spender

So, on my way home from work today I stopped to drop off a watch for repairs. When leaving the parking lot, a woman backed into my left front fender. Because I was about to turn right, my left wheel was sticking out of the fender (you know what I mean).

Anyway, it was a low-speed impact, and the tire/wheel pretty much absorbed it - could have been a lot worse, would have been a nasty scrape for sure - in some ways I was lucky. However, it left me with a "dimple" dent on my left front fender, and my alignment felt a little out on the drive home. There is a small scrape in the paint that could easily be buffed out (I think), the rest of the scrape was on my "invisible bra". My wife can't even see the dimple - but I can, so it needs to be fixed in some way. Obviously, I will have the wheel, frame and alignment looked at...

Of course, her car, a Japanese import, suffered no damages (she was a really nice person BTW and was very helpful and pleasant notwithstanding the circumstances).

The dent seems to be a good candidate for paintless dent repair. What do you guys think? Should I try the dent guys, or should I get a new panel with paint? As it was her fault, her insurance will cover it I'm sure - but I'd rather avoid the hassle if I can.

Also, car up to this point (a 2003 C4S) has been pristine, no accidents.

dotframe

if it were my car I'd see how well someone could repair the dent without a new panel and paint.

I'm confused though. Are you not notifying her insurance company? That is a bad move. You can't be sure the extent of the damage and you shouldn't be on the hook for any of the repairs.

kent

the paintless dent repair will not work in your case. my car has the same dent, and because the dent in the edge of the panel, the dent man said it is impossible to do it right.

heligear

check out your local paintless dent repair operator,if it is not a sharp edged dent they will be able to fix it easy, you can fix the scrape yourself witha bit of polish (not wax), if the scrape is whiteish coloured it is in the clear and you should be able to get it out.

spender

No, my insurance company is definitely notifying hers. I agree that I don't want to be on the hook for this, it's just that I've never seen a partial repaint on a car that actually looks decent enough "for a Porsche".

The dent itself is probably not my immediate worry, it is the "wacky steering wheel" that indicates alignment issues of some type. I noticed on the drive home that I had to hold the wheel at an angle to the right to drive straight. Anyway, it's being inspected on Monday at the earliest, but I'll probably try to have my mechanic take a quick look first thing tomorrow morning.

spender

The scrape is whitish, so that's a good thing at least.

heligear

That should be easy to fix (the scrape) if insurance is going to pay get it to a detailer and you might get a full polish out of it!! It wouldn't hurt to get the opinion of a dent repair place especially if you don't want to get it painted, just sayin

Topaz330ci

Call a PDR pro, it's possible to fix as it doesn't look that bad!

Oh - and clean those rims!!!

roadsession

I would avoid a repaint if at all possible. The factory paint is always going to be superior.
PDR and buff is the better way to go.

spender

It seems like the dent itself is really minor overall - it's the frame / structural that bothers me. I spoke to my trusty indy mechanic and he said that the accident I described could have affected the steering rack - and this is a pretty expensive job I hear!

My concern now is with "diminished value" after the repairs now that it has been in an accident. I know these are common in the US, but in Canada these types of claims are pretty rare. Anyone have any experience with this?

Mark Rindner

If you go through an insurance company for repairs, it is very likely to show up on the Car Fax report in the future. The dent is minor and you should avoid replacing the panel. Your car is worth more with the small dent than it would be with a perfectly repaired and re-painted panel. I've worked with a few great dent guys (one is a gal). Let a good dent guy have a look and get a second opinion if needed. Avoid the re-paint. I don't know what Canada has in place of Car Fax and Auto Check. I'm sure you have something similar if not one of these. If the frame and steering are affected...the insurance route is un-avoidable. Keep your photos and if and when you sell your car, use them as evidence of how little damage actually happened in the accident.

function12

Not true. It is the body shops that are selling the information. I had a car that was in three accidents. One was 7k in damages. All work was don't at dealership and not a body shop. Nothing ever showed up on carfax.

mse

I just had a similar experience with my wife's volvo. It was hit while parked in front of our house. We live on a slight incline and the wheels were curbed. The guy clipped the car trying to park in front of us - very similar situation as your accident. What looked like minor damage to the bumper cover and rim ended up including significant damage to the steering rack. Thankfully, no issues with the frame and his insurance covered it as the repairs came out to almost $6K. I can only imagine what this would have cost if it had been my car instead.

Good luck with the repairs.

Hurdigurdiman

Speaking from past experience I would report any accident (even if she was a nice person) to the Police and get them involved just in case this nice lady goes back on her word. Here is something which i just copied pasted from a posting I made about a month ago to s simular incident.

I was about to turn into my own driveway in my 'once owned VW beetle' a few years ago back in the UK.. I pulled to the center of the road and had been indicating that I was turning right into my house driveway when a young girl who was following me decided to overtake me just as I was actually turning and hit me side on caving in the drivers door (RHDcar). I stopped dead and so did she on impact. It was then that I would have taken photos had the cell phone been invented. When I asked her what she was doing she said the sun was in hers eyes and she didn't see my turn signal. I kind of felt sorry for her as she was the same age as my daughter about 17 years of age. After exchanging details, I decided to give her a break and told her to ask her parents to come round to the house and sort things out with me. Her parents came. I told them I could repair the damage for a very low fee without involving the Police or insurance. They both denied that their daughter had even hit my car. I lost out on that deal as we both had moved our cars and I had no witness to the accident. From then on I carried a disposable camera in every car I owned. Those days we had no cell phones with camera facilities. Now we have cell phones which are a God send should anything happen like that again. Unfortunate if our cars are hit when we are in the shops and only find the damage when we return there si nothing we can do about it only ask anyone around did they witness anything.. I leave my car as far away from other cars as possible but that doesn't say that I will always be free of problems. There are always those Ba****ds who drive away after they hit us. Thats the luck of the draw as they say. Very sad to see those Photos. Knowing how us Porsche owners adore our vehicles.

So IMHO I would not try to cut any corners. It was her fault. Get the best possible job available to repair your car. Her Insurance will foot the bill. Better luck next time. You can point out to the next owner just where the hit was on your car if it is reported to car fax. They will understand. In fact keep these postings and photographs and show them to the next owner and they will understand that it was only a minor accident.

spender

As an update on this, I still haven't been able to get this fixed as it turns out that when she hit me, there was a "spring effect" that deformed the fender at various edges - the gaps have changed pretty significantly at the crown of the headlight, at the front trunk line, and at the door line.

I'm taking my time to make sure the repair is done right, as long as it's fixed before the snow flies. Anyway, PDR is off the table - and at least up here in Canada, it's not as simple as "her insurance will fix it". I'll provide further updates as things move forward.