Looks like they are repainting the entire gate. Idk.

lol $850 in labor, that's a good one. At least they broke it down into 5.6 and 4.7 hours respectively.

what? I thought thats what the only actual damage is

I thought the damage was the vertical scratches through the center of the handle.

My wife says both the lines and the chips and I am fed up enough to just accept that’s true.

You probably just need to work out whether you will be more fed if you agree and pay the money or dispute the cost and ask for some different quotes or what their deductible is. Would your approach to this be any different if you had done the damage and it wasn't going to impact your wife at all?

I'll field that one Johnny.

Johnny,

Burn their van and move to Canada imo.

I guess it was a stupid question. It was more me trying to say if you do end up just paying it don't be too hard on yourself. These things happen, it's just a part of life.

Also, is the extreme nittiness due to this van being a lease?

Oh there is no way in hell we are paying $1180. My wife told her that was ridic back when I was in the dark. They said they will get other estimates and my wife’s friend already said we can take it to him and buy the paint ourselves and he will fix it for $75. If they have a problem with that I might meet them in the middle with a different shop, or work with their deductible if it is far less than that, but if I’m paying out of pocket I’m picking the ****ing shop. And villian is correct for the most part. I have far less use for people than my wife does so less at stake, but the flip side of that dynamic is she has connections that can get us hook ups for things such as bodyshop work and I have like three friends and they can barely help me move a couch.

Nope. They still call it their new van, though.

I blame the time change for the weak zinger.

Omg wtg withholding relevant information I am relieved you aren't paying $1180 though. That was just gross.

This is my attitude mostly. The fed up comment was I don’t understand how the door did both those types of damage and I don’t want to ask Mrs T to reenact it anymore. The thread was able to figure out what she meant by flat door before I was, then explained it to me. I’m obviously not helping much. I’m thinking the pro move here may be to ask her if she even wants me involved because I doubt I’m helping much. If she wants me to come in and be the heavy and take the blame at some point I’ll earn my keep I guess.

ETA: they don’t know we are not paying $1180 yet, just that she thinks that is high. Frankly that they had the nerve to forward that estimate to us at all doesn’t bode well for a happy ending imo. They are either super marks, are trying to rip us off, or don’t give a **** about us overpaying since it’s not them. I have to assume they hoped we would just cut a check for that amount. To be fair, they are the type of ballers who have fancy flat garage doors, brand new minivans and care about scratches so that’s prolly peanuts to them.

1. Labor rates seem incredibly high. Our shop is in Fairfax, Virginia, one of the highest cost-of-living areas in the country, and we are at $44 (labor) and $28 (paint materials). $82 and $50 seem insanely high. I'm wondering if that's standard for your area, or if the shop jacked it up for this customer/estimate.

2. 1 hour paint time on the handle and .3 R&I (remove and inspect) for the body man seem reasonable. 1 hour repair on the handle doesn't make sense; the body man is not doing mudding or metal repair, and the paint shop will always sand a part when prepping it for paint, which is all the "repair" the handle needs. My body techs would consider 1.0 repair on that handle to be "gravy", ie, free money. Also, a new handle lists for $67.50 (I think part # is 5RP08PTEAA); charging $82 labor to fix a part that costs $67 to replace is more "gravy" for the shop, especially when there is no actual "repair" being done to the handle.

3. I may be wrong, but from the pictures, I figured the marks on the lift gate could be buffed out. They are charging you to paint the entire lift gate, plus they are charging you for buff/polish (line 13 on the estimate). To me, that is overkill and double-charging. Overkill, as in, even if the marks won't buff out, you don't need to paint the entire liftgate, just do a "spot-blend", ie, only paint the part of the liftgate affected, which would be maybe 1.5 paint time vs. the 3.9 they have on there. And charging for paint time AND buffing is, to me, double-charging. If the marks buff out, the gate doesn't need painted. If they are painting the gate, it shouldn't need buffing. If our shop has to buff a panel we have already painted, it's because the painter messed up and got dust in the paint or has drips on the panel; charging a customer for painting AND buffing the same panel is never done at our shop and would be considered double-charging.

4. Replacing the nameplates is only necessary if the entire gate were to be painted; not needed if the gate were being buffed or spot-blended.

5. Bottom line: this is what my shop would call a "fat" estimate. It would be written for a customer whose business we don't want. I am guessing the body shop might actually just: R&I the handle and paint it, and buff the lift gate, which SHOULD translate to: .3 labor for R&I handle, 1.0 paint labor & 1.0 paint materials to paint handle, 1.0 labor for buffing lift gate. Even at their exorbitant rates, that would be a total estimate of 2.3 x 82 + 1 x 50 = $238.60 + odds & ends, maybe $260-280.

Again, from the pictures, it looks like the marks on the lift gate are buffable, but even if the gate needs painted, painting the whole gate seems excessive; charging for full paint time AND buffing seems dishonest; charging .5 to tint the paint also seems excessive. IF the gate did actually need to be FULLY painted, not just spot-blended, THEN it would be normal to charge for R&I tail lamps, replacing emblems, hazardous waste, and mask vehicle for overspray.

Get that friend-of-friend of your wife's to write an estimate in the $300 dollar range, take it to this guy, and tell him you will pay $300 for the repair, not his fat $1100 estimate.

Also wanted to mention - from the pictures it doesn't look like the gate is actually dented, and therefore in need of body repair, but is just scuffed and in need of either buffing or spot-blending. If there are in fact no dents in the metal, then, like with the handle, there is no 1 hour body repair needed; that is more gravy. Either the marks will buff out or the painter will sand the gate when prepping it. Unless there is a small dent in the metal I'm not seeing, it doesn't look like there is actually any body repair to be done on the gate itself.

that is an incredible post. should have your own thread about car damage estimates.

1200 is just laughable. I was in the camp of "I wouldn't care about this myself but it is her fault so just paying it is easiest" but absolute max im giving is $300

I want to mail them a check for like 11 cents and see if they cash it.

I never see labor less than 75 anymore. 15 years ago I could find shops that were around 50. now I find shops at 120 for imports often enough.

same, I literally felt some tilt leave my body reading that post!

So, did the kids ever make it to the pumpkin patch, or was the van determined to be too damaged to drive by the van lady?

This thread has been pretty infuriating, but has also resulted in some great lines!

Insurance fraud Itt

Perhaps you are thinking of mechanical work. Our mechanical shop charges 120/hour for mechanical work. But the body shop is at 44/hour for body work. That rate is common at the 4 body shops I have worked at in Northern Virginia over the last 8 years, and AFAIK, is about the norm for body shops all over the entire DC-MD-VA area. Mechanical work costs much more, generally 100-120.

Don't forget the mspaints!!