Auto body repair & detailing: Worth fixing up my subaru?, rear quarter panel, rust bucket

Question
Hi Mike!

I have a 1999 Subaru Forester. It's got damage on the rear quarter panel and rear door on the passenger side (long deep scratches from - between my husband and I - three encounters with stationary objects). The first scratch occurred a little more than a year ago. Recently I started seeing a bit of rust.

Blue book for the car is $5100 fair condition and $5800 good condition. Since the repair will certainly cost more than $700, is it worthwhile to have it done with an eye to not having a rust-bucket junker to sell in a couple of years? Can we just sand-and-prime ourselves to keep the rust from spreading? Or is it neither worthwhile?

Thanks very much!
Barbara

Answer
It's a 99, almost ten years old, how do you want it to look? If it doesn't bother you, leave it alone. It's probably still a nice car though, and you probably do not like looking at the scrapes and rust. Also, when you go to sell it, a smart buyer would get an estimate of the damage to the car and deduct it from the price. Read the definition of good condition at www.kellybluebook.com, it doesn't include bad scrapes and rust. It means minor dings and scrapes, real small stuff that happens to any car that is being driven.