Dropped a fender on a customer's hood because I forgot to lock the stand

Last Thursday I was fitting a replacement fender on a '15 Civic and forgot to lock the height stand. Fender slipped, landed edge-first on the hood, left a nasty 4 inch gouge. Had to eat the cost of repainting both panels out of my own pocket, $380 total. Anybody else had a stupid mistake like that cost them real money?

2 comments

2 Comments

umaprice2d ago

380 bucks man that stings. I did something similar a few years back with a Ram 1500. I was swapping out a tail light assembly and bumped the damn thing off the bench, it fell straight onto the truck bed and cracked the corner of the tailgate. Cost me about 250 to get it repainted and the light replaced. The worst part was I had just told the customer it would be a quick 30 minute job, then I had to call him and explain it was gonna be a whole extra day. He was cool about it but I felt like such a moron. You never forget that sinking feeling when you hear the metal hit. At least the customer in your case probably understands it was a total accident.

noah_barnes2d ago

380 bucks and a bruised ego is a hell of a combo deal. At least you got the "I'm an idiot" story out of it, that's worth something. Bet you double check where you set tools down now.