Girlfriend Borrowed Car - Scraped It Against A Wall :(

[Wi11]

In a multi-story car park my gf misjudged the width of the level ramp and as she was going onto it scraped the back part of the body just before the rear left wheel, just after the passenger door. I've attached a photo to illustrate.

What's the best way to get this fixed, cheaply if possible. Is it worth going to my local Toyota garage, or should I look for specalist panel beaters? Or could I just do a botch job of repainting it myself and not worry to much about the denting.

What sort of £ damage am I looking at?

This is my first 'dent', so all advice appreciated. :)

[vvtl-iboy]

Gutted for you mate. Thta's exactly why I don't let my mrs drive my car, my excuse is the insurance will cost too much, its worked well so far so I'm sticking to it.

I scraped my rear bumper and wheel arch a little a couple of years ago, not aws much denting as yours, but did need filling and a new bumper (which is actually quite cheap) which set me back over £600. It's all about the paint and labour costs. If you want a good job of it make sure you go to a top body shop and don't scrimp, it's just not worth it. I personally wouldn't attempt that type of repair myself, but then again I'll only repair stone chips using a touch up stick. Don't expect much change from £1k though if you're looking for a top job.

Best of look sorting it mate

[Escy]

Sorting that out won't cost £1000 unless you fancy getting the whole car done.

[vvtl-iboy]

Sorting that out won't cost £1000 unless you fancy getting the whole car done.

It all depends on what sort of job you want, maybe £1000 was a bit OTT, but the cost soon mounts up if you want a top job and go to decent bodyshop. I've seen cheap work done on a car in the past and the finish was pathetic, I could have done better with a can of spray paint. You get what you pay for at the end of the day. Based on the damage in the pic, it's worse than mine was, which as I said was over £600, so I'm basing my estimate on that.

[Wi11]

Thanks for the replies guys. The gf is getting a quote from a friend of a friend who is a 'mechanic'. She's after getting the cheapest job done but I don't want it to be botched. I'll probably go round a few other places to get quotes, including local Toyota Garage.

[vvtl-iboy]

Good idea to get a quote from Toyota, at least if anything does go wrong and they do a poo job it's easier to get them to fix it, whereas friend of a friend who's a mechnic, once done, that's it. If's this friend is just a mechanic, I would stear well clear mecahinc and a body shop guy is totally different. I'm not saying that mechanics can't also do bodywork (and most guys on here probably could), but some think because they're mechnics they can do both. The poor job a referred to beforem, was a friend who was a mechanic. He got a new bonnet, so he just needed to spray, no work needed other than painting and he made a real mess of it, the paint started to come away within months.

Let us know how you get on.

[Escy]

Sorting that out won't cost £1000 unless you fancy getting the whole car done.

It all depends on what sort of job you want, maybe £1000 was a bit OTT, but the cost soon mounts up if you want a top job and go to decent bodyshop. I've seen cheap work done on a car in the past and the finish was pathetic, I could have done better with a can of spray paint. You get what you pay for at the end of the day. Based on the damage in the pic, it's worse than mine was, which as I said was over £600, so I'm basing my estimate on that.

People seem to think when it comes to paint, most expensive is best, this is not always true. Best thing to do is to ask about and find a place people have used before and they are happy with their cars.

2 years back, I paid £1200 (cash) for a complete respray, pulling out some crash damage, welding in a new slam panel, fitting a bodykit, cutting and chopping in new lights into the front bumper, removing rear spoiler, aerial, door locks, badges, rear wiper, rear washer nipple. They even removed all windows before painting it too. The quality of the work was excellent.

[Shahid1973]

Mate you should never have let your GF drive the car!!

[Wi11]

She's the only one who drives it these days :)

Well I had a quote back from Toyota: £1400!

700ish for Labour, 150ish for Paint & Materials, 350ish for parts and 210 for VAT.

They suggested I contact the insurance company to see if they will cover it.

