Not a happy new year!

[GusPW 0]

Parked at a friends house last night and found that my car had been keyed in several places all round the car :(

 

Now I'm not sure what to do. Report to police and inform insurance? make a claim or sort it out myself?

Anyone know how easy it is to repair scratches like this?

[moneypit23 0]

I hate to say it but you'll get no end of repercussions if you go through the insurance (despite paying for fully comp no doubt!)

 

I'd still report it but you'll probably end up paying for it out of your own pocket.

[Billzeebub 1]

definitely report to Police, as there may be a spate of it in the area. If so they will prioritise resources to it and may well mount surveillance or increase patrols. Some people who do this are serial offenders who often do it in similar locations time after time (eg route back from pub, booze makes them hateful etc). It was probs random, unfortunate timing though..You havent been doing anything you shouldnt have with anyone you shouldnt have? maybe you were parked over someones perceived parking space?! there are a lot of venemous cowardly cretins out there, who see this sort of thing as justified rather than leaving a note or having a po,lite word!..

 

---------- Post added at 3:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 3:32 PM ----------

 

..obviously speak to your friend too, they may know of suspect characters in the vicinity or be able to chat to fellow neighbours and find out if any such vandalism has occurred previously and not been reported. I would get a quote before deciding whether to go through insurance. Unless the cost was astronomical I wouldnt want to risk my premiums. Good luck with getting it sorted

[16VG60 0]

Sorry to hear of the damage to your Corrado. There is never any justification for others to act in this way, despite what they might think. Report this to the Police, yes, but as to an insurance claim, maybe. You need to weigh up the claim against increased renewal premium. I wish you a speedy resolve, but moreover relief for the sense of total outrage at this mindless act.

[Wendy 0]

Oh that's so annoying, hope you manage to get this resolved easily.

 

Def report to Police.

 

Your year can only get better, chin up !!

[Critical_Mass 10]

Bastrds!

[clumpy1 11]

Scumbag Bastrds!!

Edited January 1, 2013 by clumpy1

[VWVW 1]

Just dont inderstand the mentality of these people...echo about reporting it to the police so that they can have a record of it. Doubt they will be able to do anything about it.

 

There was a post here before about a similar key damage a while back and it was sorted out by a mobile smart repair person and it looked a good job too.

[GusPW 0]

Ha ha, no billzeebub, not up to anything i shouldn't have been. Would never have expected it considering where it was parked, it was in a quiet culdesac with mostly retired people living there, no demand for parking spaces, in fact not that many cars there at all. Definitely some randoms on way back from pub.

They didin't bother with my girlfriends 206 so guess he/she had it in for Corrado's or VW's.

 

Definitely going to report to police and get a quote before deciding about insurance as suggested.

 

Trouble is they've spread their scratches around so many panels that once I start to look at getting it all sorted and add the more important rusty arches to the list it all gets closer to the cost of a full respray. which I definitely didn't have planned yet.

Spent 2K replacing all the steering/subframe etc this year and engine work was going to be next.

 

Anyone know a good spray shop near Reading? I've used chips away before who did a good job but think they were fairly pricey.

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

i swear the human race needs culling!!,

go to some bodyshops and get a few quotes, if you dont plan on getting it sorted soon , dry out the keyed areas with a hair dryer and fill them with touch up pens {colour and clear} to stop corrosion...

[Portent 0]

That's a really, really crappy thing to do to someones car :(

[pbradley98 0]

Gutted for you - some people are complete low lifes.

[Jim 1]

I just don't understand the mentality of the small minded tossers that do things like this - so sorry :(

 

I'd agree with the advice to avoid the insurers. I'd do as much as you can to protect the paint for the mean time (e.g. touch up stick, even if it looks like crap) and look into getting it professionally fixed or resprayed out of your own pocket. Insurance companies will ream you for years to come if you make a claim on this and it will cost you more in the long run.

[fla 9]

as above use a touch up paint and try and get someone good with a machine polisher to give it a few passes. Some of the pictures i've seen here on scratches show impressive recovery.

[VAG-hag 0]

how sad - sorry to read/ see this. as for getting it fixed if you can feel the scratch with your nail, which im sure you can going by the pics, then it will probably need paint to get it something like it was. an aggressive buff will reduse the mess in the short term though.

 

flippers!!

