The previous minimum was $500, which mechanics say is roughly the cost to fix a single scratch.<\/p>\n
“To fix that gouge right, that scratch, we will literally have to fix the fender, blend into the bumper, blend into the door and that scratch will cost you the minimum $500,” said a mechanic.<\/p>\n
Lou’s Total Car Care in Fort Myers says repair costs can quickly climb.<\/p>\n
“If you have any vehicle that is over 2010, any small little damage is very costly,” Lou’s Total Car Care employee John Morales said.<\/p>\n
Even small bumper damage can cost thousands to repair.<\/p>\n
“You look at between 3500 for this and another 450 to $800 calibrate this, to get this itty bitty gouge repaired,” Morales said.<\/p>\n
The make and model of a car can also increase repair costs. Vehicles manufactured after 2010 tend to have higher repair costs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Anything that’s affiliated with a BMW, Audi, Escalade, any every kind of realistically every new car, even the Honda Civic and Toyotas,” Morales said.<\/p>\n
Morales said he always tells his customers the same thing: “Have your deductible as low as possible.”<\/p>\n
He also warned that looks can be deceiving when it comes to damage.<\/p>\n
“We have repair cars here up to $50,000 in body work repair, $50,000,” Morales said.<\/p>\n
He added that drivers should protect themselves after any crash.<\/p>\n
“Do not take someone’s word they’re going to fix your car,” Morales said.<\/p>\n
Even under the new law, drivers are still required to stop after a crash, exchange information with the other driver, document everything and file a self-report with the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 A new Florida law is changing what drivers are required to do after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,28,897,356,4571],"class_list":["post-416275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-florida","tag-fort-myers","tag-lee-county","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}