Don't Dink Your Wheel Arches

Well folks it had to happen did it not!
I was parking my car on Wednesday at the residential home where my 92 year old mother resides, dog in back barking in excitement, me shouting at her to shut up, rear parking sensors on red and noisy as I parked it by a curved fence.

Then, oh s**t, that noise was the from the FRONT sensor screaming over the noise of the rear sensor and the high pitched bark of Arti, my Toller (that's the breed of my dog), with a slight grating noise and in trepidation I moved the car forward and got out to look at the damage.

Not too bad I thought, the plastic wheel arch had taken the hit and detached itself by the bumper, few snapped connectors and wire pulled out of the PDC (parking detector). No real paint damage, just a bit of "says what it does on the tin" on my car, that will rub off no problem, and there was no dent.

Very angry with myself I phoned the dealers repair shop for the estimate and took it over.
Result:
Repair details :-
Repair And Paint NSF Bumper Corner
Repair And Retexture NSF Lower Plastic Bumper
Repair And Retexture NSF Plastic Wheel Arch

Labour Value £280.00 - Blimey I'm in the wrong business

Paint and Materials £100.00 - Can't see where they get that from!

New Parts :- £88.74
Front Wiring Loom For PDC 40.74
NSF PDC Sensor 38.00
Trim Clips 10.00
_______
Estimate Total (not including VAT) £468.74

OUCH
And they want it for four days whilst I run round in a complementary Polo
Be afraid - very afraid
Cheers

Abit of gaffa tape will sort your worries haha rather you than me buddy

Funnily enough that is exactly what is holding it together until it goes in on Monday

It's a Landie, leave it as it is and tell your friends you got the damage on a shooting day in the hills.........

Why do they need a new wiring loom? Has it actually damaged the sensor etc too?

In pulling away the wheel trim it also pulled out the sensor and wires to it. I lost the sensor going over to the repair shop so it needs a new one.

As for the paint I have removed the brown fence paint with just a cloth, water and a reasonable rub to reveal no damage at all to the paint or body work so the plastic worked!

I'm taking the car in on Monday so there will be further discussions on their estimate.
It really should be a simple repair.
I'm not too chuffed about being offered a Polo as a courtesy car either!

The plastic wheel arch bits are VERY cheap - about £10 to £20 depending on which one it is - I'm sure someone on here had to replace one and they should be a simple clip job.

Can you post a pic of the damage?

Yes, that was me, I replaced the rear wheel arch surround for my car, just £8 or so. Sounds like this could almost be a DIY repair, is there any paintwork required now? As for the Polo, the price you pay will include the cost of the courtesy car so you can't complain about the standard of yhe car on the one hand and the cost of the repair on the other!

(21-09-2012 09:25am)griff Wrote:  I was parking my car on Wednesday at the residential home where my 92 year old mother resides, dog in back barking in excitement, me shouting at her to shut up, rear parking sensors on red and noisy as I parked it by a curved fence.

Well at least the dog was excited at the prospect of seeing the mother-in-law, even if you weren't.

(23-09-2012 03:54am)mark_n Wrote:  Yes, that was me, I replaced the rear wheel arch surround for my car, just £8 or so. Sounds like this could almost be a DIY repair, is there any paintwork required now? As for the Polo, the price you pay will include the cost of the courtesy car so you can't complain about the standard of yhe car on the one hand and the cost of the repair on the other!

yes the arches are not difficult to DIY -- almost with no tools ! -- although I used a flat screwdriver wrapped in a dishtowel for a measure of extra leverage and safety.