I managed to reverse my car into a wooden lampost the other night. Foolish I know.
There was a huge arc of creosote on the corner of the bumper and some on the rear wing. The following day I t-cut the affected area and re-polished. I now have a series of small black scrathes on my bumper. The rear wing has a dent about 1/8" deep and 1.5" diameter, the paint has split where the metal folds in to meet the bumper. It doesn't look so bad, but partly because of the paint split and partly 'cos I'm a sad type who likes to keep my car polished and dent free (parking the furthest away form supermarket entrances, trolley bays, vetting adjacent cars for baby seats, any sign of of a careless driver(says me) and definately not parking next to 4x4's and MPV's).
I got a quote of £300 + vat to re-paint the back bumper, take out the dent and re-spray the whole the rear wing (Leon Cupra in Yellow).
Do people think that this is the sort of job that the dents-away type companies could do? How good a job do they do? Will they match thepaint accurately?
Despite having full no-claims and protected I don't want to claim on insurance, 'cos I'm sure they'll just reclaim it back the next couple of times I renew.
Cheers
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It definately should be done if the paint has spilt on the metal, but I doubt the dents away places could do it as they require the paintwork to be undamaged generally.
£300 doesn't seem unreasonable to me, but shop around anyway.
Blue
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"definately" not parking next to 4x4's
It "definately" should be done anyway
Sorry to be a pedant, but it's definitely not "definately." :)
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So I take it that?s the definitive spelling for definitely?
Pedant!
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Why not save your money and reduce the stress in your life by leaving the bump there and not worrying about the next one? The first one's always the worst! :)
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But if the paint is split over the metal bodywork then surely it has the potential to get *much* worse over the course of a year or two if not fixed? I'm thinking large patch of corrosion here... :-(
Blue
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Prime and paint by all means to prevent corrosion but why worry about a little dent?
Just think of the extra freedom to be enjoyed when you're no longer worrying about that first scratch ! I speak as a reformed 'scratchophobe' :)
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Have you only obtained one quote?
There are other small and quiet reputable firms who may be able to do you a better deal if you ask around.
DVD
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Only had time to get one quote so far, and there\'ll be little chance at the weekend.
I know that if it was rubbed and re-primed it\'d be ok. BUT, the car\'s only just over a year old (mine for 4 months) if I leave a scratch, that\'ll just be a slippery slope won\'t it?
Next thing you know I\'ll be buying practical classics and boring people on the virtues of running a banger (which I realise makes perfect economic sense). A car should look good, glossy paint and fancy colours are just cosmetics .... and that\'s ok ... its alright to have something nice and enjoy polishing.
I\'m think I\'ll have the work done soon (after another couple of quotes). Then I can get on with worrying about;
will they match the colour,
where to park it,
Erm no, not there under a tree,
Damn someones parked next to me- check if they\'ve left a dent,
Bird poo,
leaking garage roof,
is this polish too abrasive?,
is it me or has it the paint faded...........
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See, you've chilled out already number67 :)
Good stuff BTW!
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Join us, Numbers, and read the Bangernomics thread. Your biggest mistake (apart from driving into the post which could happen to anybody) was buying a NEW car!
Did nobody tell you about the magnetic attraction between a shiny new car and lamp posts? There is a corresponding repulsive force between a battered old car and the lamp post...
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I practice (or is that practise Robbie?) a mild form of bangernomics with the wife's car. Its covered in car park bumps inflicted by others - I hardly even get annoyed any more. The wife sometimes talks of having a change (of car), but I always say "No dear, maybe next year." thus saving us both enough money for me to indulge in nearlyNEW cars and petty bump repairs.
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Very astute N67! I suspect you're in good company here :) Exits hastily in full expectation of a major rant from the BR's female contributors.
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Not convinced, Numbers! Your £300 - for which you are going to repair a tinyurl scratch is enough for 2 new cars at least. You could have a whole fleet of these cars next time somebody runs a key down your shiny new motor.
Anyway, you're very brave to put your views into print where Mrs 67 might read them.
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Number67, for what its worth, SWMBO scratched the rear wing of the Scenic when she reversed into a pole. I hummed and hawed for a full year as to whether I should get it repaired - all this time it didn't get any worse and no rust appeared.
I kept thinking that maybe, just maybe, someone might dent it in a car park or whatever and I could claim off them. Eventually, I decided to go ahead with it and booked it in to get done. 2 days before it was to go in, SWMBO scraped it again, at the exact same point.
I would have been really upset,as opposed to just fuming, if she had scraped it the day after I had it fixed!
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Don't know about the dent, but Chips Away did an excellent job on some botched bonnet paint job on my Alfa 155 last year. He repainted an area where someone had applied touch-up paint with what looked like a trowel and covered in some other areas. Totally invisible for about £95.
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