Dented door - body shop wants full replacement

[GrayStreak]

Really sad day in our house. Parking our 3 month old MY (only ~2000 miles on it) in a really tight parking garage, and rubbed up against a column. A bunch of scratches and some paint damage. Passenger side front and rear door decently dented.

I'm not so concerned about the scratches and paint - they are minor enough or located such that I feel pretty comfortable about doing an at home paint touch up.

However the real problem for me is the dented doors. They still close tightly but I think they look awful. We took to a tesla certified shop and they state the only true fix is to replace both doors, repaint the whole side, etc etc which would run upwards of $10k.

Obviously not something you'd pay out of pocket. However I had the hardest time getting car insurance - moved out of NYC recently when we bought the car and had not had car insurance coverage while living there - so hardly any companies would even OFFER insurance and those that did were at an astronomical price ($400-$500 per month). Finally found a good deal / decent rate with Costco Car Insurance. But am now concerned that if I submit a claim, insurance rates will go way up, and there isn't really any alternative insurance co I can go to......

Long story short - Really dont want to replace the doors. Is this something PDR could fix? I dont even need it to be perfect, but would be great to get the majority of the dent out....

 

[RandyS]

Please post a photo or two...

 

[GrayStreak]

Here are the pictures...

 

[P3dStealth]

I just want to point out how right the car insurance companies were. You bought an expensive car and hit a stationary object in less than 3 months. Whatever algorithm they used is amazing. You could end up dropped from insurance. Why did you not have insurance previously?

Take it to a regular body shop. The Tesla certified thing for just body work is probably a big upcharge and is not needed. A body shop should be able to get that looking pretty good without replacing the door but even if they did the door is not overly expensive. Id guess probably around $1,500. It's around $500 used on ebay. You can also try to find a used door already painted and just swap them.

Door part number: 1493562

Or just keep driving with the dented door.

 

[GrayStreak]

Believe me - it's frustrating. I've been driving for 15 years - previous 10 I've lived in NYC and have not needed to own a car. Plenty of rentals etc on trips out of the city for personal and business on a regular bases and plenty of tight spaces before.

Other car makes insurance quoted no problem - now I understand the Tesla challenge - they can be expensive to work on with the aluminum panels.

 

[P3dStealth]

Believe me - it's frustrating. I've been driving for 15 years - previous 10 I've lived in NYC and have not needed to own a car. Plenty of rentals etc on trips out of the city for personal and business on a regular bases and plenty of tight spaces before.

Other car makes insurance quoted no problem - now I understand the Tesla challenge - they can be expensive to work on with the aluminum panels.

The shops take advantage of people and there is a Tesla upcharge.

I'd try a few different places.

 

[EatsShoots]

$10k for that is obscene I'd definitely take it elsewhere. There has to be a way to get something good enough only you would notice, for a small bit of $10k.

 

[tempest2001]

Really sad day in our house. Parking our 3 month old MY (only ~2000 miles on it) in a really tight parking garage, and rubbed up against a column. A bunch of scratches and some paint damage. Passenger side front and rear door decently dented.

I'm not so concerned about the scratches and paint - they are minor enough or located such that I feel pretty comfortable about doing an at home paint touch up.

However the real problem for me is the dented doors. They still close tightly but I think they look awful. We took to a tesla certified shop and they state the only true fix is to replace both doors, repaint the whole side, etc etc which would run upwards of $10k.

Obviously not something you'd pay out of pocket. However I had the hardest time getting car insurance - moved out of NYC recently when we bought the car and had not had car insurance coverage while living there - so hardly any companies would even OFFER insurance and those that did were at an astronomical price ($400-$500 per month). Finally found a good deal / decent rate with Costco Car Insurance. But am now concerned that if I submit a claim, insurance rates will go way up, and there isn't really any alternative insurance co I can go to......

Long story short - Really dont want to replace the doors. Is this something PDR could fix? I dont even need it to be perfect, but would be great to get the majority of the dent out....

I recently had a PDR repaired on a large dent on the tailgate, you can check out the post I made the other day. Same crap, I first tried the Tesla bodyshops. All the "Tesla Certified" bodyshop want to do is to replace the entire tailgate which cost 4k+ to 8k depending on which shop you go to. PDR shops may turn you away because of paint damage as they might make it worst when they do the push and pull method. But you should try them too to see maybe if you sign some waiver or something that they're not responsible for any paint damage. If they can get all the dent out, I bet repainting that panel will be way cheaper than the entire door but color match is a different story.

 

[jay1122]

Uh, the damage is on the door crease. It will never be perfect. But I would never spend 10K for the repair. The insurance will definitely go up.

Cheapest way DIY: Amazon order PDR kit. Machine buff the damaged area. Touch up paint kit.
Better repair: PDR guy pull out dent. Buff and touch up paint.
Even better repair: Regular body shop. Pull out dent, bondo infill surface, repaint door panel.
Perfect fix: New door panel and paint.

 

[richyrich]

Doubt that's PDR-able because it's on a crease - lots of time required and unlikely it will look right, so you won't be happy. I'd expect most places to decline.

As others have said, get some quotes for regular bodywork - fill and repaint. It will not be super cheap - just the hours it will take plus the overheads of a decent shop get into a few thousand (but nowhere near $10k). The trick is finding somewhere good that won't charge an arm and a leg.

Because it's a few thousand to repair, that's why just replacing the doors can be much easier - call some scrap yards on the off chance they've got a matching unit in stock - even if they want a few hundred per door, you'll still end up way ahead financially and get it sorted more quickly.