Car door dings

LiE · 6 Dec 2018 at 13:04

Are people unable to open a door without maximum force into the neighbouring car door? 6" dent/crease on my rear door, fantastic. Getting a quote later, hopefully it can be just pulled out. Only had the car 4 months.

It's such a simple thing to open a door with care, it seems people just don't give a ****.

How common/frequent is this happening to people here?

VincentHanna · 6 Dec 2018 at 13:07

Generally find it's kids that do it, and parents either don't realise or don't care.

House · 6 Dec 2018 at 13:13

Happened to my car when it was 4 month old in MK as well, the City is a joke for parking now people either park across 2 spaces or so close to you you cant get into your car, I had to put the roof down and then hop over the door last weekend as i physically couldn't open the door. Doesn't help that all the lines on the spaces have pretty much worn away and not been repainted for years, they are fast enough repainting the colour codes when they put the prices up though.

I decided to leave my (admittedly small) ding, no point in fixing it cause i will just get another soon enough, but every time i clean it it makes me mad.

LiE · 6 Dec 2018 at 13:17

House said:
Happened to my car when it was 4 month old in MK as well, the City is a joke for parking now people either park across 2 spaces or so close to you you cant get into your car, I had to put the roof down and then hop over the door last weekend as i physically couldn't open the door. Doesn't help that all the lines on the spaces have pretty much worn away and not been repainted for years, they are fast enough repainting the colour codes when they put the prices up though.

I decided to leave my (admittedly small) ding, no point in fixing it cause i will just get another soon enough, but every time i clean it it makes me mad.

Yea there are some pretty crappy car parks around MK that's for sure. I usually park in the toddler spaces which give extra room but those are few and far between.

I'm yet to try the new John Lewis multi storey, but I have a feeling they have rammed the spaces in there. I'd happily pay extra for costco width spaces.

Steedie · 6 Dec 2018 at 13:24

LiE said:
Are people unable to open a door without maximum force into the neighbouring car door? 6" dent/crease on my rear door, fantastic. Getting a quote later, hopefully it can be just pulled out. Only had the car 4 months.

It's such a simple thing to open a door with care, it seems people just don't give a ****.

How common/frequent is this happening to people here?

Ah man, that sucks dude.

It always terrifies me. I always park as far away as possible from other cars, or make sure I can see it, which means I spend the entire time looking over to check people getting in and out of there cars.

Some people just don't care though. I remember my first XF, I was sat in the car and a lady opened her door in to mine and I opened my window and brought it to her attention, she just said "It's only a car!". And that's the issue, to a lot of people, even with brand new cars, they are just simply a means to get from A to B and assume everyone else feels the same

I've always gone with the attitude that I would key someones car if I caught them doing it or knew for definite they did it. But then I doubt I'd ever do it as I'd like to think I'm not a pleb

LiE · 6 Dec 2018 at 13:29

I've resigned to the fact I'm going have to become a regular at my local body shop, maybe they do a loyalty card.

Steedie said:
she just said "It's only a car!"

Did you proceed to smash your foot into her door a few times while repeating "It's only a car"?

Cristian · 6 Dec 2018 at 13:38

It really sucks, I managed to find a scrape that caused a massive bend in the wheel arch (which tends to be quite tough) and it went down to the bare metal.
For most people it really is something they don't care about, I remember dosing off for 10 minutes in a petrol station parking in Germany and I absolutely jumped up at the loudest bang imaginable. The lady's child next to me litterally jammed the door at full speed into the side of my car and she just looked at me with a very confused look as to ask "why am I upset, nothing happened!".

Howard · 6 Dec 2018 at 13:41

Steedie said:
I was sat in the car and a lady opened her door in to mine and I opened my window and brought it to her attention, she just said "It's only a car!"

I'm not sure exactly how I'd react if I was in this situation, but I do know it wouldn't be polite. What an absolutely cretinous, mouth-breathing thing to say.

Semple · 6 Dec 2018 at 13:46

Steedie said:
Ah man, that sucks dude.

It always terrifies me. I always park as far away as possible from other cars, or make sure I can see it, which means I spend the entire time looking over to check people getting in and out of there cars.

Some people just don't care though. I remember my first XF, I was sat in the car and a lady opened her door in to mine and I opened my window and brought it to her attention, she just said "It's only a car!". And that's the issue, to a lot of people, even with brand new cars, they are just simply a means to get from A to B and assume everyone else feels the same

I've always gone with the attitude that I would key someones car if I caught them doing it or knew for definite they did it. But then I doubt I'd ever do it as I'd like to think I'm not a pleb

I'm not sure how you kept your cool after that.

There should be a way of claiming off her insurance for the damage without any implications to yourself. As we all know even if you're not at fault, insurance now deem you as a higher risk. At least if people have to start paying out of their own pocket for the damage caused by their carelessness, then it might make them think twice.

