Holy crap....came out of a restaurant tonight and my 2 week old car was keyed.
From middle of rear passenger side panel to front half of the door.
Starts out white and ends up black looking. Will probably cry when I see it in daylight tomorrow.
I have decided not do first cleaning tomorrow as I am going to take to the dealer on Monday. Wonder how much this will cost me.
I ma beyond belief CRUSHED right now and can't sleep because some stranger would do that.

 

Sorry to hear this. As for cost, it shouldn't cost you any more than your comprehensive deductible. (And you *will* want to claim this on your insurance, because the only way to repair the damage so that it's undetectable will be to repaint the entire affected panels).

 

urgh....$500.00 deductable.
I was just thinking about increasing comp coverage to $100.00 also. Guess it's too late now.

 

oh, should I use dealer or outside Bodyshop?

 

The quality varies from shop to shop. When I was in Virginia Beach, a lot of the MINI owners in my club were having quality/service problems with the local dealer's body shop, so several of us actually went to the local Mercedes-Benz dealer for body & paint work.

I'd ask around here to see if anyone has had experience with the body shop at your local MINI dealer.

 

Thanks Scott!
My dealer is Morristown Mini in NJ.
Anybody have any experience with them???
Sales end has been amazing but what about body shop?
I am going to try and get to sleep now. Hopefully I will have some answers/advise in morning.
Blah, I feel sick!

 

honestly if the scratch isnt too deep it might buffable....post a pic in the light and prolly let richard lin look at the pic

 

That's awful. I hope your car can be repaired quickly and to your satisfaction.

 

omg... was there any witness? i dun understand why ppl would do this kind of things..

let us knwo of outcome

 

Thanks for being a prime example of what I've been saying on this board for two years. And yes, you can't change your deductible after a loss and expect it to be in effect before the loss. That would be like betting on the Super Bowl, losing, and then expecting the bookie to change your bet to the winning team.

Sorry you had to be that example.

But yeah, turn in the comp claim, you have an expensive repair forthcoming. No detailing in the world is going to remove those deep scratches like you get from a keying.

BTW... a vast majority of dealerships do not have their own body shops. They contract that work out. So if you trust them to pick your body shop for you, use them. If not, do your research and pick your own.

 

ouch. my car was key'ed at about a month old so i kinda
know the feeling. although it was my dd.

i still have a nice deep scratch even after 3yrs... i just touched it up.
looks sub-par. i haven't fixed it cause i know some dumbf will key it
again the next time my wife takes the car to some low-class discount store.
(haven't been key'ed but has been dinged over 10x now. )

 

I have had 2 cars keyed, 85 T-Bird Turbo coupe and 81 Corvette, so I know how you feel. I just can't figure out why people have to be so jealous and stupid to do something like this. Good luck with your car.

 

I feel for you. That is my worst nightmare. Good luck.

 

Someone said the entire panel has to be painted to get an invisible repair. Perhaps, but I had a 5yr old Honda Civic with a big scratch that was invisibly repaired without a full panel repainting. I was amazed that old paint could be matched so well.

Hope your experience is as good.

 

Ah, I had an '85 T-Bird Turbo, too. Black one. GORGEOUS. I got almost as many compliments on that car as I do my MINI, believe it or not. And that was before I knew much about detailing.

And rrc, yeah, it's possible to repair without an entire panel repaint, as long as the paint tech is really good at blending. Most of them prefer to paint the entire panel and then blend that panel into the adjacent ones. They feel it's less detactable that way.

 

PM sent

 

I am sorry, I do not know why people do this kind of things. shame we still having this kind of behav.

 

Hey mine was black too and a 5 speed! Even back then I could get around 30mpg on the highway with it. I had also added an intercooler and SVO camshaft to it. That car was a blast and I wish I would have kept it.

 

Sorry to hear about your MINI...that crap makes me so mad....

Donna

 

Yep, mine was a 5-speed manual, too. It was a LOT of fun to drive. Smooth ride but that turbo would put your back against the seat. Impressive for a car that was pretty darn heavy. Had mine until 1990, had to sell it when I went to Japan (couldn't ship American cars over there). Mine had dark red cloth interior to go along the the red pinstripe down the side. Nice.

Apologies for the momentary thread hijacking.

 

MiniO,

Ask your dealer if they know of a good scratch repair service in your area. There is/was a guy around here who air brushed scratches at the dealer's lot and his work was 100% undetectable.

 

MiniO

Sorry to hear it. Unfortunately our state has no shortage of A-holes. I have been trying to park as far away from other cars as I can but eventually its time will come. My other cars have all been keyed for no obvious reason.

 

sorry to hear that mate, what kind of area were you parked in?

 

Thanks to everybody for the kind comments and suggestions. I have posted pics of the worst part in my gallery. The mark itself runs from rear of passnger back panel to front of my door. I think it is beyond being able to buffed out. It was only here for a work function. My office is Elizabeth, NJ(next to the airport) so we went to a local Elizabeth restaurant that is in crappy area. Driving up I didn't feel comfortable and told my co-workers I was just going to go home. As I said the a parking spot opened up right in front of the entrance/ So I decided to stay. Came out multiple times during dinner to check on the car and everything was OK. When I was came out to leave was when I noticed the work of some low class piece of garbage. I was so sick....I even didn't think of getting a police report. Called the police today and they told me to come in tomorrow to do a report so I have it for insurance. Also called the restaurant and they were very nice. Turns out the have cameras so most likely the whole this was caught on tape. I am meeting with the owner tomorrow to view them and hopefully somebody will recognize the person.
I want to catch this sub human and make them pay. Sorry for the long wordy post. Thanks again!

 

Part of me hopes it was not an intentional; that it was just someone who was trying to squeeze their wide girth between your car and another, and that maybe they were carrying something that would have accidentally scratched your car.

I've seen it before. People who take a short route to their car, even though another path would be easier to navigate, considering their size or the size of their packages and/or stroller.

I guess I just hate to think there are people as malicious as that.