Not again! Another mystery dent in my new(er) Challenger

[JS29]

@JH27N0B  Deer collision's are filed under comprehensive, act of god. I see quite a few of them a year, my two last repair jobs in my shop were deer hits. 

[RUNCHARGER]

Yes: They're too stupid to live. The last one cost $2k to fix on my 05 Cummins.

[JH27N0B]

@JH27N0B  Deer collision's are filed under comprehensive, act of god. I see quite a few of them a year, my two last repair jobs in my shop were deer hits. 

Good to know but I hope I never have to deal with that type of claim first hand.
Though with my luck, hitting a deer with my Challenger is almost inevitable!
Here in IL I've heard if you hit a deer, you can keep the carcass.  So at least you get to fill up your freezer with venison.

[jimynick]

I worked 33 years as a insurance appraiser and here in Canada, you need to say that the deer was in the air and hit your car- or it's a collision. Also, as an old bodyman, that dent in your fender surely doesn't look like a golf ball hit. Not unless it was shot out of a cannon over your car! It hit so hard, in a high-crown area, that it's sucked the edge of the fender inwards and that takes a pretty good wallop to do. I note the roundness of it, but look at the inside of the depression for scratching or other marks, because it looks just like a dent caused by a ball pein hammer or other round, hard object, (golf ball in a sock?). Ask your company if you have accident forgiveness. My company would not penalize a policy holder for their first, at-fault loss and yours may do as well; but be advised, also ask them what happens for the next one and what the financial consequences are accordingly, before you pull the trigger. Then, go to a decent bodyshop and get them to give you an appraisal on a cash paid repair and compare your options. Good luck 

[kawahonda]

Please don't have a bodyshop fix that....that is a perfect job for good PDR work. It is better to PDR when possible. No paint and no filler.

That's probably a $150 job.

[anlauto]

Okay....so this was just on our local news the other night....A lady was driving her new SUV along the road beside a golf course....heard the noise (scared the crap out of her), pulled over and found the dent....Turns around and goes into the golf course....They immediately offer to pay her insurance deductible , $1000. She gets an estimate of over $3000 to fix  ....but now is worried her insurance will go up so she wants the golf course to pay the whole thing.

The dent they showed on TV was of similar size but located in her roof.....A VERY SIMPLE "Paintless Dent Removal" repair for likely $200....Who's screwing who here Body shops/Insurance companies suck

[kawahonda]

I'm taking my Challenger (original paint) in for PDR later this year. I'm prepared to spend $1500 to get 4-6 dents of various sizes out that stand out....well worth the cost, even in 10 years when I repaint it = less filler. The little dings on the door I don't care about and can be handled by light skim coating.

PDR is magic. Body shops typically have a PDR-guy on call to come in and do work for them. A repaint should always be viewed as a last resort!

[JH27N0B]

One time I was driving by a golf course, on an unseasonably warm day in December, when I spotted something up in the air, which I quickly realized was a golf ball. It plunked down on my Lincoln LSs aluminum hood and put a crater in it. Another case when I should have stopped, I lived with the ding until I traded that POS in several years later.
There were light white scratches in my Challenger fender going perpendicular to the top, angled slightly toward the windshield.  And a trace of whitish powder on the edge of the hood by where you see the ding.
After I got home, I tried some polish and 6000 grit polishing cloth and it's almost gone.  Someone with a buffer could take the trace left off in seconds I'm guessing.
Once again, the car has hardly been out this year, so that couple hours at the airport is the most likely time it happened.
I'm off Friday, and hope to go over to the PDR place to see if they can fix it.  They charged me $125 for the ding in the door last year.
If not, I guess I have to call state Farm about a comprehensive claim.  Wish me luck with the PDR place!

[JH27N0B]

Well I took yesterday off work so I could take the car to the PDR place.  The guy worked on it around 35 minutes than came and gave me the bad news that he was able to make some progress fixing the dent, but couldn't work it any further as he was afraid he'd crack the paint if he applied more force. When we were talking, he said "let me guess, golfball?". 
After I got home I called State Farm about putting in a comprehensive claim, and they checked their records and found the PDR place wasn't on their approved list.  So I then drove the car up to a shop near my house that has fixed my FCA Dart daily driver a few times.  They did an estimate, and it came out to $1575!  They need to paint the whole fender, replace the stripe, replace the emblems which they say usually get damaged when removed so they just order new ones.  And paint the whole fender and feather the paint into the hood and door.
They could have the PDR guy they use come out and try to get it out the rest of the way, and it would be $200 if he could.  The other place I went to said he would have worked it harder if he had a go ahead to repaint if the paint cracked.  So it is possible that might work.
I have a Mopar friend who has a body shop and is on the State Farm approved list. I'm going to call him Monday for advice.
Great... another project to do in my copious free time!
After 4 times I've had cars damaged by golf balls, I am going to lobby for a ban on golf, to ban this passtime before any more innocent cars get damaged.  I've had enough!  What did Rodney Dangerfield say in Caddyshack, something about Golf Courses and cemeteries being the biggest wastes of prime real estate?

[kawahonda]

Leave it be. The PDR man did a great job.

[RUNCHARGER]

$1575 to repair, you can see why insurance costs a bunch these days.

[anlauto]

I would go to a different PDR company and see it they can finish the job 

[JH27N0B]

Looking at the quote, would you believe the R/T classic fender stripe alone was $200?  I thought prices for our vintage car parts were the only ones out of hand!  And they replace the fender Challenger emblem and Hemi hood emblem because they claim they usually get messed up when removing so they just plan on replacing them.
While waiting I overheard one of the managers helping the woman do my estimate and they were talking about not finding the "Chrysler emblem" listed.  I think they must have been talking about the Pentastar emblem I added to the lower fender. 
They did say they'd have their PDR guy, a contractor who comes by there once or twice a week, try first.  $200 if he can finish the job without damaging the paint.
Anyway, I'll be interested in talking to my friend who owns a body shop says.  He also does pin striping and said he'd redo the pinstripes on my convertible (it's currently decals but I want to do it factory correct with paint). My car is coded for the pinstripe option.  He's always so swamped I've been hesitant to bug him, but as long as I'm talking to him about an insurance job it will be a good time to remind him about the 'vert!

[JS29]

In NY there are laws that state an insurance company CAN NOT dictate were you have your car fixed. 

[JH27N0B]

We may have a similar law here.  To clarify what State Farm told me, to have the shop that attempted the PDR on my car continue further with possible paint and body work, they were not to start any work until a SF adjuster came out to review the damage and authorize the work.
At a State Farm approved shop, the shop can estimate the work, then if the customer chooses them to do the job, they can schedule the work immediately without the adjuster having to come see the damage.
I rechecked that estimate, the fender R/T stripe is $244 not $200!