I've had my MCS for about two weeks and I've driven it less than 250 miles--this is my first new car. I came home late from work last night and looked at my wheels. I noticed some black tarish gunk on the left front, but paid it little mind. One thought I had was that it almost looked as if someone's tire had rubbed against it, but I dismissed that thought immediately. I had just installed Ferodo DS 2500s and thought it must have been a combination of wet weather and new pads.

This morning I had off from work so I thought I'd wash the wheel quickly. I pulled my car out of the driveway and began washing it when I noticed for the first time that my car had two big dents between the left headlight and the wheel trim.



I freaked!!

Putting two-and-two together I realized that someone must have hit my car while it was in the parking lot for the train I take to work everyday. S/he hit my car pulling in and left no word. I'm in the lot before everyone and was out Thursday night after everyone else had left so I have no way to determine who it was. My brand new BBS RGR cleaned-up well, but it does have a very small scratch to the black undercoat and two light scratches in the clearcoat--it could have been worse.

Tomorrow morning, I'm taking my car to a paintless dent removal place for an estimate. Amazingly, there's no real marks in the paint. I've had work done there before and the guy is excellent, but I'm a bit pessimistic about the chances of his popping these out. I'll know more tomorrow.

Sorry about the length, but I had to vent!

I've been parking my old '90 GLI in the same lot for the last two years and have never had an incident!

 

See Saddam Hussen (sp) is not the only Godless being in the world. You work with atleast on other. Bummer. If you find him/her do us all a favor and kill it.

Motor on

 

OMG!

 

I'm very sorry to hear about this.

You can file an insurance claim and get an estimate to fix it. Maybe with your damage a dent doctor specialist can get it out and look great. I have seen it done but it may take a really good specialist to do the job right.

Best of luck getting it resolved. Got a car alarm? That would have gone off it someone touched the car then they cannot say that they did not know that they bumped into the bonnet. Got any other paint scrapes? I didn't see any-maybe it was done by a person's fist or foot. Vandals.

 

That really sucks! The location of the dings are pretty unusual to say the least. I am suspect about the fact that there are no clearcoat or visible paint scratches in the dimples, which is good news for you, but leads me to believe that your car was a victim of an act of vandalism.

Let us know what the PDR guy will tell you about the possibility of popping them out. They look too big for traditional PDR methods, so think about the possibility of having a body shop work them out. get your insurance involved right away if PDR is not a feasible repair option.

_________________
'02 Cooper CVT (Absolute Keeper!)
'04 Cooper S Delivered: 10/3/2003 It's finally home!!!!!!!!!!

 

im sorry that happend to your car but at least you should be incedent free from now on. the first night i had mine someone tore up my rear end and 2 days later someome tried to rip off my rally lights. nothing since so i got the bad stuff out of the way right.
my dad has a buddy who drives bmws and when ever he gets a new one he scatches a quarter panel to get it out of the way. a little extreme but what the heck

moral of the story is: damage your car before someone else does i guess
once again im sorry hope they pull out the dents
coop

 

I think you should either walk or ride a bicycle to the train station and leave the car at home. Trust me, no one is going to vandalize a '90 VW but vandals will feel tempted to do it to a new car parked in a solitary train station parking lot.

 

:smile: :smile:

I once witnessed a hit and run - got the tag number of the person who did it and left it on the windshield of the car that was hit. The person called us later that day to thank us for what we had done. :smile: It was the least we could do - urggggg -

Chow!

Donna
donna@dcmetrominis.org

 

Sorry to hear about the...incident.
It's truly a shame.
It's unsettling how some people refuse to take responsibility for their actions.
I wish you and your MINI a speedy ..reconstruction :smile:

Peace,
D

 

Update:

Thanks for your support.

I just got back from the local paintless dent removal franchise. They cannot fix it. While the "wizzard" told me he could normally fix a bump of this magnitude in this case it's in the wrong place. He can't get the proper leverage, etc. He gave me the name of a bodyshop that he swears by. I'll call the bodyshop and then my insurance company on Monday and we'll see how things go.

FWIW, I don't think my car was subjected to vandalism. The left-front wheel had black streaks on it (rubber) and the bump is approximately the hight of an SUV's bumper. Someone was very bad at judging the distance their "vehicle" was from the front of my car.

I'm still bummed!

 

>>Update:
>>
>>Thanks for your support.
>>
>>I just got back from the local paintless dent removal franchise. They cannot fix it. While the "wizzard" told me he could normally fix a bump of this magnitude in this case it's in the wrong place. He can't get the proper leverage, etc. He gave me the name of a bodyshop that he swears by. I'll call the bodyshop and then my insurance company on Monday and we'll see how things go.
>>
>>FWIW, I don't think my car was subjected to vandalism. The left-front wheel had black streaks on it (rubber) and the bump is approximately the hight of an SUV's bumper. Someone was very bad at judging the distance their "vehicle" was from the front of my car.
>>
>>I'm still bummed!

I was about to say that it appeared that you were hit by an SUV given the height of the hit. Also, consider the following:
1. SUVs are big and unwieldy. Their often long wheelbases obviate the fact that they don't belong in parking lots.
2. SUV drivers generally can't see behind them.
3. Given that an SUV is a status symbol, the kinds of people who are going to be careless enough to hit you with them are not going to leave info.
4. If the driver hit you and didn't realize it, he/she should not be driving.

 

I don't think the repair will be super expensive but if it was and you were interested in a replacement bonnet I think a carbon fiber bonnet would be about $800. The body work should be several $100 which isn't quite as bad.

Again, thanks for sharing your grief and sorry to hear about it.

Park distance control? That should be standard on all SUVs.

 

Better days are sure to come your way!

God speed.

 

Check if the parking lot has surveillance cameras. You might get lucky and see a still photo of who did it. Long shot, but maybe.

 

I feel real bad for you chrwilliams, that really sucks. At least they didnt muff up your beautiful rims, although I would like them better in anthracite or darker than what you have color, lol. I imagine they are quite lucky for not getting caught, I'd have beat them. But atleast it's driveable.

 

Look also for cars in that car park with dents. It is possible that it is someone who uses that train often.

That is just awful, sorry to hear.

 

>>See Saddam Hussen (sp) is not the only Godless being in the world.
>> If you find him/her do us all a favor and kill it.

Oh, man, if it's open season on people who don't believe in
fairy tales about super-powerful aliens from outer space (God)
I'm in BIG trouble.

 

If this happened while your car was parked then it should be considered vandalism by your insurance company and you do not have to pay a deductible. Check it out with your insurance company.

Sorry to hear about this. Hopefully, karma will strike back at the person who did this!