Is a door ding a deal breaker?

How much will it cost you to just buy a new door? That'll give you a worst-case scenario if you do decide to take the plunge.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

I've bought quite a few used (non Ferrari) cars in my time and I don't recall any near perfect ones. That is until I went Ferrari shopping here in Italy. Most of them were in astoundingly good condition. I was shopping for an early 360, so all these cars were relatively old and some of them high mileage too; yet each was ding and scratch free with the exception of an occasional stone ding on the bumper. I found that odd.

I suspect some of these cars must have had at least some sort of door damage in the past, but apparently Italian repair work must be pretty darn good. None of the cars I inspected showed any evidence of body repair. In other words, I don't see any reason to have to live with a ding or dent if you don't want to.

If you're like me, you're gonna' really like your car, but your eye will go to that ding EVERY time you open the door and you'll cringe. So will the buyer when you sell it. It isn't a Chevy.

If your car is otherwise perfect and especially if you're going to respray the front, I would say you should get your door ding fixed. Surely that can be done properly without purchasing a new door. Do some research on the cost and then hold the sellers feet to the fire. It's not a deal breaker, just a good negotiating tool.

That's my two cents............ no charge.

 

Well it's aluminum so I am thinking that fixing it would be easier than a brittle steel panel but you should play it up to the seller and check on the side to see who has the skills to fix and if its a big deal. No pictures of the ding?

 

All of these considerations should be included in the price you offer.

 

Yes, it's a deal breaker. It's a buyers market. There are so many 430's and 360's out there. Why deal with this headache when you can have a car that is in better condition without the worry?

Move on to the next.

 

Ask a dent guy locally and have it fixed before you buy. Worst case, a body shop can fix it. So it shouldn't stop you if the car is priced right

 

Assume you will have to have a body shop do the work, not just a ding repair. And assume you have to respray the door and maybe blend some. I'd knock $2K off. It will cost you probably $1.5k to get the rock chips and door ding fixed correctly. Then you will spend $500 doing a proper paint correction to get all the clear coat scratches out. It's not a deal breaker if you are OK with the price of the repairs factored in. Frame damage is a deal breaker. Something that can be fixed shouldn't be a deal breaker, unless you can't get the right price.

 

Cars are fixable, and living with an imperfection is a personal decision that varies widely. Any ding or imperfection mechanical or body, makes me crazy... Others it doesn't...

As a side note - I was fiddling with a gopro on the car, and going 100 plus with that thing suction cupped to the outside paint, window, whatever, blew my mind. A buddy told me that the suction cups are so strong people had used them to pull dings out. Sure enough, I spotted a small crease type ding on my door... Nothing anyone else would notice, except a body-guy - and sure enough I cautiously and slowly pulled it with the freekin gopro mount

 

my eyes always find the flaws in my cars. so i know where you are coming from. on the other hand, if all the other stuff has checked out then dont miss the opportunity to buy this, just use the ding to get the price down slightly and then get it repaired - easily done with a suction cup - i have done it myself.

but dont be too much of a jerk on the negotiating side - the seller is likely not to be bothered by the ding since its still there, so he wont see things your way, and will just think you are being unnecessarily picky. play it cool since you want a good relationship with the seller even after the car is home in your garage.

 

Why are you asking us? You're the one who's buying it. Look at it and ask yourself if it bothers you. If so, move along. If not, bargain a little and buy it.

 

No deal breaker for me!

If the car - aside from this ding - meets all your expectations, buy it. Such a vehicle has been built to drive it. And during its life cycle, you will still experience a lot of stone chips, scratches and bumps. Such a door ding is really not a big deal. I would let repair that at a specialist workshop of my confidence.

 

Agree. I had my F430 and 458 both have had door dings. About $150 later, you couldn't see them at all. I even showed people were to look and you cannot find it. Literally impossible.

Trust me... if you drive this car you'll have your own door dings eventually. Minor cosmetics mean nothing and are easy to fix.

In fact, would ask for a couple of grand off for that and then use $150 to put it back right.

These will never be collector cars or museum pieces. Drive them, fix them up, and enjoy them. If there still is a collector market 30 years from now, no one is going to worry that it had a door ding repaired.

