Was involved in a minor accident yesterday. When I got out of the car to inspect the damage, I guessed that there was maybe $1,000 in repairs. Needless to say, I was shocked when I received the body shop estimate. The most expensive item is the headlight unit replacement, which is $2,300.

Good God.

 

Wow, tough luck. I bet a good body guy could buff that out

 

yay, insurance!! BTW I just saved $1600 by switching to geico!

 

Wow, the damage is hardly noticeable. I would get a quote from another shop....Imagine if there was "real" collision damage, something you could see without having to focus on the damaged area.

 

The quote is fine.
I had similar damage (none to bonnet) when someone pulled out infront of me whilst I was on a roundabout. Headlight, bumper =>$10k..
Glad it was on their policy!

 

This plus one!

 

Wow, sorry to hear.
Yes that's lot of money for the damage as seen, having said that, the OEM's will take it apart properly, look for and find all damage to unseen brackets etc etc, replace rather than repair, paint, labour, tax etc etc


It's a lot of money but usually always done right, to a high standard. Generally the quotes at half the price there or thereabouts don't measure up anywhere near as I'm sure you know
Jim

 

I found it strange, albeit, impressive that the young lady who was the claims person at my insurance company, suggested that I take it to a specific body shop because they were specialists in aluminium body work repairs. I can see us owners knowing that our XK's are aluminium, but a claims adjuster? I should have asked her how she knew.

 

Insurance isn't cheap on the XK (or any newer Jag) for a reason. One of the safest cars on the road, but a real hit you'd be surprised how easily they'll write off the car...

 

And the fender bender will diminish resale which is a shame.

 

The software used to create the estimate will show materials used in construction such as aluminium, carbon fibre or glassfibre.

Or perhaps she used a magnet when you were not looking?

 

With some manufactures going to aluminum bodies such as Ford or Audi and Jaguar this information is available to the insurance agents. When they look up your car it is tagged in their system the material of the body. It seem the agent was on their toes and read the info on your car.

 

I'm in NJ land of high insurance premiums and have 2 other cars besides the 2010 XKR on the policy, and I think the jag was maybe 20% higher. I was surprised that it wasn't a lot worse. Well, relative I guess since its all bad here..

 

My Lotus is like $300 less a year than the XK was.

 

The particular "bumper" on my '07 is plastic, not aluminum. Repair of plastic bumpers is a mini-industry initiated by used car dealers preparing cars for resale. Specialists travel between dealerships repairing bumpers on site from portable rigs. Cost is very reasonable.
Used headlight assemblies are readily available on eBay for less than $500. I just checked.
A slight bumper crease like the one illustrated can be easily examined for hidden damage. Merely remove the inner fender cover (like you do for air filter exchange). No need to remove the entire plastic bumper bit.

 

2010 bumper time!?

 

I messed up the front right corner of the bumper cover on my Ultimate Black 2012 XK. I took it into the body shop recommended by my dealer. They quoted $2k to repair the bumper cover. So, I took it to another recommended body shop they estimated $900 to respray the bumper cover. The estimator applied some solvent and all that was left was a small surface scratch. I thanked them and went home.

I decided to show it to my car wash/detailer guy and when he was done with it; you would have to take a magnifying glass to it to see any damage. When I sold the car there was never a mention of any damage to the front bumper cover. I bet if you keep looking around you can get it repaired for significantly less, particularly if there is no damage to the aluminum body. Good luck!!