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I've been reading some different threads here and wanted to get your feedback on a dent/scratch I received on my Q5. I have a pretty decent knowledge on the collision/cosmetic repair side of vehicles, but this one I wasn't sure about. About five months ago, walking out of the grocery store, I noticed I had a dent on the lower driver side backseat door. A picture of it is below. Because I think I just naturally don't intently look down past the windows of my car when coming up to it, I'm realizing that the dent could've been there at any given point, maybe even weeks before that grocery store visit. Anyway, without going into the sleuthing I've tried to do to figure out where/how it happened (came up with nothing concrete), I just wanted to get the thing fixed.
I've spoken to a couple of Audi folks and they seemed to agree that this was a quick, easy repair that should be about $100-$200 if not less. However, when I've submitted quotes to local body shops, I'm consistently getting quotes well past the $600 range. The labor itself seems to be like 85% of the costs. Does this strike you as a repair that should be that much? It's not a deep dent at all (which is why I and others have referred to this more as a scratch), but it's definitely noticeable even from about 20 feet out. And it does come at a kind of unfortunate spot (i.e., at a point of curvature). Not sure how much that matters. Any thoughts on how much this should cost to fix or questions I should be asking when getting quotes?
I have had friends who had great luck with maaco for a repair like this and it would be likely in the cheaper range. when I visit my body shop neighbor up the street, he shows me invoices for a quart of automotive paint that easily go for 150 to 190.00 so if you need paint on this that is 200 right there, without any labor. Is the black area something that can be cleaned off? is it down to the metal there, and perhaps the door could be buffed. its a new car so I know you would like it taken care of correctly.
I have had friends who had great luck with maaco for a repair like this and it would be likely in the cheaper range. when I visit my body shop neighbor up the street, he shows me invoices for a quart of automotive paint that easily go for 150 to 190.00 so if you need paint on this that is 200 right there, without any labor. Is the black area something that can be cleaned off? is it down to the metal there, and perhaps the door could be buffed. its a new car so I know you would like it taken care of correctly.
Thanks for this response. I never thought about trying Maaco. I'll look into that. I have occasionally try to lightly scrub at the black area, but it doesn't give much. Some of that was dirt though which I did clean off. The crazy thing is I have no idea how it happened. To me, Ii looks like I brushed up against something, and I don't remember that at all. Seems like something you'd remember. It also doesn't seem like someone brushed up against the car with theirs or slammed their door into mine. So I'm a bit confused there. I've looked into a lot of these paintless dent tech as well but that doesn't seem to apply to my case here.
It looks to me to be black transfer onto the door panel and perhaps a small dent as well.
If it's black transfer, then a polishing agent would remove the transfer and then leave the dent. That dent might not be that visible once the residue is cleaned up.
If it's not transfer but missing white paint then you'll have to do something to get paint back onto that area. You might want to try a rattle can and see how that comes out before spending big bucks fixing it.
Of course if you are as **** about cars as the rest of us, then you can just ignore my comments and get a body shop to fix it.
Do you walk past your car with luggage or a briefcase that could have bumped the door?
Pointless dent repair? I smell an evil autocorrect at work.
PAINLESS dent repair. There are franchises and individuals.
If the OP is talking about the black mark, that looks like something that might polish off. Try some elbowgrease and light polish or compound.
If the OP is talking about what look like two white lines, either creases? or reflections? higher up the door?
If they are actual creases or dents, the "painless" dent folks don't do conventional body work. Conventional body work will be, yes, $500 and up for any one panel, like one door. They try to find an access point to the rear of the panel (and they'll drill a small hole in the door edge and plug it afterwards if there's no other access) and then they literally massage the metal back into shape using special ball-tipped metal rods. It is quite an impressive trick, this is old fashioned metal work, the way things were done before gobs of filler and paint. THAT still might be $200, it would be a bargain at $100.
Maaco shops are franchises: Totally separate operations that only share marketing. The results you get may vary, because good body shops don't need big marketing programs.
Pointless dent repair? I smell an evil autocorrect at work.
PAINLESS dent repair. There are franchises and individuals.
If the OP is talking about the black mark, that looks like something that might polish off. Try some elbowgrease and light polish or compound.
If the OP is talking about what look like two white lines, either creases? or reflections? higher up the door?
If they are actual creases or dents, the "painless" dent folks don't do conventional body work. Conventional body work will be, yes, $500 and up for any one panel, like one door. They try to find an access point to the rear of the panel (and they'll drill a small hole in the door edge and plug it afterwards if there's no other access) and then they literally massage the metal back into shape using special ball-tipped metal rods. It is quite an impressive trick, this is old fashioned metal work, the way things were done before gobs of filler and paint. THAT still might be $200, it would be a bargain at $100.
Maaco shops are franchises: Totally separate operations that only share marketing. The results you get may vary, because good body shops don't need big marketing programs.
Pointless dent repair? I smell an evil autocorrect at work.
PAINLESS dent repair. There are franchises and individuals.
If the OP is talking about the black mark, that looks like something that might polish off. Try some elbowgrease and light polish or compound.
If the OP is talking about what look like two white lines, either creases? or reflections? higher up the door?
If they are actual creases or dents, the "painless" dent folks don't do conventional body work. Conventional body work will be, yes, $500 and up for any one panel, like one door. They try to find an access point to the rear of the panel (and they'll drill a small hole in the door edge and plug it afterwards if there's no other access) and then they literally massage the metal back into shape using special ball-tipped metal rods. It is quite an impressive trick, this is old fashioned metal work, the way things were done before gobs of filler and paint. THAT still might be $200, it would be a bargain at $100.
Maaco shops are franchises: Totally separate operations that only share marketing. The results you get may vary, because good body shops don't need big marketing programs.
Take polish and see if there is transfer that can be removed. If it's gone and no paint issues then use pdr. Probably $150-$200. If it's a paint issue then you have two options. PDR and then use touch up. Not the best look but cheaper, or paint the whole door. PDR can answer how good the dent will look in that spot since theres a body line there. It's tougher to do.
10-10-2018, 03:29 PM
Dent/scratch in Q5
