[BleedDodge]

I'd have it repaired. No point in wasting a tailgate for a little rust hole.

Find someone good to do the work. Did you ever take your neon back to the shop that painted it to show them how much they suck?

 

[BleedDodge]

If it's enough that you can see it through the paint, it's almost guaranteed through the metal so you've got a hole to deal with anyhow. I'd cut it out and weld new metal in. Some people would bondo it up.

I guess for 20 bucks you can't go wrong with having a spare tailgate. But then you'd still have to paint it, so in the end one of the tailgates is getting a paint job. And if the new tailgate has any rust on it then you're still dealing with a rusty tailgate, so I don't know which is worse.