[cfc1]

I would suggest staying away from Toyota and going to your local bodyshop.. bet it will be less than half that.

[Wi11]

I'm now thinking about trying to trade the car in for a CTS without repairing the damage. Any ideas if dealers will accept a car with this sort of damage and would it be worth me getting it repaired before trading in.

I guess I'm asking, who is going to rip me off more, the dealer accepting the part exchange or the body shop repairing the damage. :)

[farhanali89]

dealers wont make that much of a fuss about it as they usually repair it and sell it them selves. personally damage to me does not look to bad as it is a dent and a local bodyshop could sort it out i have a good few in my area.and they charge roughly for that sort of damage 200-300 probably less if thats the only damage in the picture.

i would advise to ask for a part exchange as it isnt any mechanical chassis damage just a body scrape they wont make to much fuss. i had a crack and whole in my peugeots bumper and traded it in to toyota and it was visible as urs except the bumper did not seem like it could hav a easy repair. they gave me £5500 for a peugeot 107 and are now selling it at around 6995! but 5500 was ok for me quick sale and everything went smooth.

try lots of bodyshops i would recommend one of mine but they are far out from you keep lookin around the damage does not look to bad!!

[farhanali89]

and one more thing our rav 4 had damage to the rear near the spare wheels door had been dented and pushed in paint chipped!

toyota!! quoted nearly 1700 for repair!! my local bodyshop said 300! and they repaired it very nicely.

[gar]

and one more thing our rav 4 had damage to the rear near the spare wheels door had been dented and pushed in paint chipped!

toyota!! quoted nearly 1700 for repair!! my local bodyshop said 300! and they repaired it very nicely.

I think that Mr. T, like all good bodyshops, will favour replacing panels and then painting. This will always be a more expensive repair, but usually a better one. :P

That said, the main dealer will usually always be dearer as they usually have to give a longer warranty on said repair. It also has to be said that, most main dealers go to the GOOD body shop that you may well be thinking of using, anyway. They will get trade discounts, charge the full whack and add a profit on top too! :(

The best bit about them is they may gety a priority service, jumping past private customers, so get it done faster. This is not always so, though.

I would reccommend getting it done at a local, well reputed bodyshop.

The guy who paid £1200 for a total respray had a bargain though! I am being quoted around £166 for a total paint, (exept roof) with painting, fitting skirts and re-fitting loose boot spoiler, re-painting wheels, painting door mirrors. That too, is cash!

I may have to get the other persons bodyshop address! B)

Good luck.

[gar]

Sorting that out won't cost £1000 unless you fancy getting the whole car done.

It all depends on what sort of job you want, maybe £1000 was a bit OTT, but the cost soon mounts up if you want a top job and go to decent bodyshop. I've seen cheap work done on a car in the past and the finish was pathetic, I could have done better with a can of spray paint. You get what you pay for at the end of the day. Based on the damage in the pic, it's worse than mine was, which as I said was over £600, so I'm basing my estimate on that.

People seem to think when it comes to paint, most expensive is best, this is not always true. Best thing to do is to ask about and find a place people have used before and they are happy with their cars.

2 years back, I paid £1200 (cash) for a complete respray, pulling out some crash damage, welding in a new slam panel, fitting a bodykit, cutting and chopping in new lights into the front bumper, removing rear spoiler, aerial, door locks, badges, rear wiper, rear washer nipple. They even removed all windows before painting it too. The quality of the work was excellent.

Got their address/number?

[Rockerrock]

Seems like a easy fix, get to the other side and move it back out with a rubber mallet then repaint.

[H4RR15]

hiya there m8 soz bou ya car well hu eva sed you lukin at a 1000 loll nt funny most to most i would say about 200 from a decent garage, will need filler respraying and the part put back on again or better still might even be less i had my bumper and wing filled and resprayed and put back on for 250 which was a fantastic job so u shudnt be looking at much