Unless you work in a body shop i would suggest that that is a job that isnt really a diy one. Trip to body shop for that car by the looks of it. Its hard to tell but is the panel dented or is that a trick of the light? It will certainly need respraying as most of those scratches i guess will be too deep to polish out.

My wife did somethign similar to her Golf reversing off the drive.

There was less panel damage than that - insurance claim was about £2500 (without a hire car).

Doesn't help much I know but as it's a new car with that much damage I'd just make a claim and let the insurance sort it out.

minimum is a few random slabs, bit of concrete and some elbow grease, but adding a water feature isn't that much extra work

Yep theres panel damage. Problem is with her being a new driver an insurance claim will out her premium through the roof. It's an 09 Fiat 500 so not new.

Used hub-cap replacement from scrappie/ebay.

Wet and dry around exposed metal. Rattle can. T-cut. Done.

Dents are characterful! It's just a car. Many more interesting/life-changing/fun-filled things to do with money than trying to keep a car cosmetically perfect.

Just my two-pence. ymmv

Its hard to tell but is the panel dented

This is why you buy a banger for your first car!

Re fixing the it depends how perfect you want it. You can do a reasonable job by beating the panel out. First in last out principal. Then respray, and polish but if it is a new car it's probably not worth the loss in value Vs the cost to get it done professionally. I.e the loss in value of a bad diy job will be more than the cost of a professional fix.

My wife's just done similar to our car. It's annoying, but what can you do? Let the insurance company sort it. Sure, premiums may go up, but that's life.

Proper job will be expensive. How precious is the car? I'd be tempted to pull/push the worst of the dent out then go at the scratches with colour enriched t-cut then touch up anything really deep. It'll look a lot better for minimal cost but won't look mint. Be less gutting when she does it again 😈

You should see my car mate, it's like it's been in battle! She's properly gutted though, she doesn't think like a mountain biker!

P.s. approach a small body shop directly. They will be much less than the insurance claim quote. Especially a one / two man band

The Brick, I told her this! I told her to get a £300 Ford Ka, but would she listen?

You might be able to use a floor tile lifter to pop out the large indentation. I bought one from screwfix to pop out a bow in a door. I am not a bodywork professional or mechanic.

There are also videos using compressed air and hairdryer to dents. I've never tried it and quite skeptical but it looks like it works in certain circumstances

She'll still notice even a near-perfect DIY job. If that means you might as well not have bothered, just get it done properly on insurance.

My advice. The sooner you can get someone to fix it the easier it will be. I have "popped" dents out if done within the first couple of days (though yours involves a crease where the wheel arch reveal is so it won't be quite that easy). However, metal does change structure if left too long so get it into a local body shop ASAP. It need not be that expensive (certainly nothing like the £2500 the insurance would try and cream off the job). I was quoted £350 to repair and spray a complex dent on the rear wing, and to change and respray the front wing of my old BMW.

Anyone know how much insurance would go up? Roughly?

[i] is that a trick of the light?[/i]

😆 Yeah, tell anyone who asks it's fine, just a trick of the light.
You could try pushing the panel back out , it'll probably pop into place, but being a black car, you'll never get it looking right.
Best idea is to find a friendly local (checkatrade type) car repairs and get them to quote you.

You could, of course, just let her fix it.

Just a thought.

She's properly gutted though, she doesn't think like a mountain biker

With all the talk of helitape, 'niche', expensive show-offy cars and other fashion recommendations hereabouts I've since wondered what a 'mountain-biker' is 😉

bikebouy - Member
You could, of course, just let her fix it.

Just a thought.

Radical. Where I'm from women 'can't' do 'that stuff. It's the studiedly 'put-upon' male who has to leap in to sort it like a patronizing 'faux-annoyed' knight in shining armour. Why mess with centuries of tradition? A man needs to show he's a man. And a woman needs to show she's mostly helpless and cutely inept. If you change that dynamic then women will lose interest and men will become infertile. Result? Human extinction. Thoughts are dangerous. And women who think are double-dangerous. Woah calm down it's just a joke. Top Gear innit.

Malver rider's approach or ignore it, it's only cosmetic and an 09 car will be on its way to the breakers before long. She'll have less refusals of priority with a bodywork like that. Madame did similar to our year-old car - by the time we sell it it will take less off the value than it would have cost to repair or the extra cost of insurance.

That's pretty bad and a job for a professional body shop. Panel might be saved - could be pulled out with a slide hammer - but maybe not, new metal (repair panel) may need to be welded in with appropriate refinishing/painting. Door is damaged too.

If you go to the dealers or a big national company it willl be expensive however a local quality body shop will be a lot cheaper but go on recommendations.

I can't see it being less than £1k to fix though, there's a lot of work involved in that one, lots of complex shapes have been damaged in the panel and around the wheelarch. Would probably be quicker, easier and have a better result with a new panel.

Anyone know how much insurance would go up? Roughly?

Protected NCD? Shouldn't be too bad, but depends on a lot of other factors.

