Cost of replacing door? (W202)

[Lucazade]

Today a lady reversed on the side of my C200 and made a rather large dent on the N/S passenger door. She offered to pay for the repair instead of making a claim but I'm pretty sure that once she sees the bill she'll change her mind.

As I don't have much time to get a quote before the weekend, can anybody give me a rough idea of how much it could cost? Hopefully this could help her make a choice sooner than that.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

A new W202 door should be peanuts, £50-£100 difficult bit will be getting a perfect match in paint colour, £200 to respray the door. Then transfer over your existing door card to the donor door and fit it.

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

May be worth contacting Dent Devils , or similar , ie Dent Master. if the paintwork is not chipped/scratched they will give you a rough price online.Dent Devils claim to repair 1000 dents a day across the uk.

 

[Will]

I'd tread carefully as your/her insurance company may write the car off due to labour/parts/material costs vs the value of the car.

A secondhand replacement door, plus painting and fitting privately would probably be your best bet. If you're lucky you may find another good door in the same colour.

Of course all accidents should be declared to both insurance companies but be prepared for an increase in premium come renewal time.

On the positive side, at lease you know who's damaged your door and they are trying to make things right

 

[gegs88]

You can insist on getting it fixed, you pay insurance to cover you and your vehicle. It's just quicker, cheaper and easier for the insurers to write off a car rather than replace it.
If you think the car is worth it then insist on the repair if you go down the insurance work.

 

[John Jones Jr]

May be worth contacting Dent Devils , or similar , ie Dent Master. if the paintwork is not chipped/scratched they will give you a rough price online.Dent Devils claim to repair 1000 dents a day across the uk.

That's the route I'd take. Looks like job they could easily do too and save a load of potential hassle for both the OP and the lady in question.

 

[MBZE55]

would try a breakers yard search engine like First Choice Spares / breakerlink etc there are many similar sites , specify the colour you require and they search hundreds of breakers , you may get lucky and get the right colour door for around £75-£100 . If you go down the route of painting / repairing the door , the fresh paint will not match the wing or matching door , and you would have to paint the whole side of the car , around £400-£500

 

[Lucazade]

Well, Dent Devils didn't bother to reply.

The lady who crashed into my car went AWOL - as expected. (add expletives)

I called the insurance to find out what my options are. Just by describing the damage, the system flagged it as a write off so now I'm divided between scrapping it for peanuts (no idea how much, but probably £300 I'd imagine) and use it as part payment towards another car, or cancel the claim and try to find a door from a breaker.

A spare door would be cheap, and the mechanics are sooo good it'd be sad to scrap it. On the other hand, rust is appearing in a few places...

Regardless, it pisses me off that I have to pay for the damage someone else caused to my property.

 

[sicelo]

Sorry man. I still feel the loss of my W124, although happy about my replacement W202. I agree with those suggesting you get it fixed on your own. It is an unwelcome expense for sure, but the damage is really not that much.

I'm not used to rusted cars, so I can't tell how bad yours is, etc. Hopefully the rust is not that bad? These are really cars for keeps, and one needs really good reason to throw away one.

 

[DSM10000]

Presumably you have her car / insurance details?

If so get your company to claim off her policy or, for a fee you can trace her via her car registration and take out an action in the small claims court for damage, time spent chasing things etc.

 

[renault12ts]

Why scrap a car for a big dent?

Does the door close, does the window open and close, is the car dangerous, unroadworthy etc etc??

Is it just me?

 

[sicelo]

Insurance always like that.
according to the picture, that door should be working just fine

 

[HarioH]

Obviously claim on her insurance and when they write your car off you can then request to keep the vehicle and they charge you it's scrap value (about £70) which comes off the balance of the write off payout, then you VIC test it (that will be cad-D), and keep driving it.

You keep the profit and then just keep an eye out for an eBay door in the same colour/age, the door swap is a few hour easy swap job with a Phillips and 13mm...

 

[Scott_F]

Overpriced but it may be the right colour:

MERCEDES BENZ C36 AMG W202 NEAR SIDE PASSENGER SIDE FRONT BLACK 189 BARE DOOR | eBay