Hi,

I accidentally just drove into a car park barrier, its broke my windscreen but this will get repaired through insurance + autoglass, however it has scraped and dinted the exterior driver side window pillar (please see pics) . Now I don’t know much about body work repairs, what’s the likely hood of getting this repaired and how will it be done - any body work experts here?

Looking at the pictures would you advise I get the pillar repaired before the windscreen is replaced or will it be ok after?

Thanks for your help

I'm no expert but I think that is defo a bodyshop job. I think they will need to remove the screen to repair the a pillar, then get autoglass to replace whilst in the shop.

Yep definate bodyshop job, had something similar in the past after being run off the road and hitting a tree branch.

The bodyshop welded a rod to the pillar and pulled it into shape again. If I was you i'd consider having the lot done through the insurance IIRC it was about £1300 and the A pillar is an important structural part of the car, worth getting inspected and fixed properly.

Hmmm, I've seen less than that written off a car before!!

Go through a bodyshop and get them to sort the screen out too. If it was mine and I wanted to avoid the insurance I'd expect to pay about £200 for reshaping, filling and spraying the pillar, and £200 odd for the windscreen.

An insurance company may want the pillar replaced, and I'm not sure how easy that is.

Its also important to remember a huge part of the cars strength is in the a-pillars and windscreen.

£200 are you serious tom!!

mate you want to get that inspected as it could well be majourly fooked!!

whats the age/spec/millage of the car as that could be a write off sorry to say.

£200 are you serious tom!!

mate you want to get that inspected as it could well be majourly fooked!!

whats the age/spec/millage of the car as that could be a write off sorry to say.

I agree

To fix that properly would need the pillar cutting out of the car and a new complete side panel welded in. :eek:

£200 are you serious tom!!

mate you want to get that inspected as it could well be majourly fooked!!

whats the age/spec/millage of the car as that could be a write off sorry to say.

Sorry to say it, but agreed. There was a thread around xmas about an octavia that was

shunted up a*se, had an even less conspicuous crease in rear pillar, don't know the

outcome but it was looking like a poss right-off (and I think it was nearly new!)

Hope we're wrong, fingers crossed for a happy outcome for you...

If it was mine i would be picking out my next car

No Seriously thats a MAJOR job and "should" be replaced meaning major structral work. Filler will not replace the shell integrity you have lost there.

Sorry to say it, but agreed. There was a thread around xmas about an octavia that was

shunted up a*se, had an even less conspicuous crease in rear pillar, don't know the

outcome but it was looking like a poss right-off (and I think it was nearly new!)

Hope we're wrong, fingers crossed for a happy outcome for you...

that Octavia was repaired

The damage in the OPs pictures is only to the external skin of the A pillar, the main structure is underneath. Its quiet possible to cut away the external skin and replace it without affecting the structure. Think about it, if a carpark barrier can do that, then the there is no hope in a roll if the metal is that soft.

The whole A pillar skin is available as a separate part, and from I can see on the diagram starts at the bottom of the screen, and runs to part way between the A and B pillar.

The damage in the OPs pictures is only to the external skin of the A pillar, the main structure is underneath. Its quiet possible to cut away the external skin and replace it without affecting the structure. Think about it, if a carpark barrier can do that, then the there is no hope in a roll if the metal is that soft.

True! The material underneath is very structrually solid - couple of inches in diameter I think. I made a good mess of mine during my "incident" yet very little actual compression of the pillar's dimensions.

Why should a fill and spray cost more than £200. I've had worse fixed for less

I think it's mostly superficial and can be repaired. The proper procedure was described above, a rod is welded temporarily to the sheet metal to help pull it back, then shaved off, and filler is used to finish everything.

No worries, the A pillar has a very solid core, this just dented the outer shell a bit.

Fix the car and enjoy it again, good luck.

Ouch m8 seek pro advice major part of the cars safety.

ooh thats not good i hope the news aint bad for ya mate good luck let us know the outcome

I've seen very similar damage repaired by pulling and filling, but get it checked by a good bodyshop for peace of mind.