yeah your insurance will go up, but my feeling is(especially after the weekend i've had) if you're gonna get something done, then get someone who knows what they're doing!!

as for carl, i usually stick up for you, but work this one out!!

S
T
F
U

Awww man, that sucks!

What age are you? If you are quite young like myself.. i.e. 17-23/4 I would suggest maybe not going through your insurance because having your no claims is more valuable. However, if your over 25 then go for it.

Genuinely gutted for you mate, unfortunately it happens ALOT over here in Belfast, not so much in Ballymena I've only had my nice dust cap's from my alloys stolen.

This happened to a guy from a forum I'm on just a few days ago...

****ers stole his wheels



Makes me sick, that we (People who are civilized and earn a living):

Pay money for our Car
Pay money to Tax the car
Pay money for petrol/derv
Pay money for MOT when the time comes

And pay (In my case £1500) for insurance, which, is USELESS in the first 4-5 years if you are a male because if you try and claim, the insurance company will try it's best to get out of paying out and your premium will shoot up.

Then you get chav ****s who steal peoples wheels, or needlessly wreck nice cars because they will never be able to legitimately obtain one. The best part of these scrotes ran down their mothers legs!!

Rant over!

Thats fcuking crap! Why on earth would anyone do that!

I know some really good local places to get it sprayed, not cheap tho. But its one of these things when it comes to re-sprays, you tend to get what you pay for.

You'd have to weigh up how much the excess plus the increased premiums will cost you, compared to the cost of the job

Good luck getting it sorted. :hug:

The Beast said:

I'd still get a touch up paint first. If your not sure what your doing have a little read up on how to do it properly. For less than £20 outlaw you can fix these things yourself. If you have the skill and patience. The Marea had one headlight to tail light 3-4mm down to the metal a couple years ago. Dunno if yourself or Stev managed to notice it at Perth?

Not pretanding it's perfect but plenty cheaper than having half a car resprayed or losing out on your excess and no claims.

Whats the worst that can happen? You only make it look much better instead of perfect.

Click to expand...

Thats exactly what im going to do, touch it up as best i can, i.e. WELL. and see if i can live with it if not i have some serious maths to do.

Got a picture? From what you described, no amount of Polish, even aggressive on a rotary would suffice, and you might be at risk of burning through the clear coat trying to improve it.

Stripes said:

Awww man, that sucks!

This happened to a guy from a forum I'm on just a few days ago...

****ers stole his wheels

Click to expand...

SaxP FTW!

Stripes said:

Got a picture? From what you described, no amount of Polish, even aggressive on a rotary would suffice, and you might be at risk of burning through the clear coat trying to improve it.

Click to expand...

No no, you dont understant, DEFO wont polish out, dude you could colour the scratch in with a crayon and still need to go back over it twice. its weird to desribe. i pray it doesnt happen to any of your GP's because the paint kind of flakes off in little circles. I will touch it up and try and blend it best i can and see how it looks for now.

steve119 said:

yeah your insurance will go up, but my feeling is(especially after the weekend i've had) if you're gonna get something done, then get someone who knows what they're doing!!

as for carl, i usually stick up for you, but work this one out!!

Steve
Shut
The
****
Up

Click to expand...

i win. no seriously what is that for i had said his excess/premium would go up.although perhaps not very clearly. nevermind.


hope you get it fixed beany.

trust me when i say this carl, you were going on and on about it!! chill dude!!:slayer:

steve119 said:

trust me when i say this carl, you were going on and on about it!! chill dude!!:slayer:

Click to expand...

ah ok sorry.

i know how nasty it is to have damaged caused to your car that isnt your fault and how costly it is to fix thats why.

not going to say why as apparently that is the wrong thing to do

What a shower of bucking fastards!

My son has a Boxster and I sh!t bricks when it's parked anywhere in case some moron does what's happened to your stonking car beanie. Hope you can get it done to your satisfaction either by yourself or bodyshop.

On a slight tangent, your paint seems to have done (judging from your description) the same as mehstg's bonnet ie come away in sort of "scallops".

hmmm well, you're preaching to the choir, carl!

anyway beany keep us apprised of the situation, hope you get it sorted!!

