Car park door bash: how much to fix, or LeasePlan return penalty?

[nufan]

Guys,

Some /person/ did this to my car today, leaving some nice finger marks showing they knew exactly what they’d done. I waited for them, they turned up, we opened their door - and the strike point clearly matched.

It’s a dent in the crease line just behind the drivers door. Their car door tells me they’ve done it before - initial attitude tells me they don’t see it as a problem.

They’ve given me a number/name (yet to try it - good luck to me on that). I have post-photos if the vehicle, but no sentry cam footage of the event (wonder why).

I can’t see a garage quote/getting the insurance involved being a good use of scarce time.

How much am I looking at to fix - or - probably more relevant as I wouldn’t spare the time for that - anyone with experience know what a leaseco will penalty-charge for this? Thanks!

 

[jelloslug]

I have lease several cars from several manufacturers and all of them have some kind of allowance for "wear and tear". Door dings of a certain size are just about always consider "wear and tear".

 

[Durzel]

Annoying.

Presumably you have their numberplate so you can report them if it turns out the name/number is fake?

 

[CMc1]

Leaseplan never picked up my dent which was similar on an older car. They have a threshold where they will write off £X amount of repairs costs as part of the agreement. (Check your contract)

here is also a copy of what they class as wear and tear

LeasePlan - Cars

 

[Plagued]

personally it would bug the hell out of me, leaseplan return allowance or not.
The no-paint dent repair chaps would get something like that out in a matter of minutes assuming the door card comes off without a fight.

 

[Jason71]

personally it would bug the hell out of me, leaseplan return allowance or not.
The no-paint dent repair chaps would get something like that out in a matter of minutes assuming the door card comes off without a fight.

normally I would agree and it would be about £70 maybe but aren't the doors aluminium? I have heard that that requires a slightly different skill set so not sure if the normal dent guys can do it or not. Being on the crease complicates things too, but agree it would bug me as well

 

[Jonslatt]

Feel your pain...

Most of these companies offer free quotes so maybe get a couple to have a look? Is the actual paint damaged as might make fixing it more difficult later with rust if you have a change of heart.

Glad I took someone's advice early on and got insurance cover with Tidy Alloys for exactly this scenario.

If you have car reg consider reporting to your insurance co as a third party damage. They can find out the other vehicle insurance co and put a claim in on your behalf. I did this recently with a moped that piled into the back of me scuffing my bumper and then rode off. Admittedly I did have 360 dash cam footage as evidence.

 

[Adopado]

normally I would agree and it would be about £70 maybe but aren't the doors aluminium?

Yes the door skins and frunk lid are aluminium ..

 

[Uncle Paul]

Paintless dent professional should be able to finess that little dent out.

 

[nufan]

Thanks for all the help/sympathy/advice guys.

I gave the /person/ involved a bit of a lecture on consideration of others, in part based upon a prior thread in the forum. She even had a hatched no-car bay next to her and acres of room. Just stupid and thoughtless.

It will annoy me every time I see It for the remainder of the lease.

CMc1 - thanks for posting that guide page, very useful. It measures 10mm horizontally and 20mm vertically I would say - unfortunately bang on the (looks it up) ‘swage line’ on the panel.

No paint loss I can see. Is the £70 the sort of price a dent place would charge? I think I’ll ask whomsoever is on the end of that phone number to pay that by BACS - so at least they suffer some form of penalty to deter doing it to someone else’s car.

Got plates/Vitara photos: If I report to the insurance company - that’s a world of pain that will exceed the benefit I suspect.

The single lockdown supermarket trip too: aaaaaaaargh!

 

[mrkwats]

Paintless Dent removal should be able to sort, but get a quote first as it could be anything from £50-500. I’ve had many done over the years on diff cars. It depends what access looks like from the inside, if there’s a brace or strut behind the dent then it’s much harder and sometimes v difficult to work the dent out. Sometimes on a crease is tricky too. Good luck and keep us posted. Aluminium is very workable but can take much longer to finesse, as unlike steel it stretches much more easily.

 

[EVMeister]

My parents Model 3 has a similar dent in a similar place. Again due to careless door opening from another party. The paintless dent removal places they contacted refused to work on it. They would have to dismantle the door and weren't comfortable doing that on a Tesla (or something). You can't just pop it out like normal due to the door being aluminium.

Good luck OP - I hope you get it sorted. As for my parents, they gave up with the paintless dent removal route and will be going to a Service Centre to get it fixed. When their local service centre is built, hopefully in July. Cost isn't really an issue for them, but it was still upsetting for them seeing this kind of careless damage on a nice new car.

 

[stonecoldrmw]

One word to describe people like that.

Starts with C and ends with T. No consideration at all.

 

[Akikiki]

Like others have said, find a paintless dent repair team. Its amazing what they can do. The took the same crease out of my right side door. I sat and watched. I could not believe their work. And will cost a fraction.

 

[Mathop]

I feel for you exactly same happened to me day 3 of ownership! Mine has a little paint damage too, I’ve touched up to protect it for now.

I’m on leaseplan too and was going to wait until nearer the time to hand back and get a quote. Tesla SC said they wouldn’t do it but a local Tesla approved body shop would. The recommended one in Bristol. So will decide later. If it’s not too bad probably stump up the money. No details of who did it. Sentry captured it but no number plate

 

[AMP_it_up]

Definitely worth trying a paintless dent removal company first as it will be much quicker and cheaper than going through insurance. Many of them don't charge if they fail to fix it perfectly so it's a low risk option. In January I used Dent Wizzard, which have franchises all over the UK, on a rear quarter panel dent when I hit my driveway gate post. The chap worked for 4 hours on it and removed ~80 of the dent, but as some of the dent was still noticeable there was no charge - I did pay him £80 for his efforts though. I'm still waiting for my Insurance Company's authorised repairer to arrange the repair, which has been delayed due incompetence and CV-19. Note that most authorised repair companies will not touch Teslas.

 

[SilverString]

To fix correctly you will need a new door shell, then repaint. Probably $2k+ USD since the bare door shell is about $1500 and has to come from Tesla. I've been through this with my MS. When you replace the door shell, if your car is 2018 or older a new handle and latch assembly may be required.

I took mine to an aluminum body specialist but since it was on the crease like yours they said they could not restore it like new, but maybe in your case they could do enough for the lease return. The lease returns I have done have involved only a cursury look at the body with no attention paid to small dings. Good luck!!!

 

[Bigknd]

You should get this done easily by one of the larger PDR (Paintless Dent Repair) specialist. Here's a similar dent on a Model 3 being done by removing the rubber bung in the door to access the ding.

Let us know how it goes as that would bug the hail out of me as well

 

[Tdriver]

Here in the states we have local guys who specialize in this. They actually pull out the dent from the inside. If the paint is not damaged, it will appear almost perfect when they are done. It is not an expensive process. Look for "dent repair" locally.

 

[Akikiki]

Wow, pull out the dent from the inside. I close my eyes and try to see that, and it goes blank as a failed MCU screen. just kiddin'