I had my MCS parked in the street today. We live in a circle, dead end and kids sometimes ride bikes, scooters or whatever here. Normally it's no big deal but this afternoon I had my car on the street while my neighbor watered his lawn and my wife came home from work. I leave before her, so I normally park my Cooper S in the street while I wait for her to get home... about a half hour or so.

Anyway, some local kids were riding their bicycles in our circle when one "wigged out" and ran into my car. I was in the driveway at the time and heard a "thud" and went out to see, but the kids scattered when I went out to see what happened.

The damage is above the gas cap, where the kid's bike handlebars hit the sheet metal. There's a 2-3 inch dent, more linerar than circular, no apparent paint damage and the scuff marks came right off.

I'm thinking a "DentPro"/"DentDr" can take care of this... or does anyone have other suggestions?

 

I suppose its too late for birth control.
Actually your situation is exactly like mine - circle, kids, leaving before wife and park in the street - so I shuddered a bit when I read your account.
Sounds like it will be a good application for a PDR guy. Kenchan who is also on NAM is a PDR guy and can probably give some specific guidance. PM him or wait till he sees this thread.

 

sorry to hear about your dent. i would definitely consult your
PDR guy. check with your dealer too cause they usually have a PDR
tech come by on a daily basis to fix their used cars and customer cars.

the tech should be able to access the dent by removing the driverside
tail light.

 

The dent isn't too bad, but it is in an awkward location right above the gas cap. It’s also not a typical “round” dent, more long, like a crease. No paint damage that I can see, but its noticeable none-the-less.

 

What can someone expect to pay to remove 4-5 small dents (damage from last fall when tree nuts fell on hood - very similar to hail damage)?

 

so no use finding who the kid is and making is parents pay for it?

 

creases are repairable by PDR too, does not have to be round.

prices vary from tech to tech/store to store, so can't really say.
best that you take it in for quote.

 

After 9AM I'll call the local Dent Pro office and have them send someone out to the office to take a look at the car.

I did track the boy down and talked to his father about the incident. Seemed willing to pay for repairs.

I can't get too bent outta' shape with the kid... I've got an 11 year old boy and in my day I did some serious accidental damage with my bike

 

That was my thought

 

MOST excellent!!

 

if my kid damaged someone's car by accident he will go to the person's
house, explain what he had done, and apologize. and i would offer some
Hydro. jk. i will fix it.

 

This reminds me of my younger years (not too long ago...). When I was about 8, the kid next door got a rocket kinda sling shot thing. You had a sling shot and you had a rocket with a hook on the nose, and you would shoot it up in the sky and launch it back and forth (it was foam.) Being the smart kids we were, we glued a suction cup to the top of it and shot it at a car driving by... We figured it would hit the car, stick to it, and the driver would never know. Well, being the younger one, of course I did it and it hit the passenger side door. The driver slammed on the brakes and got out of the car, I dropped the slingshot and booked it, jumped my fence, and ran for the woods behind my house.

Of course the driver talked to my dad, I apologized for doing it (no damage was done to the car), and I washed his car a few times for him.

Just remember in your case Schweggy it was an accident!

 

When me, my brother or sister "done bad" our parents always made us take responsibility for whatever we did. In a lot of cases that's all it took and all was forgiven. Now days it's different, or at least it seems to be.

The first dent guy told me the location of the dent made it impossible to fix without a lot of work. He's talking about respraying a lot of the rear fender and possiblly having to blend it into the door... so I'm getting a second opinion from "the other dent guy" here. (There's only 2 to choose from.)

I just don't have the heart to tell the kid's parents that it'll take $800 (or whatever) to fix this 2 inch dent. It was and accident... the insurance route ain't worth it either, so what's a brother to do?

 

You could always live with it. Call it a character line-like wrinkles when we get older.

 

It's not THAT noticeable anyway, but I wanted to be the first to wrinkle it

Sigh.... I've got two step-daughters 19 and 20 and, well, you should see what their cars look like. In comparison the MCS is perfect. My 325is, which has about 114K miles has some significant "road rash" and I always thought it looked pretty good... for a car with 114K miles...

 

What to do what to do. I would say call the other guy and get it quoted. If its under 500, send the dad a bill. If your really generous, split the bill, after all, it was an accident, and you sound like a nice guy. Than maybe you can convert him to the dark side (MINI side that is), or at least make a big impression on the kid.

 

I'm going to pull the trigger and get the Dinan S1 package installed this month. A little dent shouldn't make a difference, but I'm kinda' bummed about it.

Ahhhh, screw it....

Car has dent... goes fast

Car has dent... goes faster