damage to my car by persons unknown!

[ajs37]

Woke up yesterday to find that my 2006 W203 had been damaged during the night. It was parked on the road (not the pavement), outside my house at 10.30 pm - I found it at 8.30am. The nearside rear passenger door panel has a big dent in it (up near the window) and the front passenger has a smaller dent at the same height - my wing mirror was pushed in as well (passenger side was parked next to the kerb)
Besides the fact that it's bl**dy annoying and will cost me my £350 excess to put right, it is also puzzling. The damage doesn't seem to be deliberate or vindictive - the paintwork is unbroken with no scuff marks - it's like somebody fell heavily against it several times - maybe a drunk? I'm surprised that it would do such damage - are all C class door panels this flimsy? Anyone have any idea how much this might cost to put right?
Cheers
Andy

 

[Meldrew2]

Maybe it's worth trying one of these specialist repairers (like dent-doctor, dent-master, Mr-dent or similar... you get the idea) they might be able to push the panels back into shape from inside the door - if the paint is unbroken ...

Sounds like some t**t has been leaning hard against the car.

Oh - it was valentine's day.... maybe your car featured in someone's romantic interlude.....

Good luck in getting it sorted - it's a pain when you have a nice car and some ***** ruins it

 

[Sp!ke]

Sounds like a druncan cyclist wobbling home from the pub. (v.common), or you've had some teenagers fighting by the car.

 

[Adam230K]

I wouldn't go through insurance for something like that, whats the point of jepordising your NCB (even if its protected)? Maybe you should check how much it is to pop it out spray the panel?

or is the damage quite excessive?

 

[jaymanek]

if the paint is unbroken contact your local dent man... found in yellow pages... around £50 and bobs your uncle.

 

[spock500]

Its a wonder the alarm didnt activate which may have scared off the culprits.

 

[ajs37]

Its a wonder the alarm didnt activate which may have scared off the culprits.

yes - I wondered why I didn't hear an alarm - although I do sleep with earplugs (can't wake myself up snoring that way!)
I will try a dent clinic tomorrow - thanks to all for your advice
Cheers
Andy

 

[219]

Sometimes you can be lucky : take off the door card ( 5 mins work ) , press on the inside of the dented panel with your hand - it may just 'pop' back out !

If the dent is very deep , the metal may have stretched and will not return to its previous shape : you;re then looking at either some filler or a new door skin , plus some paintwork .

It costs nothing to try the first method , and if it does not work , you;re no worse off than if you hadn't tried .

 

[crockers]

I had a dent in a door once ............. one day slammed the door in temper and the dent popped out...

 

[Dark0]

Pay your excess mate.By the way ,I've same car and excess is £150 with Esure

 

[Smiley]

Pay your excess mate.By the way ,I've same car and excess is £150 with Esure

the excess is whatever you choose to make it?

 

[ajs37]

the excess is whatever you choose to make it?

well - that's not always true - I changed my insurer last year, succumbing to a cheaper quote, not realising that they had a mandatory excess of £200 - I had already volunteered a £150 excess - so this bit of damage is going to cost me £350!

I went to Auto Cosemtic Centre (Dent Magic) in Bristol - they said it would need a new rear door, as they could not pull the dent out satisfactorily - front dent was also awkward and would require re-spraying afterwards - total quote £1559.40 (for the insurers) - and it will take 3 days

Funny thing is that the police phoned me today to say there was very little they could do?!? I told them I wasn't expecting them to do anything, I was just going to trust to human nature and wait for the apologetic note to come through my letter box

So - it looks like an insurance job afterall
Cheers - and thanks for all the comments and advice
Andy