Last friday I left work to find a note under my wiper. the note was from someone at my work (who I don't know), saying he had 'car doored' my rear drivers side door. The damage is more than just a tap but by no means is it a huge dent.

The guy who left the message left only a work number and has swaned off on holiday for a week (which annoys me slightly as he left no other contact details) so I have not been able to speak to him.

In the mean time my car has gone to D M Keiths in Leeds for a qoute to put it right. They want to charge £1057:eek: as they say the door will need to come off and have half the drivers side re-sprayed due to the colour (black magic vrs). They will also provide me with Accident Management Service which by-passes my insurance as it is a non fault claim, on my part, and go straight to the other guys insurance to sort it. I don't want to get my insurance company involved if I can help it but I also want the car putting right.

I have read elswhere that if the work is not carried out by Skoda my paint and bodywork guarantee is compromised.

Now, I'm not in the business of, or wanting to screw the guy over who hit my car, after all it was an accident, but as mentioned before I want the car back to how it should be.

Should I stand my ground and say to him I want Skoda to fix it or try for a reputable, local, slightly less expensive bodyshop?

Even I laughed out loud at the quote I was given. I know I haven't posted any pics of the damage (I'll try to get some up soon) but if the shoe was on the other foot I probably contest the quote.

Sorry about the long post but any suggestions would be welcome.

Thank you in advance.

You can get it repaired wherever you like, but IIRC skoda will tell you that your paintwork cover is only 3 years and the bodywork 10, but that it will be whichever bodyshop you used that deals with it.

The guy was decent enough to own up so I wouldnt do anything until you have spoken to him.

If the damage is as you describe then I think the Bodyshop might be milking it a bit, worth getting another quote.

Personally I would prefer the door to stay on the car, if they remove the door it sounds like they might be stripping it & that often leads to rattles later.

A friend has a body shop & Ive seen a huge scrape taken out of a Saab door without removing it from the car, they simply spot weld rods onto the door skin & tease it out with a "slide hammer" type of thing, thin nip off the welds, tidy it up & spray it

Hiya, just one word of warning to help you out. If you chose your own garage to repair the car you often wont be eligible for a courtesy car while yours is in for repair. It varies from Insurer to Insurer, but thought any advice for you may be helpful. You may not even need a courtesy car, so it could be irrelevant!

The other party has clearly admitted liability and you weren't in the car so that should prove no contest. You're right in saying he may contest the cost - obviously he's not going to pay it, but the higher the cost the more his insurance is likely to go up in the future. We see so many situations where people are hit but no details are left, so it's great that he actually owned up.

Have you explained all of your post to your insurers? Keep them updated as much as possible and ask them to call you every time they get a new development. Feel free to pm me for any advice if things start getting a bit hairy and you need any help.

Good luck with the claim,

Jen

What about paintless dent removal at around £50?

Glad to see there are still some honest people out there.

I would try thr paintless dent removal first. My wife had a clio a few years ago and some nice person slammed a door into the side of it and then drove off (without leaving a note). We contacted one of the mobile dent removers (can not remember the name). They did a great job and unless you knew where to look you could not see anything wrong (if you looked very hard you could see a slight distortion in the paint where it had been compressed but you had to know where the dent was before you could see it). Be worth giving it a go for such a small outlay. If it is still not to your satisfaction then get it sorted by a bodyshop.

Glad to see there are still some honest people out there.

I would try thr paintless dent removal first. My wife had a clio a few years ago and some nice person slammed a door into the side of it and then drove off (without leaving a note). We contacted one of the mobile dent removers (can not remember the name). They did a great job and unless you knew where to look you could not see anything wrong (if you looked very hard you could see a slight distortion in the paint where it had been compressed but you had to know where the dent was before you could see it). Be worth giving it a go for such a small outlay. If it is still not to your satisfaction then get it sorted by a bodyshop.

Totally agree mate - if the guy has been decent enough to own up, you don't really want to screw him over. Paintless dent removal is excellent. I know a guy in Portsmouth that can even remove dents from swage lines using a variety of different "hook" tools.:eek:

What about paintless dent removal at around £50?

just what i was thinking, dentmasters or something?

have you got a photo so we can have a look and see what we think?

I would still be interested to see what an independant body shop would charge. I had a quote from a Skoda dealer for a scraped bumper, just under £500, Independant for real money, well under £100.

The guys been good enough to own up, no point in fleecing him.

Cheers for all the replies guys 'n' girls.

It's going to a local bodyshop that I have used before, along while ago, for a quote today. I'm also going to get photos emailed to a paintless dent removal place for a quote from them too.

I'm just concerned as at the Skoda dealers they said it needed spraying. Whether this was them playing it up knowing it would be an insurance job or not I don't know.

I really want to keep MY insurance company out of it all as I have a renewal due in a couple of weeks. The last thing I need is to have a claim looming, meaning I can't haggle a deal or even recieve the same quote as last year. Even though it is a non fault claim I know things like this can have a bearing on your premium.

As I said I don't want to screw over the guy that did the damage, likewise I don't want screwing over by my imminent insurance quote.

I'll have a better idea what to do when I have these other quotes.

The skoda quote seems plainly crazy. I had my front wing knocked by a kid on a bike last year while my car was parked in my drive!!!! I managed to find out who did it and then got a quote from my local skoda dealer (have a BMW approved bodyshop) as well as a paint repair service. The damage was quite bad with a very sharp dent and the painted was scratched right through to the metal. The mobile guy did not sound very confident that he could do a perfect job due to the sharp dent (quoted around £100). The skoda dealer said they could do a perfect job and quoted £250 ( this makes the £1000 quote you got seem crasy). Luckily the kids parents said they would pay for repairs. I gave them both quotes and said that I would be prepared to go the mobile route but if I was not happy with the result then I would want to have it redone in bodyshop. They agreed with me that the bodyshop was best route so that is what I did. The results were indeed flawless and can not tell there has been any work has been done.

Quotes vary wildly depending on the business and the type of damage. I had two dents (no paint damage) in an awkward spot repaired on my GP this week at a local place for £100 and they did a brilliant job.

My mum had her brand new Suzuki Swift sport damaged by a delivery lorry door, they broke the paint and the cheapest place she found was £350.

I would wait until he has returned - its not often you get someone decent enough to own up to stuff like that these days.

I got a quote from a decent local garage for £211. I spoke to the bloke and he says he is happy to sort it without going through insurance. So I'm now waiting for a cheque, which hopefully I will get tomorrow.

I got a quote from a decent local garage for £211. I spoke to the bloke and he says he is happy to sort it without going through insurance. So I'm now waiting for a cheque, which hopefully I will get tomorrow.

Thats more like it, good result for all

Glad it's all sorted - ensure you do let your Insurers know when it's settled though.

Edited 14 October, 200817 yr by Jenny @ Flux