There are a lot of questions on your mind after an accident. Will insurance fully cover your damages? How long will the repair take? Will your car be as good as new? As stressful as the situation can be, it can also be an excellent opportunity to make your ride even better than new. One way to improve your vehicle after a collision is with a custom paint job.

If you're thinking about adding custom paintwork to your car, then you should go into the process with as much information as possible. Below you will find some answers to three common questions many people have about customizing their paint after an accident.

1. Will Insurance Pay?

As a general rule, the insurance company will not pay to modify your car following an accident. Your settlement will be based on the cost to return your vehicle to its pre-accident condition, and the initial payout may increase if a shop finds more damage during repairs. In most cases, this means insurance will pay for a factory-equivalent paint job on affected sections of your vehicle.

Altering the color of a car requires significant prep work and more extensive paintwork than simply repainting damaged panels. Although your insurance will not cover this work, you can choose instead to take the portion of your settlement allocated for repainting and use that towards your custom paint job. In this case, you will need to make up the difference out-of-pocket.

2. Will Your Car Be Worth More?

The best way to maintain your car's value after an accident is to restore it to factory condition. Vehicle modifications tend to have an unpredictable effect on long-term value, and they can even reduce the value of a car for traditional buyers. On the other hand, a well-executed custom paint job can be a positive selling point if you are willing to wait for the right buyer to come along.

3. Will It Cost Less?

There's often no better time to repaint a vehicle than after an accident. New body panels can be painted in any color during the auto body repair process, saving you money on the extra preparation work typically required to change the color of a car. If your insurance is already paying to replace multiple body panels, then this may drastically reduce the cost of your custom paint job.

When considering a post-collision custom paint job, always discuss your plans with your body shop. Shops will often be able to offer cost-effective options to ensure that your insurance settlement pays for as much of your custom paintwork as possible.