# Big ass dent in my driver's side...



## dr_shmass (Jun 25, 2002)

Merged into somebody about a month ago...nothing serious but my '93 SE-R now has a big dent in the area behind the door. I am a car enthusiast, but I am not a tool head. Doing my brakes and the like is about as far as I go with the repairs....

My question is, how much would it likely cost to have a repair done on that area? it pretty much is all dented in between the wheel well and the door...plus there is more damage to the area directly above the wheel and some scratches, etc.

I only had liability on the car so insurance wouldn't cover. I would have had a $500 deductable anyway...

Thanks...sorry that I don't know all the lingo for the different body panels and what not...like I said, I'm a driving enthusiast, but not a mechanic.


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## babyjbrooks (Sep 22, 2002)

post us a pic so we know what to tell you


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## BADASSE-R (Jan 28, 2003)

*talk is cheaper*

Check with your local body shops. Tell them you DONT need a written estimate for insurance. Ask if a verbal price quote is free. If they determine that the panel has to be replaced, ask for a price with aftermarket parts $110 vs nissan $370. Good luck JIM.


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

They'll have to reshoot that entire panel, and there will be a decent amount of labor to straighten that panel. I'm going to guess at least $1K to fix it. If you have metallic paint it'll cost more, metallic is tougher to match and costs more to begin with. I'd get several estimates though. I had a guy back into my car right after I got it and all he did was bust my taillight, put a very miniscule dent below it and garfed up the bumper. I got several estimates that ranged from $900-$1300, and the bumper cover and taillight made up less than $200 in parts, the rest was paint and labor. If you really want to save money, talk to some of the guys that work at the bodyshops and see if they do any side jobs after work. Ask around see if anyone knows someone who does it for a living who can cut you a break or does side jobs.


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## dr_shmass (Jun 25, 2002)

Thanks for the replies...I took some pictures that I'll post later. Someone else suggested going to somebody like DentBusters or something - saying that they might be able to straighten out the dent for a couple hundred dollars or less...

Anyone here ever use a service like that?


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## dr_shmass (Jun 25, 2002)




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## dr_shmass (Jun 25, 2002)

There are the pics. Question....does that cracked part indicate that that section is bondo? My friend who used to be a mechanic said that it wasn't metal and thinks it might be bondo....I don't think it's just cracked paint because it's about 2 or 3 mm thick...

Thanks, guys..


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## Guest (Feb 7, 2003)

Looks like bondo to me but without seeing it in person it's hard to tell. Prior damage could make things get expensive real quick and it may never "look" right. Sometimes it's cheaper to replace the panel with a good used one or new aftermarket panel, but that's not cheap either. Depends are how far you want to go.


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## dr_shmass (Jun 25, 2002)

WRC Fan said:


> *Looks like bondo to me but without seeing it in person it's hard to tell. Prior damage could make things get expensive real quick and it may never "look" right. Sometimes it's cheaper to replace the panel with a good used one or new aftermarket panel, but that's not cheap either. Depends are how far you want to go. *


Probably not very far... 

The car has about 120k on it, not that the miles are a problem, but the body is not in great shape anywhere...if it costs more than a few hundred to fix I'll probably just leave it.


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## Guest (Feb 8, 2003)

dr_shmass said:


> *Probably not very far...
> 
> The car has about 120k on it, not that the miles are a problem, but the body is not in great shape anywhere...if it costs more than a few hundred to fix I'll probably just leave it. *


That's too bad. I saw some rust in the pics is that the reason?

 

I remember my first trip to Chicago I passed a Pinto and could see the guys legs because the bottom of the door was GONE. Freaked me out! If the car is just a "beater" try MAACO. They've done right by me, twice. For $299.00 they did a better job than the GM Dealer did for $1200.00.


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

Oh man, that's bad. Yeah, it'll easily take over $1K to fix that. I'd get estimates to be sure or like I said, see if someone can do it as a side job cheap. I dont' think a paintless dent removal place would do it, it's too deep, over a large area and there's popping body filler on the lower part. You could always pull the interior panel out of the back and try to pound some of it out but it likely won't make it look much better. Sorry that happened to you. Good thing is, white paint is cheap and hides things better than any other color. To do it right without replacing a panel they'd have to use one of those machines that welds tabs onto the outside and the machine pulls on those to bring the metal back out to the same place the rest of the metal is. It'd probably be cheaper for them to cut the panel out and weld another in and use filler on the seams. Either way it's not going to be cheap I'm afraid.


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