Originally Posted by ard (Post 703549)

Crap advice.

The paint is gone, it needs repaint. Why bother with a dent repair when you need at least the door or both repainted?

Furthermore, you can see that the dent is not uniform- that there is a reinforced edge at the trailing edge of the door- folded over sheet metal- and hence the dentless guy cannot get at that. Also the metal has been 'over-stressed' around that internal lip and cannot be done perfectly.

Even if you could, it needs paint.

Not sure what your paint is, but when work is done so clse the edge of one panel, you sometimes need to color/metallic blend onto the next panel. The door with the repair needs clearcoat all the way to the edges. If you need to blend onto the next door, that one needs clearcoat to the edges.

You've got a brand new car, repair it perfectly.

Of course consumers these days haven't a clue as to a quality paint job...


Depending on your insurer, they may let you claim it on Comprehensive.... in which case there may be a lower deductible and it will not be a 'claim' that counts agaisnt you...If they say 'we cannot be sure you didn't open the door into something' or otherwise say it it a "Collision" claim, then you have a chargeable claim, and a deductible. Some people will say "The insurance guy said 'one claim will not increase my rates'"... true, but what if you have another claim in 2 months? The one 'freebie' was wasted on the first.

You should be a clear as possible about the circumstances of the event in your initial report. It would be nice to be able to say "I saw a chunk of concrete bounce off a truck and hit the side of my car"...

GL

A

PS My guesstimate for a perfect job would be ~$1000-1200. This is matching the factory paint in every aspect- even matching the crappy BMW orangepeel

Originally Posted by X5_ATLAST (Post 703722)

Thanks ARD, I went to see the mod shop Bret (one of the posters helping me with this) has referred, the guy said both panels needs to be painted. So I might as well go to bodyshop. I will take it there and see what they will say.

Originally Posted by ard (Post 703774)

What'd insurance say?

Curious as to the final $ tally. Do you know what orangepeel is, and how to evaluate paint quality? You want to get a sense of the factory paint- in particular the 'high visual' and medium visual areas- and assess the overall paint smoothness. The repaint should match these. Generally upwards facing surfaces, from waist heigh to eye height are high visual. (Like door handle to window). Look closely at the car and you will begin to see how the imperfect paint is distributed. You want to match this.

You also want to look at any metallic 'clouding' that you can see. This must be matched too. Stand back, get close...compare sides... after a while you'll be picking out painted panels on the highway! :)

Finally- and this is the MOST IMPORTANT- make sure the shop understands what your criteria are for the job. Worst thing to do is wait and see what kind of job is done. I clipped a deer in my P turbo at 90mph:yikes:... $2600 to the rear fender and tubo inlet. The shop knew my criteria- and really liked the idea that I came by after they shot it to inspect- this is before they took off all the masking and before they started putting trim and glass back on- I found some issues they could (with relative ease) correct. Had I waited it would have been a PITA.

Communicate your expectations.

GL

A

Originally Posted by phil47 (Post 704075)

For minor damage like that, I really struggle with having entire panels painted. I prefer to have as much of the original finish as possible.

On a few occasions I have asked my insurance company to approve a 2-step approach. Go to a reputable shop and attempt to have the ding fixed and the paint blended into the rest of the panel. If *I* am not satisfied with the results, I can ask to have the whole panel repainted. The insurance company agreed as the additional cost of this approach (if this went to both steps) was negligable and the potential for them to save the cost of full repair (and ultimately the cost to me in premiums) was worth it. In one case I was extremely satisfied and stuck with the small repair, in another case I had the whole panel painted.

Originally Posted by Naz24 (Post 704214)

id go with a paintless dent remover, then throw alot of touchup on it, sand it with 2000 grit sandpaper followed by polish, good to go!