Toyota Repair: Antenna Base Repair/Replace

Question

Antenna Base   I recently backed into my garage door while it was opening...I know, I know, I was in a hurry and, as a woman, I've never professed to be a good driver. Sorry to all the females out there who are good drivers, I am not one of them!

Anyway, garage door is fine but my 2003 Toyota Corolla suffered some damage. There's a dent along the top extending out from the antenna base so I guess I hit hard enough that the antenna snapped forward and dented the roof a bit. The antenna mast itself is fine but the base snapped off. Now I have a small square hole in the roof and two wires sticking out of it. I temporarily taped the wires to the roof so I wouldn't lose them in case they slid back in. The base appears to be fine, the clips on the sides of the threaded part are slightly bent but seem to move easily back into place by hand (shown in picture). However, there are no wires visible coming out of the base, just a hole in the center of the threaded part where I assume the wires were connected.

Do I need a new base? If so, how much should I expect to pay? I have seen them from $12 to $92 on ebay and amazon and I'm not sure what the difference is. I'm a civil engineer so I'm fairly handy with electrical and repairs but is this something that is easier to take to a repair shop? If I can do it myself how difficult is it? From the research I've done I understand that removing the head liner is required in order to access the nut that threads onto the portion of the base that extends through the roof into the interior of the car.

This forum has an explanation for removing the headliner for this job-is it a good guide? http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/132-9th-generation-2003-2008/307457-2005-corol

Thanks so much, I really appreciate your help!

Answer
Hello, sorry for the delayed response I was on vacation a few days, unfortunately the antenna assembly will need to be replaced, I don't know of any way to successfully get the wires reconnected into the base, the new antenna will come with the wires attached, this is why the headliner needs to be removed, the cable has to be routed forward to the radio, quite a job, I suppose there may be a workaround that a technician at a radio shop can do and just splice the new antenna wires to the old one, this will save a lot of labor so I would check into that option, if the roof opening is damaged so that the nut can not be tightened then there may be some mior body repair necessary, hope this helps and good luck.