I can only say the old adage that every dark cloud has a silver lining really rings true. Just find it and you can overcome so much.
So 小红 got into abit of a situation today which left THE DENT.
I really wanted to sort the problem out because I wasn't sure how much downtime such a dent could cause the car (we're such heavy users).
So I brought it to a previous car audio store in Kembangan to check if they could fix it. They couldn't and recommended to go Euno/Paya Lebar instead.
Paya Lebar has changed a lot but the car workshops are still there. Effectively I parked at the first workshop I saw and went to ask the cost of the repair job.
Now before heading down I had checked online those car forums and many have warned of potential scam jobs, workshops overcharging, and souping up insurance claims. The most relevant in my case, was that a simple dent like the one on 小红 would be inflated to $500-700 so that you would be tempted to claim on insurance and they'd earn a big profit. So I was abit wary.
Indeed the moment the repairman saw the dent on 小红 he asked if I knew the details of the other car which did this and whether I was going to claim insurance (it appears this is a standard question). This is before he can provide me with a quotation.
I declined the insurance portion and said that I didn't know who hit me. This drew a sympathic look on his face and he muttered something like,"wah, looks like you have to cough up cash yourself", to which I gave a sad,"yah lor". He said he'd check how much it would cost me.
The guy then went to ask his 'senior' and then came back and quoted me a 'best price' of $220, which was basically removing the bumper, melting and beating out the dent, repairing the broken side clippings AND spray-painting the whole bumper. Now this was definitely a reasonable quote. However I had to leave the car overnight as they required 24hrs to service, which was out of the question.
So I asked if they could just repair the dent and the side clippings without the spray job. His first response was,"gonna be very ugly wor". He did say that it would take approximately 2-3hrs though, and I could come back another day for the spray job. I thought that since 小红 was only two years away from being scrapped, even if all the paint melted away and the whole corner was black it might be ok. Anyway I gave the guy hope, saying I'll come back another day to have it sprayed. But so how much does the rest of that cost, without spray?
The guy quoted me $50.
$50?!
For melting the bumper, repairing the dent and repairing the broken side clippings?!
I was shocked. But I obviously agreed to it. I guess the job must probably look so ugly that's why it's so cheap, because the owner will definitely come back for the spray job.
2hrs of walking around Paya Lebar Square later, the job was done.
OMG. What spray job does that need??!! It just looks like a couple of scratches!
Anyway I was a happy camper. Even tried to tip the repairman an additional $10 for his efforts but he refused! I'm sure he was hoping I'd go back soon for the spray job.
So that, folks, is how much it costs to fix a simple dent. Who knows it could be even cheaper than $50 and in fact on YouTube, you can even try to fix it yourself! But for the hassle involved and workmanship, I give this repair shop the thumbs up for giving me such a good deal, reasonable quotes, good workmanship and honest assessment.
It sure took away the glum feeling I had all morning.
I feel so blessed.
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