Absolutely totally gutted!

doug · Apr 23, 2012

Hi,
I picked up brand new shiny metallic blue Cali on Saturday – A Berghaus one with 18inch Dakar alloys – it looked fantastic. I drove 200 miles home in it Saturday very pleased with myself on what a great purchase I had just made. Then horror of horrors – I have a 90 degree turn from a lane into two gate wide my driveway when a gust of wind caught the gate and pushed it into the van whilst I was turning making a big dent in it – about 2 feet high – on the outside by the sink!! I was absolutely mortified as you can imagine.
After a couple of days I have now come to terms with that it and although it is not the worst disaster in the world it certainly was the biggest disaster within a 10 yard radius of me.
I now need to get it repaired. As you can imagine I am keen not to involve the insurance company unless I really have to as they will punish me for years. My nearest VW Van dealer is miles away so I am looking at seeing if a local body shop can fix it up. Luckily no paint has come off and there is no crease so it may be possible to fix it quite simply but I don’t know whether the body shop will need to get to the dent from the inside. If so I am not sure whether I want a local body shop to start messing about with the sink / hob units inside or leave it to the experts.
Does anyone have any experience of having dents repaired on the sink side of a Cali? Fortunately I haven’t had a dent in a vehicle for over 20 years so don’t know whether the techniques have improved meaning they don’t have to get to the inside and whether the inside of the side panel can be reached without taking all of the kitchen units apart.

Any thoughts?

Doug

John · Apr 23, 2012

Doug so sorry I am gutted for you that is such bad luck. :crazy :headwall

My wife had a accident a few years ago with our VW Touran.

We went through the normal route of reporting it to our insurance company who said they would appoint a vehicle repairers. The company based in Crawley came to pick it up a day later and after several weeks it was returned to us.

Not only was it a really bad job the drivers seat had been damaged and internally it was full of dust. :headwall

There has been a move in the industry to big factory style repair shops. They have rows of cars coming through the doors that have to be repaired in a short period of time, before the next job, with their staff being under huge stress and pressure.

Needless to say we had a huge fight on our hands. Luckily I contacted our local VW dealership in Haywards Heath where we bought the Touran.Their bodywork specialist fought our corner for us even coming to a meeting at Crawley to get it sorted.

So I recommend that you are careful and try to get it sorted with a company that has at least been recommended to you. Try to do some research and even consider taking it back to a VW registered body shop it will be worth the drive. :thumb

John

Californiaman · Apr 23, 2012

Bugger. Really sorry to hear that. You must have been inconsolable.

If there isn't a crease And it isn't a deep dent then sometimes even parking it in the sun could pop it out. Failing that, do you have a friendly paint shop with an oven that you could try?

The mobile dent doctors can do some amazing stuff these days and would probably be my first point of call.

Good luck!

inthemidnighthour · Apr 23, 2012

i know how gutted you must be
we picked up our new cali in march and whilst it was being handed over the bellows caught in the roof buckling the roof and cutting the bellows and we hadnt even driven it,luckily for us all under warranty unlike yourself. Picking it up tomorrow after repairs.
But we have missed it so so much.
i have just warned the dealership that i will looking at the repair very closely as basically its a new vehicle.

Although we have been without our cali ,the main thing is the repair is 100 %

hope you get sorted soon
dave and lisa

barry · Apr 23, 2012

Let one of the mobile dent repairers look at it and tell you what they think.
Or even a local good bodyshop.
You're wanting to know whether the dint can be pulled without taking out the inside kit.
Taking out and replacing the inside kit is labour intensive and never is as good as new.
Good luck.

Andy · Apr 23, 2012

Doug sorry to here of this.

If any paintwork has to be done, in order to maintain the VW paint warranty (12 year I believe) I think it would have to be done by a VW dealer or VW approved paint shop.

doug · Apr 23, 2012

Thank you all for your good wishes and suggestions.
I will take it to the local body shop for them to look at it and tell me how difficult to fix it really is. If they reckon it is serious it will be an insurance job and I will take it to a VW dealer - assuming that the insurers will pay for it.

I'll let you know how I get on.

Of course it wont stop me taking it out an I will be down in Cornwall this weekend as planned :grin:

Doug

doug · Apr 24, 2012

I just visited a small local bodyshop with a great reputation and they tell me that they can pull the dent out using some fancy new machine they have and dont need to get inside at all.

Apparently they will need to replace the side trim and may need to do a small amout of filling depending if the dent pops out or needs a little more encouragement.

Unfortunaltey as they have a god reputation they cant fit me in for a few weeks but by the middle of May my Cali should look as good as new. :thumb

Doug