Home body repair question

[badkarma_711]

hey, i am a complete newbie when it comes to car stuff so bear with this question.

I recently sideswiped my 2001 camry into a telephone pole, doing some obvious but not crippling damage to the front right side, it knocked the front right blinker out of its casing (wiring is still attatched) and damaged the fender and bumper, along with knocking off the right side review mirror. I took it to a body shop and the repair estimate was around $1700. Now this seems like a pretty steep price for the fairly cosmetic issue at hand, and i was wondering if i couldn't just buy the part wholesale and try to replace them myself?

[Unco]

if it's just a matter of unbolting the old panels out and bolting the new ones on, then it should be fairly easy to do it yourself.

as for the paint, if you don't know what you're doing, you may be better off getting it done at a shop.

[badkarma_711]

alright thanks, ya, it looks fairly straightforward. One more question though. Ive found that the bolts appear to be a little smaller than 7/16, but too large for the 3/8 heads that are in my ratchet set. What should i do about this?

[toyomoho]

You need a metric socket. If in WA state try Harbor Freight for a cheap metric socket set, Sears also sells sockets as do most auto parts and hardware stores.

[eurohazard]

The reason the body shop estimates are high is because they (generally) use new parts, then prime, paint, color match the new stuff so it looks like nothing ever happened to your car.

So yes, you can do it cheaper yourself by sourcing used panels, then installing them.....and maybe getting Maaco or a discount body shop to paint it. I do however recommend not pinching pennies on the paint work if you want to keep your Camry for a long time.