Two Reasons to Take Your Car to a Mechanic After a Minor Collision

It's very easy to underestimate the extent of the damage a minor collision can inflict on your vehicle. If your car has recently sustained some damage but is still driveable, it might be tempting not to bother bringing it to a mechanic that does smash repairs in order to save yourself some money. Here are two reasons why this is an expense you should not forgo.

Unrepaired paintwork damage could lead to the development of rust

The paintwork that covers the panels of a car isn't there solely to make the vehicle look good; it also serves a more practical purpose. Along with the primer and the basecoat, the paintwork helps to form a protective barrier over the metal panels.

If these protective layers are damaged during the course of a collision, the metal panels underneath will be exposed to the elements. If the car is then rained on, washed or left outside on a particularly humid day, the metal will get wet and begin to rust.

Rust can wreak havoc on a vehicle; it will eat away at the panels and any nearby metal components, and in doing so, it may cause mechanical as well as aesthetic problems, both of which could cost a great deal of money to fix.

As such, it would be far more economically prudent to have a smash repairs mechanic perform a simple and relatively inexpensive paintwork restoration job immediately after your collision, instead of paying hundreds of dollars to repair rust-induced damage in a few months' time.

There could be hard-to-spot mechanical damage

It's important not to assume that your car is in perfect working order after a collision, just because it can still be driven. This is a dangerous assumption which could result in your vehicle failing suddenly whilst you're out on the road.

The mechanical damage caused by a collision is not always immediately apparent to the untrained eye, and as such, in some cases, it may only manifest as a noticeable issue several weeks after the accident.

For example, if a collision results in the front of a car being struck by another vehicle, the gasket and seals which help to keep the engine oil in its container could end up damaged. The engine oil could then begin to slowly leak out.

This, in turn, could eventually lead to the engine overheating, resulting in irreparable damage which might necessitate the replacement of either the entire engine or several of its most important components.

However, in this scenario, if this car had been brought to a mechanic promptly after the accident, this damage would have been spotted and addressed before it caused any significant problems.

For additional information, contact a company like Dandy Smash Repairs.