This morning I had an appointment with a new client at 7:30 in the morning. I got there and the parking lot was packed. I normally try to park way out where no one will ding my doors, but there were no spots open. I took the only spot that was available, but fortunately it was really wide I thought the car would be fine. I was inside for less than an hour. I came back out and the spot to the left of me was empty, but there was a big ding in my driver's door. Here is how my emotions progressed:

On Friday the ding dude is supposed to be coming to fix it. I have two other dings he'll be fixing at the same time. Hopefully this will work.

 

Feel for you Sam
Hope it all gets sorted ok!!

HTH

 

Bummer.

I have a great ding guy. Knowing he can fix this stuff like new contributes greatly to my mental health.

I am as nutty as the next guy about parking in a safe spot (ask my wife), but knowing that a ding can be put right allows me to actually take my eyes off the car and enjoy dinner.

These cars with the big smooth doors look really great without dings. Any dings really stand out. I haven't gotten any yet.

It is a daily driver.

The day will come.

Jack

 

I just don't understand how some people just don't give a damn. My girlfriends innocuous minivan was keyed the entire length with two deep parallel lines at the mall not long ago??? WTF!!!

When I saw my jag at the airport for the first time it was a really bright sunny day. I decided I wanted it and really didn't notice all the door dings until the next morning. I was a little bumbed, but my son said.."hey it's not perfect so you can drive it, enjoy it, and not be annal about it". BUT sometimes I wish I'd waited for a near perfect one, but then it would have cost more...the cheapest I've seen others (on-line) since buying mine have been $19.5k (and they may not have been perfect); $4500 more than I paid...so mine was discounted. I don't think $15k for a 65K mi XKR coupe with the exterior and interior colors I wanted wasn't too bad. Plus it's really clean and rust free underneath being a Texas car. So yeah, I look at it and want the dings out, and when I find the right guy i'll do so

Hey, when I read your thread title I thought "Oh no something broke or he crashed it" so in the big picture not really a "Very Bad Day"

 

I almost wonder if this was done on purpose. I park my Expedition as close to the front as I can get. It's wider than the Jag. Yet it doesn't have a single ding. But one of the few times I park my Jag near other cars and I end up with a ding.

 

Man thats a bummer.

Let us know how it goes with your ding dude. I have a couple I have been procrastinating on. It seems like I only see them when I show the car to someone, lol. I also have a walnut tree that hangs over the driveway and nabs the hood of every car I have at least once a year with a walnut from 40 feet up.

 

Sorry to hear that. I remember how I felt when I came down to breakfast at the hotel I stayed at on the way back from collecting my XKR to discover someone had backed into the rear bumper during the night and driven off leaving a horrible 18" scratch on my brand new car. There's no way these people can't know what they've done.

 

I hope he fixes your car at all his cost , I see no point of why people are so reckless .

 

Many people out there are bad drivers AND dishonest. Can't get away from them, they are like dog poop. They're at the schools, the stores, the airports...everywhere. Too bad licenses don't require a lie detector test.

 

More proof that Neanderthals aren't extinct.

 

Sometimes, I jot down the license plates from the vehicles next to me...not for the dings (obviously they'll deny it) but if they do damage upon backing out, I can report it and hopefully match up the damage. Thankfully, I haven't done that yet. I even take a quick phone pic of them, just in case. (I'm paranoid, I know)

Remember my various dings i've gotten over the years Rev? That time I parked in the last parking stall, only a walking zone on my passenger side up to a building, and when I came back, there is a huge dent on my passenger side!!! Someone chose to park in the striped walking zone and make an impression on me!!! Ding repair was flawless.

Then there was that time I visited my sister and parked in front of her house last year. Her neighbor backs out of their drive across the street and BAM, fender well dent! I even confronted the owners, could match the damage up with the pickup parked in their driveway, they 'would call me tomorrow' (yah, I fell for that), then left my business card several days in a row asking for insurance information, w/o any success. Plus, my brother-in-law says he's never seen the pickup back at that house! Anyway, since the damage was on the rolled part of the fender, the dentless repair guy could not get the entire imperfection out...but close.

I've had mechanics put too much weight on the front fender...dent.

I've had mechanics leave a tool under the bonnet...then shut it...dent

I've toppled a studio light myself onto my rear fender...dent

Painltess repair guys know me by name now. I even got a "next dent free" card. Feel better now?

 

AS QUOTED BY REV. SAM
I feel for you man.
AS QUOTED BY FLA STEVE
There's so many people that are Jealous and oblivious to there surroundings Just take a look round. When I first went to NYC I could not believe the amount of cars with damage to their bumpers and doors. I actually saw a driver bang into the car in front of him and then banged into the guy behind just to get out of a parking spot. I don't know how anybody could take a decent car into town there.
AS QUOTED BY PAUL
ENOUGH SAID!

 

Sam, is this a repair that you do not want to try yourself? If it's in the door and the dent is accessible from the inside, it might be a DIY - with video? I have some hail damage on my car and will attempt to fix it myself this summer. I have no experience with this but I'm going to give it a try. I got the feeling if dent is easily accessible from the underside of the panel, it can be slowly massaged out with the right tool...I'm sure harbor freight has them.
sorry to hear you got dinged

 

That's a shame Sam, Some people just don't care. How big is the ding?

 

I am very sorry to hear about your ding experience. Pardon my French but over the years I have just come to the conclusion to assume that, in general, many folks out there are just f**king a**holes.

The ONLY ding I got in my Corvette after 14 years of ownership was the one time that I was with my wife going to a movie and we were in a hurry to make the show. I usually drive around for whatever time it takes to find an end spot away from people. This time I just picked a spot down a row that was (at the time) mostly empty. When I came back there was some idiotic huge pickup parked close on the passenger side and, sure enough, there was a paint chip where his door obviously hit my car. I did not do anything but was still disgusted.

You would think that as cars have gotten more and more expensive, drivers and passengers would be more conscious of how they opened their doors when they park next to someone.


Doug

 

That sux Sam. I would go ballistic.

 

That's terrible.It does make you wonder about some people!

 

Someone put a small ding on my front wing a couple of weeks ago,on My XK8.I think these morons are just stupid jealous people.My worst experience was when I was 21 I bought a Golf GTI in mint condition,Id been saving 4 years for it and back then it was my dream car,first night out with it parked it on a well lit road but some evil brat keyed it both sides front to back,and it was mettalic green,I actually cried myself to sleep that night.If only I could have got hold of the culprit.

 

Hmmm... I just looked. Harbor Freight doesn't carry the tools. I've seen the videos on youtube, and I was surprised to see that they actually use tools with very sharp points. They poke the ding from the backside with the pointy tool. They start on the edges and work their way to the center. They can even get out creases.

I just found this toolkit online. It's $615 for what looks to me like a few pieces of bent metal.

 

One our business neighbors started a paintless repair business a couple of years ago. He spent about $8000.00 in tools and went to school for a couple of weeks. he has about forty or fifty hand tools similar to what you pictured Sam. plus pneumatic tools that he could reach in with and press dents out. He told me some dings are impossible to get out just because of the location, ( depending what's behind the panel.) He seems to do pretty good at it, But I think there's a bit of skill involved.
Doug
2001 XKR Silverstone