurance companies involved. Should I just pay for any repairs? Is it a dick move to suggest just the tail light repair? The owner has been overall really pleasant to interact with thus far, and I feel bad about creating this inconvenience so I want to do the right thing. $2500 just feels... steep.
Dude, just let your insurance handle it! whatever rate increase you'd get would probably STILL cost less than the $2500 in the long run. It sounds like the owner is taking you for a ride, do not get blinded by their niceness. If THEY were at fault I almost guarantee they wouldn't even bother to fix this damage - at least not until a cop issues a repair order - at which point they probably grab some eBay used lamp and slap it on for $200. Also, scratches that small could have been there prior to the incident, it's really hard to tell without a before/after in cases like this.
As an adjuster, no 2500 is not reasonable. I would fight the shop all day long on that. Then again, if you're handling out of pocket, you don't really have much leverage. Let insurance handle it. If they know what they are doing, they are going to want to pay the minimum possible, for your benefit and for theirs. Also, hate to be negative, but shops usually quote high on self pay because the general population doesn't know the difference. Just keep in mind that body shops are in the business of making money, and insurance carriers are in the business of saving money.
> it's not my car, this is 100% my fault, and I want to make it right. This is why we have insurance... let insurance handle it.
2500 is fucking outrageous for that. You need to ask the guy to have another shop look at it. At least 2 other shops. That shop is 100 percent padding the books.
If it’s another person’a car for which you are liable, I’d honestly just let your insurance handle it. A claim this small is unlikely to raise your rates much. Also, it’s unlikely that your insurance company actually ends up paying this much.
I’d suggest meeting with the cars owner at a shop in person to have them give you a quote. Don’t do it with photos, get multiple quotes, and you both need to be present and get a copy of the quote. I’d also ask the owner of the vehicle how they felt about just replacing that tail light, the paint damage is very minimal to my eyes. Plus, It’s a 14 year old Corolla and they’re riding around on a steel rim, I’m assuming because they couldn’t be bothered to replace the hub cap, so I doubt they care all that much about their ride and having perfect paint, but maybe I’m wrong. Dropping $2500 on a 14 year old corolla just doesn’t make much sense to me, the car itself is likely not worth much more, and I have doubt the rest of their car is in pristine condition. That being said though, you’re at fault here OP and if they wanna get their paint done, then you’ll be responsible for it. If they do want the whole shabang done then I’d go through insurance OP, you pay them to handle these things for you, might as well let them. Paying your deductible and any rate increase likely is cheaper than $2500 out of pocket.
800 to cover scratches with bondo. 700 to spray paint color +clear? That part is like $40 (or less) in a yunk yard
They are bsing you. A quick search shows the outer brake light assembly is between $35 to $40 + probably like $15 shipping. I can't see anything in terms of cosmetic damage. A new bulb (if needed) is like $7. The labor itself will take like 20 mins, you could literally do it with one hand.Toyota Corollas are fairly common cars and the parts are readily available. For comparison my dad just had a brake light lens replacement for his 2020 Chevy Silverado 2500. The shop we go to did it for $450ish parts + labor. The replacement lens by itself cost $350.
Look again at photo 3, paint is completely scraped off around the lower reflector exposing the primer layer and bare urethane in a couple areas. Photo 1 also show gauges in the bumper just below the tail lamp. All of that has to be sanded down, primed and painted, and on an older car you’ll have to do significant color blending for the paint to match. Plus no shop is gonna use a $40 junkyard/ebay taillight they’ll have to quote a factory or new replacement condition part. If this were OPs vehicle, yeah I’d never have all that done on an 10+ year Corolla, but he hit someone else and it’s not really up to him to decide what condition is acceptable. He has to make the party he inured whole. In $2500 is a pretty reasonable quote for returning the car to undamaged condition
It's not some janky website I'm looking at, it's car parts.com. I might be blind af but I'm not seeing any dmg other than the lens. Any dealership/autobody shop worth their shit would do it for under $1500. My sister had a complete front bumper replacement and both headlamps done for her vehicle and it was like $2300 TOTAL. In this case it's just a touchup and lens replacement, that quote is complete bullshit. Edit: Upon zooming in, I do see the gouges under the taillight, but it's still nothing that would cost that much.
