Car Damage - easy MSE question?

sho_me_da_money

Guys,

Wife drove into a fence this morning that has caused damage to the front right hand side of the Nissan Micra.

Without looking at it, I think we've got a dent on the front drivers side to deal with.

My question is, what is the best way to save money with something like this? These are things on my mind:

1. Are Nissan the only one's who can purchase the part?
2. Can the part be bought by an independant garage?
3. Are Nissan the only one's that can repair it?
4. Can the part be fitted/repaired by an independant garage?

I'm no expert with Cars as you can tell but I was always under the impression that having works done by the Manufacturer was the most expensive option.

Can anyone advise, what the best/cheapest way would be in a situation like this?

Many thanks,

bryanb

Any decent body shop can do the repair, parts are often unneccessary, just filler and paint.

sho_me_da_money

bryanb wrote: »

Any decent body shop can do the repair, parts are often unneccessary, just filler and paint.

You serious? I would never have thought a dent could've been repaired by filler and paint.

I don't suppose anyone has any good cheap shops to visit Manchester way?

Looking online for the some good bodyshops online and the following seems to fit the bill:

http://www.premierautobodies.co.uk/bodywork.php

daveboy

I'm no expert either but they should be able to 'suck' the dent back into shape providing it isn't huge. Some loser caught my car when I was at work back in February and I'm sure that's how mine was done. I had three or four areas where the bodywork was dented. I'm not sure what they use to do it though.

Then they will obviously look at the paintwork. Be warned though, might be expensive, depending on how big the damage is.

sho_me_da_money

daveboy wrote: »

I'm no expert either but they should be able to 'suck' the dent back into shape providing it isn't huge. Some loser caught my car when I was at work back in February and I'm sure that's how mine was done. I had three or four areas where the bodywork was dented. I'm not sure what they use to do it though.

Then they will obviously look at the paintwork. Be warned though, might be expensive, depending on how big the damage is.

Yea just been reading online and there are waqys to suck it back into place using dry ice and other heating methods.

I don't wanna be forking out though.

McKneff

What about the fence, you are liable to pay for the damage to that too.

mattymoo

Nobody uses filler anymore - not unless they are doing a total botch job.
Check out dents away / chips away to see if they can do the repair.
If the dent is too big for them, the dented part (bumper / wing) would be replaced with a new one and sprayed to match existing paintwork.

Any bodyshop can order the part via Nissan so you do not need to pay main dealer rates.