[img] [/img]

That little scrape (also done by a woman 😆 ) cost £650 - new wing. So someone was ripped off at £3500!

You could, of course, just let her fix it.

Just a thought.

A mere woman getting their own car fixed in 2017. Have you thought about where that could lead, are you mad?

That looks like a new panel for rear and the door, as above that's £1000's. Tough call as the value of the car will be reduced by at least the repair cost.

You can "t-cut" it and smarten it up but its always going to be dented.

Has it damaged the sills too?

On an '09 car that could be on the verge of a write-off. My wife's Fiesta was written off with similar damage.

Embrace the damage and look forward to parking in supermarket carparks without a care

I'm at work so can't link it but I saw a video of a woman removing a dent with a dildo, worth a look I suppose...

That little scrape (also done by a woman ) cost £650 - new wing. So someone was ripped off at £3500!

Front wings are an easy fix though.

You could, of course, just let her fix it.

Get it down to a local independant and see what they say. Owt else is just guesswork

Pull the dent out yourself there are proper kits you can buy, t cut, colour polish the rest as best you can. You could get it done on the insurance putting her premium up then she could do it again next week.

From the photos the door doesn't look too bad.. But that rear panel is a mess and it has all the fuel filler cap gubbins in it. I definitely agree with the local (1 or 2 man) bodyshop approach. Where are you? I know a good one in Newcastle I've used a few times. However, I think you're looking at at least £800 ish.

Used hub-cap replacement from scrappie/ebay.

Wet and dry around exposed metal. Rattle can. T-cut. Done.

Dents are characterful! It's just a car. Many more interesting/life-changing/fun-filled things to do with money than trying to keep a car cosmetically perfect.

I'm with you apart from the extravagant spending of money on a new hub cap.

09 Fiesta - Honestly I'd just get it functional. (Doors work, not rubbing anywhere) OH did almost exactly the same and i had to rebuild a wall as well... I wouldn't care but she came in saying "I think I might have scraped something" (scraped being a euphemism for knocked down 3' of wall - "might" meaning I am such a better driver than you I leave the stereo on full when parking/reversing)

You can try and pull it with a suction pad or try from inside but the crease will still be there...

Insurance will go up somehow... even with protected no claims so I'd be tempted to just see if it will pull and [b]perhaps [/b]paint with some colour match

Just leave it and watch for rust. If she's done it once, she'll possibly do it again.
My wife did similar and just before it was to go into the bodyshop she did it again. I left it a while and then she did it a third time so I stopped caring. Roll on several years and the car was scrapped without ever being fixed.

The crease on the wheel arch tells me that's no DIY job.

Really it's a £2500 car unless it's some kind of fancy one.

Given she's a new driver and the value I wouldn't bother with insurance, it'll cost you a lot more in the long run.

Find a decent local place to have a look - to give an example of the different in costs - my Wife reversed into a tree, wrecked her bumper, her Dad's mate who serves the local Taxi Drivers for repairs fitted and sprayed a new bumper for £250, the paint wasn't 100% factory, a little orange peal, he said he'd buff it again if we dropped by but we didn't bother, it was invisible from 2 paces away.

fast forward a year and someone drove into it, made a massive fuss about it, tried to rip us off with the old "we'll pay cash" line - in the end we claimed on their insurance, new bumper, very good quality paint job (still not factory perfect) £1400 not including the hire car and whatever else.

If they give you a price of more than you can afford, she may have to live with it.

an 09 car will be on its way to the breakers before long

[img] [/img]

I) stay out of it - it was her decision ref the car, it was her who dented it - *whatever* you do to help will be wrong, and only serve to make you in some way culpable or to blame for the situation.

Ii) by staying out and letting her deal with it entirely, you have freedom to crouch down to look at the repair/dent at any time/different light/weather/angle to see how bad it looks/whether it can still be noticed, and mutter to yourself a little bit about how it's still not right. This can be a useful tool to subconsciously remind her to listen to your advice in the first place in the future, so can be be deployed in places like car parks just vefore going shopping together.

Problem is with her being a new driver she's at much higher risk of crashing her car, hence high costs for insurance [s]an insurance claim will put her premium through the roof.[/s]

FTFY 😉

It's annoying, but, TBH unless you need to hand the car back to a finance company, I'd leave that 'trick of the light' as a constant reminder to pay attention more!

(We've jsut got a new car that'll need to go back after 2 years. like new. I dread that as my wife is 'always in a rush' and I wonder when our first "what should my wife do" thread pops up)
DrP

an 09 car will be on its way to the breakers before long

I agree that it's only cosmetic and therefore not an MOT failure iirc (no sharp edges).

Tbh, I'd just leave it. The claim excess and extra insurance premium over the next few years will probably cost more than the loss in value if she keeps the car for another few years and sells it in that state.

E.g. in 3 years, without the damage it might be worth £1000. If she's got a £500 excess and claiming will add £150 to her policy for three years (£450) then she's £950 worse off as a result of claiming. So if she can get £50 scrap for the car in it's damaged state then just leave it as is, and don't worry about any new scrapes.

