Well, I got a nice Christmas gift at the grocery store the other day when someone left a nice deep dent in the door of my 2015 Lariat. Anyone had experience getting these fixed?

The paintless repair guy looked at it and sent me to the body shop. He said the metal was pretty stretched and the paint is already cracked. So most likely, the paint crack will expand if he repairs it, and he said it's unlikely he can make the dent fully flush. At the body shop, of course they can repair it, but it will run about a $1000 to repair and re-paint (apparently BOTH doors need to be repainted in this case).

So we all agreed that we'll try paintless repair first and hope the paint doesn't crack badly. If it doesn't, I'll use touch-up on the small paint defect and live with it. If the paint starts to crack, they'll stop the paintless repair (and no charge), and we'll figure out what's next.

I'll hit another shop next week for some other pricing. But anyone here have other ideas or been through this?

 

Sounds like a claim on your insurance unless you just want to pay out of pocket.

 

I don't care how I end up paying for it. Shoot -- I've got a $500 or even $1000 deductible on my insurance so a claim isn't really going to help anything.

I just want it fixed properly and see if there other options or questions I should be asking. If the paintless repair DOES crack the paint, will it look so awful that I need to see the body shop right away?

 

It would bother me because I would know its there, I guess its just up to you whether you want a patch or complete repair.

 

Man that sucks I know how I'd feel. Paintless guys are amazing. Keep us posted.

 

Without seeing where the dent is, it's difficult to tell if this is truly a $1000 repair. Both doors being painted indicates the dent is close to the other door and the shop wants to blend the color to endure a good match.
Some shops can go the extra mile and custom match paint to potentially eliminate the need to blend. What color is your truck? Any chance you could post a pic?

 

Basically, that's what the body shop said. The dent is near the front of the rear passenger door, and he specifically mentioned blending with the other door. The truck is Magnetic Metallic.

Here are some photos . . . best I could do in the garage light. I can get something better tomorrow if a better view would help. The dent looks much larger in the daylight, but the top photo shows the top and bottom edges of where the metal is stretched.







Rear passenger door.





Closer view. Paint is chipped, but primer and other coats are intact.

 

Here's an idea. Park out in no mans land. No way I nor my wife park anywhere other vehicles. We can allude the walk and that's just what we do. Prob get in the stores faster than the guy that circles looking for a close spit anyhow

 

This. I always park where there are open spaces around me, because I know some jacka** is going to bump or ding my vehicle. It protects my vehicle, I can use the exercise, and I don't have to run around like a nut looking for a place to park.

 

No mans land can be bad by drawing attention to your nice truck and some jealous A$&@ wanting to give you a present because they can't have what you got. I love my truck but this aluminum body Instills fear in me in public. Had plenty of dings pulled on my Explorer so the PDR guys can work wonders but this body is challenging so far from what I've heard.