Unfortunately, I neglected to get photos of the damage before turning her over to the auto body shop, but anywho...

I was on my way to work, on the portion where I spend about 10 minutes driving on 7-mile section of I-5 North, from Tigard to Portland. They're building a new on-ramp midway on my commute, so as a result there have been more rocks on the road than usual.

I am not sure whether it was even a rock that hit my car, and from whence it came. I was in the left lane, with a flatbed truck to my front right, but the object hit on the opposite side (left) that the truck was on, so who knows. All I know is that whatever hit my car was big, because it made a LOUD noise. I knew it wasn't good, although I couldn't stop and check right away.

I have had many rocks hit my windshield, with no damage so far. However, this hit on the pillar right above the driver's door. It left a severe dime-sized dimple and another shallow dimple w/scratch where the object re-hit. On the big dimple, it took off all the paint in that small area and gouged the metal.

My husband was under the impression that things like this were covered under our warranty for our Viking Shield (the protective rock chip shield). However, their warranty covers VERY LITTLE. My insurance would also not cover it since I have a $1000 deductible.

After a little online research on body shops, a 3.5-star one wanted $500 to fix the problem, where a 5-star one wanted only $300. So, I went with them. For any Portlanders, Kadel's Auto Body is the nicest auto body shop around, and their work is guaranteed. I will follow up more on the actual work when I get the car back tomorrow. Even though the entire pillar extends into the rear quarter panel, they are not re-painting the entire piece, just the pillar.

In the meantime, I am renting a Toyota Yaris sedan, and WOW - it is NOT good. I would take my Elantra ANY day over that car. Of course, we're talking about the base model here (power NOTHING) but aside from that, the handling is terrible, the car is unrefined and somewhat loud, and the weird center-mounted dashboard is uber-strange. Makes my Elantra feel like a luxury car.

Anyhow, enough of my rant! (Thanks for letting me vent, readers.)

 

I feel very bad about what happened to you and to your car, didn't you get hurt? i hope you were alright.

 

Thanks, I personally was fine. An update...the body work was satisfactory, paid $300 out of pocket, which was better than $500 at another place.

The other day, a lady hit my bumper in a parking lot, leaving a scuff mark about 9 inches long. Thankfully, she left her phone number on a note. Good to know there are still honest people around.

I didn't file a claim, as the same body shop where I had gone before was able to buff it out free of charge. A few swirl marks now, but better than a scuff I suppose.

I've had the car 3 months and it's hard to keep stuff from happening to it. I had my previous car (1989 Honda Accord) for over a year, and no one ever hit it, other than a few door dings.

 

I had a similar problem. My white 2011 Elantra Limited had less than 800 miles on it when a pickup truck carrying junk metal passed me. The wind picked up a piece of the metal from the back of his truck and it cut a 2-inch gash in the left rear side of my car. Rather than pay the price to remove the bumper and do it the right way, I ordered touch-up paint from the dealership, which comes in small tubes with a brush like the little brush found in fingernail polish bottles. I have been painstakingly painting white in the groove (which is about 1/8 inch deep) a layer every day. I'm hoping that layer upon layer of paint will fill in the gash. Then I'll paint it with the clearcoat touch-up paint. Just putting the white paint in the gash, hides the problem unless you look closely. If anyone has advice for this, please let me know.

 

Thanks for sharing your story. Hope it works. Is your car a lease? Mine is, which is partly why I worry as much as I do (the other reason being my personal car OCD, but that's beside the point.)

My only regret about getting a blue car is that is definitely shows the fine swirls more than a white one would, so I feel like you're lucky to have white for that reason. I just don't LOVE white visually; I had a white '92 Nissan Stanza for 4 years, which was old enough that I would use White-Out every time someone would hit it! Then it caught on fire and looked like a toasted marshmallow.

I do not regret taking my car to a body shop. If yours is a lease, I may recommend it. The second damage I have been slowly getting out with Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, as I realized a while later that the scratch was not completely gone.

 

After painting layer after layer after layer of white paint into the gash, I have finally completely filled it in. It feels smooth to the touch now. Tomorrow, I'll add the clearcoat and finish it up. This has been a painstaking job, but I think I will save the $300 it would have cost to remove the bumper and have it painted at a body shop. I think the reason body shops don't so it this way is because it requires a few minutes a day for lots of days. I wouldn't want to leave my car at a body shop for two weeks. It takes a day for each layer of paint to dry.

About the white color, I was determined to get a white one. I had been driving a dark blue Buick for years and wanted the change. I drove 250 miles to a dealership in Dallas especially to get the white Elantra. My local dealership had a blue one but was unable to get a white one for me. The white has metal flake in it and it's gorgeous when the sunlight strikes it.

I'm glad you were able to repair the damage to your car. I have a fear of a rock hitting my windshield -- that's one large piece of glass and probably expensive to replace.

Can't believe someone actually left you a note that they'd hit your bumper! That's amazing. So few honest folks left around.

 

Good to know it's working for you!

If this car weren't a lease and weren't new, I may be a bit more DIY about it, but not taking any chances, considering I could make things worse.

My car before this (champagne '89 Honda Accord) I bought a paint pen for to touch up any minor areas of damage. The car was actually in great shape, but had a couple tiny hidden areas of rust. And, as I said, I would touch up my '92 Nissan Stanza with White-Out, haha.

About the windsheild...luckily, it's at an angle where most rocks will be deflected (well, according to my dealer). I have something called a Viking Shield on mine, so although many rocks have hit it, there has been no damage.

Yeah, the lady was super nice to leave me a note. She was nice over the phone, as well - felt super bad about it. That has never happened to me before, although I once hit someone's car and did leave a note. They billed my insurance for $900 and never got the car fixed, of course.

We were parked in a lot in downtown Portland, where we both work, and a lot of these paid lots have a system by which you can file a claim if something happens to your car, since everything is so tight in there. So, had she not left a note, I may have been able to take action that way, although I imagine it would have been a lot harder.