Fixing minor dents/ scratches or learning to live with them

[RP64]

As in the title! When you get a minor dent or scratch on your car do you learn to live with it or get it SMART repaired. I'm talking about relatively small blemishes, a car door causing a little dent in the car park etc

[Ninja59]

Dent without cracked paint - get my pdr guy out every time.

Stone chips and scratches I tend to wait for a proper bodyshop visit in honesty...smart repairs I have just so little trust in.

[sunnyb13]

Depends on the car. If it’s a daily driver sun £20k then I wouldn’t bother.

[colin79666]

I’ve been living with a small dent in the drivers door over winter (hate public car parks). Not going to live with it much longer, I’m irritated every time I see it!

[BananaFama]

sunnyb13 said:

Depends on the car. If it’s a daily driver sun £20k then I wouldn’t bother.

Yeah definitely this .......

Daily driver sun ?

[Cold]

BananaFama said:

sunnyb13 said:

Depends on the car. If it’s a daily driver sun £20k then I wouldn’t bother.

Yeah definitely this .......

Daily driver sun ?

Sub. Sub £20k.

[Lester H]

I have seen some very poor so called smart repairs done by man in van. Not always, but often poor as some of these operations are franchises, so the quality and experience of the operator can vary. Personally if I like a car which is anything above a banger, I wait until a few blemishes inevitably appear, then have them all repaired at a small local body shop ( for cash.)That and going at their convenience keeps the cost realistic.

[kambites]

I generally just leave them. Life's too short to worry about paint scratches IMO. When I come to sell the car I'll decide whether it's worth fixing them or financially better to sell the car with the imperfections still in place.

[swisstoni]

Dents and dings are probably best left to the pros, but an awful lot of chips, scratches and scuffs can be corrected by the average punter who’s watched a few YouTubes.

It depends on how motivated you are.

[Jaguar steve]

kambites said:

I generally just leave them. Life's too short to worry about paint scratches IMO. When I come to sell the car I'll decide whether it's worth fixing them or financially better to sell the car with the imperfections still in place.

Exactly this.

You'll find wheel scuffs and minor dents and scratches and one or two stone chips on all three of my cars without looking very hard. Rather than fussing and stressing over them It's incredibly liberating when instead you accept that st happens sometimes and simply ignore them.

[Dog Star]

Ninja59 said:

Dent without cracked paint - get my pdr guy out every time.

Stone chips and scratches I tend to wait for a proper bodyshop visit in honesty...smart repairs I have just so little trust in.

Ninja - what do you pay to have a small ding fixed?

I ask as I managed to put a tiny (sub 1cm) dink in the bonnet of my SL the other day. My gf insists she can’t see it, but I can!

[bongo96]

Could this be smart repaired? Dents on a door about 3 to 5 mm deep down to bare metal. (to cut a long story short imagine a rock was thrown at the car- and imagine the police not being able to help- despite having footage of the incident and reg numbers)

Any ideas re: cost?

Edited by bongo96 on Thursday 13th April 11:59

Edited by bongo96 on Thursday 13th April 12:00

[CrippsCorner]

Jaguar steve said:

kambites said:

I generally just leave them. Life's too short to worry about paint scratches IMO. When I come to sell the car I'll decide whether it's worth fixing them or financially better to sell the car with the imperfections still in place.

Exactly this.

You'll find wheel scuffs and minor dents and scratches and one or two stone chips on all three of my cars without looking very hard. Rather than fussing and stressing over them It's incredibly liberating when instead you accept that st happens sometimes and simply ignore them.

Absolutely this. I find a new scratch on my car every time I wash the thing to be honest... best to 'let go' and live with it, my mental health definitely seems better after taking this approach! At the same time it's the same reason I'll never own anything 'really nice' but such is life.

I kind of take on the main bodywork issue with a car and leave the rest. For instance with my car the front bumper was cracked, so I did get that repaired (along with the grill sprayed) and with the missus she bought her car with a dent in the boot which I want to get sorted, but will probably just leave the bumper scuffs.