General Dent advice

[loulou]

Looking for a bit of advice please. My 500c received a dent to the rear quarter panel near to the passenger door at the weekend due to a neighbour opening his door into it To give him his dues he owned up, was very apologetic and has offered to pay for the repair. I've contacted a local 'dent removal' company who have been very helpful but have looked at a photo of the damage and said that the dent looks to be at the edge of the panel, in which case they would not be able to guarantee a 100% perfect repair. If it isn't at the edge they can guarantee a perfect repair. The dent is not quite at the edge of the panel but very close so the company have offered to take a look at it but have said that if they can repair it the wheel and mud guard would need to be removed to carry out the job.

The car is just 3 months old, and I don't want anything less than a perfect repair. My question is, if they are able to repair it perfectly would removal of the wheel and mudguard to carry out the repair invalidate the warranty?

Thanks in advance for any responses

 

[killahboo]

I am no expert but would imagine you can remove both without it affecting the warranty. There are so many reasons why you might need to remove a wheel. Again with the mud flap I would think that is something your average person could put on/take off whenever they want depending on driving conditions

 

[FloJo]

Since it's still so new have you contacted a dealer servicing dept or the accident aftercare thingie (I'm not yet sure what's included when you get it new) http://www.fiat.co.uk/content/?id=20385

 

[pearce_jj]

Try not to get too stressed..., these things happen unfortunately. How much is the dent man?

 

[loulou]

I'm not getting particularly stressed. The dent man has quoted £120 if he is able to fix it. I would go to the dealer for a quote but if the dent man can fix it it would be a lot more convenient as it could be done at home rather than having to drop it off at the dealer and leave it there. Not particularly bothered about the cost as I'm not paying - just want to make sure that a good job is done on it.

 

[loveshandbags]

I'm not getting particularly stressed. The dent man has quoted £120 if he is able to fix it. I would go to the dealer for a quote but if the dent man can fix it it would be a lot more convenient as it could be done at home rather than having to drop it off at the dealer and leave it there. Not particularly bothered about the cost as I'm not paying - just want to make sure that a good job is done on it.

Hi loulou. I have two 500s - the previous one with a dent was metallic black (I think yours is a Black 500c ?) and the price I was quoted for fixing it - it was a respray was €450.
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/274198-little-thump-today-pearlescent.html?p=2797566
The car originally had wing damage on the front left and it had to be taken in by Fiat to 'keep' the warranty because new parts were being put on it. But in your case if it has to have its dent 'filled' and then resprayed IMHO it should not have to go into the dealer.
A good repair shop should give a quote for the 'job' and should be able to assess if the dent puller man can fix it even before he has a 'go at it'.
In my case I didn't get the dent fixed and when I sold the car I 'took' the repair damage off the car to lower the selling price.
If it was me I would probably get a quote for the damage.
Let the neighbour organise to have the dent puller have a go at it so they have an opportunity of a 'cheap' repair job of £120.
If that does not work you could settle on a 'compensation figure' and leave the car with the wee dent so the car remains original.
Can you post a picture of the dent ?

EDIT: If you double click (or treble click ?) on the link you'll see the dent over the rear wheel on the wheel arch.

 

[loulou]

Yes, it is metallic black. Photo of the damage attached.

It won't need a respray as the paint isn't damaged. I see where you're coming from with regards to leaving a small dent on the car but it's almost new and in perfect condition so having a dent, even a small one, would really bug me. I think I'll get the dent man to come and have a look and see what he can do.

 

[loveshandbags]

Yes, it is metallic black. Photo of the damage attached.

It won't need a respray as the paint isn't damaged. I see where you're coming from with regards to leaving a small dent on the car but it's almost new and in perfect condition so having a dent, even a small one, would really bug me. I think I'll get the dent man to come and have a look and see what he can do.

A key reason for me not getting the job done was that the car was 2 and a half years old and fixing the dent would have shown the rest of the car up.
Since you car is practically new any re-spray should match up perfectly with the new paintwork on the rest of the car. The 'Lacquer' finish is important so that it has the sheen of the original paintwork. Metallic black is always an extra on a new car. In the case of a Beamer its around €950 extra so on the Fiat its 'cheap'.
I very much doubt that the 'dent puller' will remove all the dent since it is too close to the edge as you already mentioned.
The whole side quarter panel would need to be resprayed.
Do you have the side protection mouldings on the car - couldn't tell from the picture ?