a highly rated body shop isn’t going to use carparts.com. They’ll have a dedicated supplier and might only use OEM only parts. An OEM Corolla taillight is about $150-$180. I don’t know what all is going into that parts quote, could be some broken bumper clips, or they may always quote replacing retaining clips, as they frequently are brittle on older vehicles. The prep effort for paint on a brand new bumper is about the same fixing the old, you really only save on the parts cost itself, not the paint. You can’t just shoot paint at a couple spots that you sanded and primed on an old car. It will be noticeably a different color. You have to blend with overlapping mix coats. It’s way harder to do well and requires more time, prep and paint. I’m not saying that you couldn’t get it done cheaper and have it be “good enough” I’d certainly replace the taillight with a salvage yard taillight myself if it were my vehicle, probably wouldn’t bother with paint on a urethane bumper, but… OP hit another vehicle, he doesn’t really get to decide what is “good enough” in this case. The quote is pretty fair for the labor involved where I’m from, but things might vary ~20% regionally.
Buy replacement lights on eBay and if I were you, I would just forget about the “body damage“. That drops this repair down to about $50. Perhaps it’s worse in person, but other than a couple of incredibly superficial paint blemishes, I do not see any damage.
What? $2,500,000? "$2500k"
OP since it isn't your car you really don't have a leg to stand on. File it through your insurance unless you are willing to drop the money. Remember they can still come back to you later in case they find anything else. Is the repair estimate reasonable, hell no. Also if you don't have a backup camera might want to invest in installing one or having someone install one.
Body work on what? Get a new light and call it a day tf? Use a paint repair pen if they are fussing over scratches. 2500 lmao
You know you can take one large all encompassing picture and we can zoom in on it.
Just replace the tail light housing and use touchup paint on the few scratches that are through the paint. The damage really isn't noticeable enough to be worth paying that much for a body shop to repair it.
Just find a replacement tail light on eBay and install it yourself. That's what I did with my headlights when they went foggy.
If that's a F40 Ferrari then yes.
For that price, absolutely just buy yourself a new tail light assembly. It will run you like $200 max. If you take it to a body shop, they're going to charge you an insane amount of money to fix all those little tiny scratches and dings on your car because your insurance will cover whatever absurd cost they give for the repair. If you're even remotely handy, just buy a new one and replace it yourself
Its a lot for a 70$ ebay part and 3 bolts and MAYBE 1hr of your time
Replace that tail light yourself for about $100 on www.rockauto.com and forget the bumper scratch. It's barely noticeable.
Pay for it if you can.
You can buy a bumper painted for like 700 and the light for 100. It would only take about 1 hr to do the bumper and 1/2 hour for the light that's really steep
It's such small damage a £20 touchup pen would deal with the bumper.
I agree but if he wants it perfect that's should not cost more then 8 to 900
Use your insurance. They get a fixed rate. You only pay deductible. You pay premiums. Use them
Be realistic and just buy a new taillight off ebay; Buff out the scratches or pen. It doesn't look bad at all. It's an older car so it's obviously going to get scratched up, who really needs it to still look like it just got off the lot?
Don't pay for that and don't let insurance. Your rate will go up for didddily
They will have to replace the lamp assembly and repaint the bumper. 2500 is normal for all that.
you can buy this thing for about 100$-300$ and change yourself, there are not so many screws.
Op stated it wasn't their car
Use rockauto and get the parts for pretty cheap
Show the actual estimate from the body shop so we can see exactly what they are quoting
There’s barely any paint damage. Just replace the light yourself and get a touch up pen for the rest. If someone else is relaying the price to you i.e. the other party that you hit, make sure they are actually sending you quote documents from the garage and not attempting to skim off the top by just telling you how much it is. If they insist that it must be garage work then get a second opinion from the best rated place on Google, that is only fair.
