Car paintwork keyed last night
chris_elevate
Posts: 585 Forum Member
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Hi guys,
Woke up this morning to find that some low life has keyed my car whilst parked on the street outside my house. The car is a 2004 reg BMW so not majorly expensive but it was/is a nice looking car.
Ill take it to a body shop tomorrow but just wanted some advice on the matter as I'm still really annoyed with what's happened. It's on the passenger side which was facing the road. It's on the front wing, two doors and rear panel too. I've looked down the street and its only mine that's been done. I don't think it anything personal against us as we've got no enemy's!
Cheers for any help you can give.
Woke up this morning to find that some low life has keyed my car whilst parked on the street outside my house. The car is a 2004 reg BMW so not majorly expensive but it was/is a nice looking car.
Ill take it to a body shop tomorrow but just wanted some advice on the matter as I'm still really annoyed with what's happened. It's on the passenger side which was facing the road. It's on the front wing, two doors and rear panel too. I've looked down the street and its only mine that's been done. I don't think it anything personal against us as we've got no enemy's!
Cheers for any help you can give.
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Comments
The same thing happened to mine a few years ago.4 cars in the street all keyed,a line down the side of each car.
Cost £300 to sort.
To me it was one of these things that can happen that are beyond our control.
Unfortunately for your wallet, you're looking at I'd say a cost of over £300 - maybe more.
The problem being with it being keyed, I'd hazard a guess that these could be deep scratches.
I think a lot of body shop repairs charge by the panel.
There's obviously a lot of grinding down too be done, but the cost of paint (primer-paint-lacquer).
The car will obviously need to be kept in a workshop for dryness because of the winter. It's bad timing and a pain in the backside.
I had somebody before xmas in an Asda car park exchange paint with my back bumper.
I rubbed this down, with wet-dry paper and compound, and it's left a smear. I am itching to spray-paint myself, but need proper dry and warm weather, as it takes ages for it to set in.
I'm really sorry to hear about this, and I just hope you find a decent body shop that's not going to milk you on the cost of repairs.
Most come to your door for minor repairs but mine went to their workshop.They did an excellent job.
There was no point going through insurance due to the hastle and excess to pay.
horrible gits they are
You have my sympathy for your beemer getting done.
I really dont understand the mentality of people like this.
Going off when I used ChipsAway last year (and they are good) on a single panel if the scratch goes over an 8 inch area the cost is £160.
So, as this is across 4 panels and it sounds like it's definitely over 8 inches per panel then they'd hit you for over £640, in theory... There's always deals to be done...
Your friend sounds like a disgusting spoilt b*tch, and should have been reported to the police:mad:
What a bitch :eek: I hope you are not friends with her anymore.
Jealousy is an ugly trait.
if it can you can do it yourself. just takes a lot of elbow grease and t-cut.
if not a 4 panel respray wont be economical to repair.
Took the car to a cheap and cheerful spray place. £250 for the four panels resprayed - amazing price but quality is not good from them. I've heard there's be dry edges and handle marks etc.
Went up another place that do an average job and they quoted £550 for respray. Apparently an average job.
Went to a final place that said...
We can respray and get it new for £600 and polish the rest for £120. The guy said... can we have a go at polishing it as he thought it MIGHT come out. I said fine and left it for a few hours.
They just did the worst part. I went to pick it up and and I can't see where the scratch was! They are going to do the other scratches for £100 and the rest of the car for another £100 next week. They want the car for 2 days to do it.
They have done an AMAZING job on the small bit so far so hopefully it'll all come good next week.
I'm soooooo impressed!
Good price too don't you think?!
time for hammer to the head if it was my car, sorry but ill cut the ****ers eyes out
You should be able to neatly fill in the scratch, leave it for a week to cure and then polish it to blend it in.
If you do it well it'll be invisible but if you mess it up at all you'll create heaps of extra work when it comes to polishing it smooth.
You need to be REALLY careful you don't apply any paint outside the scratches.
If it's a deep scratch and has gone down to the primer or even metal then there is not really an awful lot a mobile repair person can do as it really needs rubbing down and respraying properly; it's just a false economy to do anything else unless you're a dab hand yourself at repairing and respraying bodywork. If you rub your finger across the scratch and your finger nail sticks in the scratch then normally it's too deep for a mobile repair.
The second time it happened (year's after the first incident and on a different car) the t***ts scratched every panel down the drivers side. It needs a complete respray on the driver's side and I have been quoted prices between £350-£500 at a bodyshop. It's a 2 door sports car, so I guess would be more expensive if you've got a bigger car.
I didn't go through my insurer due to the excess being £250 and loss of my NCB. I'll get it done when I can afford it. It really, really made me angry at the time, made even worse due to the fact that I think I know who did it. Mine and my neighbour's cars were both done at the same time. The police couldn't act as we couldn't prove it was him- same old story unfortunately. Mobile repair guys are great for small scratches or dents and they may be able to mask some of the damage if it's extensive. It depends to what extent you want it repaired. If it's your pride and joy then I expect you'll want a decent job done. If you're not too bothered, do it yourself or try a mobile repair person.
I can't remember the exact costs of Chipsaway but £300-400 sounds about right. I used them as they could do the job in my work carpark and I heard good reports about the local franchise. I suppose I could have got cheaper by finding a back street garage but at the time I just wanted it fixing ASAP.
I would ask around friends and colleagues to see if they have any recommendations. It's almost certain that one of them will have been keyed.
But Chips Away are a franchise-type operation and I'm sure that standards can vary quite a lot. Personal recommendation is always the best way of finding a good repairer.
I do believe that many bodyshops now do smart-type repairs themselves; they have obviously realised that there were now new methods of repairing damaged bodywork and they were missing out.
I always consider smart bodywork repairs as being rather akin to keyhole surgery!