Yeah...
I just picked up my baby from the collision center tonight... she looks fabulous again!

Here's what she looked like after being rear-ended by a F-250:



Total bill was $7,070... all paid of course by the offending party's insurance company. I'll post pics tomorrow.

 

How'd they fix that, just replaced the ENTIRE rear end??

 

The actually told me how they do it... they just cut out the spot welds for each panel that needs to be replaced. Then they pull the old metal pieces out and weld in new ones (Toyota factory ones of course) . They make sure the "frame" is straight, smooth out the welds, and paint the parts.

The hatch and bumper were just bolted on. I was initially worried about having a "previously wrecked" car, but I'm much at ease knowing it has all new parts, and nothing was just hammered out and straightened.

 

Here's a video of the damage (2.1mb WMV):

www.neotim.com/videos/xaweb.wmv

 

woohooo!!!! i'm stoked for you.

 

That is great to hear that your baby is back on the road!!! How does the paint match up???

 

Here are the after pics:





Here is a detail shot of where they welded the panels together... they put a hard rubber substance on before they painted.


The paint matches up great. The shop that I used is a Toyota-certified body shop that is owned by the dealer, so I expect that they used quality paint.

 

That looks good!! Too bad now you have a better paint job on the rear than the front..... hehehehe

 

uhm, thats a before picture...right

 

It looks worse than it really is. Also, that part is beneath the hatch, so noone sees it

 

You might want to get them to touch up the paint...is that bare metal under the strut?

 

That's a rubber gasket... check your car, I bet it has one too!

 

OK, I'll accept that....

 

Time to put your rims back on!

 

The rims are back on now. I actually put them back on just after I took the pictures. Also, I have the roof rack on, which looks pretty cool IMO.

 

I bet you love the smell of the new paint in there. I was getting a bit "woozy" when I first picked my egg up from my body shop because of the paint fumes.

They have done a good job and congrats on getting your ride back.

 

Ouch hard hit! Myself I would be pizzed they fixed it rather than total. But if it cost them 25 cents less to fix it they will fix it. I just got my box back after 2 of santas reindeer pulled $4000 in damage on it. You will notice like mine they will never be the same after.