[seanl82 23]

Not a pretty sight, feel for you mate. It's gonna take a bit of work, but will cost you far less than going through your insurance or getting a full respray and let's face it, worse case is you still need a respray. First off, get a local reputable body shop to colour match and make you up a small amount of paint. Don't use the halfords style touch up kits. (Although paints4u actually do very good paint matches off the shelf from experience!). Anyway, apply the paint with a cocktail stick, and do it in very small quantities. It may take a fair amount of time, and it may take five or six coats to fill the scratch, but it will be worth it. This will obviously protect it from rust etc too. Give it a couple of days to harden, then start going over it with a small backing pad (slightly larger than your thumb) and some 800 grit wet and dry. follow the scratch line, don't rub it up and down if that makes sense. keep doing it until it is level with the surrounding paint, then fill in any parts that have come away or you missed, and repeat process. Once you happy with the level, go over the area again with 1500, then 2000 grit, then machine polish over. You can do it by hand if you don't have a machine, but may be worth going 3000 grit too to make it easier. You will honestly be surprised at how well it comes out! Most people brick it as soon as you mention sanding paint, but provided you are wary, it no worse than someone with a rotary polished as it takes off far less paint than you would imagine.

Edited January 2, 2013 by seanl82

[seanl82 23]

Just come across this which made me first aware of how safe wet sanding paintwork is, and how much paint it will remove in comparison to machine polishing alone. Obviously bear in mind VAG paint is very hard!

 

 

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=244507

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

nice read^ , as you have seen sanding the clear coat can be safe if done right but theres only so much clearcoat you can remove, its articals like that which makes it look very easy to do and could cost average joe an arm and a leg to correct a mistake, like my friend found out, its not as easy as it looks and in a split second it could cost you a respray, he buffed through his clearcoat and basecoat down to primer on his bonnet, he was doing everything right but because of the swage curve on the bonnet the edge of the buffer pad must of been digging in and now he knows first hand how quickly and easy it is to ruin paint,

so becareful folks test things out on old scrap panels first before your pride and joy...

[Emkayvr6 0]

Gutted for you, never nice to have your motor pointlessly vandalised!!! I cant really tell from the pics how deep the scratches are, but i polish/paint for a living and you'd be suprised what can be made to look a hell of lot better by a skilled polisher, sometimes the scratches you think will come out easy dont and the ones that look really bad do.....if you werent so far away from me id come and have a go for nothing, but i think probably best thing to do would be to find a detailer local to you rather than a bodyshop 1st and see if they reckon they can sort them or not, i say detailer 1st as they are usually more careful polisher's and wont be looking to push towards painting where as a lot of bodyshops will look at the job and think more about maximising profit rather than whats gonna cost u less, which will mean they will push towards painting, your probably be told, "we'll have a go at polishing but if we cant get it out and burn through we'll have to paint it". In some cases they will have a genuine go at it but more often not it will get a quick 5 mins of careless polishing and burn through. There are scratches that wont come out but there are some that if done right will. There are decent genuine bodyshops out there but they seem to be the minority rather than the majority these days! At least if you've got the detailer's opinion and he says nah mate cant get that out, then its coz it wont not just coz he's tryin to get more work out of you.

Edited January 2, 2013 by Emkayvr6

[seanl82 23]

^ Well put. Obviously extreme care needs to be exercised, but seeing as the OP may have to consider this anyway if it doesn't work, and the wet sanding is focused on new paint being put on, I think he may as well throw caution to the wind. Its obviously his call though, and anyone else reading this must seriously think about what they are doing, and do lots of research before attempting anything like that! - In fact, I wouldn't recommend doing that at all unless you are confident you can achieve the desired result.

[rado mc 0]

i swear the human race needs culling!!

 

This is the exact topic of conversation I have at work daily.

If i see anyone touching my car I'm afraid its red mist all the way. Just jealous ****s probably.

 

Mate of mine is a top valeter and detailer. He can take out not so deep scratches using all sorts of lotions and potions. possibly one of the cheaper easier options to start of with.

[Emkayvr6 0]

^ yep, looks and reads like it shouldnt be too hard but trust me it only takes a moment of doing the wrong thing and your into needing some repainting, We have to flat polish the fresh paintwork on the Aston's at work and remove all the orange peel through sanding and then polishing, Its not hard when u know how but a moments lapse in concerntration and it goes quickly wrong and it heading back into the booth for more paint!! Doesnt please the painter's or bosses much!! i would recommend having a go if its something you'd like to have a crack at and your prepared to make a mistake and then need to paint, which might well be on the cards anyway, but if you dont have a lot of patience for that sort of thing, then forget it leave it to the pro's.

[GusPW 0]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

Don't think I've got the time or patience for polishing them out myself, but sounds like a good idea. Can get my nail into must of the scratches though.

 

Got quote from chips away, just under 500 to paint offside 1/4 panel and door, rear strip between boot and bumper and said he'd touch up and polish the 4 or 5 small nicks and scratches on near side.

 

Going to give axa dent a try as i get 10 off through wotk. Paintless repair aparently, is that basically machine polishing?

[VAG-hag 0]

Paintless wont cure it surely? & for that money (1st quote £500) I would check out the local body shops. Shame you are so far away as I know a great place up here!

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

£500 seams reasonable for a repaint, i wouldnt waste my time touching it up unless they can garuntee an invisible long lasting repair at a fraction of the cost , i dought it though, you pay for what you get..