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So I'm looking at an A4 PP CPO with 5K miles. Dealer sent me photos on any imperfections. One is of a little dent in the A Pillar. Photo here. Try to ignore the reflections. Can this be fixed in any way? I mean any way not involving several hundred dollars or more.
Photo attached
The question will boil down to whether, and if so how easily, you can access the rear of that panel to hammer it out with PDR tools.
I have a dent in my roof from a giant acorn or small branch or something of the sort falling on it last summer, that is even smaller than that one, and because there is no access via the sunroof to where this particular dent is, the PDR guy had quoted me $600 to fix it as it will involve dropping the headliner to create the necessary access (I passed, not worth it IMO). On the other end of the spectrum, a dime-sized ding in a normal door can cost as little as $75 to pull out provided they can easily get in behind it via the window for example and if the paint isn't nicked behind it you are good to go with just that expense.
But, that's just to get the dent out. As you can see from your own photo the paint is also likely cracked. So you would then be at either the mercy of touch-up paint which a good detailer could probably make it look 90% new that way, and that's probably a different guy than your PDR guy to pay even if they work out of the same building, or in very rare cases you might need to respray the whole panel to get it looking 100% again and now you're in the thousands.
And, if you can't get PDR access, then you're looking at having a bodyman sand the paint down to the sheet metal so he can weld on a tab on to grab and pull the dent from that way -- and then re-paint for sure.
FWIW, this is why a single hailstorm can easily total a brand new car. It is sometimes way more work than it appears to fix these properly. You could call a PDR guy and ask though, some will do quotes right over text message although you'll probably want to take a better photo.
The question will boil down to whether, and if so how easily, you can access the rear of that panel to hammer it out with PDR tools.
I have a dent in my roof from a giant acorn or small branch or something of the sort falling on it last summer, that is even smaller than that one, and because there is no access via the sunroof to where this particular dent is, the PDR guy had quoted me $600 to fix it as it will involve dropping the headliner to create the necessary access (I passed, not worth it IMO). On the other end of the spectrum, a dime-sized ding in a normal door can cost as little as $75 to pull out provided they can easily get in behind it via the window for example and if the paint isn't nicked behind it you are good to go with just that expense.
But, that's just to get the dent out. As you can see from your own photo the paint is also likely cracked. So you would then be at either the mercy of touch-up paint which a good detailer could probably make it look 90% new that way, and that's probably a different guy than your PDR guy to pay even if they work out of the same building, or in very rare cases you might need to respray the whole panel to get it looking 100% again and now you're in the thousands.
And, if you can't get PDR access, then you're looking at having a bodyman sand the paint down to the sheet metal so he can weld on a tab on to grab and pull the dent from that way -- and then re-paint for sure.
FWIW, this is why a single hailstorm can easily total a brand new car. It is way more work than it appears to fix these properly.
Yeah, I sort of figured. I guess the real question is can I live with the dent? Probably need to see it in person to decide that.
Even if they can't access from the inside, they could use the glue pull method. I'd say it's probably a few hundred $ worth of work if a good PDR guy has to do it. For that I would 100% get it corrected. It's an eyesore and on a nice new (to you) car.
The metal in that A pillar is likely thicker than what the PDR guys are accustomed to working with. Also, isn't there an air bag hiding in there? Are they going to want to fool around with stuff like that?
Good call on the airbag. Didn't consider that -- that adds an element to consider for sure. At minimum I would get a PDR quote (again some will do it via text so this may take less effort than you think) and use it as a price negotiating tactic. If you think you can live with it then all the better, but damage is damage and a car with damage is either priced accordingly or it isn't.
If it can be fixed cheaply the dealer would have fixed it already.
Yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking. I'm supposed to see this car (and another with the same mileage) on Friday. I'll see what it looks like in person. I think I'd have to operate under the assumption that it's not fixable and decide whether I can live with it cosmetically.
07-01-2019, 10:27 AM
A Pillar dent. Can this be fixed?