 

[306maxi]

Hmmmm don't really see that being easy or cheap to sort. Personally I wouldn't let the dent man have a go at it.

 

[bgunn]

Smart repairer is what you want for that. I know a good chap if you want the details - quality of his work is second to none.

 

[RUI]

They dont pull out the dent they push it out from the inside. I am sure they will be able to get that fixed.
In the trade you pay about £40/50 per panel to be fixed, even if it has a few dents in it. £120 is quite a lot but if you are not paying then who cares.

 

[grimwau]

I can't see why they would need to remove the wheel and mudguard need to be removed unless I am missing something.

Seems to me that only the interior panel would need to be taken off to get to the dent.

 

[mjsmke]

As the person responsible has offered to pay for it you may as well take it to the dealer and get it done perfectly.

 

[306maxi]

I can't see why they would need to remove the wheel and mudguard need to be removed unless I am missing something.

Seems to me that only the interior panel would need to be taken off to get to the dent.

I would have thought that the car would be double skinned there though and that there would be an interior skin if you removed the interior panel.

 

[jimboy]

I can't give any advise on the dent, but I certainly would be asking an experts point of view. This is a new car & I would be keeping the neighbour up to date on all information as well.

The cynic in me, I'm guessing this wont be a cheap fix. Obviously it can be fixed, but you want it done properly as you have already pointed out. The neighbour would be my main concern. Is he aware that this may be costly? Is he a reasonable man? Do you have anything down in writing? Do you have witlessness that have heard that he will pay for the damage?

I may be jumping the gun here, but these things tend to go pear shape sometimes. May be I'm just an old cynic. I hope you get it all sorted out. Best of luck.

 

[grimwau]

I would have thought that the car would be double skinned there though and that there would be an interior skin if you removed the interior panel.

Pearce_jj should be able to answer this as he has stripped all his panels etc. out of the car to fit sound deadening. I'll have a look through his guide to see if there are any photos that might be helpful.

<EDIT> added photo



Luckily this photo shows exactly the area where the dent is located and as you can see it would be far easier to access it from here as I cannot possibly see how it would be accessible from under the wheelarch.

 

[jrkitching]

I would have thought that the car would be double skinned there though and that there would be an interior skin if you removed the interior panel.

The rear quarter panel itself is a single skin but looking at the location of the dent the centre pillar is immediately behind it. No idea how much clearance there will be between the skin & the centre pillar, but it won't be much. If there is any access at all, then it will be had by removing the interior trim panel as grimwau has said.

I've attached a couple of FIAT diagrams showing this part of the chassis with the wing in situ & with it removed.

 

[Murano16v]

I reckon a good dent man will get that out. Access doesn't look too bad.
It is amazing what they can do, but always depends on the operators skill. I know a brilliant dent removal man down here in the Southampton area.
They might use a combination of pushing from the inside and pulling from the outside using the hot glue method. I had one done this way on my Mito's roof pillar where there was no access.
Take a look on you tube at what can be done.

 

[ahmett]

That is nothing = ) This happened to me the second day I had the car an old man hit me in the front left section of the car leaving quite a big dent! I was referred to Chipsaway (chipsaway.co.uk) the dent and scratch specialists and they fixed it for me for 100 euros (special price as referred from a friend). If you havent please call them they will fix that for sure!


Things like this happen.
Good luck with the repair I understand perfrectly how you feel as it happened to me but you'll forget about it completely once it is fixed.
Give chipsaway a try I have used them twice and they were perfect with me.
(they have a franchise in greece also which is what i used)

 

[306maxi]

The rear quarter panel itself is a single skin but looking at the location of the dent the centre pillar is immediately behind it. No idea how much clearance there will be between the skin & the centre pillar, but it won't be much. If there is any access at all, then it will be had by removing the interior trim panel as grimwau has said.

I've attached a couple of FIAT diagrams showing this part of the chassis with the wing in situ & with it removed.

What I meant was that there was an inner skin as indicated on the photos Grimwau posted, not that the the outer skin was a double skin I was replying to the person who said that they would need to remove the inner wheel arch and wheel as there is no access through there.