Some car manufacturers use metal to side and cover their vehicles. Others use a tough plastic. The plastic makes the cars cost less, but it is less safe, too. There are several other trade-offs to consider when you opt to buy a vehicle with a plastic shell rather than a metal shell. Here are just a few of the positives and negatives of making this trade-off.
Metal Can Be Repaired, Plastic Has to Be Replaced
When your vehicle is involved in a car accident, your vehicle will either end up with metal siding that can be repaired by an auto body repair service, or plastic siding, which is often utterly destroyed and only a replacement can fix it. While it is true that some damage to metal-sided vehicles is beyond repair, most of the other damage to such cars can be fixed. Dents and scrapes, for instance, are the most easily repaired on metal-sided cars, but on plastic-sided cars, the damage is a loss. There is no way to pop out dents or "glue" the smashed parts back together again.
You Might Be Injured in Metal, but Killed in Plastic
Despite auto manufacturers' attempts to make the plastic very strong, any really hard hits to the side of your vehicle results in crushed doors and panels, and even death. Take the metal-sided vehicles in a crash. Now you still have crushed doors and panels, BUT you are less likely to die from the damage done to the car. You will still have injuries, too, but no quite as severe as those you received in an accident where you were driving a plastic-sided vehicle.
It Is Slightly Cheaper to Repair the Metal
With damage to plastic door panels and side panels on a vehicle, it becomes a little more expensive than just popping the dents and sanding the paint streaks off the panels. Because you have to replace the plastic panels entirely, you pay more for replacement panels than you would repairing the same damages on a metal panels. It is only when a metal door or metal side panel on a vehicle is so utterly bad that the question of repair costs turns around. Then the replacement costs for the metal replacement panels is more expensive than plastic because metal generally costs more than plastic. It all depends on the extent of the damage as estimated by the auto body repair technician.
Visit a site like http://www.achesonautobodyandservicecenter.com for more help.