Damsel in distress!! Help is my panel beater lying or am I stupid?

[Renee]

Hello,

I don’t have any metal working skill & I’m not a welder which is why I need a bit of help. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My panel beater's making me feel like a silly little girl? Is he right or is he trying to con me? This is what happened….

- I found 2 mystery dents on my bonnet. They were shallow, circles 5cm across & 10cm apart, and the paint wasn’t chipped.

- Went mad looking for the cause.

- Discovered the tree near my place is covered in big lumpy nuts! very hard & heavy, falling from about 3 stories up.

- Had car fixed, cost $600 for the two dents.

- 2 weeks later I noticed a long shallow trough/dent exactly where the old dents were. Like dent 1 stretched over to join dent 2, but shallower. Its hard to see… but its there and EXACTLY where the ‘fixed’ dents were.

- I took the car back & was told that there’s no way it was their fault & obviously a falling branch hit it. I explained that in the last 2 weeks:
- I hadn’t found any branches on my bonnet,
- I live in the middle of a city CBD where there are no trees,
- that the EVIL NUT TREE taught me to never park under trees, ever!
But he was adamant that something else has hit my car.

- Could he be right? Could a mystery tree have played join-the-dots with my repaired dents? Or can a “beaten panel” pop back out somehow?

Is it possible I’m being conned? $600 is more than I earn in a week…

Thankyou, Renee

 

[WouldBWelder]

Any pictures at all? Might help with advice given.

 

[Renee]

Dent photo

I don't have any pics of the dents before the repairs but I will take photos of the new dent in the morning.
Thanks

 

[sam_shelton]

Hi Renee,
You say that the paint is not damaged then it will be a very cheap and easy repair. You need to speak to a PDR guy (Paintless dent removal), who would be able to heat the panel slightly to make the paint more pliable and then push the dent out from the other side. These are the guys which are used by garages to remove dents from cars they are trying to sell.
As for cost in the UK it is about £60 per panel that means it doesn't matter how many dents there are on the panel.
Hope this is useful
Sam

 

[cobminor]

You were conned and he has no intention of giving you your money back, or doing the job properly. He has straightened the dents out cold and put stresses in the metal, that has caused the new dent, where the stresses are joining up. $600 thats about four to six times too much. I assume you live in the states by the use of dollars. Repair shops usually work good for you there. Go to another place and ask them, their advice should be free.

 

[Masked Marauder]

I bet she is talking AUDs as in the US they don't work in CMs! But still not a good price if it is AUD600 is about GBP250

 

[Ratty]

I'd guess at Aus too - thread posted at 2.13pm? Most of US are still in bed! What's CMs MM??

 

[Ratty]

...and isn't a bonnet a hood in US? Friday night and I'm reduced to playing amateur sleuth on a welding forum. How sad am I?

 

[shenion]

...and isn't a bonnet a hood in US? Friday night and I'm reduced to playing amateur sleuth on a welding forum. How sad am I?

/me consults his American / British dictionary (I actually have one.)

bonnet = hood
boot = trunk

But these I knew.

 

[Renee]

Hello

So, "where the bloody hell am I?!"

Yes you should be detectives... I'm in Sydney, Australia. AUD600 is about GBP250 or USD480.

I tried to photograph the dent but reflections made it almost impossible to see. I have attached the best one but its probably useless.


Thankyou so much for the advice & for taking the time to read my little tale of woe, now I can pursue this. I'll let you know how I go.

Thankyou
Renee
P.S. A couple of tips for you, just incase you end up down under:
- Do check for Red Back spiders under the toilet seat but only in the bush or rural areas.
- When heading off into the bush/desert/outback etc. one should take more than a slab (case of beer) & a few Mars Bars.
- Don't believe what you're told about Drop Bears.

 

[Unit_01]

Im from Brissy, yeah i reckon u been conned mate. Dodgy repair work and he stuffed your bonnet up. I reccommend u to take to another dealership and ask for what the recommend.

 

[Masked Marauder]

What's CMs MM??

Centimetres

 

[Ratty]

Centimetres! Of course..silly me, must have been the late hour.
Sydney ay Renee, nice..the place of eternal sunshine..so my hubs bro (who's been there 40 years) led us to believe, huh..we got soaked and had to buy bin bags for our first bush walk having posted our waterproofs back to UK when we left Darwin and drove to Sydney down the Oodnadatta. With his shaved head, hub looked like a broken condom as he refused to make armholes in his makeshift mac.
Good luck getting even with dodgy panel beater, perhaps if you got another repairer to write you a report you might be able to shame him - or threaten legal action. If you know a good solicitor who could advise you (hopefully free!) sometimes a legal sounding letter will get results.

 

[Drains]

Drop bears?
Some type of boiled sweet i'd wager....