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Dents and Insurance

By Ben Mester

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Published: 20Nov2010
Word count: 542
Viewed: 299 time(s)

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I've had more dents than I care to own up to, and have destroyed a few bumpers and dinged a few side panels in my day. And though a person can often use a simple repair system of dent removal tools and bring the dent out, often times they can't. This bothers me. Bumpers are probably the flimsiest part of the entire car, even though they're often the first point of contact. Does that really make sense?

In my mind, bumpers and side panels are being designed these days as just another way for the auto industry to make buck from the hard working backs of honest people. Bumpers can cost a few thousand dollars and are sometimes even integrated into the side panels of a car, meaning that when they get just a little bit damaged, the whole thing needs to get replaced, sometimes costing over a thousand dollars. What kind of sense does that make?

As a kid, I used to love driving in bumper car derbies, crashing into my friends head on, at speeds of maybe 15 miles and hour. But even at that rate, when you combine 15 miles an hour with another vehicle moving 15 mph in the other direction, you get a combined impact of 30 mph. That's pretty impressive for a bumper car to take that kind of abuse day in and day out without so much as a scratch. As for my car, an impact of 5 mph against a stationary object is enough to send me off to the body shop with a bill of $500.

When did cars become so much about beauty and so little about transportation? Why are dents and dings so easy to get and so expensive to repair? Just knowing that there are cars out there on the road that cost upwards of a hundred thousand dollars makes me shudder. What happens if, God forbid, I ever have an accident with one? My insurance would be irrevocably damaged in paying for the bill. If I had things my way, cars would be designed much more like bumper cars and much less like luxury vehicles, and dent removal tools would be standard issue at the dealership for those just in case impacts that actually do cause damage to the body of the car.

I just hate the fact that the auto industry has taken advantage of the fact that insurance pays for all the little accidents out there, giving them the ability to charge huge premiums for car parts that are easily damaged. It puts a person in a tight spot when an accident with a friend happens and you don't want to cause their insurance to go up for three years. But you also don't want to drive around a car with a broken bumper and busted tail light. Cars are so fragile these days. So many of the outer components are made from cheap plastic and breakable fiberglass. If everything were made of metal, it would be so much easier to use simple dent removal tools and pull the dents and dings out of the vehicle. As it is, whole panels and bumpers have to get replaced. Will it ever change? I think not. I just wanted to rant for a little bit.

For more information on dent repair, check out my other article on dent removal tools and paintless dent repair. For more about car maintenance, check out my article on engine oil stop leak.

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