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Original poster

Car door prang - Please help

14 replies

RosyPP · 05/12/2018 11:12

So on one of the really windy days we have had recently when I opened my car door in the work car park the wind caught it and it bashed against the neighbouring car door, leaving a small dent / scratch. Obviously I have said I will pay for the damage. The other car is a Golf a couple of years old.

The guy who owns the other car has had two quotes, one around £600 one around £900. Can this be right for a tiny bump / scratch? I had a look online and eg this place says £120-200 www.dentdevils.co.uk/price-guide (but maybe that’s just dent not scratch??)

I’m not sure what to ask this guy to do re quotes - I recognise this is my fault and it’s not fair to ask him to get millions of quotes / have it fixed somewhere inconvenient but I don’t want to pay hundreds if I don’t need to. Also should I claim on my insurance (I have eights years of no claims I think) or not?

Sorry to be pathetic but I don’t know how to handle this and it’s a lot of money and really stressful - really grateful for any help

OP posts:

mortifiedmama · 05/12/2018 11:21

It may be a whole panel respray depending on how deep it was was. Some can be buffed out but not all and an internet search wouldn't tell you whether this one could be.

Personally I wouldn't go through insurance but you should tell them about any accidents you have, regardless of claim. Though whether I would is a different matter!

cjt110 · 05/12/2018 11:26

The quotes could be off his mates who own garages. Ask that he takes it to a garage, chosen by you to get a third quotation. If It comes it at a similar figure than you know it's correct.

My insurance claim for a fault accident wound my NCB back by 3 years and cost me £95. My whole car was written off and my insurance for the following year was a similar cost/didn't increase.

Finfintytint · 05/12/2018 11:28

Just tell him to go through the insurers as it is too expensive for you.

Seeline · 05/12/2018 11:29

Sounds OTT. I managed to have a close encounter with a gate post in mine recently, causing big scratches and dents along two panels, and buckling the corner of one panel. I had it repaired by a company that come to you - £450.

StrikingMatches · 05/12/2018 11:45

I think he's having a laugh. I've had a number of dents and scratches treated on a Range Rover and it only came to £600 - this was in quite an expensive area too.

Tell him to go through his insurers and see how he changes his tune.

theveryhighlife · 05/12/2018 13:13

I think he's trying it on. My A6 (its new) was hit recently and it cost £250 for the scratches to be removed. They went down to the metal too.

bruce43mydog · 05/12/2018 13:44

Don't tell insurance regardless of claims being honest gets you no where. They will put you on the system for 5 years. £600 to £900 sounds a lot

bruce43mydog · 05/12/2018 13:47

Go to another garage until the price is lowered. Phone garages and get quotes don't just take his word

RandomUsernameHere · 05/12/2018 13:49

Take a photo of the damage and get quotes via email yourself. It sounds like he's trying it on!

SpoonBlender · 05/12/2018 13:59

DP put a ding in a BMW 3 series door a while ago the same way, that only came to £200 so we sorted it without insurance. Can't imagine a reasonable garage quoting 3-5 times that for a VW.

Fucker never did the repair though, just pocketed the money.

Witchend · 05/12/2018 14:05

Don't know. I had a small prang to my old car. I got 3 quotes. The first wrote the car off, the middle was around £800 (plus VAT) and the lowest was £500 plus VAT.

It depended on how much is doing. The most expensive was to replace the whole door, the cheapest banged it out and repaired paint.
We were not planning on selling and knew it was on its last wheels so we're happy to go for the cheapest, but if you were coming up to sell them you might well not be happy with that. We could see where the repair had been, although only as we knew it had been there.

Myimaginarycathasfleas · 05/12/2018 14:08

If you aren’t going through insurance, now might be the time to add protected no claims discount to your policy if not already there. Forewarned, and all that.

I wouldn’t be afraid of claiming on your insurance if you need to. Sometimes there’s no choice.

cowfacemonkey · 05/12/2018 14:15

I caused a two small dents on two of the doors of my neighbours car and that cost me £400 for both doors. Some drove down the entire side of my Audi scratching and renting every panel and door front to back on the drivers side and that was about £2000 for repairs so I would say his quotes are high. I would go through insurance.

I wanted my neighbour to get further quotes as I felt it was a little high but as someone pointed out to me I’d done the damage so why should she have to go from garage to garage getting quotes.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 05/12/2018 16:01

Dent removal works on the basis that there is no paint damage. If the paint has been scratched, it’s one for the body shop and is much more expensive.

If there’s a dent with no paint damage, it can be pulled out with specialist tools that dent removal companies use. The results from reputable dent removal companies can be excellent and much cheaper than the body shop. They don’t do it if the paint has been damaged though.

Dent Devils is a reputable company.

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