Someone F@#$% hit my baby in a parking lot!!!

[Tailspin]

Today I was at a local music shop picking up some strings and came out to this:






Its all scraped up and the paint is completely off in some parts and to the plastic. Noone of course saw it and the insurance company says unless I spend $500 for a deductable Im SOL. THANKS! Not sure how many thousands of dollars Ive paid you over the years, but I get it!

Anyway, does anybody have any suggestions? This hurts my pride and I can't stop thinking about it. Whenever someone looks at my car (that ive spent so much time and money to make the best I can) I imagine they just look at the scrape and figure I am some kid in his moms sedan.

What kind of DIY's are there to do this? It doenst have to be perfect, just not so horribly noticable. Other car forums pretty much are just saying fork over the cash at the body shop. I'm a student, this car is a symbol to myself of my ability to get the best for the least. I figure I can get a plastic insert strip at a junk yard, Ive never blended paint before though. Any ideas?? Thanks SC!

[Rennsport1]

#@$%^%$, how did they do that ? We're you backed in ? How long were you away from the car for ? No video cameras covering the lot ?

[valbowski1980]

That sucks man!

Someone did that to my 9000 a few years back... No witnesses and no cameras either .

Did you file a police report?

[SectorNine50]

You may be able to buff it. Might have to add a little paint in the process, but the buffing would be a way of blending in it's self. I'm not a paint expert though, I'm sure someone who is will be by sometime here to show me how dumb I am!

[Tailspin]

Originally Posted by Rennsport1

#@$%^%$, how did they do that ? We're you backed in ? How long were you away from the car for ? No video cameras covering the lot ?

Ive tried it all, thoroughly annoyed everyone in the vicinity trying to get info. I'm on my own on this one, glad its not any bigger. It looks like someone barely clipped it with a wheel while turning around too close. I always get so mad when people drive through the spaces in parking lots, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS! And I tried buffing with every product I have. Scratch Doctor, Wax, Some stuff that removes swirl and haze. Its now just a really really clean scrape :P What did you do Valbowski?

[pegasus50]

Originally Posted by Tailspin

Noone of course saw it and the insurance company says unless I spend $500 for a deductable Im SOL. THANKS! Not sure how many thousands of dollars Ive paid you over the years, but I get it!

Welcome to my world! As an Insurance Agent I get pummelled by people who really hate to buy Insurance and hate it more when they find out that they need it. On the bright side it looks like you just got "rubbed" I've seen much worse from the "parking lot phantom." If you could get the paint any decent body shop might do the job for less than a C-Note. Trim rubber looks fixable too.

[Tailspin]

I guess I'm lucky its black. If it was some crazy metallic color I may be in a worse situation I'm also lucky that there are 2 or three scrapes that are on the very edge of the bumper but somehow missed the metal fender. By millimeters!

[valbowski1980]

Originally Posted by Tailspin

I guess I'm lucky its black. If it was some crazy metallic color I may be in a worse situation I'm also lucky that there are 2 or three scrapes that are on the very edge of the bumper but somehow missed the metal fender. By millimeters!

You are lucky in that at least. They took out my fender, bumper and indicator.

[jmcox44]

So, they did this with their wheel? There was no paint transfer?

Obviously you could get some black spray paint and make it not so noticeable, but that wouldn't even last a few months before cracking and looking worse. You might want to save up and find a local shop to respray the whole bumper. I'm planning on doing that this winter since my car was in an accident before I purchased it (nothing on carfax....) and the paint is starting to chip like crazy. I'm having a guy I know do it for me and he quoted me about $250, mainly for the cost of the metallic steel gray. You might get lucky and the paint might not cost as much.

Sorry to see that happen. Were you parked near the end of the lot where no one would park next to you?

[blinktude]

not to hijack your thread but similar thing happened to mine. i was driving in downtown boston and some cab hit and ran.
here is the aftermath

[Tailspin]

When I owned my Dodge Intrepid it was hit on the street overnight, HARD. (Conjuring similar disheartening feelings). Looked just like that. Only it continued all the way down the door. About 2ft by 4ft and by year two it was starting to rust up. Fortunately the engine blew before it rusted out. People are *******s.

[tmg19103]

The only way to propery fix it is to have a body/paint shop take the bumper off, sand and feather down the damaged areas and re-paint the damaged area and clearcoat the whole bumper. The good thing is jet black is the easiest paint to match. I would estimate $500-600 for the job if you shop around estimates. As an insurance job it would easily come in $800 plus.

You could have a pro just spot paint the area for about $200-300, but the problem with that is the clearcoat won't be as solid as doing the whole bumper and could well start to peel in in a year or. That's what a lot of used car shops do to fix these things and a year or two later your used car has clearcoat peeling off the bumper. Body shops will only guarantee their work if they take the bumper off and do the whole thing. They rarely guarantee spot work.

Just touching it up with matching spray paint yourself won't last long and will start to bubble and won't look that good either.

I'd say your choices are to leave it as is or have the whole bumper re-painted. JMO.

[photousa]

I Live in the heart of Chicago, near Wrigley Field, cars are packed in here where I live like sardines, if you own anything nice, it won't be nice here for long unless you have a garage. When I park my car at grocery stores or department stores, I'm one of those guys that parks the car at the furthest
corner of the lot, then takes up two spaces, just getting your car as far away as possible from parking lot idiots will certainly help. Unfortunately, there wasn't a good samaritan out there who saw the accident and who would be willing to give a statement. We're going through a process similar to yours now, repairing my wife's VW, someone backed in her drivers side rear bumper, causing bumper damage a bent rear axle. Fortunately, we had a witness who left a note and is willing to give a statement, we were lucky, the bill to State Farm is going to be about $3000.00.
In your case, some dealers use a spot repair service which can be quite good. A lot of times, they charge under $200 and the results are quite nice. Since I'm in Chicago, if you contact me, I'll give you the name of my dealer, then you can arrange to meet the spot repair guy to discuss and inexpensive repair. I have not seen the problem with a peeling clearcoat that the previous poster described, that doesn't mean I don't think it exists, I just haven't seen it. I can't tell you the number of times, we've had the exact thing happen to us, so we feel your pain....send me a PM.

[Tailspin]

Thanks for the advice guys, that helped a lot. Taking your words into consideration I will shop around the local body shops first, there are two large ones in the area, and a GM dealer in town that does bodywork. You convinced me against DIY painting. I'll try to get the cost down as much as I can by removing the bumper, sanding, and priming (if they let me etc). I know I can do that...I think. If they don't have what I'm looking for, I'll contact you Photousa.

I was actually just off of Belmont (Sheffield) on Tuesday for the Dead Weather show at the Vic. The cubs game filled the Vic's parking garage across the street (wtf, another strike against the cubs for me) so I had to parallel park like a mile down the road under the El. It was TIGHT, I know what you are saying, so I know your guy has some experience with this sort of thing! *cracks knuckles* I'll post results here when I get around to it. Thanks again!