Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Bondo on a tailgate ?

Some of you have seen my thread on my new Tacoma TRD.
Purchased new on April 14, it’s 11 weeks old , and still in new/showroom floor condition.

Until July 4, when my (idiot) neighbor backed up into it, causing damage to the bumper and putting a small dent in the tailgate.

We both use the same insurance company, Allstate. (Conflict of interest)

I have checked with two different major collision repair centers, and they both told me an insurance company will not pay for a new tailgate but will insist on using “filler” to repair the tailgate dent.

My way of thinking, bondo on a tailgate is not acceptable.
Not on an old truck, and certainly not on a brand new, mint condition truck.

Have any of you had this argument with an insurance company, and how did it turn out.

Let's see a photo of the ding/dent.

The tailgate dent is very small.
No paint damage, just small dent maybe 1/8" deep, 1" X 2".
You can hardly see it.
Still, i don't want "filler" on my new truck.

Have you checked with a "dentless repair" shop. Depending on the damage they may be able to pull it back out, I have seen a couple of repairs by those shops and you could not see any sign of the dent.

drover

Yep, had the same thing.I bought a new 85 Ford PU, First time in for warranty,they smashed the fron fender. Would not put a new fender on.

Best I could get of them was life time warranty on that repair.
I would not let them fix it with Bondo.The paint won't match perfectly and they would have to paint the entire tail gate and paint would not be as good as original.Either go with dentless repair or don't fix it

Yep, had the same thing.I bought a new 85 Ford PU, First time in for warranty,they smashed the fron fender. Would not put a new fender on.

Best I could get of them was life time warranty on that repair.
I would not let them fix it with Bondo.The paint won't match perfectly and they would have to paint the entire tail gate and paint would not be as good as original.Either go with dentless repair or don't fix it

It's a pickup truck. All pickup tailgates get dinged up. Your little dent is just the truck losing its cherry. Just consider it the first in a collection.

If it won't even show up in a photo, don't worry about it.

Paintless, or at 1/8" deep I would have no issues with filler.

Filler these days isn't near like the old bondo.

Plenty of factory paint has filler underneath it, in fact I bet 95% of new vehicles have filler in several spots.

I have a GMC that about ten years ago when unloading a Bobcat skid steer I found out the hitch wasn't locked and put a dent in the tailgate.

We fixed it with Bondo and today you could not find the area where the dent was if you tried. The paint (red) is also perfect after all that time. I used to be anti-bondo too but there was no reason to be.

The seams where the various body panels are welded
together have body filler or seam sealer


The op is probably thinking of those pinheads that
do their " bodywork " in their driveway and bash a
dent in with a claw hammer and drill holes in it and
and use a half a gallon of filler on it, then spray it
with grey shake-shake

The real professional paint and body men I know
don't use much filler at all

You have the insurance industry to thank for
cheaping out on any claims, along with those
policy holders that make fraudulent claims

Its in panels as well. They arent perfect all of the time and do get small blems in them during transport and assembly.

If it were me, and the dent is not very noticeable, I'd review your estimates and choose the highest dollar one. Tell Allstate you want a check written to you for that amount, and pocket the money.

keep the money and if it really bothers you put out feelers to salvage yards...
I saw a rare '55 ford tailgate for sale for $220.
what is the labor rate for bodywork these days?
Prep, fill, paint, blend is probably at least 3-4 hours...

An unbelievable amount of new cars are damaged in shipping and have filler in them

Like I stated above, many have filler in em before they are ever painted at the factory.