the Cost of Car Door Repair

This past may, I was backing out of my drive way and hit a shopping cart (no clue how it got in my driveway) and the shopping cart knocked the handle off of the back door and scratched the paint of my mini-van. Normally, small damage can be ignored, but since it knocked the door handle off, I was unable to open the hatch and I had to have it repaired. I took it to a local body shop who ordered a new handle and painted it at a cost of $450.

This was the most expensive door handle I have ever paid for. The body shop stated that they had to order the part directly from the manufacturer, take the entire hatch apart in order to reassemble the opening mechanism and repaint the whole door. I didn't like the body shop we used because they were very confusing in giving me reasons why it was so expensive. I'm glad it is fixed, but I feel that I was ripped off. I will not return to this body shop, and would not recommend it to anyone else.

Shop around and get quotes. I did not do this, but should have. It could have saved me hundreds of dollars. If your damage is light, you can also see if a family member is capable of helping fix it instead of paying some over priced company.