Audi A5 bodywork damage - Warranty affected by repair?

[exec]

Hi all,

I have a 2017 Audi A5 and have a dent in the near side rear door, its not major but major enough to bug me. I had a chipsaway quote the repair at £150. He said it would be massaged out with a tool and wouldn't be perfect but would look good enough.

An Audi main dealer however advised best option was to replace the door since it was a new car and quoted over £2000! I enquired if it could be repaired without replacing the door and was advised it was possible but not the best option and I would be looking at a 6-7 hour repair involving pulling and filling the door with filler at a quote of £1700.

I bought the car approved used with cash so no lease issues etc but I am unsure it getting it repaired by a third party would affect the warranty at all?

If not, any tried and tested recommendations in the Berkshire/Buckinghamshire area for bodywork repair?

Has anyone been in the dilemma before?


Thanks

[DuraAce]

£150 vs £2000?!

No brainer for me. Chips away.

Warranty? Well yes you might affect the paint /body warranty for that area of the car but I wouldn't be bothered about that - manufacturer paint warranties can be notoriously difficult to claim under anyways.
Mechanical warranty will not be affected.

I wouldn't expect your car to rust for years.
Even if it ever did (v.unlikely) you'll be at least £1850 better off, you can do a lot of repairs with that!

[A4 cabrio]

Try the £150 option & then if that don’t work replace the door is worst case scenario.

I had a deer run into the side of my car a few months ago, I swerved by his antler caught the front wing, I was expecting the worst, scratch, scrapes, broken paint, but I managed to get away with a small dent, I got a dent repair man out who charged me £95 and you wouldn’t even be able to see where the dent was, perfect job.

The repair guy is Hampshire based so wouldn’t be too far from you if you decided to go for the cheaper option first.

[dogbucket]

The mobile dent guy I use only charges £45 per panel, and I have yet to have something he has not completely removed.

edit, maybe more for bigger stuff, but £150 seems a bit steep.

Edited by dogbucket on Tuesday 20th February 17:47

[Mellow Yellow]

A4 cabrio said:

Try the £150 option & then if that don’t work replace the door is worst case scenario.

I'd second this approach, these paintless repair guys can work miracles. If you're not happy with the result, try an independent crash repair place, you should find a much better price than you are being quoted. The dealer will almost certainly be outsourcing the body repairs, most dealers don't have their own spray shops these days. Make sure whoever does it doesn't just paint the door, any decent sprayer will blend in the new paint across a panel rather than using the hard door edge; the latter approach can lead to a very obviously different coloured door when viewed from a distance.