Dented fender on my perfect car - advise?

A bicycle was dropped near my parked 1999 C4 today (by my kid of all things!), and the bike hit it on the fender and bumper and did some ding damage. I could make an insurance claim - not sure I will or not yet. If I take it to a bodyshop for repair, I am sure they can get the dents out and respray, but is this the best way to go? Can I order an arctic silver new Right Fender and just have it installed? Same for the bumper damage? It's not serious damage, but you know how my stomach feels I am sure - still queasy about it. I'm trying to put it in perspective, but I love that car and it sickens me to have any damage on it. ugh. It just happened an hour ago, and I thought I better get this out of my system. Already I feel better just posting my questions about this here. My main questions: 1. Would it be better to order a new Right Fender with arctic silver paint and have a dealer install it? The nearest Porsche dealer is 500Km away, but I don't mind driving there for a holiday. Is it common to just replace the fender and bumper and send the damaged one's to the jobbers? I'd lke that and it would restore my vehicular karma. OR 2. Should I get the best autobody shop in town to do their thing and fix it? 3. If the body shop does the repair and repainting, will my car's finish be just as good as new? Close to good as new? 4. Do you guys think I should do an insurance claim? I have no prior claims and a $50.00 deductible deluxe policy of some sort. The attached pictures show the 3 dent areas. Kindof a gouge scrape on the fender and a really deep ding closer to the front of the fender, and then on the bumper wheel well a line of crush damage with spidering of the paint. Now I'll go throw up.

I was going to say - I'd like to just order the replacement fender and bumper and just have the dealer install it. That way I know it'll go back together perfectly and I'll have factory paint? I wonder what that would cost and whether it's worthwhile overall.

Go give you kid a hug and tell them its only a car...

to get a new fender fitted and painted will run you $2k (part is about $450, rest is in paint and labour). To fit the fender they need to get the door off and then blend the paint into the door and hood - so it's a pretty serious undertaking for what looks like a minor ding. My ding was a lot bigger and really required a replacement......

haha totally - man if i did that to my dad's car and he was **** about it... i'd be soooo scared to tell him. -take it to a good body shop to get it done right -don't file a claim if you can swing the repair with visa/cash - it'll stick on your record for a good 3 years

First to answer your question no, you cannot order a silver fender from the dealer. They come in a bad primer to be finished by the paint shop. Second, YOU DO NOT NEED A NEW FENDER! No body shop or insurance co. in the world would ever replace that fender. Simple fix but the biggest concern will be in the paint match on a silver car. The fender will need to be blended into the door to make this work. Not a big deal but it is the reason to use the best body shop you can find.

Totally, completely agree with Steven C. A really top end body shop will remove the dent and repaint without your being able to detect it. Plantraco, if you post the area where you live, I'm sure fellow Rennlisters will suggest some high end shops for an estimate. Don't replace the quarter panel - you're throwing your $$ away.

What do you think about this? http://www.metacafe.com/watch/501379...ith_airduster/

Juan...I was just gonna post that.....except I've seen people use the computer keyboard C02 cans as well instead of dry ice. They hold the can upside down and spray for about 10 seconds after warming the metal. Not sure if that will work here b/c it look like scratches here. I just came from Walgreens looking for that stuff so I can test it on my wife's minivan....it's dented all over....she's so bad. But the videos with the examples are really amazing. Also.....most insurance companies will not surcharge you or revoke your accident free status if your total claim is under 1K dollars. I just did it with state farm on a small fix on the bmw....double checked everything and they wrote me a check for 500 bucks.....the repair was 1K, so my deductible was subtracted. IT HAS ZERO EFFECT ON MY INSURANCE as I hit a parking curb and didn't claim over 1K. It's actually a law in many states that you can't be succharged for something that minor under 1K. J

Thanks for the good advice. My son is over it, probably more so than I am, but yeah, worse things could have happen. Looks like I'll get the autobody shop to do the repairs and get it over with - I might call my insurance broker to see what the effect on my insurance would be for making a claim for these dings. As for that video with he CO2 - that was pretty neet, but won't help my small dents I don't think. The paint is a bit wrecked too.

PDR followed by paint.

It could be much worse, the other day my garage door broke, came off its tracks, and landed on my car. Got a similar "ding", several other minor scuffs and scratches in multiple locations, and some canvas top damage (it was a light/cheap door, but seemed to hit every panel) - I can't wait to see how it goes with the insurance. Best of luck!

But why, if he's painting anyway? I had something similar happened but a LARGER damage on the driver's fender alone. I had it repainted, NOT replaced... the bodyshop only recolored the damaged part, NOT the entire fender BUT they did re-clear the entire fender. Came out perfect, even with orangepeel that matches. Worth $1k. I didn't claim it to my insurance since it's something minor that could cause my rate to increase.

My son said 7-7-7 isn't so lucky for us today! As you say - it could have been worse.

That is not too bad, but I do know how you feel. At least it's outside the car and your interior is safe, and they don't have to remove any other panels etc. Looks like a simple fix for the bodyshop. I just had my damaged door repaired and repainted. Didn't do a perfect job I'm afraid.

The dents can be taken out by various means with very little filler being used. As for spotting in the paint on a metallic silver, that is very tough. Also, re-clearing over past clear is hard to get the gloss or sheen to match as now the reflective surface is deeper than the rest of the car. Most times an experienced detailer or body man can pick this kind of repair out in a crowd. Glad yours worked out so well but on silver this is not a repair method that I would reccomend.

My car was subject to a similar incident but involving a neigbors car (which he denied) and slightly bigger damage last summer and I ended up having to spray both front fenders, trunk lid and front bumper to paintmatch but I can still tell the difference against the doors and A pillars

I'd rather have PDR performed that the use of filler.

Either way, it's going to be repainted. It does not makes sense to do double-work/pay for redundant work.

I wouldn't even use my insurance for this - your rates may and likely will go up if you report it, plus you pay deductible anyway. I'd save insurance for more serious damage. Just my opinion.

Yes Sir, because you are always right!

umm.. ok?