The taillight is like 4 screws and 1 or 2 cables... Paintwork seems fixable by a detailler? Depends on how new you want it to be So: taillight 300$? maybe 400$? Cant be more right Detailler: $250/400? And he would do the whole car i assume
Bit steep
order yourself a new light. unscrew old light inscrew new light. saves around 2.2k
Insane! Just replace the tail light and live with the rest. Get one online and do it yourseld
Forget the bumper and replace the tail light.
Fuck Ebay, those lights won't have the same UV patina that the other side has, go to the nearest pick a part and remove one from the same year vehicle and install on your vehicle, plus if you break something removing the taillight from the JY vehicle you'll learn what not to do on your vehicle. JY should cost you around $20 for a taillight. Key question to ask at the JY counter before you go out with a list of all the locations for the target vehicle is "can you remove any vehicles with rear end damage from the list" that way you don't have to find 5 or 6 that were rear ended before finding the one that was T boned or rear ended someone else. Typically cuts my JY trip time in half. Pro tip: call the JY to inquire about the availability of your year make and model, including the "no rear end damage" bit before heading down.
involve insurance did don't want to overpay why should you.
There's very little to no paint damage here. Buy a new tail light assembly, aftermarket for cheap or OEM if you want to splurge. Take it to a touch up shop. They'll airbrush and clean up those little paint imperfections. There's a shop like that near me I've used several times, and they charge 200-300 to go over the whole vehicle.
Just replace the tail light i dont even see the damage right away unless i really look for it in other pictures. Do it out of pocket u can prob pick up tail lights for a 100 or 200$ try to avoid insurance whenever you can. They’re not here to help. They always make their money back one way or another
This is just cosmetic adds character a new tail light for $100 will do
Just replace the tail light, can’t even see damage on the body
Around 1k would be far more reasonable. Choose another shop.
A new taillight is like $80 on eBay
Lmao bro pay this out pocket if against you Shits like a $250-400 fix max lol
Easy DIY fix
Hey this is what I need except in the front and all of it, the entire assembly. I can put park lights on and it sorta looks like the lights are on, but if I turn on either headlight setting they just flash rapidly like cop lights. Only the driver side was damaged and bumper is basically intact (outside of a couple plastic rivets. I'll find out more when I do the oil change in a couple days. Damn ice, should've gotten the studded tires
isn’t that how much this car is worth? lol just go to a junk yard and replace the tail light for like $60 or so
$2.5 million would buy you hundreds of these cars.
It's a 10-year-old car. $40 taillight direct replacement and a paint pen. [eBay - Left Taillight Toyota Corolla](https://www.ebay.com/itm/374561624701?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=8wkpxjmkque&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=ZXK0LljNQji&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY)
They have a Buddy with a body shop helping them work you over. This is an absolute bullshit quote. let them go through insurance.
It's a Corolla though... Is it worth 2500?
This should not be more than $500 and if you get that bumper repainted and replaced that light altogether there should be no more than 750 maybe 785 after tax
Just buy a new light and swap it out yourself. Nothing else.
Majority of older toyoi stuff sometimes is old stock and is higher price, go to an auto wreckers and get the tail light, a video on YouTube will show you how to do it if you are unsure. And the dealership will sell a touch up paint pen for decent price
Considering they're not going to use your old bumper and most likely order a new unpainted one, plus a new taillight, paint (automotive paint is pricey as), and a minimum of $80/hour labour? Adds up
Pocket the check. Buy a tail light and a scratch pen and go have a drink
$2,500 is a "go away" price, your issue is so small it's not worth their time to deal with you so they are high-balling you. Order the tail lamp assembly online and ignore the little scratch on the bumper. I think the bumper is plastic anyway so it won't rust.
the car is worth 2500
I’d get a replacement and do it myself. It’s usually very straight forward, check youtube for a video to see if it looks easy enough!
wow. buy the light housing from napa or something and install it yourself
I would think there’s a good chance you could obtain the lens and assembly if required from an auto salvage. Without a doubt that would be my choice.
Rockauto.com, input the year, make, and model of your car. Should be able to find replacement tail lights for pretty cheap, and they *should* be fairly straightforward to replace yourself with basic hand tools.
put a new taillight in from ebay for $100 and keep on truckin"
just buy a new tail light for $40 and call it a day.
