Idiotic mistake - VENT!

Pestilence

Pestilence

Pestilence

Soldato
Joined
22 Feb 2008
Posts
11,114
Sorry for thread, but just kicking myself all over the place about this.

Passed my driving test about 4 and a half months ago, and today made my first big boo-boo by going in too tight in a multi-storey car park and scraping the hell out of the rear passenger side arch and part of the door on a concrete pillar. Felt it scrape, panicked and stalled for good measure. :(

So angry at myself. The damage appears mainly cosmetic... some paint transfer from the pillar and I think the wheel arch, where it meets the rear passenger door is slightly bent as the door no longer lines up perfectly.

Gonna be calling the local service station on Monday to get it in for a service and see what they can do about the damage. Anybody have any experience with this and how much it's likely to cause to put right? Can nab a photo from the driveway and post if it would help.

Car still drives OK (2003 Fiesta), but still I feel like such a bloody idiot right now it's unbelievable. But hey, at least nobody else's car was involved -- that's a plus I guess. :o

Not a good weekend. No sir.
 
About a year after passing my test I binned my Primera GT into a hedge. I was going round a corner and hit some ice which I had never driven on before. Ended up with about £1000 of damage to the body work but mechanically the car was fine.

I felt like a right idiot for ages but at the end of the day no one was hurt and only my wallet felt the pain.
 
Unlucky dude. These things do happen. Pick yourself up, get it repaired and chalk it down to experience. Ive had enough small and large scrapes to realise that its the only way. chin up buddy!
 
Here's a few photos from various angles...

And to think, I got in it today and thought "Could do with a clean, maybe I'll take it through the car wash today since the sun is out."

Bah!

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Ignore my pyjama-nated legs reflected in the last one. Decided when I got home that I'm too annoyed to bother doing anything else for the rest of the day.

EDIT: Based in Nottingham, rexehuk.
 
I wouldn't get it repaired tbh, you're still new to driving so may get some scratches elsewhere.
 
Should I be worried about rust, or are there any products out there that I could use to clean it off? I reckon it may not be as noticable if I can give it a good wipe down and get the transferred colour out of it?
 
See what some T-cut or cutting polish can do to it. Looks not all that bad from the pics...

Definitely not worth getting sent to a bodyshop
 
I'd start with a wash and abrasive compound; you might be surprised how much comes up. At bare minimum, I'd respray it myself with a rattle can rather than just leaving it.
 
I've scraped this car and my last one in car parks within a week of first owning them - chalk it up to experience and don't let it get you down!
 
Week after passing my test I was reversing to make some space to get out of a parallel park spot. Very slowly crunched the left rear of my polo into a tree that was poking out into the road :(

No point in fixing it (14 year old car) just makes me look silly for doing it. Wouldn't fix your car either, seems a lot of money for not a lot.
 
Ouch. :D

You're looking at a bit for that to be fixed... I would shout at around £250.

I was thinking it would be black scuffing, but to me that looks quite deep? Not sure if anyone else will agree. The door scuffs look doable by you, and cutting it... the arch looks a little more serious and needs a respray.

On an older car like that, you can probably do it yourself as it won't be worth much anyway...
 
polish it out the best you can and touch up the scratches with a touch up pen. It will at least make it better or if you can find a door cheap in the same colour. Thats another option and touch up the arch the best you can. You can get it done properly but the cost is going to be steep for the value of the car.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I'd save the money too and put it towards new tyres, it looks like you'll need some soon.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know for certain the tyres need doing. Getting it in for a service next week where that'll be covered, and I'll ask them about the scrape fixing. If it's too much, I won't bother.

To be honest, I know it's an older car, and my first. Just more annoyed at myself than anything. A one-second check in the passenger mirror and it wouldn't have happened. Was too busy trying to make sure I wasn't going to clip the car occupying the driver-side space going in.

MisChief said:
This, and the fact that it's a fiesta :o
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I actually don't understand this. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a "car" person, but as far as I'm aware asking around, looking at reviews, reading magazines etc. in terms of first cars, the Fiesta was very highly recommended -- and Ford in general.

Peugeot got crapped all over (did I dodge a bullet avoiding a 206?), and it took me quite some time to get something in the price range I was after for an almost-disposable runaround.

The wife drives an Aygo, which I find horrendous to operate. This isn't in any way aggressive... but what makes you denigrate cars or the people who own them? Are you the type of person who scoffs at a new driver if they aren't brick-footing out an Audi or something?
 
Polish it out the best you can and see how bad the damage is, I'm sure a cheap blow in would suffice. I don't see why anyone would want to drive around in a car with scuffed paint regardless of value, especially if it was in good condition to start with.
 
Well more the fact that is a 2003 fiesta. If I had the same damage on my old 2004 lupo I wouldn't even bother repairing. It's old, it's not worth much and deffo not worth repairing in my eyes. That's not to say it's a **** car though.
 
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