An automobile is a tough and reliable machine, but cars and pickup trucks sometimes suffer from damage while out on the road. In fact, six million car accidents take place across the U.S. each year for a variety of reasons, from drunk drivers to icy roads to reckless speeding, and these accidents tend to dent a car’s metal body, crack its windshield, and scrape off or scratch up its paint. When this happens, owners take their vehicles to a car body shop for repairs, from windshield replacement to bumper repair to dent repair. And when Mother Nature create significant hail damage, visiting a car body shop can make the damaged car look nicer and sell for a better price later on.
Car Body Dents and Hail Damage
It is common for Americans to bring their vehicles to car body shops because of glancing blows or similar mishaps on the road, which may result in damaged bumpers or fenders, or dents on the car’s doors, trunk, or hood. A driver may get hit by a drunk or distracted driver on the road, and even if their car isn’t totaled, it’s going to suffer some serious dents. Or, a car slides and spins out of control during snowy or icy weather and strikes a fire hydrant or tree or similar object. It’s also possible for a truck’s cargo to accidentally come loose and start flying around, and flying bricks, stones, and other objects may strike the vehicles driving behind that truck. Don’t forget large hail, either (such as golf ball sized or larger) or vandalism, which may also dent a car’s body.
A dented car is unsightly and, of course, a badly dented car will struggle to sell and have a low resale. Fortunately, the owner can simply look up local car body shops that can perform dent repair, and take their vehicle to the shop. Crews there will remove the affected pieces and pound out the dents from the other side to restore the car’s shape, and badly damaged pieces might be replaced.
Painting A Car
All cars have paint and sealant, which acts as a protective skin for the metal underneath, as well as aesthetics. Accidents or vandalism that damage the car’s body will likely damage the paint too, scratching or scraping paint off at the affected area. Pounding out dents or replacing a busted bumper is important, but so is paint touch up work.
Windshield Replacement
Many of the hazards that may damage a car’s body will also damage its windshield, and put cracks in it. In fact, with the recent extreme weather conditions there are an increasing number of times when hail damage has all caused significant windshield problems. In addition, large hail can put cracks on a parked car’s windshield and rear glass, and flying debris from cargo trucks can also crack the windshield upon impact. And of course, vandals are capable of breaking a car’s glass, as are car robbers. Cracked windshields are distracted and thus unsafe for the driver, and the cracks might even widen and deepen due to air pressure as the car drives. This is very unsafe, and thus, a car with cracked glass will almost certainly fail an auto safety inspection.
The owner should take their vehicle to an auto repair shop right away and ask for windshield replacement, especially in the case of hail damage.
A car’s paint can be touched up by experts in a paint shop, although the staff may have to approximate the car’s paint color with the paint they have on hand. The price also varies greatly based on the location and extent of the damage. Skilled car owners can order paint, primer, and sealant themselves, then sand down the affected area and touch up the paint in their own garage. They can find the exact paint color code by checking the sticker on the barrier between the engine and passenger compartments of the car.
Distracted driving, drunk driving, and speeding are the three most common causes of car accidents in the U.S., and weather, negligence, fender benders, and high speed collisions are the four main causes of auto body damage. From hazel damage to an intersection collision, there are many times when auto work is needed.
