G'day Guys,

I've got a 72 microbus with some body damage. The front left corner has been dented in, starting from the headlight to just before the door, and from as low as the indicator up to above the bull bar.

Basicaly I ran into something and it pushed the bullbar into the body.

Any idea how much this is going to cost to get fixed? am I stuffed?

No idea without at least some pictures??

Maybe $500 to knock it out, maybe $5000 to get it primo, maybe not repairable

there we go, what you recon hellbus?

your help is much appreciated

That could be repaired quite well to a high standard painted for about $800

For a metal finished 100% primo painted job maybe getting up to $1500

oh ok, thats about what I thought. I'm not in the market for a primo job at the moment, I just want it knocked back out to close to normal. Is it not roadworthy like this? I know body damage can be a bit of a grey area sometimes.

I had similar damage to mine. Cost $800 to knock it all out and repaint the front (windscreen out).They used no filler and did a good job.It would not be roadworthy due to the indicator being smashed.

oh yes I can chuck an indicator on, sorry, I meant just the body damage.

Is it likley that I might be able to bang it out roughly myself? Just so that it dosent look stuffed while I save for a pro job, or perhaps to save cash on a pro job?

[ Edited on 25/5/2006 by flippo ]

I could not see any real problem with it being roadworthy if the lens is replaced and working. The body damage itself would not pose any real roadworthy issues as long as it does not have holes, protrude or affect any workings of the vehicle or pose any danger to pedestrians. Common sense really.

Be careful about banging it out yourself. I have seen quite a few times well meaning owners ruin, or make a lot more work to repair a panel properly by stretching the metal when hitting it in the wrong way.

It might not be a problem to the normal functioning of the car, but it might compromise the integrity of the car in a crash. I dunno, just don't want to be a cop magnet.

I don't think that amount of damage will compromise the integrity of the vehicle. It's not like the chassis is 4 inches shorter or anything. Maybe yank the bull bar back into approximate position.

in qld it would be grey to know if the bull bar was legal for a start hip hip hooray for qld transport:vader