Clonked Volvo... Repair or not?

[Roverageous]

I'm in a complete quandary with this. As per my thread, my Volvo got clonked in the works car park. I say works car park, but it's shared with the British Legion who may or may not be responsible for this escapade.

 

Volvo now looks like this:

 

 

Damage is aesthetic only, but very very very annoying. I don't have any idea who actually caused the damage, no one saw it, and turns out the 'Legion's CCTV cameras are fake. I've got a bodyshop quote who reckon on £790 to fix, which includes sorting this dent, and doing a couple of PDR repairs on a couple of other small dents on the other side.

 

The Volvo cost £1500, so the repair is circa half of what I paid for the car. But it was so nearly perfect before this

[chaseracer]

How good do you need the repair to be?

[Mally]

Not worth claiming, not worth paying yourself unless it's mates rates.

Push it out a bit yourself and live with it.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

There's no way I'd spend £800 getting rid of that. Are you a perfectionist?

 

I might see if I could find a dentmaster dude and suggest he did his best for £150-200 and I'd promise to be satisfied with whatever he achieved.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

£800 ?? Sounds like somebody quoted it as an insurance job, the top dent would probably pop out with a heat gun and someone that knows what they're doing punching it in the right place .

I would expect £2/300 , but then I am a tight fecker.

[vulgalour]

Remove worst of dent as above, get a new quote from somewhere else.  Still too much?  Isopon+Hammerite.

[Talbot]

Sink plunger and a good yank.

 

Also, put up a poster at both your work and the legion, explaining that the vehicle was hit, and you do know who it is, but you want the person responsible to come forward and fess up, or you may be forced to go to the fuzz. Has worked for a friend before now.

 

That, and keep an eye out for a vehicle with damage at the right height.

[Split_Pin]

Thats a ridiculous price. I had the door and a few other bits repaired and sprayed on my Corsa last year for a fraction of that. Cant remember exactly but I would have remembered if it had been as much £800.

 

Have you told them its not an insurance job? I would have thought about 250 or so would be more realistic?

[anonymous user]

Sink plunger and a good yank.

Aye, that should take his mind off it, but what about the dent?

[FakeConcern]

I couldn't live with that damage, but would try to get as much out myself as I could first. The plunger sounds possible. I've used the hot glue type repairs to good effect before now.

 

Why can't people just own up and be responsible for their own actions?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

That's a £350 dent.

[Bren]

Bodywork is horrendous pricewise nowadays.

[artdjones]

That doesn't look that easy to cure.The top of it looks like it's stretched the metal a bit right on a tight curve and the wheel arch is rather mangled.Also what's the rear access like?By the time all that is sorted and the quarter blended in that price, while being high,doesn't look like outright robbery.I think the advice above,to give a dentman a budget and then be satisfied with the best he can do is the most sensible way to deal with it.

[SiC]

I'd be taking the trim off the other side and give it a couple of taps with a mallet. One of the paintless dent removal companies should get that out no problems.

[Timewaster]

As others have said, I'd get a quote from a local dent master / magician / buster / wizard whatever your local guy calls himself and spend no more than a couple of hundred quid on it.

[forddeliveryboy]

Fwiw, I think a partially-sorted panel repair looks dodgier than an untouched damaged panel. Especially on a quality car.

[Dead_E23]

See if this works: 

 

 

What's the worst that can happen?  You end up with a dent and a brown mark.

[Pillock]

What's access like behind? A cheap football and a pump sometimes eases dents out if you've got room to feed it into a cavity and inflate. 

[Roverageous]

Yeah they know it's not an insurance job. The place I took it was based on recommendation - they do a lot of insurance work and have the contract for a lot of TVP stuff too. That might be the problem - it's probably not worth it to them for any less.

 

I've emailed a dent master man, but will also be getting quotes from a couple of other bodyshops that have good reviews, but are smaller concerns over all.

[MikeR]

had the same done to my 240 , but nearer the bumper , it should be one big void behind that dent . just give it a push and see how it looks ....

[Mally]

Cost is what I'd expect for a perfect job.

It will push out but still be wrinkled.

Depends how you see things, and how much disposable income you have.

[Hendry]

I had similar on the rear 1/4 of a mk4 Astra, id already paid a couple of hundred quid to get a dent removed by a bodyshop in the same area and some fucker dented it again, no way was I paying for it to get fixed again so took the trim off inside the boot and it pushed out about 98% perfect which I was happy with, would give that a try first then get a dent man to sort whatever’s left, should work out a helluva lot cheaper.

 

Ps the figures you lot are quoting for dent repairs are massive, I knew a guy who did all the dents on cars at Arnold Clark when I worked there and he charged about £50 a pop for something like that.

[stripped fred]

I had similar on the rear 1/4 of a mk4 Astra, id already paid a couple of hundred quid to get a dent removed by a bodyshop in the same area and some fucker dented it again, no way was I paying for it to get fixed again so took the trim off inside the boot and it pushed out about 98% perfect which I was happy with, would give that a try first then get a dent man to sort whatever’s left, should work out a helluva lot cheaper.

 

Ps the figures you lot are quoting for dent repairs are massive, I knew a guy who did all the dents on cars at Arnold Clark when I worked there and he charged about £50 a pop for something like that.

I agree that £800 is on the high side but £50! You don't get much for £50 nowadays. Also, he would have been doing lots for the same customer not a one off job.

[sierraman]

Make the best of it with a plunger and ignore it. Even £350 isn’t a wise investment.

[stripped fred]

At least you won't be worried about the odd supermarket scrape now. Every cloud has a silver lining and all that!

[sierraman]

I like your thinking.

[Roverageous]

Make the best of it with a plunger and ignore it. Even £350 isn’t a wise investment.

Neither is £1500 for a gearbox rebuild, £1000 suspension refresh etc etc etc (not on the same car!)

 

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[forddeliveryboy]

Neither is £1500 for a gearbox rebuild, £1000 suspension refresh etc etc etc (not on the same car!)

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Depends whether you view an inexpensive everyday car as a tool or ornament. A knackered gearbox renders a car useless, a panel dent only affects the eyes. Sure it's annoying, but the car goes just as well. Spend hundreds on straightening a bit of dinted steel and there's no less chance the car could be scraped again.

 

I'm sorry this has happened to a good car and that there's no cheap magic fix, perhaps it highlights just how good value decent second hand cars are in Britain, as well as how expensive labour/cost of living is.

[Roverageous]

Oh you're absolutely right!!

 

My previous comment was a bit tongue in cheek. I do like to spend on my cars, but like you say, a mechanical repair will last. The car could get scraped again next week.

 

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[robinmasters]

Sticker bomb, brah

I'd push it out, and then be prepared to win more merging disagreements.