Hot take: People keep calling every dent a 'total loss' without doing the math first

I was browsing local classifieds last night and saw a guy offering $500 for a 2012 Civic with a dented rear quarter panel. He said it was 'basically totaled.' But I looked up the parts, a used panel in decent paint goes for maybe $150 at a junkyard near me in Phoenix. Factor in a weekend of borrowing a slide hammer from AutoZone, you could fix it for under $200. Why do people jump to scrapping a car that still runs fine over one cosmetic issue? Has anyone else noticed this trend of overestimating repair costs?

2 comments

2 Comments

margaretm233d ago

Jumping on this because I see it all the time in my neighborhood groups. People hear "quarter panel damage" and immediately think it's a thousand dollar body shop bill, but they forget about painting it yourself or getting a color-matched door from the junkyard like you mentioned. The real trick is that most folks just don't have the time or tools to do bodywork, so they let a shop's quote scare them into thinking the whole car is garbage. But if you're handy and patient, you can definitely bring a Civic back for under $200 in parts and a few hours of elbow grease. It's like people forget that a running car with a dent is still a running car, you know? The cost to fix is usually way less than the cost to replace once you actually price out the basics instead of panicking.

sagew503d ago

Used to be one of those people who'd see a dent and write the whole car off as a lost cause. But after patching up my own beater with a junkyard fender and a can of spray paint, I realized you're right - a dented car still gets you to work. It's amazing how a little patience and a YouTube video can save you a thousand bucks, isn't it?