theanimala

So my 2005 A8L with $115K miles was damaged by a parking garage. After a bit of a fight they agreed to accept responsibility. Not sure how they did it but they pushed in the metal directly under the drivers side mirror. It continues a bit into the front fender as well, and the body molding also got scratched. The damage is very easy to see on sunny days when my car is clean and I am walking up to the car. When it's cloudy and not so clean the "warped" look is less obvious. Repairs come to nearly $2000 with tax.

Overall my car is very clean, but obviously not perfect after all of these years and having the car with small kids. I plan on driving the car another year or two. I'm wondering if it is worth it to repair the car with no cost to me, or just pocked the $2K and living with this and taking the hit when I sell it. Wondering if I will sell it for $2K less because of this damage or just make it that much harder to sell. By the point I am ready to sell it I will probably just trade it in because of the high miles at that point.

I'm at a loss on what to do and would love to hear the thoughts of you experts... Thanks!

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mishar

If I plan to drive her for some time I would repair that, no matter how much it would cost or I can save. I hate piling negative feelings and if not fixed it will be thousands of them over two years. One every time you open and close this door.

If you decide to fix this you may try to find same color door and fender at some junkyard. There are many A8 there since repairs of aluminum body easily exceeds car value. That, including replacing door and fender should be quite a bit less than $2K and she would be as good as new.

Mister Bally

If it was no cost at all and not even reported to an insurance company, I would have it repaired. Disclosure, my 2004 has no collision or comprehensive coverage at all.

NYCA8L

YOU CAN LOOK UP TO SEE IF THERES A LOCAL PAINTLESS DENT REMOVER AND GET THE DENTS OUT NO NEED FOR PAINT WORK.

Bangerla

Or check to see if you can find a door the same color from a salvage yard. Might take a few hours to swap everything over, but probably pocket $1500

Panelhead

Get the dent popped out. A good body shop can then buff out the paint issues.
Try this first, and maybe 300.00. If not good enough drop the 2,000.00.
The lower picture looks strange. May be my screen.

theanimala

Thanks guys, going to have the repair done. My wife was using my car today and when she pulled up it's all I could notice. Luckily the 3rd party insurance company has sent me a check for the full amount so it won't cost me anything out of pocket minus the inconvenience of not having my car for a week...

TSHong

I would definitely go with paint less dent removal. You might have a little trouble with someone to work on an aluminum car. Someone who is good can repair it and your paint would all match and you could pocket the difference.

mcs

Be careful with PDR. I had a tiny mark removed from the middle of my passenger side door cause by a careless genetic cul-de-sac.

Anyway, depending on if your car has acoustic glass, it could be much more expensive as they have to disassemble the entire panel.

Mike

winy68

if it hasnt already been mentioned, the door is aluminum. you should look at a place that guarantees their work on alm. otherwise replace the door, know that it will never be quite the same.

I just went thru this with one of my doors... they replaced the entire door and painted everything except the roof and the hood. The total bill was $10,000. I also got a new wheel out of it. I paid about $1500 for two sections that I wanted painted, also a used grill installed. They did a very good job but not to my precise expectations. In my case the used way to much flake so the paint looks to metallic/silvery. If memory serves me you have the oyster grey, just like mine. $2,000 seems reasonable but watch out for color match. good luck