I would totally leave it alone. I feel cars are for getting from Point A to Point B. That said, I have an "OCD" husband when it comes to cars and he "must" have every dent fixed. Drives me up the wall, esp. when our cars are over 10 years old. To each his own.

After parking on the street in Logan Circle for 6 years, my 2002 Civic is dinged up, scratched up, dented to hell. But it runs great. Our other car is only a year old, and looks great. Sometimes I feel like a college kid when I pick my kid up from daycare in the dinged up car, but at this point it doesn't make any sense to fix it. We're driving that bad boy into the ground.

You've had the car for 6 years, and this is your first dent? I'm impressed.

My 7 year old car has a bunch of dents and scratches (many years of apartment parking lots!). I don't really care about those things, so never bother to get them fixed.

Anonymous wrote:I also backed into a mailbox on a round culdesac - didn't factor in that there was a shorter distance to the curb on the other side of the car. I've been driving with it for at least two years. I always figure that if someone ever rearends me, I can blame it on them with any other damage and get it fixed.

Did you fix/pay to fix the person's mailbox?

I put a major dent in the front passenger side of my car 8 months after I bought it (new!). But I can't stand the idea of paying >$1000 to fix something that doesn't impact performance. Also, the part that is dented is plastic-y, so I'm not worried about guarding against rust.

All this was 7 years ago - now I see the dent as part of my car's character. Hopefully will get a couple more years out of the car, and then sell it off to some high school student or someone who's not too picky.

I also get random guys coming up asking me if I want them to fix my car. I swear, Every.Single.Time I go to the college park IKEA, some guy honks at me and tries to sell me on an auto body repair.

My car has tons of scratches and a cracked tail light cover (not my fault) and a tiny dent (my fault.) I am so much more chill about where I park because the car is already imperfect. I dread getting a new car because the first time some asshole door-dings you is the worst.

I also backed into a mailbox on a round culdesac - didn't factor in that there was a shorter distance to the curb on the other side of the car. I've been driving with it for at least two years. I always figure that if someone ever rearends me, I can blame it on them with any other damage and get it fixed.

OP here. It doesn't effect any functionality of the car and my job requires me to travel to meetings but not with clients or anything.

The thing is I've been looking at cars since the accident and surprisingly most cars on the road are in pretty good shape. Where are all you guys hiding your beat up cars?

I have a big dent in my 2001. Would cost more to repair than the car is worth and it doesn't affect driving/longevity. I could afford to fix it or just buy I new car, but I don't care and it is not like anyone expects me to have a fancy car at my gov job. DH is a bit self-conscious on the rare times he drives it to his Biglaw gig, but he doesn't really care either.

Yes. It's an old Toyota corolla and not worth undenting

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:random dudes accost me about once a month to ask me if they can fix the dent on the rear fender of my suburban--i do not care about such things.

Haha, me too. So annoying. Does that really work?

This happened to me all the time with my old car (which people practically drove onto the sidewalk to avoid because it was so battle scarred). It always scared me!

I have a big one and I'm not fixing it. I'm driving this car until wheels come off. It doesn't bother me anymore and thanks to the old one, the new ones don't bother me either or I just don't notice them anymore.
I think at some point fixing it would be more expensive than my car.

Yeah, I would fix it!

I scraped/dented the rear quarter panel of my truck; all I did was rattle can it so it wouldn't rust. I drive cars to get from point a to point b; reliability and safety are the most important considerations; looks are much lower.

Anonymous wrote:random dudes accost me about once a month to ask me if they can fix the dent on the rear fender of my suburban--i do not care about such things.

Haha, me too. So annoying. Does that really work?