Is my daughter getting "took" - door ding repair

I think it was the daughter's friend that opened the door and caused the damage.

This...it was her friend...which I pray doesn't lead to a "who has to pay" situation. She is off, living on her own...so I am just looking for some advice to send her way. To me, it seems a bit excessive on price...and un-needed removal of parts.
 
I used to work in a body shop back in the 1980s and no one would remove the door to fix a ding. It gets mudded, spotted in and blended. Should be no more than $600 USD even with todays insane rates.
Well if we have any questions about body repairs on 40-50 year old cars we’ll be sure to message you :rolleyes:
 
I don't see any labor time to repair (would be noted as "rpr" ) on the estimate. Overall they are being pretty reasonable with the repairs, they did not even include corrosion protection on the estimate any many other misc items shops write for. Doesn't mean they won't do it, but if I was a shop estimator I'd have this close to $3k.

I do think the labor rate is a little high at $86 and the pre and post scan don’t seem necessary for something this minor. If the headlight doesn’t calibrate on reinstallation then programming it makes sense. If you go with this shop see if they can waive those charges unless needed.

That being said, I do not see a chip in the paint, just a rough paint transfer. Was the CC broken? If so then you would need a paint job and PDR could probably get you 90% on this one, maybe more with a talented tech.

I'm not sure how much she loves her car but a smaller but talented shop can probably do a spot refinish with enough color matching.

I'd get a few PDR estimates.
 
Last edited:
I don't see any labor time to repair (would be noted as "rpr" ) on the estimate. Overall they are being pretty reasonable with the repairs, they did not even include corrosion protection on the estimate any many other misc items shops write for. Doesn't mean they won't do it, but if I was a shop estimator I'd have this close to $3k.

I do think the labor rate is a little high at $86 and the pre and post scan don’t seem necessary for something this minor. If the headlight doesn’t calibrate on reinstallation then programming it makes sense. If you go with this shop see if they can waive those charges unless needed.

That being said, I do not see a chip in the paint, just a rough paint transfer. Was the CC broken? If so then you would need a paint job and PDR could probably get you 90% on this one, maybe more with a talented tech.

I'm not sure how much she loves her car but a smaller but talented shop can probably do a spot refinish with enough color matching.

I'd get a few PDR estimates.
A spot repair without blending is a Dollar Tree parking lot repair.
 
A spot repair without blending is a Dollar Tree parking lot repair.
Lol it sure is, but dollar tree does have some good products occasionally.

I have seen spot repairs done correctly and invisibly at dealership body shops with talented painters and techs. When a lot guy damages a new car or they need to make a trade in perfect, the dealer doesn't want to put serious $$$ into an appropriate repair so a $500 spot finish blend within panel including CC will get by much of the time.
 
I think the concern here is whether this is a profit opportunity for the car owner. Is he going to do a paintless dent removal and then add a bit of touch up paint? Or possibly a paint transfer issue that could be completely or largely rubbed out.

I had a row of dents on the door of my '07 (metallic silver with clear coat) Honda and had them removed paintlessly with a perfect outcome. Admittedly there is a paint issue here as well.

When I had some work done on my (metallic mid grey with clear coat) '00 BMW they painted the whole side. And when I had a dent repaired on an '81 (metallic silver) Toyota they repaired and painted the spot and blended it perfectly.

You could ask for several estimates but if the owner insists on estimates for the deluxe treatment that may be what it costs (or at least that's what the estimates come to).

To ensure they're paying for work that's actually done, your daughter's friend could agree to reimburse a "paid" invoice from a body shop or even pay the body shop directly.

If a sketchy body shop gives the owner a "paid" invoice for work they didn't do, that would probably constitute fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, or something equally interesting along that line.
 
Why doesn't your daughter just let her insurer deal with?
You have to ask yourself the question whether a potentially $2,000.00 claim (or there abouts) is enough to handle the downside of reporting it to your insurance company. Then of course you have your deductible of $500.00 or more. It could raise rates and put a claim on the data base all the insurance companies use.
 
You have to ask yourself the question whether a potentially $2,000.00 claim (or there abouts) is enough to handle the downside of reporting it to your insurance company. Then of course you have your deductible of $500.00 or more. It could raise rates and put a claim on the data base all the insurance companies use.
This is not a collision claim by her, so no deductible would apply. This is a third party liability claim.
A stationary third party liability damage claim shouldn't have any impact on her insurance rates.
 
This is not a collision claim by her, so no deductible would apply. This is a third party liability claim.
A stationary third party liability damage claim shouldn't have any impact on her insurance rates.

If I understand the original post correctly-
Her daughter owned the car. A friend opened her passenger door in said vehicle and dinged the car next to them. Curious- however does a third party claim work in this instance?
 
If I understand the original post correctly-
Her daughter owned the car. A friend opened her passenger door in said vehicle and dinged the car next to them. Curious- however does a third party claim work in this instance?
I don't know either, but there are insurance guys her who will.
 
I don't know either, but there are insurance guys her who will.
Also we are assuming her friend has some sort of applicable insurance. But it seems to me the car (door) ultimately cause the damage to other vehicle. It happened to be her friend who opened the door .
 
Situation like that, handled between two parties with no LEO or Insurance Co involved are sometimes a tad tricky. Some folks will not want to pay without more than one estimate. At very least, two estimates can make both parties feel good about the situation.
 
Also we are assuming her friend has some sort of applicable insurance. But it seems to me the car (door) ultimately cause the damage to other vehicle. It happened to be her friend who opened the door .
Right, so?
More than likely her coverage will provide for such an event, which can't be a unicorn.
 
I'm not sure how much she loves her car but a smaller but talented shop can probably do a spot refinish with enough color matching.

Reading comprehension is low in this thread. The first sentence explains the situation clearly. OP's daughter had a friend in her car and friend opened the passenger door and the wind took it and dinged the blue BMW in the next spot.
 
Reading comprehension is low in this thread. The first sentence explains the situation clearly. OP's daughter had a friend in her car and friend opened the passenger door and the wind took it and dinged the blue BMW in the next spot.
Right. So how is her friends insurance (if any) going to cover this?
 
Back
Top Bottom