[Mbettman]

Hi all, My brand new to me coupe was hit this morning in the parking lot where I live. No note, no witnesses, nothing except a football sized dent in the rear quarter panel. I'm wondering wether I should get insurance involved, or if I should try paintless dent removal. Has anyone had any luck with mobile dent removal services? Luckily there's no paint damage and the dent is fairly shallow. I already tried the plunger method but with little success...Probabily an entertaining topic of discussion for the people having breakfast in the restaurant overlooking the parking lot. It's not often you see someone taking a plunger to a porsche. I'll have to tick that one off of my "things to do in life" list. Any help at all would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt

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[Sears]

I am having my Grand Prix white coupe repaired for similar damage right now actually. I had some of the dents removed with paintless dent removal (on the door, worked great). However, my damage was on the body lines and the wheel arch on the right rear quarter and that requires conventional methods to repair. I think since your damage is below the body line and doesn't appear to reach the wheel arch, PDR would be a good bet. Find a great PDR guy, many are hacks. The guy I use is independent but covers the local porsche, audi, benz dealers here in Atlanta and knows his stuff. Usually it's $100/panel or so. A good PDR guy can look at it and tell you if he can fix it or not.

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[sbdrivingdotcom]

Not to take the wind out of your sails but I'm pretty sure the metal on that portion of the body is two layers thick separated by a small distance and paintless guys can't get to the back of it and work their magic. Had a dent in that area that couldn't be fixed. Sorry about that and good luck!

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[ds968]

Bummer, what a lousy mishap...and to make it worse there's a bum out there who did not even take responsibility for what they did. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif[/img] Are any security cameras nearby with view of the lot ? It'd be great to have film of the offender's car and zoom in on the plate to track him/her down .

That aside, if you happen to drive by on Industrial Road in San Carlos b/w Brittan and Holly, there's a shop called Coast Auto Body. Elmer ( the owner ) is a great guy, very honest, and even though they do great work if you need to, if this is a possible dentless repair job which can be done cheaper he'll tell you right away and I'm sure can even refer you to a reputable DR person in the area.

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[Mbettman]

I checked with a local paintless guy here and he said PDR could get it to 90% or so. Unfortunately the damage DOES reach the wheel arch as well as the very bottom of the panel where it dives under the bumper. I checked when it initially happenned, there's only one layer of sheet metal there, so if the dent was a little smaller PDR would have been a good option. Dan, as always, I appreciate your local knowledge. I'll look up your guy on Tues. For now, next stop Geico claims dept! Thanks all for the replies.
Matt

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[hryden]

I think PDR could probably do a very good job with the visible portion of the quarter. However, looking at how the bumper is now hanging against your quarter panel, I think you probably have more damage on the lower quarter than can be repaired by PDR. The rear portion of your quarter looks to be pushed in and it would likely need to be pulled out to get it to properly align with the bumper.

I would get with a good PDR tech to see what can be taken care with PDR and then look at conventional repair on the rest because the bumper may still not align properly after the PDR.

If you get the estimate from Geico (or any ins. co.) , don't cash the check until the all the work is done to your satisfaction if you decide to go that route. There's is probably more damage under the bumper that should be addressed than they will put on the estimate initially without taking the bumper off. Hope this helps.

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[Gotter]

Just wondering... I didn't see any paint transfer - and if this is a 'new to you' car, this is also a 'new to the neighborhood' car. Might be vandalism, someone with a jealous streak and a steel-toed boot. I had that happen to me in college with my 944. I think it was more just a drunken fraternity thing - the house across the street and us didn't get along too well... Anyways, they took a ball-peen hammer to my passenger door and ripped my passenger mirror off. Caught them on camera, but so dark that we couldn't prove exactly who it was or that they were from the house across the street.

Friggin' Alpha Tau Omegas.


Good luck!

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