Ding on new car, get insurance involved?

[DenverGP]

My 2 month old equinox has a nice 5-6" dent/scrape on the passenger side front fender. It's a pretty light dent, but definitely creased the sheet metal.

Happened in the last 2 days (just washed it monday afternoon), but no idea exactly when, and no note was left.

With my wife having no idea when/where it happened, can't file any kind of police report.

No clue what a body shop would charge for the repair, my insurance deductible is $250. No sure if I should call the insurance company and ask.


Any tips? I'll probably try to find a body shop tomorrow to get a quote.

[gnihcraes]

Get a quote from body shop - cash price. Then see if it's worth the insurance claim.

[Holger Danske]

Get a quote from body shop - cash price. Then see if it's worth the insurance claim.

+1

[fairrpe86]

Not sure where you are located but Body's by Brown on Oxford does good work. From experience to paint a panel, it is typically $150-200. Plus whatever other bodywork they need to do. It sounds as if your deductible is pretty low, but if you go through insurance your rates are more than likely to increase and there will also be a ding on a vehicle report such as carfax so that will effect resale value. if you are doing a cash repair at a shop they are more likely to not report it, especially something that small. Consider how much the repair will be to pay out of pocket vs how much your rate will increase and for how long.

[funkymonkey1111]

There are plenty of bodyshop threads here, but i can't say enough good things about carstar.

I've had three jobs done there, and when i was rear ended two weeks ago, it never crossed my mind to go anywhere else

Just to repair and repaint the bumper on an outback came to $663. I had a legacy wagon's liftgate painted and a small wrinkle repaired and it was $1000--but it looks perfect

if you choose them, they only do estimates by appointment

[Irving]

What everyone else said. I'd personally probably pay up to three times what your deductible is before getting insurance involved as the rate increase and hit to vehicle's value from a ding on the Carfax will be much, much more than whatever it would cost to do the repair.

And all of that, only because the vehicle is nearly new. If it wasn't new, I wouldn't even bother with the repair unless you wanted to sell it soon.

[Snowman78]

If you post photos and vehicle info ( year, make, model and trim level) I can try to give you an estimate.

[Eric P]

and there will also be a ding on a vehicle report such as carfax

You can forbid them reporting this. There is no law stating repairs must be reported to these reporting websites.

My old Sentra had body work three times from accidents (none my fault) and each time I demanded no sharing of data. The dealer pulled a carfax when I traded it in 2 years ago. Clean record, not even an oil change. So don't put any faith in those reports.

[colorider]

I have given up on fixing things like that on my vehicles. If it happened once, it's going to happen again. This really rings true if you or your wife park in a crowded parking lot for work. My wife works downtown and parks in a covered garage. Dings, scratches, gouges, dents show up every god damn week. We just waited till somebody really donked the side and had it all redone at once using our insurance. Sucks, people are assholes in parking lots.

[DenverGP]

I'll be calling a couple body shops tomorrow. I'll try to snap some pics of the damage. it's really just a wrinkle/scratch, and with the metallic paint is hard to photograph. Also noticed a scrape on the bumper on the same side, looks like it's completely thru the paint in that spot.

I'm trying really hard not to be an ass to my wife... she always laughs at me when I park, either toward the back of the lot, or away from shitty looking cars. But this is why my 2001 grand prix doesn't have dents/scrapes and her brand new car does. She doesn't really pay attention to where she is parking.