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Dodge: Repair of a 94 Saturn, light assembly, autoparts store


Question
My daughter slid on ice this winter striking a pillar deploying the air bag.  The damage as far as I can see is a bumper, radiator, left light assembly, hood.  The car still ran but the engine's temp went up so she pulled over and we had it towed to our house.  The bumper was pushed into the radiator causing damage draining the coolant.  My question is, I am no expert on car repair, but I think I can do it.  How much of a job would it be to replace the hood, bumper, light assembly and get the radiator repaired by a professional?  My daughter is still in high school and she doesn't care if it's not perfect when done, she just misses her car.  Please, your honest opinion.  I have the tools to do this.  Thanks for your help.  

Answer
Bruce,
You can do this job yourself,the only thing is buying the parts and then finding out the damage was more than what you thought.Meaning a frame or sub frame being bent.This can cause the parts that you buy not to line up.If the bumper doesn't look like it was mashed up too bad to bend a frame you should be ok,as far as the radiator i'd just buy a new one rather than have it repaired,they can be bought online for a substantial amount less than what you can buy one for at an autoparts store.And remember that the parts that you replace will need to be painted,some come with a primer but still need to be painted,the primer will not hold up to the sun for too long.Go ahead with it.RamMan