Reader-added tags include "Crasher Sanae", "¥140K: 'See ya'", and "Farewell, my money. Welcome back, Sanae-san's money."

Damn, Sanae needs to stop driving if she's run up a second repair bill. Or learn to drive.

Don't own a car, but if it's still roadworthy there should be no reason to pony up cash for what is purely a cosmetic repair.

There's nothing wrong with driving a car which has a dent or two.

Etnaz said:

Don't own a car, but if it's still roadworthy there should be no reason to pony up cash for what is purely a cosmetic repair.

There's nothing wrong with driving a car which has a dent or two.

Japanese vehicle inspections are no joke. You have to get your car certified to be in fairly good condition in order to keep driving it. I can't remember if body repairs are part of it, but it might be better to play it safe, just in case the inspector wants to be a dick. The upside is that there's a lot of older, but well-maintained cars around, unlike other countries. The downside is that keeping a car means a lot of maintenance/renewal costs every 2-3 years.

Etnaz said:

Don't own a car, but if it's still roadworthy there should be no reason to pony up cash for what is purely a cosmetic repair.

There's nothing wrong with driving a car which has a dent or two.

As far as America goes, I'd agree with you on cosmetic repairs being unnecessary(unless you're in a state that does inspections). But realistically, any wintery travel will mean road salting, which, with any exposed unpainted metal, will rust your car until it falls apart. Typically happens on its own around the wheel wells anyway, which is exactly where that damage is.

MAGNUS-8M said:

As far as America goes, I'd agree with you on cosmetic repairs being unnecessary(unless you're in a state that does inspections). But realistically, any wintery travel will mean road salting, which, with any exposed unpainted metal, will rust your car until it falls apart. Typically happens on its own around the wheel wells anyway, which is exactly where that damage is.

Every inspection I've ever had in the US has really only cared if the wheels are basically falling off or you're blowing more smoke then a forest fire out the tail pipe mechanics wise. Someone ran up into the back of me at a stop light and put a huge dent in my back bumper, but a mechanic said there was no underlying damage. So I took the insurance payout, never repaired it, and drove the car another three or so years without a single comment during any inspections. That car also had a big scrap/ding on the right side where someone pretty clearly misjudged their turn and dragged the corner of their front bumper along it in a parking lot while I was in a store, had no effect on the function of the door so also never repaired or commented on.

Been it Italy, at sea town. There are a lot of scratched and dented cars, mostly corners of bumpers. All that due to narrow pathways that are crammed with parked cars. People there mostly don't care as long as car's performance didn't drop.

Me, personally, own car that older than me (no joke). With all that comes with it. For various reasons I've put few dents since I've bought it, which are may be repaired somewhere in future, but because of car's age and the need of wheels right now I more worried about getting money on fixing performance-critical parts ASAP.

The fact this happened before should have been a sign not to let her do it.