Car Vandalised...

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petef

Active Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2005
Messages
521
Location
chester
Car
Mercedes 200C
A few weeks ago my car was scratched all over...yes every panel apart from the roof. Second time its happened in three years...I mean if the person was so hard surely he would front me and have a face to face but in this day and age we are living in a country of cowards who use guns and hide behind hooded tops. :mad:

.As well as my alarm syatem, I have now installed a top of the range ctvc system around the around the house and surrounding land . ..anyway thing is I had a call from the gargage / repairer today. Conversation went like " The scratch on the bonnet sir... you do know you have stone chips at the front of the bonnet and if we spary the bonnet it may make the stone chips more noticeable...If you give us a hundred ponds to sand down / fill the stone chips it would be a much better job. You see if we spray it without doing the sanding down etc we may make the sone chips look worse " .:confused:
Now I have thought about this ...and I am thinking why am I going to give you a hundred pounds ???? :confused: ..iInstaed you [ the garage ] repair the scratch but dont give me the car back if it is going to look worse than when it first came in. Infact, if necessary, dont spray the stone chips, just make sure you repair the car to its previous condition.

Now this is a reputable body shop. My insurance is Direct Line , again a reputable company....Anyone think the body shop is trying to relieve me of a £100 for their christmas party ? :crazy:
 
Id have thought they would have to prep the whole bonnet anyway so the stone chips would need to be done any way!! Or am i wrong:confused: Its not like doing the stone chips is going to add any more work to the job is it because, as i say, the whole bonnet will need prepping anyway

Also, if you are having it done through the insurance then they should(the body shop) just do the whole bonnet and bill the insurance company anyway shouldn't they:confused:


Stu
 
Doesn't it come down to 'Betterment' clauses?

To be honest, they seem fair in their approach - at least they bothered to mention it.

There's probably many people out there who'd happily pay more than £100 to get rid of all the stonechips/inperfections on their painwork.

Sorry to hear of the vandalism though.

Will
 
I suppose it depends on where the original damage is in relation to the stone chips. Granted, they will have to prep the whole bonnet, ie flat it down etc, but then they would simply over spray the whole bonnet which will show the existing chips in just as bad a light.

I think that ''betterment'' might come into play here if, the insurance company wanted to get pedantic? ;) .

The body shop, and the insurance company, will both be obliged and tasked with putting the bonnet back into the situation it was before the vandalism took place and that would include the chips I'm afaid. If you wanted a pristine, as new, bonnet at the end of the process than I guess that its fair that they ask you for a contribution unless you have ''new for old'' but thats unlikely for cars but is common for house contents insurance.

Portzy.
 
It might be worth asking the insurance company what works have been agreed with the bodyshop.
If it's to prep and paint the whole bonnet then that should cover the stonechips, if it's just to repair the damage, then it won't.
 
I find the whole thing rather odd, you cant spray over the scratches and they have to be flatted.

You cannot and do not try and spray ½ of the bonnet. That would take longer

A modern sander will flat the average bonnet in max 10 mins ready for spraying. It would use about 5 sanding disc

I do not get their thinking other than they are trying to bluff you.

Put it this way, car comes in for bonnet damage, you look at it, think OK its got to be flatted all over and the grill taken out, thats all part of the repair work.
I have never heard of anyone spraying over stone chips or even thinking about it
 
I find the whole thing rather odd, you cant spray over the scratches and they have to be flatted.

You cannot and do not try and spray ½ of the bonnet. That would take longer

A modern sander will flat the average bonnet in max 10 mins ready for spraying. It would use about 5 sanding disc

I do not get their thinking other than they are trying to bluff you.

Put it this way, car comes in for bonnet damage, you look at it, think OK its got to be flatted all over and the grill taken out, thats all part of the repair work.
I have never heard of anyone spraying over stone chips or even thinking about it

Thanks for that. It does seem a ridiculous situation and rather silly. I have had many a car repaired by body shops, and some of the cars have had dents on the panels not associated with the damage caused, but I have never been asked to contribute before !

Thanks for the replys
 
I don't know....

Christmas is still some way off. I think it is more probable that the money is for a an end-of-summer night down the pub.

Perhaps a forum member with direct bodyshop experience could comment with a more informed opinion about how the £100 they are trying to con out of you will be spent? ;)
 
hi there

sorry to hear about your problems i too have had my share of problems with the 'hoddie' and i installed cctv after a number of mirrors were broken off my cars to find the culprit, needless to say the total damage to my cars exceeded 15k (5 cars in total) it hurts both finacially and mentaly, and thats what i intended to do, as the police did nothing even though they had clear cctv, dates times costs ect,

hope you get it sorted anyway.
 
"betterment" is easily countered by just replying you don't expect it to be better than before the incident - just repaired to the same standard it was before the vandalism....no better but also NO WORSE.....I have never known an insurance company then do this.

Also - why are you not using a MB bodyshop? I thought the body work guarantee needed all works to be done to a MB standard.
 
I hate to say this but communication skills are priceless. The extra work involved is minimal but if the bodyshop is being pedantic then it is possible you are up a gum tree. They could easily have done a 'Nelson' on those stone chippings and included it in the price but if they dig their heels in then yes it can be defined as extra work.

Good luck in trying to get this resolved and fingers crossed it will not happen again?

Regards
John
 
Repairing the chips should be part of the overall repair, especially if its an insurance job. I think they're at it.
 
hi there

sorry to hear about your problems i too have had my share of problems with the 'hoddie' and i installed cctv after a number of mirrors were broken off my cars to find the culprit, needless to say the total damage to my cars exceeded 15k (5 cars in total) it hurts both finacially and mentaly, and thats what i intended to do, as the police did nothing even though they had clear cctv, dates times costs ect,

hope you get it sorted anyway.

The police are useless...if anyone saw Panorama last night then it will confirm everyones concerns over how ineffective the Police actually are. They have becomme obsessed with figures,statistics, performance indicators, strategies etc....and as anyone in management will know this is a load of pants.Real problems in society are not addressed. Its just a game that we are all part of and unfortunately play at the expense of others ( usually the more vulnerable of society ).
It was not surprising to see an ex bobby explaining to the cameras how frustrated he got, and like most decent coppers gave his job up.

He explained that all that went on in a Police Officers head when on duty was "how can I meet the target"....

eg two school boys fighting....two police cautions....two solved crimes...easy targets. I have previously worked in such an aggresive target setting environment and it saddens me that this is how society is today.There is no humanity in anything these days...if there is no possible outcomme to a situation or it cannot be measured in terms of performance then you've had it !!!!.... rant over....
As for my dilema with the mini crime wave we are addressing it as a community........without Police involvement.
 
Well I got the bmw back yesterday.I never paid the £100 they tried to get out of me to cover for the 10 min work to rub them down..low and behold all the stone chips have been sprayed over and it is immaculate. They have even repaired a small dent on one of the wings which was scratched...so after all that it seems they were trying to squeeze more out of the punter......happy days
 
That's good news mate. Isn't it annoying what some people try on!!!!

Stu
 
That's good news mate. Isn't it annoying what some people try on!!!!

Stu
...
Yes it is stu..the older I get...the less trusting I get...I suppose its because you become wise to the game.....living in Liverpool for the first 24 years of my life helped a little........;)
 
I hope they done the bodywork to a high standard!

I've already had someone scuff the side of my car last week...I was NOT pleased...!
 

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