[cook1e]

I had a dent put in my passenger door in a car park on Saturday and have just come back from the local MINI dealership so they could inspect it and give an estimate for the repair.

The damage is a scrape and dent and I thought that it may well need a new door skin and anyway being that the car is less than a year old I'd be happier with a new panel than having the existing panel beaten out. I was rather surprised with the remark from the MINI body shop guy, "If this was any other car it'd need a new door skin but MINI don't do door skins so we'll have to replace the whole door"

Does anyone out there know whether this is true? It seems a bit strange to me as when you look at the door it does appear to be manufactured with a separate skin.

At the end of the day it'll be an insurance job anyway so It'll only cost me my £150- excess but I don't like the idea that the dealership might be ripping off the insurance company, it's things like that that push up our premiums.

I would like to think I'll be able to recover my £150- excess from the guy that drove into me but unfortunately there were no witnesses and he claims I swung into him when reversing, something that I know is a lie but it will end up being his word against mine. Ho hum, thank goodness I've got a protected no claims bonus as part of my policy.

[Ginger]

Not sure, might be worth doing a search.
Good luck!
G

[wildchild jules]

Am in the same boat as you! I have a dent in my driver's door from someone else hitting my car when I wasn't in it. Went to Mini and was quoted around £900 for the whole door. Have ended up leaving the dent for now as while I have protected no claims it will still raise my premium if I change insurers (which I plan on doing when I get my MCS next year) and whilst I hate leaving my car with a dent in it, I am not prepared to fix it for it to then happen again (which ***'s law says it will!) so figure I will wait til just before I sell it. I tried Dent MAster for mine as there is no scratch and they told me that the dent would still be slightly visible - how horrible is it having a dent and you know its not your fault! If you can find anyone who can get them fixed without replaing the whole door, would be very interested to heat about it.

julesx

[cook1e]

Just got my estimate through from the MINI dealer, £672

On reflection it probably is not much more expensive to have a complete door as the cost of parts is less than £200- of the estimate. Although the parts are not priced up individually on the estimate I reckon the complete door panel is around £170 of this. A door skin probably would have been a good £50- if they made them so with this in mind I reckon that the extra labour required to fit a door skin to the existing door probably would have taken care of most of the difference in cost. Like wise if it had been panel beaten I reckon this would have taken up a few hours labour and cost nearly as much.

Just have to wait now for the insurance company to authorise and the car will soon be looking like new, then comes the hard bit, trying to claim my excess back off the bloke who drove into my car

[Rakey]

its true, the doors are made in a unique process, specialist equipment is required for the welding, a friend of mine has been the the vendor that supplies MINI with doors. Something to do with the angles and curviture of the door, its all very technical and apparently they are the only ones that can do it so I am told. So a new skin cannot just be bodyshop replaced, its a whole door to replace or repair.

Make us feel special about our cars and parts knowing that they are so hightech using the latest technology, well till we need replace parts

[StevePSB]

BMW/MINI don't sell door skins. Not sure why not, when I worked at Vauxhall they did door skins for everything and the repairs were non the worse for it.

[cook1e]

I've just picked up my MINI from the dealers all repaired and back to tip top condition . They made a good job of it, the paint work is a perfect match and the car is the cleanest it's been since I bought it as they gave it a really good valeting.

So I'm sort of half happy, got a good job done but had to pay out the £150- excess with the ongoing battle to reclaim this off the guy who dorve into me. As there are no independant witnesses I am not confident

[wildchild jules]

Glad it's all back in one piece. Will be getting my dent fixed in Januaray ahead of selling it. Given your quote was about £200 less than mine, may try a different Mini dealer and see what they can do for me.

[cook1e]

Quote: Originally Posted by wildchild jules

Glad it's all back in one piece. Will be getting my dent fixed in Januaray ahead of selling it. Given your quote was about £200 less than mine, may try a different Mini dealer and see what they can do for me.

Not sure where you are based but my local dealer who carried out the work was Barons, thier bodyshop is in Hindhead, Surrey.

[Goonery]

Door skin are not available because the whole door structure is built in one operation, the hemming and clinching part which pits the outer door onto the inner door cannot be easily replicated in a body shop due to the shape of the panels. A replacement door is quite cheap really, for a body shop to do a reskin would be possible, but sealing and shape might be difficult to get back to the MINI factory standards. Come and do a factory tour, see them being made, it all becomes clear.

[wildchild jules]

Quote: Originally Posted by cook1e

Not sure where you are based but my local dealer who carried out the work was Barons, thier bodyshop is in Hindhead, Surrey.

Thanks for that! Am only up in Slough/Windsor area so quite a few garage around so it may be worth trying some different ones as it sounds like you had pretty much the same thing as me but got quoted £200 less!!