DISGRUNTLED!! I was fuming angry as today I left work, my car was parked at a department store garage; some mindless jerk or jealous hate-monger left a dime size ding in my driver's side rear door, really gouged it, the paint is off down to the metal about a half-inch slice with a small circular indent. Should I buy the stock color(flint mica) touch-up paint(base & clearcoat)? Anything I should know to fix this myself ? or should I have the dealer fix it?

 

Man...that sucks! Probably a kid. We taught our son from the time he was a toddler to be careful of other cars when he opens his door. But there seems to be quite a few people who haven't done the same with their kids. Most of them are totally oblivious to it.
Check your insurance policy. If you have comprehensive, you might be able to get it done for free (no deductable). Get it done right.

 

I would have expected the deductible to be higher than the cost of repairing the door ding. Door dings suck big time, but I've never heard of anyone using their insurance to have one fixed. Wouldn't that increase your insurance rates?

 

If it's just a dimple, I wouldn't use insurance. But he said it gouged down to the bare metal. Most shops will want to fix the dent, repaint and re-clear the entire door. It could be as much as $500 depending on where he goes. If you have a good clean record, your insurance shouldn't go up for a comprehensive claim.

 

Door dings.....man I hate those!! People can be so disrepectful. I feel for ya 'cause I've had my share of them...though the xA is good so far.

On a related note....a few weeks ago we were visiting some family out of town. The second morning we were there we discovered some jack-hole had done considerable damage to the driver's side of my wife's flawless '04 Sienna via some sort of sharp object, like a large knife . She was heart broken as she's very careful about here vehicles. Two plus years....not a ding or scratch....then this. $1,425.00 later it's fixed.

Obviously with that much damage we had no choice but to turn it in to our insurance. But in your case I wouldn't. It's not worth the chance of increased premiums in the future. I would take it by the dealer or a body shop and talk about the options. Otherwise, just buy some touch-up and live with it.

 

That's why I will always park far, far away from everyone. I'll walk four-six minutes away in the parking lot from the store so I won't have anyone hitting my door. I enjoy the walk and never had anyone hit my doors.

Then on the other hand since I work nights, if I go to a store in the afternoon. And if I park close to the store more than likely, the old Grandmas' will park next to me then hit my door without realizing it. I've seen it happened around here.

 

So I park way away from the store and two thugs bust out my window and leave a ding in my door. Mind you I have a stock audio system and there was nothing of value in the car. People saw them and they drove off with nothing to show. Damned if you do and damned if you don't!!

 

That's kind of interesting, I'll leave my whole CD collection in plain view. Windows half down all four of them some places I'll leave them all the way down. I will have other valuable things in the car too. Not once have I had attempted break in and I live in the worst city in Wisconsin. If I'm in Northern Illinois, I'll leave my windows cracked about inch. When I'm at work in middle of the night, all windows are closed. I do think it's funny at the fact I can unlock my doors with my arm through small crack and unlock it from the handle. Then on the other hand, I'm waiting for someone to call the cops on me thinking I'm stealing my own car lol. But I did learned my xA's power lock button is turned off from unlocking all doors when the windows are down.

 

I'd get the work done professionally. Find a good body shop.

Toyota's paint process involves a number of paint layers (around 7 or so), and so you might end up with a bizarre looking door if the paintwork isn't blended in correctly.

 

Thanks everyone for the empathetic responses; it looks like I'll have to eat this one and get it fixed right as I have a $500.00 deduct. (temporarily used a sharpie to cover the bare metal) I honestly try to park away from other potential parkers but am not always successful. Maybe it's a karmic payback from way-back-when, who knows. ....but it's great to have a place like scionlife to vent. PEACE

P.S. anyone ever tried that "pops-a-dent" device?

 

Well I was witness to a kid not hitting my door once, not twice, and no not even three times. I was getting my son out of the back of my Durango yesterday for a Dr's appointment and while I was on the passenger side his mom backed into the space next to me and her kid opened his door all the way *BANG* oh ok the dummy doesn't know how to open a door in a parking lot I'll let it slide. *BANG BANG* the kid pushed the door open 2 more times then brought the door back. *BANG* I guess he decided to do it once more for good measure before mom got over to him to help him out of the car. I would've gone off but he looked a little slow and I had my kid with me so I let it slide but come on 4 times give me a break. He had a nasty limp too. I'll just say this, the definition of insanity is trying to accomplish different results with the same behavior.

 

It's happened to me twice. A person good at paintless dent removal will make it virtually unnoticeable.
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...658&highlight=

 

Your dent is almost identical to mine. I don't think there is a "paintless dent remover" franchise in the Scranton, PA area but I will look for someone else who does the same thing. I'm curious, how much did it cost at "pdr" to get this dent fixed?

 

This last one was $85.00.

 

That's a great price. Could you reccommend a comparable national chain who could deliver that kind of work and price?

 

It's a learned skill. I'd look at photos of work done by the local pdr folk (Yellow Pages). I found a link to a school in your area (I assume it's near you ). The instructor may be able to do it or know someone who can.

M & M Paintless Dent Removal Training
1021 Cornwall St., Bushkill, PA 18324
Tel. 888-780-8724
Contact: Steve Richards, PDR Instructor
Send email to: M780Train@aol.com

 

Sorry to hear of your mis-fortune. People in general are A$$es. Most don't care about their own stuff let alone anyone elses. I'm just thankful my wife was able to get handicap plates so I can park my toaster in the nice wide spots. Hope the repair goes well!!!