$608.22?!?!?!?!

[Get240DiZzY]

Gaaahhhh! I was towing my car to a shop on a U-haul dolly because my slave cylinder was out, rendering the clutch ineffective. (I would have tried the repairs myself, but I hadn't the time and I needed my car). Anyway, as I was making the turn into the shop (it wasn't even that tight), the swivel part for the tires on the dolly swiveled too far, and knocked my passenger side rocker panel into the "fender" of the dolly, making a nice dent and taking some of the paint off.

I went to get an estimate on getting it fixed earlier this morning, and since the steel is so thick and the panel is so small, he chalked me up for 6 hours of labor, so adding in the $100.00 worth of paint and other misc. expenses, the total comes out to... ... $608.22!!!:shocked2

It's not even that big of a dent... I'll go take a pic of it and post it.

Just needed to vent. That's alot of money for somthing that minor. My parents van had the rear bumber taken off and the tailgate smashed in, and it cost less than that.

P.S. for you visual people, this is the dolly we were using:



-Doug

[Get240DiZzY]

Here it is.

[Get240DiZzY]

Those three chips of paint above the dent were the dolly's work also.

[Touchdown038]

Damn, that's definitely not worth $600. Are you gonna do anything about it?

[240_Keyy]

uhhh I am getting my whole car sanded down to the metal, all the dents pulled out (including one exactly like yours, but bigger), and my antenna and side marker lights shaved and having the whole car resprayed all for $900, somebody is boning you...

[tinted]

wtf u serious?

[240_Keyy]

yep no sh*t man, I got pics and everything, I have been going by the shop daily to check progress and they are doing FANTASTIC work so far. They got all of the dents pulled and everything and they are sanding everything down and prepping it to be shot as we speak.

[tinted]

make sure they put some good primer on there, the paint will probaly come of if they don't

[240_Keyy]

lol, for as cheap as they are doing it, I don't really care

My car is a track whore anyway, I just wanted it to look a little bit less like a whore

[AZhitman]

dizzy - That panel comes off.

Remove it, and carefully (working from the backside) work the dent out from the outside edges. Touch up the scratches, and while it won't be perfect, it won't be noticeable at all.

[Thee 240sx Owner]

:eh: He's so bright... Thats why he has lil sun beams coming off his avatar

[Get240DiZzY]

Hitman, I might give that a try. I'm hoping U-haul will pay for the repairs though, since I was using all the equipment properly and everything. They're supposed to contact me in 2 buisness days....

[nlzmo400r]

best of luck, i know for sure i wouldnt pay 6oo, thats outragous, what about one of those fix-a-dent or something liek that?

[Get240DiZzY]

I think the steel is too think to use things like that. Thanks for the ideas though.

[Altiman94]

Bondo saves lives.

[[Zero-S]]

bondo is for retards who can't use a hammer or dent puller. (no offense intended)

[AZhitman]

:Werd

Bondo is the devil.

[TurboKA37]

is that panel replaceable? im sure u could find it from a junkyard or buy one from nissan for less than 600

[AZhitman]

True.

[aznromeox]

put sideskirts on?

[Get240DiZzY]

Wow, it never even occoured to me to look in a junkyard... and since I'm getting a new hatch painted anyway... hmmmm.

[nissanrcer240]

$600 is worth it for me to just ride around with that dent there

[Touchdown038]

$600 is worth it for me to just ride around with that dent there

Exactly.

[C-Kwik]

bondo is for retards who can't use a hammer or dent puller. (no offense intended)

Even with a great metal worker, plastic filler(equivalent to bondo) is used to smooth out the surface. Anytime metal is bent, it stretches. It's impossible to get back into perfect shape but can be very close. The amount of filler used should be very thin.

As far as the cost, I'd say it's pretty good. Consider the location of the dent. It's not a flat surface that is easily workable. It's on a tight radius, which is much harder to shape and smooth. I actually think the cost is too low. You would typically want to blend the paint at least into the door if you want a good appearance, which requires removal of the door handle and window trim. A proper estimate would likely include blend into the 1/4 panel as well, which requires the rear 1/4 glass to be removed as well. And labor rates are different in different parts of the country and possibly even in different parts of your state. You want to focus in most on the labor time. 6 hours of total labor, including paint labor would be fairly light.

[Get240DiZzY]

Yeah, C-Kwik, I can understand where they're coming from with the price, but that just seems outrageous, knowing this:

is that panel replaceable? im sure u could find it from a junkyard or buy one from nissan for less than 600

And like I said before, since I'm getting a new hatch painted soon, I can just get a new rocker panel and have that painted along wih it. The blending thing doesn't really bother me as long as it's close, since if you look closely, none of the speperate body panels on my car are the same color anyway. :pface

[C-Kwik]

a shop is typically going to write an estimate to do it right. You can specifically ask them to leave certain things out if you like. Or even find the part, bring it and have them paint and replace it.

My suggestion would be to price the part out(new or used) and compare. If there is any blend time included on your estimate, ask the shop to rewrite the estimate or manually calculate it out if you can figure out how. Then you can see what the cheapest route is...