Door Ding...and the aftermath

Just calling it like I see it. It'll cost more in time, effort, and anguish to collect on the ding than can ever be recovered. And when you're able to afford it, sometimes it's just better to suck it up and forget about it. Let's remember that we're talking about a "Ding" here.

 

Good Job!

 

xs10shl....

There's a fellow f-chatter in SF who I imagine might not adopt the same attitude as you if you were to put a nice door ding in his "yellow 360".

Why don't you try your "suck it up" theory somewhere closer to home and post back here with his response if your attitude about respect personal property is so cavalier ?

 

Congratulations on getting the money out of this guy. Not many pay up - especially here in the UK.

We generally end up beating the crap out of the offender over here. Not as good as getting the cash to fix the car, but satisfying nontheless.....

 

well i think you are quite lucky. lucky you saw him. lucky he was in a clk and not a beater. lucky he gave you a real phone number. lucky he didnt tell you to pound sand and then turn out not to have more than a $250 net worth. lucky you had access to a lawyer that didnt cost you more than the repair work.
wish i had been so lucky when my doors have gotten dinged to hell over the last 20 years by countless numbers of these inconsiderate people.

 

Sorry about your dent but glad it worked out!
I bet he wont do that again.

 

LOL...! Why can't i come up with stuff like that...?

 

$1800 to fix a ding? Basically your only cost, other than a little for the paint, is the labor to fill the ding, sand, and prep. If you figure $100 for the paint, that leaves $1700 for labor. At $50 an hour (figuring liberally), that's 34 hours to fix a ding. Must be a poor body shop!

 

Sounds like the body shop is anything but 'poor'. The owner is not poor anyway.
BT

 

Hey, after 5 years of navigating city streets, I've gotten my share of dings and hits by non-english speaking drivers, and not once have I ever gotten a business card with a working phone #. That's life in the big city.

Anyways, $1800 is about $1000 more than it probably should cost.

 

I bet that makes a great story for him. "Did I ever tell you about the $1,800 door ding?" Very inconsiderate of him though, I never ding anybodies car wether it's a new Benz or a beat up Dodge Shadow respect others property.

Forza,
Kevin

 

On my 348, I had my door fixed (original paint cracking a bit), hood re-sprayed (road rash), and rear bumper re-sprayed (a few scratches) for $400. The next week, it was a peoples choice winner at a car show locally with over 400 cars from 5 states. You can't tell the new paint from factory. Guess labor in Texas is cheaper.

 

was that done at macco, or earl sheib. i hope the paint doesnt fade after a couple of yrs. not breaking balls it just seems that 400 bucks seems a bit cheap. remember, you get what you pay for. if its a great job a done right then your a lucky guy.

 

You make a point, John, but I offer this - sure, the guy was careless, but he did the right thing - he gave his number, and offered to help fix it. Thanks to the treatment he got, along with a sandbagged bill, he might think twice about doing that again.

I'm not advocating "door dinging here", or disrespecting other peoples property. My cars get nicks and scratches all the time - it's never a good feeling, but life goes on, and I forget about it after 5 minutes. Others take a different approach - that's fine.

 

You gave him the:
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WRONG. He "did the right thing", only because he was confronted by the owner, who asked him to "make good" on the damage. What was "sandbagged"? The owner even went to the repair shop that the guy requested, and the quote was even higher. Obviously the bill seems high, but it must be the prevailing cost of service in that area.

I hope if I ever have a mishap, I run into your car...

 

Would love to see this get a blurb in the newspaper. "Knee and car door make local man's wallet $1800 lighter."

It bothers the hell out of me when people ding up even my everyday driver. Some publicity would go a long way.

 

MR POWERS

YOU MAKE NO SENSE.....

COMPLETE RUBBISH....................

 

I would have just shot him. and paid for the repair myself---Just my 2 sense!!

 

Well, it was 10 hours of labor @ 35 per hour (he gives me a 20 percent discount since I'm a dealer), plus a gallon of paint. I can't conceive how you could spend more than 10 hours labor on these three items unless you flat-out didn't know what you were doing.

Just because someone's expensive doesn't necessarily mean they are good. On the other hand, just because someone charges a reasonable hourly rate doesn't mean they are bad.

I use Texas Body Shop, and I will stack up their work against anyone's.

 

Alright, I can see that I'm not making much of a case here, which is mostly my fault for trying make too many different points simultaneously. Shutting up now.

 

Sorry one more thing. You are right - I must have missed this part in the first post. OK, now shutting up.

 

Don't sell yourself short - you made a case. Maybe not the one you intended, but a case nonetheless. I think most of us have you figured out.

 

Good for you. I hate people like that. They have no respext for other peoples property.

It reminds of an incident that happened about 3 years ago at El Coyote here in L.A. . I was outside waiting for my car when I watched a valet park a 911 next to a 550 that was in the parking lot and when he got out he banged the 911's door into the 550. Left a visible dent in the door. Well it just so happens that a minute later the 550 owner came out and handed his ticket to valet. I watched the valet run to his car to get it as my car pulled up. I told him to check his pass door for a dent that I watched happen. Sure enough he saw it and flipped out on the valet who said it wasn't him (which it was). I told him that me and my GF at the time saw it happen and gave him my card stating that if he needed a statement from me and her to call me. (I had to leave as GF had a flight she had to catch) Don't know what happened but am guessing everything was resolved. He was really thankful to me at the time though. LOL.

 

Way to go Alex, I have a real problem with people like that. I bet that guy is a little more careful next time.