Yes, this will require the door to be repainted. And some minor body work on the body line as well. This sucks.
I would first use a "Dentless" repair guy. I've seen miracles performed with much worse.
Once I Had a six foot wooden gate to my backyard propped open on a windy day while I was attaching my boat trailer to my wife's suburban. The wind blew the gate into the center of the panel below the rear window denting the middle of the panel.
The part of the gate that hit was a heavy metal bracket that held a 2x4 when the gate was closed. Much worse than your dent and for $90.00 the guy tapped it out from the backside in 5 minutes.
Even getting down next to it and looking at where the ding had been revealed no imperfection in the reflection. Then a touch-up expert can fix the scratch.
You paint the whole door and you know it may not match up to the other panels in different light.
Either way it sucks that it happened and he should gladly pay. good luck !
