Aww bu99er

[Baggins]

It's been a bad week for my car. Monday something tall, probably a HGV opening a door has scratched it in the work car park and then yesterday in another car park my door has had a ding. I know they are only cosmetic but if someone in the know could give me a ballpark figure to correct them I'd appreciate it.

[BOD20]

Yes, I know the feeling.

 

Collected my 2019 Superb Estate at the end of last week.. One week (!!) later I notice a strange reflection on the C-pillar whist it's sitting on my drive.

 

A fist-sized dent with a tiny crack in the paint. No scuff marks, no drag marks, no paint from anything else. I have no idea where it came from.

 

I'm going to speak to a few people this week to see what options there are (mobile "dent repair" specialists and a local bodyshop) so I'll post back here if I have any luck.

[Bap33]

@BOD20 If the paint is cracked, a dent repair won't be possible. Unfortunately. 😞 

 

@Baggins Same problem, the scratches look to deep (until metal). Dent repair won't be possible either. You'll need a classic paint work... 😞 

[JR RS]

Not to mention that the dent is on a crease line!!!

Much harder to fix.

Good luck.

[Guest]

I know the feeling.

 

Back in 2012 I bought a brand new Suzuki Swift Sport.. within 2 weeks someone opened their door onto mine, denting it. Thankfully a dentless repair could occur, however a few weeks later someone side swiped the passenger side requiring panel beating to be done -_-

 

People just seem to have a complete disregard for other peoples property, like its ok to damage it without leaving a note. You just have to hope karma catches up to them one day..

 

Once I get my new Skoda i'm going to be parking the furthest I possibly can from wherever it is I need to go

[carb-uncle]

Baggins

 

had exactly the same damage, plus a dent lower down on the door - of course no-one left any details, or even an anonymous apology.  Fix was done by a local bodyshop and was completed perfectly.  Cost was £300 but you would never know it had been damaged. Can recommend Al Shaws in Milton Keynes - no affiliation -  for anyone in the area looking for a good bodyshop 

[Guest]

You have to wonder if they do it on purpose, a dent with paint missing down to metal must take a bit of force to do

[BOD20]

19 hours ago, Bap33 said:

@BOD20 If the paint is cracked, a dent repair won't be possible. Unfortunately. 😞 

 

 

As suggested, no joy with the "dent repair" people. Some use a resin glue to pull out the dent and if the paint is broken then that would pull the paint off. Someone else said they might be able to tidy up the dent but the paint crack would still be visible and cause issues in the future. 

 

So I'm getting a quote from a local bodyshop.

[Baggins]

Had a quote, £275 to do both.

[2BeFrank]

It depends on the franchisee in your area, but I had an excellent Chipsaway guy. Not for just the small jobs but panel work as well.

 

  A lot of the big dealerships around me BMW/Honda/Mercedes used to sub their bodywork out to him.

 

Shame he sold the franchise the new guy is nowhere near as good.

[BOD20]

2 hours ago, Baggins said:

Had a quote, £275 to do both.

 

That seems about right. Worth getting another quote to make sure but it will probably be around the same.

 

I've had one quote of £200 to fix mine so far. They have to spray a whole "panel" up to a shut line where possible. If it's a metallic paint then it's a 3-part paint rather than 2-part so there are more items to buy. And if they use the original water-based paint then that's more expensive too (although they can sometimes get solvent paint based paint in the same colour that's cheaper).

 

I'm waiting for another quote on mine but I'm expecting it to be £200 to £250.

[BOD20]

Just had another quote. A very professional, detailed quote this time (rather then a verbal, off the cuff one). It came to £412 😲

 

The paint alone costs £100 plus VAT. 

 

The first quote was from a "guy in a shed" at the back of an industrial estate. The second quote is from a small independent  bodyshop approved by Honda and Mitsubishi and would include a courtesy car (which is useful as I'm in a very rural area).  The car is worth around £20k so who do I trust ? i don't want to be looking at a botched repair every day for the rest of my ownership of the vehicle.

 

There aren't many more good bodyshops close by where I live so getting more quotes is difficult. I'm inclined to bite the bullet and go with the higher quote but, yes, as the OP said "Aww bu99er !!"

[irc]

And my wife moans when I get picky about where I park at the supermarket. 