 

As someone else mentioned, I would get a local guy to try and fix it on the spot. Explain that you have a deal as long as the guy takes the ding out.
If it's an unfixable ding, I would consider it a deal breaker, but then again I'm a bit of a perfectionist. I'm sure most people would not consider it a deal breaker.
I have seen those paintless dent removal guys do miracles, so I'm pretty confident that they can get it out where it is totally undetectable, unless it's in a very strange spot.

 

one month ago while my cayenne was at the dealer for major repair following an accident, someone hit my drivers door and voila, the first ding on my car. it was many inches below the window. they were able to fix it by going through the window without having to drill the side of the door. Doors are also aluminium on the Cayenne. It doesn't show anymore at all and there was no need for any paint job. So just ask them to fix the ding, then have a look at the repair and if it looks ok to you, buy the car.

 

A new door is $14,368.00 plus shipping from Italy. Hard to believe isn't it?
Yesterday I picked up my 2007 F430 F1 from the body shop after a 16 YO girl backed into it in a parking lot.
(Her second wreck in 2 weeks). There were 3or 4 used doors available for $3,000 - $4,000
But I demanded a new shell. Her insurance company didn't blink an eye and paid for the
new door. The body shop did a PERFECT paint match and I am back on the road.

 

Depending on the ding a lot of times if they cannot get to the back side they can pull it from the outside. They will glue a stud to the ding and use a slide hammer. This usually does not disturb the paint. Another thought would to be to find a used door in your color so you do not have to worry about a paint match as used parts in the same color tend to age the same and match well. (Not the gosphel but a good rule of thumb)

This would not be a deal breaker for me but I too would always notice this ding until fixed.

 

If the rest of the car is OK then it's not something to walk away over. If it can't be fixed by PDR then you could have the bodyshop fill and spray it while the bumper is being done. In contrast to some posts above I certainly wouldn't look to replace the door over a ding!

 

Something to consider. A ding was most likely an accidental 1-time deal, it happens... The owner not fixing it, something to ponder. More than just the ding are the scratches, and as it sounds not "swirl mark" types from a dry towel, but scuff marks for whatever reason.

When I look at a car, I do pay careful attention to the interior, exterior and engine bay... granted I'm a bit anal about it although, if you are not taking care of your car on the outside, how are you treating it on the "inside". And I mean the mechanicals. Is the owner abusive to the car, and well, just treat it as a car. (There is car................. then there is CAR).

Re-spray on the front bumper, most over time learn that clear-bra fixes that and with the new technology of the stuff it far outweighs the cost of paint.

So with all my rambling, when you look at the outside of the car ask yourself..."Does this person take care of their car?" Hope another opinion helps!

 

My car had minor door dings, one on the cress and FOW door guy fixed them like new for under $500.

I wouldn't let it stop you if you like the car, just negotiate a price you want to pay and start driving!

 

I had a door ding on my NSX that was up high, close to the window. I was told that the dent repair guy couldn't get accesss to it. I took the door card off, took a Dremel and cut out a small hole in the inner door frame (careful not to weaken the structural integrity of the door), the dent repair guy came out and had it fixed in five minutes. Impossible to find.

 

Glad to hear you are back on the road again!
That 16y/o needs a driving lesson!!!!

 

I'm basically with you. But I have also seen beautifully maintained ferrari's with drivers at the steering wheel without an idea how to drive such a car. No idea about ​​the proper switch point, no idea about ​​the correct engine speed (too low then back to high) or how to warm up such high performance engines, no feeling for a clutch. I did just feel sorry for these cars...
;-)

 

I wouldn't turn down a car that has a ding. Guess what... It's going to get many more when you drive it. If you drive it. mine has a few dings and dents in her that are obvious to me. But I don't care personally. One day I'll get then out but for now, she's perfect the ways she is.

Are you guys this critical with your wives and girlfriends? One zit and she's out the door?

 

I've had door dings taken out of a few of my cars... but not one of my Ferraris. As others said, once the ding-removal guy finished, you couldn't find the ding if you tried.

If you've looked around a while and settled on this car, negotiate a better price and have the clear-coat fixed, bumper resprayed (not at all unusual for these cars) and the ding removed.

Going forward, if you drive the car at all, you'll collect your own set of scratches, dings and chips. We all try to minimize these things, but sometimes you just can't.

I have my cars wrapped (not 100%, but all forward facing surfaces including full hood and fenders) with a clear bra from Premier here in the Bay area. Not only is the plastic invisible (they don't use templates, but custom fit the plastic for each car), but it's kept down all the normal road wear.

Good luck!