A wrecked car may cost thousands of dollars to repair at a collision shop. You can often perform the same repairs on your own for as little as a few hundred dollars. You will need a few basic items for doing the repairs, but most items can be found at your local automotive parts supply store.
Access the damage of the wreck and make sure the parts are repairable. If there are major creases in any of the sheet metal, these parts must be replaced. You may order metal body parts from your local dealer, a collision shop or online. For a cheap alternative, you may be able to find a decent part at a local junk yard in better shape than the damaged one you have.
Remove the damaged parts that need to be replaced and place the new ones on the car. This way they can be sanded and painted along with any other parts on the car and will have the same finish once the repairs are done.
Use a slide hammer to repair any dents, big or small, in the sheet metal. Drill multiple holes in the dent and use the slide hammer in all of them, one at a time, to pull the sheet metal out and even with the surrounding surface.
Grind the paint and primer away from the repaired dented areas. Grind the paint down to the bare metal so that the body filler can stick. Filler will only stick to bare metal, not paint.
Smooth a thick layer of body filler over any dents and dings that have been grinded down. Allow it to dry for an hour and then sand it smooth by using 120-grit sandpaper. A dual-action sander can be used to speed the process. Sand until the filler is smooth and even with the surrounding metal surface.
Spray two thin coats of primer over all sanded areas, allowing each coat 30 minutes to dry. Sand the dried primer with 300-grit sandpaper to make it smooth.
Apply three to five thin coats of paint to the areas that have primer on them. Allow 10 to 15 minutes for each coat to dry before applying the next.
Cover the paint with three to five coats of clear coat paint, waiting at least 20 minutes between coats. Allow the paint to dry for a full day before driving.