[g_tee]

6 hours ago, irc said:

And my wife moans when I get picky about where I park at the supermarket. 

 

Mine too, but I'd rather park it in a remote corner of the car park than risk it.

Edited 13 March, 2020 by g_tee

[freelunch]

12 minutes ago, g_tee said:

 

Mine too, but I'd rather park it in a remote corner of the car park than risk it.

 

Now, the advice is to squeeze between two cars when you park so you don't lose your catalytic converter! Mind, I'm from London...

[g_tee]

Oh - we've not got that ... yet ...

[Penpusher]

1 hour ago, g_tee said:

 

Mine too, but I'd rather park it in a remote corner of the car park than risk it.

In 1970 when I was at Kettering Technical College, my mother let me borrow her car (Renault 4) occasionally when she didn't need it.  One day when I borrowed it, I was the first to arrive in the car park and parked in the corner of the car park.  A few minutes later, a fellow student came zooming across in a Hillman Hunter towards me, braked too late and hit the front offside wing.  His father had a car hire business in Northampton and he always came in anything not booked out for the day.  His driving was a bit wild and shortly after this incident, he was banned after he lost control on a sharp bend going out of Kettering (it no longer exists) and hit an oncoming car head on.

 

In 1995 I was laid up in hospital for a few months and I lent my car (Vauxhall Calibra) to my sister to use.  She was very careful and at a Tesco in Kettering parked in a remote corner to hopefully keep it safe.  When she returned, there was damage to the door handle where someone had tried to lever it open.  There was nothing on Tesco CCTV as it was too far away from the shop.

 

So this doesn't always work!

[g_tee]

Oh my. 

[Sagalout]

The root cause is that the design of spaces and flow thru these car parks hasn't kept up with the increasing size of vehicles. Make them wider and the accessways wider as well and you reduce the risk of door banging, bumper bashing significantly. But of course that reduces income from  paid parking and available spaces for shopping malls/supermarkets so there is no incentive to improve things.

 

I never park next to SUV/MPV/pick ups, never park on the corner ends and gave up parking at the extremities after realising that I would usually come back to someone parked directly next to me often on both sides. 😒

[penguin17]

4 hours ago, g_tee said:

 

Mine too, but I'd rather park it in a remote corner of the car park than risk it.

Ah the remote corner in an empty car park.....you will still return to the car to find some tw@7 waffle parked 4 inches away from you! 😡

Edited 13 March, 2020 by penguin17

[g_tee]

7 minutes ago, penguin17 said:

Ah the remote corner in an empty car park.....you will still return to the car to find some tw@7 waffle parked 4 inches away from you! 😡

 

Hahahah it's funny coz it's true

[penguin17]

1 minute ago, g_tee said:

 

Hahahah it's funny coz it's true

I always look at the shut lines of their doors and try to trace the angle/path of the door opening and see where/if they've knocked my car. 

[Pesmog]

35 minutes ago, penguin17 said:

Ah the remote corner in an empty car park.....you will still return to the car to find some tw@7 waffle parked 4 inches away from you! 😡

Happened to me over Xmas. I parked in Cambridge North Station car park. There were literally 10 cars in a 500 space car park as it wasn't a working day. Returned a couple of hours later to find still only 30 cars in the car park, but one parked so close to my drivers door that I had to get in through the passenger side to drive away.  Just why would anyone do that when there were 450+ other places ?   

 

At least they didn't dent it like the unlucky folks here

[Bap33]

5 hours ago, Pesmog said:

Happened to me over Xmas. I parked in Cambridge North Station car park. There were literally 10 cars in a 500 space car park as it wasn't a working day. Returned a couple of hours later to find still only 30 cars in the car park, but one parked so close to my drivers door that I had to get in through the passenger side to drive away.  Just why would anyone do that when there were 450+ other places ?   

 

At least they didn't dent it like the unlucky folks here

Oh... I thought it only happens in ´latin’ countries such as France... Quite surprised but also soothed to learn it also happen in UK.. 🙄

[Baggins]

I had another quote from mobile "chips away", strangely not mobile but anyway..... He said he could touch it up for £100 but you would be able to see it or to do it properly about £800 as he would have to do the undamaged door to blend in.

 

Don't think so.