costly body repair - best option?

glass322

I recently scraped and dented my car's door and wheel arch against a post (no other car involved). I initially thought of paying privately for the repair to avoid raising my premiums, however I've now had a few quotes back averaging approx. £1200. Ouch! The less expensive quotes involve repairing the door and replacing the damaged mouldings, however three different bodyshops have insisted that the door cannot be repaired satisfactorily and needs replacing.

What should I do? If I opt to replace the door and end up having another mishap down the line, I’ll have to pay for it all over again. If I choose to repair rather than replace the door, it’ll still cost me a minimum of £800 while running the risk of a botched repair. Another thought has been to get someone to repair the wheel arch, replace the mouldings and touch up the paint. This should hopefully keep the price down as it would involve no expensive respraying of the door and adjacent panels (to blend in). My worry in that case is that if I have an accident in the future, the earlier damage (for which I’d pay myself) will be visible to an assessor and I could have insurance declined. Any thoughts?

motorguy

Any scope for picking up a second hand wing, door and mouldings the same colour?

My son managed to park his Megane in someones front garden some years ago, knackering the front bumper and the headlights (as well as three fence posts and several large shrubs) and we rang around the scrappies and got the same colour bumper and headlights for £100, and a mate fitted them for free

thescouselander

What sort of car have you got? If its a newer car or one that is still worth a bit I'd say fix it properly. On the other hand if the car is getting on a bit it might be best just to make it look respectable,

neilmcl

glass322 wrote: »

I recently scraped and dented my car's door and wheel arch against a post (no other car involved). I initially thought of paying privately for the repair to avoid raising my premiums, however I've now had a few quotes back averaging approx. £1200. Ouch! The less expensive quotes involve repairing the door and replacing the damaged mouldings, however three different bodyshops have insisted that the door cannot be repaired satisfactorily and needs replacing.

What should I do? If I opt to replace the door and end up having another mishap down the line, I’ll have to pay for it all over again. If I choose to repair rather than replace the door, it’ll still cost me a minimum of £800 while running the risk of a botched repair. Another thought has been to get someone to repair the wheel arch, replace the mouldings and touch up the paint. This should hopefully keep the price down as it would involve no expensive respraying of the door and adjacent panels (to blend in). My worry in that case is that if I have an accident in the future, the earlier damage (for which I’d pay myself) will be visible to an assessor and I could have insurance declined. Any thoughts?

Are you sure about that. If they order a new door it will still need to be painted.