Wife just got home and didn't pull far enough in the garage and closed the garage door on the back edge of her 2020 RAV4. The inside handle of the garage door came down and took a gouge out of outer top edge of her rear door. It's gouged down to the metal. There's no paint in the gouge. It's bare looking metal. About 1 to 2 mm deep. Looks an easy spackle, sand, and paint repair but that sounds too easy. We're going to the auto body shop in town that does excellent work for an estimate tomorrow morning. Don't know if they're going to want to do filler and paint. They might want to replace the whole door. Wife (and I) don't want to pay for a whole new door. My interactions with this body shop is that they want it perfect and they are very reluctant to do a very good but slightly imperfect job to save someone money. Which is great if insurance is paying. Wife's main concern is rust. Any tips or recommendations?
Auto body repair question
- Thread starter Leo99
- Start date
A good shop can blend it in and make the repair invisible. The hatch is aluminium which may complicate the repair.
I removed the inside door handles to avoid this very thing. Never used them with the automatic door openers.
I removed the inside door handles to avoid this very thing. Never used them with the automatic door openers.
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AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
If it’s aluminum it will probably be filled or replaced according to my friends dad who owns a local body shop here in my town. It shouldn’t be noticeable at all when done.
JHZR2
Staff member
Need pictures. Can interior panels be removed and it bent back to near below the surface?
I too would be concerned about rust, unless it’s aluminum.
on the top id also be concerned about uv protection and inferior painting.
I too would be concerned about rust, unless it’s aluminum.
on the top id also be concerned about uv protection and inferior painting.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Feel for your wife, it couldn't happen to one of the older cars. Time for a tennis ball on a string? (actually too late but...)
I'd want a 2020 to be better than slightly imperfect. You're into cars for the long haul so maybe something like this isn't a big deal.
I'd want a 2020 to be better than slightly imperfect. You're into cars for the long haul so maybe something like this isn't a big deal.
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There is a tire stopper to set the proper spot. She thought it was up farther than required and she didn't need to be up that far for door clearance.
The panel isn't dented. The hollow door handle hit the rear door right above the Toyota badge.
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JHZR2
Staff member
Still can’t make out the damage. You can try touch up, I would want something on it fwiw.
No way to know without an actual pic of the damage.
Just got back from the shop. The damaged part is a plastic trim piece that is attached to the door. The shop will remove it, patch and paint it and reinstall. $190. If I had skills I could try it myself but body work is not my thing. I can't even patch drywall well. I'm happy it's not a big deal to repair.
Excuse the dirty car.
Excuse the dirty car.
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We have a lot of slush in the garage in the winter so a floor stopper won't work that drops off the cars. I'm constantly cleaning the slush out of the garage.
I use a fishing bobber on a fishing line off the garage ceiling, easy to get left/right correct and stopping distance correct.
It is hung so the you aim for it right at the top of the steering wheel.
That seems very reasonable!
We had the tennis ball hanging off the ceiling but I kept walking into it. LOL.
I thought so, too. Expensive lesson but nothing crazy. Could have been worse.
This could have been much worse. That shop gave you a very reasonable price to fix it.
I know someone whose wife drove in the garage and miscalculated her stop. She smacked the car into a upright freezer. The freezer was full of meat and fish. The impact kinked the door and it couldn’t be opened. It also made the freezer unable to freeze the contents. They tried all kinds of efforts to get that open but it started to stink up the garage so they hauled it all to the dump.
He put in the hanging tennis ball after that.
I know someone whose wife drove in the garage and miscalculated her stop. She smacked the car into a upright freezer. The freezer was full of meat and fish. The impact kinked the door and it couldn’t be opened. It also made the freezer unable to freeze the contents. They tried all kinds of efforts to get that open but it started to stink up the garage so they hauled it all to the dump.
He put in the hanging tennis ball after that.
My wife did the same thing to our 2007 Honda Odyssey years ago. The van fared well, but the garage door didn't. She pulled into the garage and had the van's liftgate up while unloading grocery bags. One of the kids inadvertently hit the garage door button on the way into the house. The door came down on the opened hatch and continued pushing until it ripped the actuator arm clear off the garage door. Apparently that old lift master door opener wasn't adjusted too well.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
I had the same problem. Put an screw eye in the ceiling over where I wanted the ball to be and tied a washer to the string to hit the eye and hold it at the right height. Attached the other end of the string to the overhead door so it would pull the ball up when the door was closed. Had to be some slack between the washer and door. Worked well.
Glad the fix isn't expensive and your RAV will be like new again.
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