200sols · 6 Dec 2018 at 14:04

Along with people just not caring, many spaces in car parks are not wide enough. I tend to park as far away as possible from the shops but when its busy you cant avoid other cars.

VincentHanna · 6 Dec 2018 at 14:14

That's because cars have gotten bigger over the years and spaces haven't.

America has huge car parking spaces, their 'compact' spaces are the equivalent of our standard spaces.

tom_e · 6 Dec 2018 at 14:14

Steedie said:
Some people just don't care though. I remember my first XF, I was sat in the car and a lady opened her door in to mine and I opened my window and brought it to her attention, she just said "It's only a car!". And that's the issue, to a lot of people, even with brand new cars, they are just simply a means to get from A to B and assume everyone else feels the same

I'm of the opinion that my car is indeed just a car, it's got a couple of dings from it's previous life and I added another when I caught some metalwork in the work car park shortly after passing my test and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. It's there for when I can't or it's impractical to use my bike.

Saying that I hold my bike in the same regard as you guys hold your car it's 13 years old done 65k miles but it's pristine and if someone dinged it and used the "it's bike a bike" line I'd be liable to rip their head off. So while I may hold no real love for my car I wouldn't go denting other peoples because it's just a car, there's just a complete lack of empathy these days.

Nasher · 6 Dec 2018 at 14:28

Find someone local who does paintless dent repairs and it will probably be about £60.

LiE · 6 Dec 2018 at 14:29

Nasher said:
Find someone local who does paintless dent repairs and it will probably be about £60.

I assume this is what the body shop will be doing, getting a quote this afternoon. They are trusted so would rather go with these guys if the price isn't steep.

Nasher · 6 Dec 2018 at 14:30

LiE said:
I assume this is what the body shop will be doing, getting a quote this afternoon. They are trusted so would rather go with these guys if the price isn't steep.

Nope, most bodyshops DON'T do PDR as anyone with the skills to do it usually works for themselves. Earning a lot more money.

A bodyshop will likely want to do it the long winded way involving filling re-spraying. Or palm it off to a 3rd party PDR guy anyway and charge you a markup.

iamtheoneneo · 6 Dec 2018 at 14:33

Given up caring after my new DS4 got its side wrapped around a fence post after 3 months. Cost to fix at least £2500.
Either way you look at it would have been pointless to get fixed, go through insurance and they jack the price up, pay the cash and I will never get that money back when it comes to sell.

I guess if its a small dent then sure get it fixed, but small dents generally aren't noticeable so why even bother?
It is just a car and for most of the population its a means to do the school run and get to work in one piece, Not an item to show off.

Better things to worry about imo and certainly better things to be spending money on.

House · 6 Dec 2018 at 14:37

LiE said:
I've resigned to the fact I'm going have to become a regular at my local body shop, maybe they do a loyalty card.

Who do you use in MK? The only one i've used close to recently was https://www.scuffnscratchsolutions.co.uk/ a few years back they fixed up my front bumper/grill etc when i hit a dog at speed on the H6 that some idiot had taken for a walk down the central reservation without a lead, they did a great job for me, but i'm always open to recommendations.

stoofa · 6 Dec 2018 at 14:41

LiE said:
I've resigned to the fact I'm going have to become a regular at my local body shop, maybe they do a loyalty card.

Did you proceed to smash your foot into her door a few times while repeating "It's only a car"?

To which the correct response is "I know, so it'll only be either £250 cash (lets cover all options) or your insurance details - your call"

Nasher · 6 Dec 2018 at 14:45

stoofa said:
To which the correct response is "I know, so it'll only be either £250 cash (lets cover all options) or your insurance details - your call"

Yea if it was me I'd just take photo evidence and claim on her insurance. Explaining that she didn't leave her details after causing the damage (which is of course a illegal requirement). The tiny hit on your premium won't be anything compared the hassle she will get.

LiE · 6 Dec 2018 at 15:14

Nasher said:
Nope, most bodyshops DON'T do PDR as anyone with the skills to do it usually works for themselves. Earning a lot more money.

A bodyshop will likely want to do it the long winded way involving filling re-spraying. Or palm it off to a 3rd party PDR guy anyway and charge you a markup.

I had my car in for a rear bumper repair and they did some magic pulling out a crease in the plastic. They did respray it though.

House said:
Who do you use in MK? The only one i've used close to recently was https://www.scuffnscratchsolutions.co.uk/ a few years back they fixed up my front bumper/grill etc when i hit a dog at speed on the H6 that some idiot had taken for a walk down the central reservation without a lead, they did a great job for me, but i'm always open to recommendations.

I use https://www.alshaws.co.uk/