4 Things You Need to Do to Make Sure Your Fender Gets Fixed Following a Car Accident

If you were just involved in a fender bender, you are going to need to get your vehicle fixed up in order to get your fender looking and functioning properly again. Here are four things that you need to do.

Research and Choose a Body Shop

Your insurance company may have auto body shops that they recommend that you use to get your vehicle fixed up. These are generally shops that the insurance company has a long working relationship with. The important thing to remember is that you don't have to take your car to the shop that your insurance company recommended. You can take your vehicle to any auto-body shop that is willing to work on it, which means after your accident, you should take some time to research and choose an auto-body shop. Try to choose one with pricing practices you agree with and that also has experience working on your type of vehicle and the type of repair that your vehicle needs.

Go with New Parts

When you get your vehicle repaired, make sure that the best parts possible are used to fix up your vehicle. Body shops can use a variety of different types of parts to fix up your vehicle, such as used or aftermarket parts. However, the best parts to go with are new parts or OEM, original equipment manufacturer, parts. These will be the highest-quality parts that you can have put on your vehicle because they are designed to replace and replicate what you already had.

Check the Paint

Auto-body work often requires new paint to be applied to your vehicle. As your vehicle ages, the paint on your vehicle fades and changes colors as well, making it that much more difficult to exactly match paint colors. However, auto-body shops have techniques that they can use to more accurately match the paint on your vehicle. These techniques should produce a paint color that looks good and flows with your existing paint job when you stand back and look at it. If the colors do not flow properly, insist that the mechanic fix up the paint job before you pay and drive away in your vehicle.

Always Pay Attention to Warning Lights

Finally, when you are involved in an accident, all too often, the insurance adjuster and the auto-body shop are worried about the cosmetic damage that happened to your vehicle instead of the mechanical damage that your vehicle may have sustained. Make sure that the body shop you choose checked out all the mechanical components that may have been affected by your accident and investigate any warning lights on your dash that were triggered by your accident. It is vital that your vehicle is capable of functioning properly mechanically after an accident.

Make sure that you take the above four steps after an accident to ensure that your vehicle is fixed up properly. Remember, you get to choose what type of auto-body shop you want to use. Make sure that whatever auto-body shop you choose, they use new parts and go beyond the visual to the mechanical when repairing your vehicle. 

Check out shops like Lakeside Collision Kirkland and choose one that is good for you. 


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