Cost of fixing three dents

J

jim

Registered User
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870
Hi

I was quoted 1100 to fix three small dents in car, one each side and one at back.

Is this reasonable?

I was told if i went through insurance it would cost 3000. I dont really understand why it would be so much more.

Thanks
 
jim said:
Hi

I was quoted 1100 to fix three small dents in car, one each side and one at back.

Is this reasonable?

I was told if i went through insurance it would cost 3000. I dont really understand why it would be so much more.

Thanks
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Very hard to answer without seeing them and knowing if the repairer will be fully painting each panel.
 
jim said:
Hi

I was quoted 1100 to fix three small dents in car, one each side and one at back.

Is this reasonable?

I was told if i went through insurance it would cost 3000. I dont really understand why it would be so much more.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I was told the same 5 or 6 years ago. I asked my garageman. He went into his garage and came out with a sponge and a bottle of stuff that he uses to shine up cars. Within 30 seconds of mild scrubbing, 2 of the 3 dents had disappeared, and the third had shrunk to the point that it wasn't worth spending money fixing it.
 
jim said:
Hi

I was quoted 1100 to fix three small dents in car, one each side and one at back.

Is this reasonable?

I was told if i went through insurance it would cost 3000. I dont really understand why it would be so much more.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Jim,
Can you put up a pic of the small dents?
 
T McGibney said:
I was told the same 5 or 6 years ago. I asked my garageman. He went into his garage and came out with a sponge and a bottle of stuff that he uses to shine up cars. Within 30 seconds of mild scrubbing, 2 of the 3 dents had disappeared, and the third had shrunk to the point that it wasn't worth spending money fixing it.
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sounds like scratches / marks rather than dents, you could rub a dent all you want, it will still be a dent.

OP we need to see a picture of what it is, a dent can be removed by a paintless dent removal expert but if the paint is also damaged itll be a respray job.
 
T McGibney said:
I was told the same 5 or 6 years ago. I asked my garageman. He went into his garage and came out with a sponge and a bottle of stuff that he uses to shine up cars. Within 30 seconds of mild scrubbing, 2 of the 3 dents had disappeared, and the third had shrunk to the point that it wasn't worth spending money fixing it.
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I buy 5 year old cars so that I don't care about minor dents and scratches. I find that it's generally true to say that expensive things own us as much as we own them.
 
T McGibney said:
The bodyshop guy claimed they were sufficient to warrant respraying of each body part. He was lying.
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I know people who get any sort of scratch or dent fixed immediately and it has to be done perfectly.
To me getting a few scratches on the car is like when you wear a comfy spot into the couch with your posterior. It's damaged but kind of makes it yours.
 
If just three small dents then it sounds excessive to me. Go around to a few panel beaters. There will be a huge difference between them all. some prices will be multiples of others for the same job.

I found that the guys with the nicer premises/website charge the most!
 
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A product called T Cut cleans up a lot of small scratches on a car/vehicle, also "fixes" a hell of a lot of possibly expensive charges in a garage. There's many other products out there as well. If you're one of those people who can mix socially, chat and interact with others in an open way you'll have no problem finding out about others jobs/trades and secrets therein. Very hard to make a fortune, but not that difficult to save yourself a fortune. Keep the head down, don't interact and think you're above the ordinary Joe the plumber, then you'll pay dearly to find out how silly you really are. ;)
 
Purple said:
I know people who get any sort of scratch or dent fixed immediately and it has to be done perfectly.
To me getting a few scratches on the car is like when you wear a comfy spot into the couch with your posterior. It's damaged but kind of makes it yours.
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i'm one of those, i wouldnt be keen on a worn out couch either ;)
 
Couple of things here jump out,
There should not be a difference of €2k verses insurance repair to private repair on a 3 dent vehicle damage. That’s very questionable to be honest. I wonder was the €1100 repair a cash incentive price?

On repairing a vehicle, if for example there was a dent to each of the rear doors and boot lid, apart from painting those panels, most likely, depending on the paint type, a paint blend will be need to be carried out on the adjoining panels..

On that example, painting would consist of, two rear doors, two front doors, both quarter panels and boot lid, that’s a lot of Labour, as in the removing of trims, repairing, prepping for paint, application of painting, the curing and cost of materials.

On the Abrasive polish mentioned, most modern cars don’t have the toughest of Lacquer, and that method does untold damage to paint work, it can look like you went at it with a Brillo pad, a huge cost to rectify.

I’ve also seen some paintless dent repairs carried out, some of the less skilled, will drill an access hole to insert the tools needed, and in doing so, weakened the panel strength.

Lastly, the vehicle repair industry, has been standardised as in, all body shops and insurers use the same estimating system, so, by right, there really is less need to obtain different quotes from different garages. I’ve noticed lately, there is very little difference between estimate costs from different repairers. The price difference if there is one, is usually down to estimator experience.
 
LS400 said:
Couple of things here jump out,
There should not be a difference of €2k verses insurance repair to private repair on a 3 dent vehicle damage. That’s very questionable to be honest. I wonder was the €1100 repair a cash incentive price?
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Hardly, as it has been widespread and open practice in the trade for decades, just as much in large shiny premises places as in backstreet operations. I'd guess the difference reflects the extra bureaucracy for them in dealing with insurance underwriters.
 
I dont seem to be able to upload actual pics from my phone or computer so instead i have included links below to similar dents from google images.

Do those plunger type yokes work. If so i could give it a go myself.
 
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jim said:
I dont seem to be able to upload actual pics from my phone or computer so instead i have included links below to similar dents from google images.

Do those plunger type yokes work. If so i could give it a go myself.
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i wouldnt got at it myself with a plunger.
 
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