jcfay

Hi folks - I purchased a brand new '14 C63 coupe and when driving it out I noticed the most minor of dents (there are 2 actually) on the rear quarter panel. The salesman assured me these could be removed "in an hour" but now at the dealer they're telling me it needs to go to a separate body shop, would take a week, and a full repaint because of the location. See pic, they're a little more visible in the right light but hard to capture on camera.

The dent is so minor and invisible most of the time. But on re-sale I could take a hit. The dealer may offer me some compensation or repair in the future but I'm moving. What do you think this job would cost? What should I ask for?

thanks

jcfay

PS the service advisor told me they'd estimate it would cost 800-900$. thoughts?

glennhl

Use a paintless dent removal service. Should cost around $75 per dent.

abcut973

Is your dent greater > 1 inch?
You can google it there are some techniques to fix small dents using warm/cold effect with a heat gun, foil paper and ice. I actually never tried it but coud be cheaper than $800.
What I don't understand is why didn't you ask the SA to fix this before signing? Were the dents already existing?

jcfay

I had already signed and they are so hard to see in most light that I almost missed them. The dealer, however, said they'd fix them so are on the hook for the cost. They have a dent guy who looked at them this morning and said, just because of location, that he couldn't do it. The extend a few inches, 2 of them parallel to each other (almost like a packing strap had caused it). Instead they'd need to go to a body shop, be gone a week, etc. And that's a big inconvenience for something so darn minor and most often invisible.

They just offered me $200, I said no and came back with $500. We'll see if they balk... I'm sure they'd be on the hook for more considering they'd need to flatbed it miles to the body shop, pay for the work, etc.

glennhl

This happened to me on a new car. The dealer was going to paint it and I certainly did not want to paint a new car. You run the chance of that section of the car fading differently over the years.

So I contacted "Fix-a-dent" and they fixed it perfectly without painting it. Took them about 30 minutes to do it and they charged the dealer $75.

Google "paintless dent removal" for your area, I'm betting there are some guys that can fix those dents in no time at all. Avoid paint at all costs. And that's the good news, the paintless is much, much cheaper. One of those few times that something that is better is also cheaper. Good luck.

jcfay

Thanks Glenn - appreciate it. I definitely didn't want to get the car painted, nor off to a body shop for a week. I'll see what the dealer comes back to me with and I'll probably just walk with a check and hit up the dent repair guys in the future when I need to.

glennhl

Sounds like a good plan. Also, I'm betting you are the ONLY person that ever notices that small dent. Depending on your personality, you may be able to ignore it.

Tinbucket

Mercedes and me don't like seeing their cars with visable damage. I had a spot about the size or a pencil eraser, from someone opening a SUV door on rear quarter panel. Insurance and Mercedes said it had to be repainted. 800.00 but it looks factory.

-Marlin-

Oh well

Gadget

Take it to a paintless dent repair guy and have him tell you if he can do it or not.

I have used those folks several times and it has always amazed me how they can make stuff like that look absolutely perfect in just a couple of minutes using scary things like crow bar looking things and hammers.

I will be they can get it out with no problem and it will be much better than a body shop doing it.

G

Ingenieur

paintless dent repair should be able to do something with that
access from behind doesn't look too difficult

KIS007

OP, even though the dealers dent guy passed on the repair, I would still get a second opinion. As other have said, the best dent repair guys can work magic.

m a x i m u s

if I am seeing your pic correctly, I had a dent in a similar spot. initially, the dent less guy said it may not be repairable due to location. he thought it was near the edge of the fender where the sheet metal folds over into two layers, and that would make it impossible to rub the dent from behind. luckily though he was able to fix it. I'd recommend finding a different dent guy. or I'd have it painted, as long as it's from an MB certified shop.

jcfay

thanks all. Well, after the service dept. advised they'd have to send it out for a week after having their dent guy look at it, they called the salesman and he offered me $200. I came back at $500 and he said he'd check and then he never called me back. I sat at the service dept for 2+ hours waiting for his call. BS. I leave, and an hour later he calls me and says they aren't "authorized" to do >$300 - so I said find, send me a check.

Gotta say pretty darn disappointed with the salesman on this one. His attitude post-sale hasn't been great and this has turned out to be a pain. You'd figure if they have to pay to flatbed it 50 miles, pay the body shop for repair and repaint, give me a loaner for a week, they'd be willing to pony up something more reasonable than $300. But if a dent repair guy can do these, then I should be all set - fingers crossed!

papashango

Try PDR guys...or you can even buy online DIY kits that suction these right out. They seem small enough to fit that. And that's nothing new about the salesman not being of much help after the sale. That's pretty much how majority of them are like.

-Marlin-

I was never had hard time

jcfay

I couldn't believe the guy had the gall to leave me sitting in the service dept for 2 hours. Like I'm EVER going back to him or that dealer. I'm tempted to complain as I'm sure (this is a LARGE dealer, MB/Porsche/Jag/etc.) and I doubt they'd want to alienate a likely future customer. This was my first, but most certainly won't be my last lux car purchase. I just won't go there again. Friggin' unbelievable. I should bill them for my time.

Tinbucket

AS Dealers go we have a good one here. However thy took on a new Service Writer. I seem always to be steered to him. Bought new tires and did not want it aligned. They kept on and offered me a coupon for 49.00 so I went with it but the total, of everything wa several hundred dollars more than I was quoted on the phone. He said well we don't includ tax in the quote and so on and the price of tires were higher. called them that day going home that it wasn't right. When I got the chance I took it back. They wanted to charge me149.00 for another alignment. Uh Uh. So I talked with a Writer that has been there a long time and it worked out but the original Writer said something smart about, I bet you will be back again, refering to the alignment, almost under his breath. It needs further realignment and I will pay for it this time at another shop, unfortunately over a hundred miles away. think they hired some new guys in the service department. They had some sharp young guys. I didn't notice them that last time.The guy that balanced my tires, for example and broke the center ornament. Apparently close enough on blance is alright. Never happened before. Being a little out of blaance is annoying and makes the wheel shake and the car not track perfectly, things you don't want at 180 mph.

jvanbrecht

You should not have accepted the money from them, they are now off the hook.

Just because their body guy could not fix it, does not mean that another one could not. Since this is a new car, removing the panel and repainting it would not have affected fading or color matching as long as the body shop they use used OEM paint materials.

Secondly, I would have gone to 3 different body shop's or PDR people and got quotes for those who said they could remove it, and handed those to the dealer and said choose.

While they may not be authorized to write you a check for more than a certain amount, there is ntohing preventing them from paying a body shop of your choosing.