Sorry to hear about that Michelle. I recently experienced a self-inflicted ding as well. I opened up my driver's side door into a metal dumpster that was sat in our driveway. It put a nice little ding in the door and chipped the paint a little, which I touched up. I was stupidly attempting to buff out scratches at night, in the dark, hence the door accident. Earlier that same day, a piece of flooring or siding flew into me on the highway, marking my front bumper. Of course, I couldn't wait till the next day to deal with it.
Anyway, I hope your car's fixed soon. I'm surprised it's so expensive to get one ding fixed, although I guess the paint being chipped all the way to the metal will add a lot to the repair cost.