SpecialRequest

Had a mishap earlier today. I hit a pole as I was backing out, and now I have rear quarter panel damage thanks to my lack of judgement.



Is it even worth fixing? Too bad the taillight doesn't even work and I'm not going to risk driving it around with it. So mad I ruined a clean straight body EJ6 hatch ugh

Chance EG

Only way to know for sure is to take it to a body shop. A bit hard in the picture to tell where the crease ends along the QP.

May end up not being quite as bad as you suspect, but who knows... May be worthwhile taking out the interior trim and seeing what the sheet metal damage looks like from the inside.

Worst case scenario you could probably still end up selling it as a shell to someone who wants it and doesn't mind some body work and replacing the QP skin. Sell the engine, trans, AC, etc separately.

SpecialRequest

Very true. I did a search on rear quarter panel damage on here from others and they had worse damage than mine. The hatch closes fine luckily and I don't think it will leak water into the cabin since I sealed up everything well a couple of years prior.

I'll take it to a shop, but for now I have to find a replacement tail light so I don't get pulled over since it doesn't even work.

I hope the worst case scenario doesn't come down to that. I like this car quite a bit and it's so hard to find a bone stock hatch with each passing day. I prefer to keep it for as long as I can, personally.

Still annoys me that I ruined it though.

Chance EG

Don't have to call it "ruined" until you give up on it. Depending on what your desires are, you could source a tail light pretty cheaply either from a salvage yard or from somewhere online. To be completely honest, even most ebay replica tail lights fit pretty well now.

If the hatch doesn't have a leak, you could take your time to get the QP fixed properly after the tail light. Won't look pretty, but other than some damaged pride you won't really have any need to hussle on the repairs until you're ready. Look around and find the shop that gives you the best quote for legitimate work.

SpecialRequest

Very true. Plus I'm wanting to keep it as stock as possible, so I won't even acquire a SiR rear bumper for it lol

In the mean time I'm going to source a tail light and a rear bumper in the same color since hatchback parts are so hard to find compared to coupe and sedans.

Besides, I'm wanting to pick up a JDM toy so the less money I can spend on my Civic, the better. I just care about maintenance more than appearance, but I still want it to look decent too

tony_2018

Worth every penny.

SpecialRequest

Got the tail light out, that's my Saturday night spent. Seems like the damage isn't as bad as I expected but still was a hassle trying to reach the nuts to loosen them