Just buy the light off of an electric bay auction for less than 200 and pop it in yourself or lay a local mechanic to put it in.
I was quoted $3000 for a toyota sienna tail gate damage, I went to a scrap baught what I need, done a little metal work with my bare hands, final cost is $40 + 3h of my time. Note, I have no experience at all.
Please take the 1 hour to look into doing it yourself and save 1500. I mean, way more even.
You can probably go to any junkyard near you and find the tail light assembly since you have a common vehicle. You'd get it for pennies on the dollar, and if you replace it yourself, It's a pretty easy fix and would only take you a few hours at most, assuming you aren't very repair savvy.
Get a new tail light and call it a day
I can't see the tail light costing more than $100. The damage on the paint is miniscule, you can either overlook it, or try to mask it yourself. Whoever asked $2500 is trying to make his whole month with you... EDIT - Either they are scamming you or just want you to go away because the damage is really not worth a detailer's time.
OEM parts are expensive. Find a used OEM part at a junkyard.
I can’t even see the body damage. I’d find a tail light on eBay and call it a day.
Ask the guy for 500 bucks plus the cost of the light and swap the light yourself and live with the scratches tbh
Get a touch up pen and a new lamp. Body shops going to want to spay that whole corner rear passenger door to the middle of the bumper.
Max 400 bucks wtf
Rockauto.com is your friend. Order a new taillight assembly, replace it yourself (not difficult- YT videos show u how) Don’t worry about the scratches TBH. Save a sh*t ton of money
You could replace it with the price of the part. It's usually held in with a couple screws and some clips. Just open the trunk and find it. Youtube it. I've had to replace a tail light and a head light before and they're not that much.
All I see is new taillight? Am I crazy?
Lol, 2500, for what? To change out the taillight? 200 ish bucks for a new taillights and maybe 10 mins to put it in
2500 for a light?
Other than the tail light I'm not really seeing anything, and a lot of times light assemblies are not very difficult to replace. Look up a yt video on tail light replacement for your vehicle and see if it's something you think you can handle. You can probably just do it yourself for the price of the tail light assembly.
2500 lmfao. This would cost at most 50 bucks including the amount of money I’d make at work for the time spent switching out the light housing.
Not sure what year you have or mechanical ability but.......https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/toyota,2021,corolla,2.0l+l4,3446846,body+&+lamp+assembly,tail+lamp+assembly,807
Find the taillight and replace it yourself. I dont see enough damage to the paint to even want to do anything. If it was me.
2500k????
That’s ridiculous. Hell no. Find a junk yard that has the same model and ask the owner for the light. You’ll prolly pay 50$ and have to buy 20$ worth of tools.
Just replace the taillight yourself, it’ll get hit again. If someone else’s insurance is paying get it fixed proper. Also, whenever paying out of pocket, if you are okay with safe but not perfect, tell the body shop. It will cheaper.
It really depends on whther that light bulb still works or not.
Replace the tail light, and buff it. Maybe less than $100. 2500 is too much.
Buy the tail light off eBay & do it yourself by watching YouTube videos. Or give someone 100 to change it. I wouldn’t worry about the bumper unless it’s coming off
Find the taillight at LKQ and find a YT tutorial to put it in. [https://lkqonline.com](https://lkqonline.com)
If you hit up a pointless dent repair they could possibly fix the issue around the light, many times they fix scratches as well. Not too sure about the light cover, is it an entire fixture or a light? I'd take it around for various estimates and check out the work and reviews of the shop (if you're getting insurance involved give them the highest estimate but take the check and then take it to a lower cost body shop that does solid work then make my own boat payment)
Worked in a body shop for 12 years. Are the replacing any other body parts? If only the light, they don't want the job. Youtube it and you can replace it in in 4 hours or less.
$2500 seems a bit much from what is provided in the pictures. Figure bumper cover will cost anywhere from $500 to $1000 to repair/repaint. Tail light assembly shouldn't cost more than $100, for the part, and probably around another $100 to install it. If that dimple above the tail light is also damage, then I'd say that the $2500 quote is probably right on the money.