Another vote for just leaving it. Re-paint enough to prevent any future rust issue. Get the panel knocked out a bit maybe.

Mrs IRC got a 3 yr old car in 2010. Within 3 months it got dented on the rear offside wing. Paint OK. Paid a body shop guy £50 to use suction cups and a rubber hammer to get it more or less back into shape. Still obviously had a dent.

7 yrs later still driving the car. She soon forgot it was there.

9 year old car? It isn't worth the claims record. After all who's to say that's the only scrape the car will get while she gains experience. One claim will cost a fortune in insurance. Two claims?

When I changed my 10 year old car for a 1 year old car I missed never having to worry about parking in tight spaces at the supermarket etc. Perfect bodywork is just one more potential hassle.

I'd get it into an independent bodyshop for a quote at the very least; it's not going to be cheap though seeing as the damage extends onto the door.....if the quote is too much, then it's going to have to be an insurance job if she really wants it repaired.

It's not clear from the image whether the door is just scraped, or actually dented as well. She might be lucky & it might just be the rear wing that needs sorting.

I really would consider not going down the insurance route if she's a new driver with zero no-claims. You'd be taking a hefty whack on next year's premium & probably for a couple of years after that - you have to tell them about any claims in the last 3 years....

Go on then.....how did she do it!?

Where are you based?

IF in Essex, PM me I have a guy

Re-paint enough to prevent any future rust issue.

You need to look closely at the scrapes to check whether any of it's gouged down to the bare metal; it if has it'll rot in quicksticks. if you're going to leave it you should at least look to touching up the paint anywhere this has happened.

also, panel damage that bad may have popped any protection off the back of the panels as well as the bits you can see.

A talented amateur *can* achieve very good results with a bit of effort.

[img] [/img]

I was going to post the dildo video, looks like a decent result TBF.

As above, unless you can afford to fix yourself at an indie place just cover the bare metal and live with it. Not worth claiming on the insurance for.

As already said take it to a decent body shop for a quote.

We had a similar incident with our 500, a friend of the family sorted it for £250. So I'd expect maybe double that upwards.

I told her to get a £300 Ford Ka

Has she shown any interest in welding?

😀

+1 for not fixing it rather than claiming on insurance...

Just not worth it for an 8 year old car with a new driver.

I've come back several times to find various minor damage on my car such as scratches, scuffs, smashed rear window, even dented panel. Just not worth worrying about.

As above, if it had been a front wing, then it would be easier, just get a new wing from scrappers, but the rear panel like that is really expensive due to the fact that it extends up the rear pillar to the roof, plus looking at the dent, i don't think that can pulled easily without leaving a crease and using a hell of a lot of filler.

I'd take to good local independent, get a quote, then once you've got a ball-park figure you can decide whether to use them and pay or go via insurers?

Have a look at a scrap yard for a door in the right colour, i managed to find one on motor hog for a Focus and it cost £70 and it attaches with just a few bolts and then get a body shop to look at the rest of it.

Just leave it , if its out like Mrs Smith there are still 3 more corners to ding, with it always being someone else`s fault!!

Be aware that protected no claims doesn't mean your insurance will stay the same as it was before, it means that you'll get the same percent no claims that you had before but on the new inflated price cos you've made a claim..
So as an example if you had fifty percent no claim bonus on a £500 policy that ends up at £250 and after a bump the new price is £1500 you'll get fifty percent off that so your paying £750,

+1 for getting a local bodyshop to quote. They'll do the minimum to get it looking presentable rather than "the write off value minus a bit" they'd do for an insurance company.

Panel from a scrapyard is probably your cheapest option, might find a door as well.

Be aware that protected no claims doesn't mean your insurance will stay the same as it was before, it means that you'll get the same percent no claims that you had before but on the new inflated price cos you've made a claim..
So as an example if you had fifty percent no claim bonus on a £500 policy that ends up at £250 and after a bump the new price is £1500 you'll get fifty percent off that so your paying £750,

+1, protected NCD is more like a protection racket, they price it in at the renewal assuming that everyone has it and it screws you if you haven't paid it!

Black is a nightmare to colour match. As other have said, you best bet will be a local indie bodyshop, and you're looking at a new rear quarter at least, that's if the door can be tidied up and colour matched.

There's no point wasting your time taking it to a body shop. It'll be a four figure sum as she's damaged the rear 3/4 and the door.

Best left and running the car into the ground over the next 3 years.

Agreed that it'll be a lot of £££s to fix.

What's the car worth (or rather, what [i]was[/i] the car worth) ? I'd be weighing up if it's easier to take a hit selling it as-is & buying another one.

Have a crack. What's the worst that could happen?

[img] [/img]

Take off interior trim and kick / hammer the dent out. If you get it fixed properly she'll only go and put a different dent in it..

She's added character to it.

Get a local quote, um and ah over it.

Leave it a year.

Realise the dent is still there.

Is it a sticker?

At least it was self inflicted. You wouldn't want anyone else smashing your Mrs's back doors in.

PMSL! What a toppa!