A quick guide to front end repairs for beginners with liability-only insurance

Did the same thing on my wife's Accord after a shopping cart and a windy day did a number on the rear quarter. Took me about three weekends in the driveway with basic hand tools and a cheap heat gun. The panel gap thing you mentioned is real, mine sits a little proud at the trunk line but honestly after six months I stopped noticing it. The fastener advice saved me twice. I used a cheap label maker and zip lock bags sorted by teardown step, and when I went back to reinstall the inner wheel well liner I acutally knew where every clip went. My neighbor did a similar repair and spent two weeks waiting on clips he'd thrown away.

One thing I'd add for anyone reading this, watch out for hidden damage behind the bumper cover. On mine the impact bent a bracket that held the parking sensor, and the sensor threw a code weeks after everything looked fine on the surface. Had to pull the cover again to seat it properly. I also got my replacement fender from a local salvage yard instead of marketplace and that worked out well since I could hold it up against the car before paying. Cost me eighty bucks and the paint match was close enough that you can only tell in direct sunlight.

Gonna push back on the salvage yard fender advice a bit. A donor panel off a different car almost never blends on its own, even if the color code matches. Sun fades paint at different rates and the clear coat depth varies, so that 'you can only tell in direct sunlight' line usually turns into 'you can tell in any light' after a year. On my old Civic I bolted on a yard fender and the shade difference bugged me every single day until I finally paid a shop to blend it into the door. If the panel is coming off a car that sat outside its whole life, budget for paint regardless of how good it looks in the yard.

Funny you mention the wavy gap, mine did that too on the driver side after I swapped a core support piece. Turns out I'd left one upper mount loose and it was pulling everything out of square. Snugged it back down and most of the wave went away, so maybe check the mounting points before you accept it as done. Also for anyone sourcing parts, I've had decent luck buying a whole wrecked parts car off marketplace when I can find one cheap. You get every clip and bracket along with the panels, which kills the fastener hunt entirely. Downside is you need somewhere to park it untill you've stripped what you need.

My contribution: do the work when it's warm out if you can. I pulled my truck's bumper cover apart in February and every one of those plastic clips snapped like a cracker, then I redid a section in July and nothing broke. Same car, same hands. Also, I fought the trim pieces with a flathead for an hour before buying a plastic trim removal tool for like ten bucks, and the whole job got easier that same afternoon. Wish I'd started there.