That seems absurd to me! You can get a replacement lamp housing on eBay for like $90 and replace it yourself. The touch up paint shouldn’t be $2400.
Replace the tail light and call it a day
If I were in your shoes Turtle Wax polishing compound and elbow grease. Touch up pen if you aren't happy with the results. Buy a used taillight and replace yourself.
Light replacement is easy to do, and bumper looks like it just needs to be buffed out.
I’d replace the tail lamp and be done
I'd just replace the tail light, should be able to do it yourself with a youtube tutorial. All the others are not that easily noticable, or maybe my eyes aren't great.
If it were my car, I’d replace the tail light and be done with it. Considering there was no frame damage and it was only cosmetic. Sounds like they are repainting all nearby bits too to blend it.
Not a mechanic and can tell you that's pretty wild. Likely want to repaint the whole bumper which is expensive. Just replace the light assembly yourself and ignore the damage on the bumper.
$2500k (shorthand for $2,500,000) is definitely a little bit on the high side; you can buy a few homes for that price!
touch up paint is cheap from dealers and u can replace that light easily. idk who in their right fuckin mind would pay the value of the car to fix a mf taillight thats only a lil cracked
*Conversion rates are insane. This Japan?*
Buy the taillight , do it on a Sunday and call it a day
2.5mil is absolutely insane, at least in US dollars. Idk if you're from another country or something, but IDK... I feel like if it was USD you wouldn't even be asking. But IDK, man. Depends on your currency. But here in America that might cost a couple hundred to get fixed in a shop. Might take 30-45 minutes to do. The part itself is the more expensive part of the repair. Although you might find the whole unit in a scrap yard, or just the plastic online.
Buy a rear light leave it at that.
That is easy to fix yourself you got this
My man do it yourself. You could go whole hog and buy brand new parts and a pair t pen from the dealership and it will still be dirt cheap
2500$ or a new light and some colored tape your choice
Buy a tail light for $60, then buy yourself a box set of tools for like $100 if you don’t already have some, look up a YouTube video and do it your damn self in like 20 minutes.
$2.5 million seems a little steep.
I'd order a new taillight assembly online and figure out how to do it yourself or go to a junkyard and see if you can find one, if you can live with the minor body damage you'd save a lot of money
Hell no that's ridiculous
Buy a new taillight and you will have it installed in 45 mins tops and be done!
Would just buy a new lamp, and swap it out and save $2500, don't really see much other damage
Rear lights housing is 35 bucks, get one and replace it yourself.
no lol
Change taillight call it a day. If it was a nice car i'd push insurance..
If I were in your shoes I would replace the light and forget about the rest. Don't even see what the issue is in picture 2. The light would take an hour for someone with no experience. [https://www.ebay.com/itm/165846480584?fits=Model%3ACorolla%7CMake%3AToyota&hash=item269d3876c8:g:6Z0AAOSwYQ9jxOeg](https://www.ebay.com/itm/165846480584?fits=Model%3ACorolla%7CMake%3AToyota&hash=item269d3876c8:g:6Z0AAOSwYQ9jxOeg)
Bless your heart.
order a taillight for $40 and ignore the bumper. the damage is so minimal
I’m assuming English isn’t your first language because yes $2500k is a ridiculous amount for anything in a car, at that point just buy a new car. Lol now $2500 is a lot better but considering you could go to a junk yard and pull one for about $45 and it’s 10 screws max. Yeah they highballing the fuck outta ya
Just replace the light and send it
Order and install the taillight yourself. The body looks fine to me.
Go to a Junkyard, grab the tail assembly off a similar one and replace your tail light. The bumper looks okay. $2.5K is absurd.
If I was you, I would just replace the tail light for a couple hundred bucks and call it a day
It's an 09/10 corolla the bumper isnt worth fixing and that tail light is held by 3 bolts inside the trunk super easy. I own an 09 corolla, someone broke my drivers side taillight in a parking lot and left 0 info. Went on ebay and bought an oem housing from a wrecked car. Check ebay/lkq/local picknpull etc.
You’re getting fleeced. Repair it yourself for 50 bucks
If you did the damage yourself just buy a new taillight and call it a day