May 9, 2006
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"They want HOW MUCH?"
On Friday the wife of one of Don's co-workers inadvertently backed their pick-up truck into his month-old Mariner. Ouch.
Lance's wife (whose name escapes me just now) was quite upset about it, but Don was sanguine, seeing as how they've proper insurance and the damage was minimal. Still, it's leased, so it does need to be fixed.
He ran it down to a local dealer for an estimate. Guess how much? First, here's a photo of the damage:
Barely visible, isn't it? You can see the streak of paint from the truck, there above the wheel well, and there's a slight indentation. Over on the right there's a little paint chipped off the edge of the wheel well.
So. The estimate Don was given?
$823.
No parts being replaced, mind. No, that's just to smooth out the indentation and make the paint pretty.
That's nuts!
Comments (9)
I have a cheap solution. Run down to Home Depot for tiny cup of Glossy white paint and a plunger. Present her with the receipt for $5, and you are done. Problem solved!
I don't think your father would be interested in such a solution. Were it coming out of Lance's pocket directly, he might, but not otherwise.
Is it because body shops don't do any body work anymore -- they mostly just replace parts? So when they actually have to do body work, they want the moon and the stars for it?
I dunno, it's a theory.
Several reasons I can think of (and I can't see the pictures, so, this may be irrelevant blather)
1. There are a crop up of companies called "The Dent Doctor", and other cutesy named organizations that go in and repair small dents like hail damage and minor scrapes that don't break the paint by "pushing out the dent back to where it should be. It's not "brand new", but it's awfully close, and it's way cheaper -- $25 - $50 in some cases, so body shops have lost that work.
2. Regulations - Down-draft paint booths and other osha-type requirements to minimize body shop interference with the environment (think paint and solvents and stuff). This stuff ain't cheap, and someone gets to pay for it.
3. Paint - back in the 60s when Anne was 14 and being hauled around in the back of a Chevrolet Kingswood or a Ford Country Squire, if it was white, it was white. The body shop would fix the dent, paint it white, polish it, paint it white again, polish it again, and wax it, and it was good to go. Today, a Chevrolet Venture or a Ford Freestar the same color would be considered "High Gloss Polar Bear in a Blizzard" enamel polymer clear-coat. It goes on in about 17 layers, each subject to 24 new regulations that were mentioned in #2, and topped of by a clear coat of something or other, and then it is baked to factory standards, and voila, it's almost as good as new.
So, yeah, $823 hurts, and there are some reasons why a $50 dent costs that much!
I think Plummy's got the right of it, as reading his #3 reminds me of the estimate, which was incredibly persnickety and cumbersome, with paint, sealers, finishes, waxes, and I can't recall what all.
Dent Doctor, eh?
Those body shop guys don't work cheap, that's for sure.
Yup. Remember when I put a teensy tinesy ding in a woman's brand new Schoolbus Yellow sports car a couple of years ago? They wanted more than $300 to fix that thing because, as Jane said, they weren't actually fixing the dent, they were replacing the whole fender. *rolling eyes*
Well, here's a wrinkle.
Turns out Lance has a $1000 deductible, so he was more than taken aback by the estimate, and asked Don to get an estimate from some guy he knows. Don did that, and it was about 1/2 the amount of the first estimate, but the place on the bumper would be just buffed then retouched up with paint.
Don wasn't terribly enthusiastic about this guy, or what he proposed to do to fix Don's nearly-brand-new car.
I pointed out there are body shops somewhere between dealerships and Some Guy Lance Knows, so Don should try a few of those, looking to get the cost down to around $600.
Wow what a price... Just stopped in for and Introduction. Lisa
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