So this weekend I backed into a mailbox, which left my 2014 ilx with a small four inch vertical scratch/light dent on the flat portion of the trunk about six inches to the right of the Acura emblem. I was wondering what a fair cost to have this repaired should be? I was expecting it to cost a few hundred dollars, but the one quote I have received from a local body shop was nearly 600 bucks. Am I wrong to think that this is way to much to have the damage fixed as well as the whole car waxed? Would I be better off to get a quote from my local Acura dealer and see if it is any cheaper?

 

The body shop's quote is about right for a repair "the right way"

Now, there are some cheaper alternatives like those pointless ding/touch up places -- that might run you in the couple hundred dollar neighborhood, but the paint will be noticeable if you look hard enough.

Depends on the dealership -- most don't do body work, but I heard that one in my area (DC area) has a paintless ding/touchup guy come to do work on cars that are going on their used car lots. Other dealers (my dealership in CT) told me that I need a whole new bumper for "hundreds or thousands of dollars" when a $10 plastic bumper clip broke

 

CT is correct.

The "right way" to do the repair is to sand down and repaint the entire panel. In this case, the entire trunk lid.

In addition to the paint work, the body shop must "pull" and "message" out the dent.

As previously mentioned, you can have a "Mobile dent guy" come out and Pop the dent and add some touch up paint. But it won't look perfect.

I used to work at a bodyshop part time. My shop would charge roughly $750 for something like this.

Hope that helps.