Repair Quotes

[trickycoolj]

I know posts show up now and then looking for auto body places, from what I’ve searched Malos and Auto Buff seem to be popular. My insurance also uses Thoroughbred, though I’m not using insurance for the repairs. I’ve got a lot of door dings from a previous apartment complex parking garage and the big Ameri-Trucks at my work parking lot and several big bumper scuffs that have taken off paint from lazy parallel parkers just bouncing off my car (grumble grumble). I went to the auto show yesterday but didn’t really see anything I’m racing to trade in for so I’d like to get my Fit some TLC and shined back up (maybe trade in 2014/15 when the new model comes out).

How does one go about getting quotes, do you have to schedule appointments or just pull in during shop hours and ask? Any other suggestions for this type of minor work?

I might need the weather stripping on the doors looked at too since my Yakima rack has kind of chewed them up… or maybe consider a permanent install of the roof rack for easier on/off.

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[kgdlg]

I just did this recently. I literally drove up to a few difference places one morning and collected quotes. Each auto body shop usually has an estimator working the front desk to do this for you quickly.

However, I would urge you to do a cost/benefit analysis on this type of work. Usually, it will be tough to recoup the investment on body work, especially on trade in. This might not be true on a private sale, if the damage is major. I would compare the quotes you get with the values on Kelly Blue Book for trade in vs. private party sale and really think about whether this is worth your time and money. (i.e. if it costs you 500 bucks but you still can only get 10,000 vs. 10, 200 for your car, not worth it)

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[wakeflood]

kgdlg’s right, tricky. I’ve looked into this before and reached that same conclusion.

And trust me, I’m THIS CLOSE to parking my car two hundred yards from any store I’m shopping at because of door dings. DRIVES ME CRAZY how people just slam their doors open hit whatever’s in the way. I watch them do it like it’s no big deal. I’ve even seen people do it and GET IN THE FACE of the owner of the car they hit just because the owner was nearby and saw it.

Granted, now most parking spaces are too small for any non-compact car but the folks with SUVs and trucks will park in any spot, regardless of how small.

Man I hate walking up to my car and my eyes go straight to those 3 big dings that I can’t ignore but don’t make economic sense to fix.

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[trickycoolj]

Oh yes, I’ll certainly be doing a cost/benefit analysis when I get an idea of what it would cost. I majored in economics. :) My mom had a nasty sideswipe with a short yellow pole below her windows in a parking lot when someone near her whipped out really quick and she was avoiding the collision (d’oh). Her car was pretty new then, and the dent/scrapes ran down both doors and a quarter panel, the place in Tacoma that did the work even threw in paint touch ups and a buff for the whole car for a reasonable price. But I figure if the price is right maybe I’ll feel less like I’m waiting out with a beater car. But of course someone will come along and re-ding the freshly redone doors! Plus ever since I moved over to West Seattle and commute up and down Highland Park Way the shortcomings of such a small engine with only 109hp has become very apparent and might nudge me to go shopping sooner than later. But no car payments right now is nice too.

Any time I’m in some of the tight parking lots around the neighborhood I am reminded that everyone else has dings too and try not to feel too bad about them. It is the city after all.

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[MrsL]

I had to go through quote process a couple months ago. Malo’s will give you quote when you show up. A couple places that were recommended on the forums required an appointment for a quote. I can’t remember which place it was, but I couldn’t get an appointment for a quote until Monday (I called on a Wednesday.)

Door dings are frustrating. I asked for a quote to fix one above the front passenger front wheel well in addition to fixing my really dented-in bumper (the main purpose for the work). The door ding was ~$300. I decided to live with the door ding.

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