Absolute scum

had my bumper scratched down to the plastic in a carpark jsut after i got my GP I know where it is but i bet you wouldn't find it i got some paint and used an airbrush and masking tape to fill the scratch then polish it level but wouldn't like to tackle such a large area....

That's exceptionally crap - my thoughts go out to anyone who suffers this sort of mindless vandalism. A solution - how about a perimeter alarm rigged to the following:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]World: Africa[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Firing on all cylinders[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]A test driver disposes with some local difficulty[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]By Jeremy Vine in Johannesburg [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Car drivers in South Africa are being offered a new method of preventing hijacking. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]The BBC's Jeremy Vine witnesses a demonstration of the "blaster"[/FONT]A blaster, flame-thrower operated by a foot pedal inside the car, blasts a jet of fire at a would-be hijacker. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]A person confronted by an armed hijacker simply presses a pedal and the "blaster" ignites gas that shoots from the under-side of the car. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Doctors say the device is lethal - but the police have confirmed it is perfectly legal.
[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Should keep the scrotes aty bay
[/FONT]

police say it legal......yeah, in africa maybe, dont think you would get away with it here somehow........unfortunately

Man im pissed off that they done that to a car as mint as yours beany (or any car )

Hope it all turns out alright....

beany_bot said:

Its a tricky one, i now have to decide what to do. whether to go through insurance or not. and which garage to chose from several douzen. ARGH:bang: dont know where to start.

Click to expand...

Yeh...you've got some choices to make unfortunately

Good luck if you go down the DIY route. If the damage is that visable then it maybe wouldn't hurt to try before you decide to claim on insurance or hand over $$$$

Can i suggest you put a coat of wax or polish along the bare metal until you either try yourself or get it put in to get sorted.

If its scored that deep it may have scored through some of the zinc to the steel.

Can take it off with a spirit wipe before you paint it and will keep the rust away at this time of year.

The Beast said:

I'd still get a touch up paint first. If your not sure what your doing have a little read up on how to do it properly. For less than £20 outlaw you can fix these things yourself. If you have the skill and patience. The Marea had one headlight to tail light 3-4mm down to the metal a couple years ago. Dunno if yourself or Stev managed to notice it at Perth?

Not pretanding it's perfect but plenty cheaper than having half a car resprayed or losing out on your excess and no claims.

Whats the worst that can happen? You only make it look much better instead of perfect.

Click to expand...

I'd second getting a touchup paint first. Cost about £5 from Fiat. Also get some 1500 and 2000 grit wet and dry, some rubbing compound and colour restorer type polish. Touch in the scratch over the course of a few days. Build it just proud of the surrounding paint. Allow to harden for a few days. Crack out the 1500 on a sanding block, use warm water and soap to lubricate. Rub down, feel the scratch until its still slightly proud, then swap to 2000 grit and rub down on the block with soap etc until you can't feel it anymore. Crack out the rubbing compound, use a rotary polisher, next use paint restorer on a rotary, finally use something like Autoglym Super Resin Polish. Stand back and admire a massive improvement.

I did this on my old Alfa had 2 bad scratches all the way down both passenger front/rear doors when I parked where someone didn't like. After following this procedure you couldn't see the scratch unless you looked closely and only because the paint was very slightly darker. When I sold it the buyer didn't notice either so it was pretty damn good and saved a respray and all the hassle that can involve.

Oh if you go down the repainting route, I wouldn't expect to pay more than £400 to respray 2 panels, probably less and definately not £800!. Clearly it doesn't matter if the insurance company is paying. Ask around for recommendation fo good bodyshops, they can vary massively.

:yeahthat: my grandads car got keyed ages ago, i got a touchup pen and some 1500 grit, touched the key marks up, wet sanded with 1500 grit, then used rubbing compound and polish and it virtually disappeared, you could just tell the color difference if you were really concentrating and looking for it

imo id go with another insurer renewal time, try and get something actually comprehensive, direct line do excess free vandalism cover, probably wont happen again but its on principle really

sam