Yes, leave it to him. You might consider rephrasing your question - 'to repair or not?'

Is the car an ornamental work of art or a utility conveyance, like a shoe or wheelbarrow? We have been conned into spending thousands on minor dings by an industry persuading us that anything less than bodily perfection is unacceptable. Our insurance premiums, especially those for youngsters and those who have made claims, reflect this.

Our cars have a collection of small dents and scuffs, not worth the hassle of repairing. Arguably, the marks of usage and age add character, as on a piece of old furniture.

Which is why till we bought our latest car, I always tended to go for cars with a bit of prior damage ( and also because I was rubbish at spotting it). A few more scratches on top of existing scuffs didn't matter, though I was pretty mad when, after parking my half decent Focus in a tiny space outside a local steak house, we came out to find a deep dent in the door where the passenger of the car next to us had clearly banged open their door hard against our car, presumably in pique at being forced to squeeze in.

We now have a car which is in decent nick, and I live in constant fear of trolley rash or car park nudges.

Memories of the devil may car days of driving around in a battered shed haven't entirely disappeared from my mind.

Yes, leave it to him. You might consider rephrasing your question - 'to repair or not?'

Is the car an ornamental work of art or a utility conveyance, like a shoe or wheelbarrow? We have been conned into spending thousands on minor dings by an industry persuading us that anything less than bodily perfection is unacceptable. Our insurance premiums, especially those for youngsters and those who have made claims, reflect this.

Our cars have a collection of small dents and scuffs, not worth the hassle of repairing. Arguably, the marks of usage and age add character, as on a piece of old furniture.

I'm not biting honestly.... but any new/new'ish or mint condition car that collects it's first 'character' ding, hurts! especially within a week or a few weeks. To be honest when I first saw his car in pristine condition - maybe not a work of art but I was impressed. Probably is to him though.

How would you like your TR7 dinging? or is it already full of character? ;-)

There is some good news, offer has been made to pay up for repair, hopefully it will have a happy conclusion. Trouble'd with wind_Frankly.