Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster here. First off, a big thank you to everyone, especially @rspi , on this forum for the numerous stupid things you have prevented me from doing, and the several hundred dollars you have saved me with your repair guides and advice.

I'm still new to the Volvo community. I've never owned a car made after 1999 and I always wanted a 90s Volvo, so last May I bought a yellow T-5R. It was a bumpy road at first (replaced steering rack etc), but I absolutely love the car. So I was devastated this morning after someone changed lanes into me, and gashed my rear passenger door & quarter panel, and scuffed the rear bumper. This was always in my head as being a worst case scenario because of the rarity of the car/paint, the expense of body work, and the fact that a 1995 Volvo with 230,000 miles is not going to hold any market value according to the blue book or whatever. I'm not sure of how my insurance claim will go yet so right now I'm just gaming out options.

I am including some pictures of the damage. I know next to nothing about body work, and have never had body work done on a car before. I'm not really sure where to begin so I'd hugely appreciate any advice or tips you may have.

• Is there any way a body guy can take dents like these and pop/smooth them out? The car that hit me was a plastic Chevy Spark, and it was the left front corner of the car that scraped down the length of mine. I can't tell what is going to buff out yet either.
• The chances of finding someone with a junked yellow T-5R (with a body in good condition) are next to impossible, right?
• Assuming yes, do any current or former yellow T-5R owners have advice to share about touching up or restoring the yellow paint? My hood is faded, one of my quarterpanels looks like it may have come from a different yellow T-5R, and my front passenger door has some clips/oxidation on the lower section, so I've already had potentially getting a paint job on my mind before this accident. But I don't want to ruin the charm of the car!
• Does anyone happen to have experience with a good Washington DC area body shop?

Any light you can shed is greatly appreciated!









(The other car)



Happier times.

 

yes a good body shop can work those dents back into shape. For the rear door, the choices are 1) replace the door with something used, 2) reskin the door and weld in new factory metal and 3) pop out the skin using dent removal tools to press it out then a hammer/dolly to work the details. finally they can use heat/cold to stretch or shrink the metal as needed. The dent on the wheel well will need to be done similarly - one of the tricks a body shop may use is a dent puller - which tack welds sticks onto the panel then use a slide hammer to pop the dent back into shape - particularly where they don't have access to the back side to hammer out. The goal should be to use as little body filler as possible. All of this (short of replacing the door with something used) can be very labor intensive so the cost may be more than the insurance will cover.

Regarding the paint, most paints for cars can be color matched on the bench. There are digital cameras that measure the exact hue of the existing panel then publish the formula to match. This is crucial since the yellows are prone to fade (top panels more so than sides) so the OEM paint code is likely to be too dark.

First thing is to get your estimate from the insurance on what they will pay, then ask if they allow you to choose the shop or if they have a recommended list. Finally you can ask the body shop for their recommendation on approach and ask about how they match paint etc before choosing.

 

Sorry for the delay in saying this as I keep forgetting to respond, but thanks a TON for the insight on all this. It helped me to understand what I'm dealing with. I've got an estimate scheduled for Friday and we'll see what happens. Thankfully they don't require me to use one of their shops for the repair.

Cheers.

 

Best of luck. That's a very cool car.

 

yep, argue hard for max dollars, T5-Rs draw way more than a regular 850T, and I'd add bonus points for the color!