# Cost to fix door ding?



## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

I recently parked my car at a Home Depot and, unfortunately for me, a careless person left a noticeable door ding in the front passenger door. Unfortunately for the careless person, I was sitting in my car at the time. I got out of the car and spoke to the driver. She claimed that the ding would come out, reached into her car and pulled out some kind of wet wipe. "Do you mind?" she asked, pushing the wet wipe in my direction as if I was the hired help.

"Not at all!", I replied. "Go for it". So, vigorously rubbing away at my door, she did an unimpressive job of removing the paint transfer left by her car door and, unsurprisingly, made no progress at all at removing the dent that she had just caused. It would be great if wet wipes were effective at removing dents - body shops would save themselves a fortune in labour and materials. But, alas, no; it wasn't to be.

She gave me her insurance details and I immediately filed a claim with her insurance company. They have offered me $485. What say you, good people (and trolls) of up.net? Am I being lowballed or should I take the money? The crease left in the door is about three inches from top to bottom. (The crease can be seen where the truck is reflected, twice, in the door.)


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## SpinalCabbage (Feb 5, 2020)

It seems very low.


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## TomTheAnt (Jan 1, 2019)

What does your local paintless dent repair shop or an actual body shop say how much the cost is? Or maybe you trust ants and trolls of youpeadotnet more than a local professional...? 🤦‍♂️


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## Disgusted Driver (Jan 9, 2015)

Depends on the car, my 2009 grand caravan, I'd take it and run.


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## oldfart (Dec 22, 2017)

I’d take the money and buy a can of spray paint

actually I wouldn’t have a shot at the money, I never would have made a claim or even gotten out of the car to talk to the lady

my attitude is that these things happen and if I wanted to avoid “problems” like this I’d leave the car in the garage


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Disgusted Driver said:


> Depends on the car, my 2009 grand caravan, I'd take it and run.


More than it's worth !


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

The Gift of Fish said:


> I recently parked my car at a Home Depot and, unfortunately for me, a careless person left a noticeable door ding in the front passenger door. Unfortunately for the careless person, I was sitting in my car at the time. I got out of the car and spoke to the driver. She claimed that the ding would come out, reached into her car and pulled out some kind of wet wipe. "Do you mind?" she asked, pushing the wet wipe in my direction as if I was the hired help.
> 
> "Not at all!", I replied. "Go for it". So, vigorously rubbing away at my door, she did an unimpressive job of removing the paint transfer left by her car door and, unsurprisingly, made no progress at all at removing the dent that she had just caused. It would be great if wet wipes were effective at removing dents - body shops would save themselves a fortune in labour and materials. But, alas, no; it wasn't to be.
> 
> ...


There are more questions than answers because I can't really see the damage. (actually your door and fender already look scratched unless that was done by this incident).

A "dent can be suctioned out or banged out from the inside. A "crease" is very doubtful it can be removed. I just can't see it well enough..


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## TobyD (Mar 14, 2021)

Seamus said:


> A "dent can be suctioned out or banged out from the inside. A "crease" is very doubtful it can be removed. I just can't see it well enough..


He wants to see your crack.


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## Gone_in_60_seconds (Jan 21, 2018)

The Gift of Fish said:


> I recently parked my car at a Home Depot and, unfortunately for me, a careless person left a noticeable door ding in the front passenger door. Unfortunately for the careless person, I was sitting in my car at the time. I got out of the car and spoke to the driver. She claimed that the ding would come out, reached into her car and pulled out some kind of wet wipe. "Do you mind?" she asked, pushing the wet wipe in my direction as if I was the hired help.
> 
> "Not at all!", I replied. "Go for it". So, vigorously rubbing away at my door, she did an unimpressive job of removing the paint transfer left by her car door and, unsurprisingly, made no progress at all at removing the dent that she had just caused. It would be great if wet wipes were effective at removing dents - body shops would save themselves a fortune in labour and materials. But, alas, no; it wasn't to be.
> 
> ...


Unless the paint including the primer has been removed, the dent doesn't need to be fixed to prevent rusting. I would just keep the money. You never know if it happens a second time or god forbid an accident happens, then its worth fixing. Aesthetically, it sucks though. What model year is your car?


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## bobby747 (Dec 29, 2015)

A good PDR can fix that easy. i used these type of guys before..


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## _Tron_ (Feb 9, 2020)

That's a pretty good sized ding. You may not be asking the right question of us. A better question may be, "How would you handle the situation?" In that case I would say...

1) Don't guess as to whether the quote will cover the cost of repairs. Get a couple of quotes from actual body shops. Give them to the insurance company and demand payment. Be persistent if they push back.

2) Once you have the money hire the local fix-a-dent guy in the van who does onsite service calls to fix the dent. He will of course charge less than a body shop. Then pocket the difference.


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## Trafficat (Dec 19, 2016)

If it happened to me, it would be nearly impossible to determine if there was any damage because my doors have so many dents already.


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## UbaBrah (Oct 25, 2019)

In general, never accept the first offer from an insurance company. That's a "fob-off" offer.

