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Parking dent...?

M

Maelstrom

Lifetime VIP Member
Messages
36
Location
Swindon
Vehicle
T6 Beach 150
I've had enough cars and enough dents to know not to get too wound up, but yesterday morning I found a knock right next to the slider handle that I'm sure I would have noticed the day before.

Anyone had experience of fixing something similar? I'm in the Swindon area.

Honestly, went down to Portsmouth to pick my daughter up from Uni, never parked next to another car and with all the door opening, I feel like I would've spotted it before.

Seems like a funny hit. I'm going to sound paranoid, but you couldn't do damage like that throwing a stone, could you? Our 'lovely' neighbours have history and next to the van was a stone from their drive.

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Really feel for you; I would be totally p....d off if it happened to me. Yes, a stone from a catapult could easily do that. As it’s the side of the van it’s unlikely to have happened when you were driving, and it would have made quite a bang. See if the stone you found has paint on it.
The problem is, where do go from here without making things worse?
 
I can only recommend that you install some cctv.

Does the stone have any traces of red paint?
 
Well it's happened and if it were me, I too would be highly annoyed. The only thing to do now is to put what's happened behind you and get it fixed. Try one of those reputable mobile dent repair outfits. With luck it may not need paint.
 
I had a similar dent inflicted on my T4 syncro. The car failed to start at Tescos, so the AA arrived with Relay tow truck and took it off to the local VW garage.

When I received the car back there was a dent worse than your photo, right on the crease of the door.

I was fuming because I knew it had just been damaged and you couldn't miss it !! - also the damage was recorded on their pick-up inspection report as if to say it was damaged before the pick-up.

I wrote a stinking letter to the AA, and attached photos etc. ....... after a few weeks I got a nice but firm letter back saying the damage was not due to them, and they pointed out that their inspection report had been amended by another party - I had missed this but the handwriting and pen used were different.

So it was the local VW garage that had inflicted the damage, and forged the docs to avert the blame. So much for trusted service etc. I suppose it was an employee who was concerned about repercussions etc.

I never did get the dent fixed till the day I sold it. However, in the end the local garage lost out on a California sale cos I bought it from someone else, and I still won't use them for other work. Grrr
 
Bloody annoying but I wouldn't waste time on trying to analyse the cause, it would only wind me up more.

Muttering all sorts of epithets and expletives under my breath I would just pop into the local dent magician and say "remove please".
 
I’d be annoyed too, it’s frustrating but there’s not much you can do apart from getting it sorted.

We were sat in a car park two days ago when a ‘large’ women pulled up close to the van, my Mrs watched her open her door and bang it on the side of the van while she struggled to get out. My mrs went round to see if there was any damage, but before she could say anything she was confronted by the women who started shouting and screaming at my Mrs and became very angry claiming my Mrs was ‘cruel’ and ‘mean’ and that she had only ‘rested’ her door on the van so she could get out :headbang
 
Really feel for you; I would be totally p....d off if it happened to me. Yes, a stone from a catapult could easily do that. As it’s the side of the van it’s unlikely to have happened when you were driving, and it would have made quite a bang. See if the stone you found has paint on it.
The problem is, where do go from here without making things worse?
Cheers. I'm not sure the neighbours could operate a catapult without hitting themselves in the face.
I'm not trying to blame them. These things happen. I'm just used to finding odd stones on our drive so if I see one I move it. Hopefully it's a coincidence, but as mentioned, I've seen both their kids throwing stones years ago.
 
I can only recommend that you install some cctv.

Does the stone have any traces of red paint?
No, but around the dent, there looked like dust off a stone. Strangely, the neighbours have put up a camera, which does seem to point at our drive, but I don't think I'll ask them to look at the footage (smiley face doesn't show up)

I'll look for a local dent company and get a quote. It's in the dealers this week anyway so they might have a suggestion round the Swindon area.
 
Coincidently, I had a chap come over on Friday to remove a small door ding in the drivers door. We'd gone out for the day to a National Trust park, and parked well away from everyone.

When we returned from our walk I instantly noticed that more cars had parked up, but there was a car space immediately next to the van...and drivers door.

When I bought my extended warranty with MotorEasy, I also bought a cosmetic cover. At the time it made sense as I was trying to encourage my kids to use the van too.

I get cover for up to 18 separate dent or scratch to be fixed (3 years cover).

The chap who came has fixed the ding in around 10 minutes and whilst talking he was able to identify 4 smaller and less noticeable imperfections. All he said can be fixed easily.

He used an LED device to help him fix the ding. It all looked so easy but is the accumulation of 20 years in the trade doing this. He now runs his own company with 6 vehicles out doing these repairs. He recons that around 50 % is private work and 50 % trade work.

I'll report the extra dings this week and now view the cosmetic repair cover a blessing.
 

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