Yesterday when my wife got home from work she was really upset about the first ding on our 2010 RX. They have assigned parking spots at the place she works and the person parking on her right side admitted to her this morning that she did indeed let her door slam into the right front fender of our RX. There is about a two inch dent in the fender. The person told my wife that she will turn it in to her insurance company if we wanted it fixed. About four months ago this person hit my car(07 Avalon) the same way when my wife drove it to work. Has anyone out there had dings repaired? Is it better to leave it alone? What should we do? I asked my wife if she could park anywhere else and she said no. The parking places are angled so when the person on the right side opens their door it goes toward the right front fender of the RX. I have body side moldings on it, but they don't help in this situation.

 

My wife is a Pharmacist at a grocery store and her Altima has 5 dings all on the Driver Side Door because of carts and careless people...my friend works at a dealership and he knows their Paintless Dent Repair Guy and referred me to him. I was quoted as high as 300 for the 5 dings but he hooked me up for $100 bux and did it on the side for me and not through the dealership. It looks almost brand new except that 1 ding had a little bit of paint damage which I didn't really care about. Try looking up body shops that offer paintless dent repair. Some places even come out to you and fix the dings on the spot. Good Luck!

 

Is it bad that every time I get in or out of my car I check it for any imperfections like dings and scratches? For the paint damage on your car maybe you can try to cover it with a touch up paint roller from Sewell.com? Was just looking at their products they sell today ad saw that. They sell them in all Lexus colors. I work at a place where the parking spots are tiny and ppl love to kiss their car with yours and run off. I'm dreading my first ding/scrape!

 

Like DJ said look for a PDR shop. Most dealerships (like your Lexus dealer) should have a decent contact since everytime a used vehicle comes in the PDR guy comes by for touch-up work. Ask your dealer for a referral.

I'm waiting to come out and find a ding in mine at some point. No matter if I park WAAAAAAAY far away from other cars it always seems some needlehead feels it necessary to park next to me or some idiot lets their shopping cart out in a high wind environment letting it coast into a fender (happened on a car of mine 10 years ago).

 

I have not had PDR done on the Lexus but I had it done recently on my 2008 Black Cadillac CTS. The damage was done on the middle of the driver's side door with a shopping cart. I am an **** guy when it comes to the cars and I must tell you that I could not find the spot where it was repaired. It looks exactly like it did prior to the ding. Total cost was $75 and I am a happy guy once again. At least until some other uncaring idiot does it again.

 

Yup. Amazing work those guys can do. I had a total of 10 dings removed from my black Miata and am also quite ****. Can't tell where they were.

Oh - TEN DINGS?!?!?! you say? Answer: Hail storm rolled through and I couldn't get it in the garage in time

 

yes a good paintless dent removal guy will do the job

 

if the dent is on a crease though, good luck. no amount of PDR will be able to fix that. sorry to hear this OP....this is one of my biggest pet peeves/fears. I'm always so careful getting in and out of my car, but everyone else seems to not care as much. "it's just a car....blah blah blah" Okay then, how bout I go pee in your house. Just because you don't care about your car, doesn't mean I don't care about mine. /rant

 

+1 on the paintless dent removal. i have a lot of work done on our Range as well as on our Camry before.
it depends on how many you got. For 1 dent the size of a quarter, it's $150
i would discourage claims from the insurance since it will go on record for both you and the other party.
For such a very small amount, you don't want to give these blood suckers another reason to raise your premium.

And the deductible is probably higher than the total amount of the repair.

 

So I am thinking that it is a 2010 and the 2012's are in stock so maybe its time to trade in and get a new one.

PDR is great as long as there is no crease. The crease tends to break the paint. They can make it much better but it wont go away.

 

i totally understand
people call me crazy for parking on the farthest part of the parking lot..
away from the cart/trolley collectors.

 

I think of it as a forced excercise program. Helps keep me in shape.

Never ceases to amaze me that people will wait for a half hour to get that close spot to the door before they go and wonder around a 100,000 sq/ft Costco.

 

Sounds more like an assault than a ding, if that gives you an idea about how **** I am. I would push for a different space. Does your wife's employer want to take responsibility for any future damage to her car? I'm sure they don't. They'll change their tune real quick.

PDR is the best option when done by the right place. Your dealer can make a recommendation. And hopefully that negligent woman will learn an expensive lesson. Good luck.

 

Thanks for all of the comments and advice. We are always very careful where we park. This person has a big ole Dodge suv with huge doors. The Avalon may have to substitute for the RX.

 

Something else to think about is usually if you turn in a claim with the insurance the car may get tagged with an "accident " on Carfax. If that is not an issue for you I would get an estimate from a "good" body shop, which may shock the person that dinged your car, and then have the insurance company send you the check, which is not a problem. At that point I would get a good PDR person to fix it if possible and pocket the difference as pain/suffering..........Been there, done that, unfortunately.......