Ugh, I still have a pit in my stomach. I was driving to work the other morning, and something black and about the size of a softball fell from a highway overpass and landed on the hood of my 6-week old Fit. . . put a big ol' dent in it. The hood has to be replaced. I'm dropping the car off at the body shop tomorrow morning. I hope the new paint (it's Milano red) matches. I know this might not be the right venue to post this event, but I think my talking about it and sharing will help me through the pain. I'm wondering if part of the repair will include re-labeling the factory stickers that are on the underside of the hood? I suppose I'll find out tomorrow when I drop it off. If not, I'll see if I can order the stickers from the dealer and put them on myself. My last vehicle was 15 years old with hardly a ding or dent, ugh, why are these events a part of life?!? My (optimist) friends are telling me that my Fit is a lucky car (whatever! LOL) because, the object could have come through my windshield and who knows what would have been that outcome. Well, fellow Fitters, thanks for listing!

 

The thing would undoubtedly have cracked and maybe even dented the windshield, but I would rather doubt that it would come all the way through; windshields are laminated with a plastic layer in the middle and are remarkably tough.

I'm actually a little surprised that the hood requires replacement, rather than just pulling the dent. It must be a rather substantial dent! I bet this scared the bejeebers out of you when it hit you; glad you're okay.

 

It did scare the bejeebers out of me! And it happened so quickly! The dent definitely could not be pulled. It was about 8" wide and fairly deep, and it sort of bent the hood downward a bit. I dropped it off at the body shop this morning. They are ordering a Honda replacement hood, and they are even ordering me the replacement stickers that are on the underside of the hood. I know body repairs are never as good as the factory, but hopefully it comes out pretty darned good. My loaner is a 2-year old Chrysler Sebring. Now THAT will make me miss my Fit!

 

I'd have guessed that a Sebring would make you have buyer's remorse. It's named after a famous road race track, so it must be really fast and handle the corners well, right?

 

A bit of bad luck but be happy that gotta just count your blessings and move on.

If you have a good body shop they will match the finish perfectly and give you a guarantee. My Toyota Rav4 was in a rear ender, the paint was a base color and a transparent metal flake over coat. The fix was perfect -- I kept it for 15 years and it still looked good, but was beginning to delaminate a bit. Still, 15 years, 120 K miles, and it still looked decent.

 

The car is supposed to be finished tomorrow. So I'll pick it up and let you guys know how it looks. Cost for labor, new hood and paint was $850.00.

 

Aww that sucks. I also had a run of bad luck with my milano too. A big rig tire blew out on the highway and I struck the loose tire. broke my bumper. Cost me 750 to have it replace. Still got some scrapings on the passenger door.

 

Does your insurance cover any of this --Act of God or Satan

 

Probably one of those situations where "dang, i should have got the comprehensive coverage!!" When you never needed it in the past of course

 

The money saved by not having it likely paid for the repair.

Never insure against losses you can afford to absorb.

 

Well, I got my car back. Overall they did a pretty good job. The paint matched fairly well. I didn't have them blend the fenders because I wanted to retain as much of the original paint as possible, and only the hood was damaged. Overall the job isn't like the factory job (but maybe that's a good thing with all of the issues I've been reading about LOL), but unless you have OCD such as me, the average person probably wouldn't even know it was repaired/replaced. And they replaced all of the underhood stickers so even when you lift the hood, it looks pretty much original. However, my OCD has me wondering how the paint will hold up, will it chip easier, fade faster, etc. I had to pay my deductible which was $250 and they say my insurance rates won't go up (since it wasn't my fault). But I'm still a little bummed, my now 6 week old car and it's no longer "all original." Ahhh yes, life!