You could ask/demand more, or pocket the 485 and get a ding king kit or whatever and try it yourself for $20 or so (IIRC you drive like a Yaris so it's not that big a deal).


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

SpinalCabbage said:


> It seems very low.


My natural reaction is to reject any insurance company's initial offer out of course.


TomTheAnt said:


> What does your local paintless dent repair shop or an actual body shop say how much the cost is? Or maybe you trust ants and trolls of youpeadotnet more than a local professional...? 🤦‍♂️


There is nothing in my post to indicate whom I trust more to give an accurate estimate.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

oldfart said:


> I’d take the money and buy a can of spray paint
> 
> actually I wouldn’t have a shot at the money, I never would have made a claim or even gotten out of the car to talk to the lady
> 
> my attitude is that these things happen and if I wanted to avoid “problems” like this I’d leave the car in the garage


Yeah, that's great, if that's your preference. Personally, given the choice between (a) receive several hundred dollars or (b) receive $0, I've got to say that my preference is for the former.

But, as you say, some people would prefer not to receive any money, and that's fine too. Horses for courses.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Seamus said:


> There are more questions than answers because I can't really see the damage. (actually your door and fender already look scratched unless that was done by this incident).
> 
> A "dent can be suctioned out or banged out from the inside. A "crease" is very doubtful it can be removed. I just can't see it well enough..


Oh, the crease is staying put. The name of the game now is to get the maximum amount of money out of the woman's insurance company. 💰🤑 It's payday!


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Gone_in_60_seconds said:


> Unless the paint including the primer has been removed, the dent doesn't need to be fixed to prevent rusting. I would just keep the money. You never know if it happens a second time or god forbid an accident happens, then its worth fixing. Aesthetically, it sucks though. What model year is your car?


It's a 2008. Although the new crease is aesthetically displeasing to the eye, one is distracted from it by the peeling clearcoat on the roof and tops of the doors.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Trafficat said:


> If it happened to me, it would be nearly impossible to determine if there was any damage because my doors have so many dents already.


This door was one of the few panels that did _not_ already have a ding in it. So by repairing it, I would theoretically be making it no longer match all the other panels. The dent will stay and the payout from the insurance will pay for part of my vacation.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

UbaBrah said:


> (IIRC you drive like a Yaris so it's not that big a deal).


Yo, don't diss the Yaris.


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## Illini (Mar 14, 2019)

The Gift of Fish said:


> This door was one of the few panels that did _not_ already have a ding in it. So by repairing it, I would theoretically be making it no longer match all the other panels. The dent will stay and the payout from the insurance will pay for part of my vacation.


Agree about not fixing it, but spend the money on a whole hooker instead of a partial vacation.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Illini said:


> Agree about not fixing it, but spend the money on a whole hooker instead of a partial vacation.


Well, I was thinking of spending it on something the whole family could enjoy.


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## Illini (Mar 14, 2019)

The Gift of Fish said:


> Well, I was thinking of spending it on something the whole family could enjoy.


And your point is???


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

Illini said:


> And your point is???


Lol, Father of the Year right there.


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## Hexonxonx (Dec 11, 2019)

The Gift of Fish said:


> This door was one of the few panels that did _not_ already have a ding in it. So by repairing it, I would theoretically be making it no longer match all the other panels. The dent will stay and the payout from the insurance will pay for part of my vacation.


I did this once with a Camaro I had. We got a bad hailstorm as we frequently get in the summer, fall or spring here in Colorado. This was a rare hailstorm in October around 1998. It broke a wiper blades trim piece and the hood had dings in it. Insurance company paid me $2,000. They told me I could cash the check or use it to fix the damage. If I didn't fix the damage, they said I could never file a claim for that damage again. It didn't matter to me as it was one of the worst cars I ever owned and I got rid of it about a year later through a bankruptcy.

The money really helped during that time.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

I would do the same thing I did when I got a scuff to my rear bumper. Go to a body shop and get a quote for repair. Submit quote if it was more than they offered. Ask for rental car reimbursement and loss of use reimbursement. Take the money and bank it.

Scuff to my bumper was quoted at $938 plus 3 days of no car use for me. Her insurance company wrote me a check for $1,706.23 to cover repairs, rental car, and loss of business for those days. Only thing the questioned was loss of use, a simple last 6 weeks of Uber statements answered that question.


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## June132017 (Jun 13, 2017)

I paid some carnival type guy who happened to be roaming around one day $200 to fix mine. Funny thing is it used to leak when going into the carwash. Now it doesn't. He did an okay job and probably wasn't worth any $200 obviously. He did make it better though.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

FLKeys said:


> I would do the same thing I did when I got a scuff to my rear bumper. Go to a body shop and get a quote for repair. Submit quote if it was more than they offered. Ask for rental car reimbursement and loss of use reimbursement. Take the money and bank it.
> 
> Scuff to my bumper was quoted at $938 plus 3 days of no car use for me. Her insurance company wrote me a check for $1,706.23 to cover repairs, rental car, and loss of business for those days. Only thing the questioned was loss of use, a simple last 6 weeks of Uber statements answered that question.


D'oh! Forgot to claim for rental car and loss of business use. Great tip for next time.


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