Removed, resolved.
12 year old car? I’d just leave it. I get those kind of dents often.
I am sorry if this sounds rude. But any guess you get on body repair from any forum is worthless. Your location has a bearing and who you have do it make a difference.
I am with Bill, just leave it. After you get a couple of estimates you will most likely agree.
Alright, thanks.
Is that a dent in plastic? Wonder if paintless dent repair would be worth a shot.
No it’s not plastic
I don’t think pointless dent removal will work on this dent. A shop might bump it out with a hammer if they can reach it. If not, they have to remove the part and them beat it out. A little paint and blending is likely, and I expect that it would cost $500 to $1000. If they suggest replacing the part, it is probably because the cost to pound out the dent is more than that of a new part and paint.
That’s part of the rear quarter panel.
You can’t remove a rear quarter panel.
The best way to fix a dent like that is, cut out the dented section, and weld in a new section.
But with a dent that small, and a vehicle this old, I’d live with it.
Tester
It also looks like the bumper has been pushed into the fascia panel.
Let’s see… one bumper, $900, one fascia panel, $50, painting, $1400…
That’ll be $4million, 12 thousand, and forty two dollars. And 29cents. The 29cents is for the paperwork.
Seriously, you can either get a few estimates from reputable shops, or shop replacement parts online and do the work yourself, or check at the boneyards for replacement parts.
OP, I am not a moderator or anything, just poster. But, please do not remove your OP. Many people look at Car talk for information in existing threads. When you take it out that useful information is lost to future readers. And, the answers posted make no sense without the OP.
+1 to irlandes’ post. Lots of folks learn from these threads, and removing the original question loses the opportunity.
Here’s how I handle dents (probably similar to most people): small dings? As long as not rusting - forget about them. Cost to fix just not worth it. If rusting, I fix myself as well as I can and that’s it.
Now, I did have some serious damage to the front end of my (then) 12-year old Taurus in 2009. Got an estimate just for the fun of it. Of course, the guy wanted $2000. Not gonna happen, so I bought a donor car off Craig’s List and transferred the panels. Ended up costing me $275, and paint was same color. Donor car was only 2 months newer and you couldn’t tell the panels had been replaced. Good enough for me. Car is now almost 20 years old!
So only fix it if it’s rusting or the damage is too extensive to ignore, but in either case, fix it yourself
Thanks, @Tester