Experience with repairing keyed car

[tuckster]

Hi all-

I'm a relatively new member to the board. I've been reading lots of post for the past two months or so and they've been very helpful. I got my 2000 BMW 323i about 9 months ago (used) and love it. The guy before it took really good care of it but had to get rid of it after his wife had the second baby. He missed it so much he emailed asking if I was enjoying the car as much as he did and how the car was doing, which I thought was funny.

However, after walking outside just now to look at the car, I noticed a key scratch marring the length of the hood. It must have happened in the last day or so.

My questions are: Have any of you had your car repaired for this problem? How much did it costs? Does the dealer do this sort of repair (my car is titanium silver and I'm thinking the dealer probably knows how to best match the color)?

Thanks you all.

Tuck

On a side note, I feel like kicking someone's ass.

 

[pietsch]

That really sucks. My previous car was keyed about 70% around. The dealer might help you find a good body shop or actually have a body shop on premises. Your comprehensive insurance will cover it after deductible. Unfortunately, when you go to sell your car, say to a dealer or Carmax, they use a tool that measures the paint thickness. That's where I got hit the hardest...on resale.

 

[Hightrump]

I went to a dealer about fixing a paint defect on my hood and they referd me to their prefered body shop as they didnt do body/paint work themselves.

The people told me that to repaint the entire hood and blend into the front quarter panels and redo the clear cost ect would cost $500. Maybe that gives you an idea. I thought it was a bargain for a perfect paint job.

 

[tuckster]

Man, found out I wasn't the only one. Asked around and we've all narrowed it down. I thought it could've been when I went to the city (San Francisco) on Monday night. But the only other place is work (a really quiet nice area of Redwood Shores on the bay area).

But it seems two other cars in the parking lot got keyed within the last week as well. An NSX and another BMW. They told me they got estimates on how much it costs and I couldn't believe it.

The BMW had it's hood keyed (about as severely as mine) and that co-worker got it fixed for $1370. The NSX guy's quote for his (about 1/10 as severe as mine) was $750. Holy cow!

Anyway, it's very likely we all got keyed by the same person. Funny thing is that this happened because I was trying to protect my car by parking in a more isolated corner of the lot with some shading from the sun. I only started doing this in the past week because it's been so hot. The NSX guy does the same thing.

I bet parking it close to the entrance of our building would have prevented this. How ironic.

 

[tuckster]

If it costs $500 for the hood, I'd do it. I mean, it would get all the other paint chips out too (and I do have a few). $1370 is outrageous. And apparently, they kept the car for a week, so that would be painful too.