[voodooskin]

In a moment of mental haze backed my moto into my '15 foz :frown2: (zero damage to the bike BTW not a scratch)

I figured, 2-300 ish maybe, the two body shops in town I ran this by are in the $1200 range which seems excessive.

I've learned through painful experience this type of trivial deal should not be run through insurance (pay now or pay the insurance carrier, forever)

A new fender is $40 (aftermarket) to $190 (OEM) so not bad but shipping appears to be about $150 which seems excessive.

Anyone know if a fender replacement is a difficult job on a '15 era Forester?
Anyone know if a chain shop like Autozone, or similar can source a body part and save me the $$ on shipping or know a source that ships at a reasonable cost?

If I can get away with a $200 part and maybe $200 for a paint shop I'd do it, $1200 to a body shop no way I'll drive it as is.

Thanks for any advice! Yes stupid hurts as it should :grin2:

 

[jmw15]

My wife creased the front fender of her 2015 Forester. I had a paintless dent repair guy fix it. I would guess yours would run $200-$300 to fix that. I would suggest getting an estimate and see if that route is practical.

 

[zeronian]

Seconded on the PDR. find the best one in your area and get their opinion. In my area, that would cost up to $400 since it's such a big area. They would need hours to massage that back to shape

 

[subiesubieDOOO]

PDR is not going to have any effect on that size of a dent. Well let me amend that, it will never look right but if thats all you care about go for it.. Not an opinion I tried it on similar sized damage and first thing the tech said was "I can do it but it will never look right"

 

[voodooskin]

Thanks for the advice. The dent repair quote I got was $250 but they can't deal with the paint fix which I'm sure would be another few hundred. I'm concerned it'll never be right. I'll probably just order a new fender and some OEM paint and see how well I can do. Again appreciate the input!

 

[HalifaxNS]

Have you suggested to a body shop that you supply the fender,paint and clear coat. They paint the fender, you install or they install.If you in supply the part and paint it lessens the chance of the customer being unhappy. Without the tools, place and experience, it is not easy to achieve professional results.Cheers Doug

 

[aggie113]

I have pulled the fenders on my old Saabaru (05 Impreza WRX) to replace some week bracing. It wasn't too difficult but looked scary. I just had to undo some bolts holding it down in the engine bay and on the side inside the door jam (sorry, also had to take the front bumper off in my case). You may have to deal with some wiring harnesing running along that path, but it shouldn't be attached to the metal so you might be alright.
My guess is the hard part will be removing all the engine bay dressing along the side to let you get to the bolts for the fender.
Pic of the horror that awaits

 

[Koogs]

Did you ask the body shop why $1200? Did you tell them this was an out of pocket repair and you'd pay in cash?

1) body shops generally quote higher for insurance repairs due to the extra work of dealing with the insurance company etc.
2) cash helps.
3) knowing the cost of the replacement fender should help get the cost down.
4) generally for a fender they need to blend the paint into the door and possibly the hood in order to make it look right. That takes more prep and more work. which translates into more $

Out of the box option, find a used fender in the right color and bolt it up. Online search here or your local yards. Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market

 

[voodooskin]

Yeah, one of the reasons I was surprised by the quotes was that I led with "paying cash not an insurance claim".

I'm currently leaning towards going with a seller on EBAY who will sell me the part painted to the car's color code, and doing the labor myself. Given this is a '15 and garaged there's a chance the results might match. If not I'm out about the cost of the OEM part minus paint and shipping, so probably worth a try. If I go this route I'll follow up here so y'all can avoid any mistakes I make; let's make the herd smarter :smile2:

 

[Theseus161]

Try to avoid EBay. Not a reliable source. Big PITA if they sell a bad part. I would go with a pull a part place or local EBay pick up seller. If you must use EBay.

Body shops can source OEM parts for less. Hagle the price. Shop around. Negotiate the price. $1200 is not too bad for paint and oem fender. Shoot for $900

 

[Kean]

....was about to reply until I noticed the thread is nearly two years old.