6 Year old car: dinged, scratched, rusted exterior - advice?

[wiirenet]

I have been wanting to fix up my car's exterior. I'm having friends/family dissuade me, that it's a waste of money.. but if I could just get some advice, and maybe a couple car folks to reiterate to me that this isn't a waste of money!

I get my car washed maybe once a month, and once a year a better detail/wax costing $100+. So I care about how it looks. I just have gathered up dings over time that I never fixed.

2 photos attached of dent & scratches. The white marks/scratches are on the bumper. Not really dents.


The other is above the right wheel, those are dents & scratches. And I can see rust appearing in the seam.



What sort of place would you recommend I go to? Just google "auto body shop? What should I ask for, so I dont sound supremely ignorant ("I just want my car to look pretty.. hurdurrr") is there a treatment or specific type of work I should ask for?

What kind of fair estimate should I expect?

and the dumbest question- the photo of the back of my car, that's just the muffler that is visible right? so i'm using the right part name...



Anytime I get my car detailed, that always still looks like crap. Should any detail place be able to bring it back to nice/new condition?
The way it looks- does this look like a detailing job, or a shop job- is this rust that needs some kind of special fix it that can't be cleaned off?

Would it be costly/idiotic to simply replace the muffler with a new one just to look nicer?

or am I being nitpicky and should I just leave my muffler alone...

thanks for any responses!!