[thebadun]

Hi,

Sadly one of my first posts on here is some bad news, noticed yesterday that my car has been keyed pretty badly down the passenger side. There's one deep scratch on the passenger door, and two others that are not quite as bad, then a 'scrubbing' scratch on the bonnet. I've been quoted roughly £500 by my local Mini dealer, which is a bit gutting. I believe that the scratches are beyond just filling in from advice I have sought, but have ordered a touch in stick for the present.

Can't post any photos at the moment as I have less than 5 posts, but can give link to where they are posted if you would like to see them.

Was wondering if anyone could suggest any good bodyshops around Bristol or Oxfordshire (or even along the M4 corridor?)

Thanks in advance.

[ALD0]

Hello Welcome to MINI 2, what a unhappy first post
Hope you find somewheremore reasonable to get your car repaired, normally if it's a deep scratch it will be a body shop job...

[Fin]

This sort of pointless vandalism of someone else's property makes me so angry

I hope you can get it sorted at minimum expense

[debpet666]

You must be gutted! My daughter's car (Renault Clio) was badly damaged by a deer commiting suicide(!) a couple of weeks back and a new front spoiler, radiator and lots of other bits and then respraying cost £831 so, as ever, main delaers are trying it on.

We had it done in Oxfordshire near Didcot (C&N Autos). Let me know, but sounds like it's too far away for you.

Regards Deb

[thebadun]

Quote: Originally Posted by debpet666 (original)

You must be gutted! My daughter's car (Renault Clio) was badly damaged by a deer commiting suicide(!) a couple of weeks back and a new front spoiler, radiator and lots of other bits and then respraying cost £831 so, as ever, main delaers are trying it on.

We had it done in Oxfordshire near Didcot (C&N Autos). Let me know, but sounds like it's too far away for you.

Regards Deb

Thanks Deb, I actually live close to Didcot so wouldn't be so bad - I'm away at the moment, but will give them a try when I'm back.

[IH1]

Sorry to hear about your poor MINI. I had my MINI keyed last year by mindless idiots. Deep scratch over the wheel arch and one big scratch along the boot. I got two quotes - dealer quoted £900 and a body shop quoted £350. I went with the body shop and it looked like it had never happened!

I hope you get it fixed soon!

[femstar]

This is so mindless cannot understand why anyone would do this, makes my blood boil. hope it gets sorted soon, I dropped a petrol filler on mine in August - which caused the slightest dint and chip low down in the os door.

BMW quote was £1200 for a complete respray of that side.
did a smart repair on it in the end and it's un noticable for the grand sum of £25.

[Tara&Paul]

Scratching a car or "keying" a car is "Vehicular Rape". It's a horrible thing to do, I can't understand why anyone would do it? Jealousy perhaps or just cowardly vandalism. I would bring back the Death Penalty for anyone caught deliberately scratching a vehicle.

I once had my Nissan Xterra keyed, the little **** scratched every panel down to the metal. I had to have the whole truck resprayed, cost me my NCB and a lot of money. Police never caught the little ****.

So I know how you feel mate!

P.

[H & M]

Hi

Sorry to hear about your car, people who do this are just complete losers....and the police (in our experience) couldn't care less...

When one of our cars was keyed, just on the drivers door, we were quoted over £700 by the mini approved body shop, but used a small local company, who charged about £325 and did a very good job, on dark mettalic blue, had to spray most of the side of the car to blend it in. This guy is based about 12 miles south of Reading. PM me if you would like details..........

[I love MINI, Laura]

So sorry to hear this and I have also been a victim of some little to55er keying my MINI! Hope its fixed with not much problem. I shed a tear for all victims of this completely pointless and ignorant act. x

[thebadun]

Ok quotes so far have been:

North Oxford Mini (Supplying dealer) - approx £500 (Respray bonnet and door, new bonnet stripes)
Dick Lovett BMW - approx £8-900 (Respray bonnet, scuttle pannel, quater panel, door and quater panel, new bonnet stripes)
Local Independent - £450 cash (Respray bonnet and door) + parts (i.e. new badges, trim clips and bonnet stripes)

Not looking to good. I'm at uni at the moment, so thinking I'll touch it in for now to stop any further damage and then get the work done after I've left in the summer and have a job again.

The other thing is my car is a Mini Finance car, so does anyone know if this means I have to get the work done at a Mini garage?

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

There's no reason for it to have to go a MINI dealer to be repaired, simply because it's financed by them. The only issue would be that, if you ever need to hand it back to them, then it will need to be in good order or they are likely to charge you to bring it up to standard.

In your circumstances, I'd call out Chips Away to see if they can touch it in. From the two cars I've had done by them, as long as they are only doing a "professional touch in" the results are very acceptable and it's massively cheaper than getting panels sprayed; it also avoids the possibilty of panels not matching properly.

If they need to sand the damage down and then airbrush it, the results are not so good. The results of this on my last company car were like a pretty good amateur job with a Halford's spray can I would never let them near the MINI with this method!

[jasonite]

Really sorry about what happened to you, thebadun.

Is car-keying a rampant problem in the UK, or is it particular to BMWs/MINIs? Like most cars, the 5 I've had have been victims of careless but accidental door-dingings, but no one has ever intentionally vandalized any of my previous cars. I'm taking delivery of my 1st MINI tomorrow, and seeing the stories above has me worried: do vandals for some reason tend to target MINIs more than the average car?

[thebadun]

Right just had some better news, a local valeter who I contacted on detailing world has been in touch with me and he reckons he can sort it without the need for respraying. I'm going to start filling in the scratches (after I clean the car!) until it's proud of the paint then he's going to wet sand the scratches back to the correct level then polish and protect. I think I'm going to get the car detailed at the same time so all panels look the same and theres some quality protection on there too.

Estimate £75-100 (to repair scratches) = much happier

[thebadun]

Quote: Originally Posted by jasonite (original)

Really sorry about what happened to you, thebadun.

Is car-keying a rampant problem in the UK, or is it particular to BMWs/MINIs? Like most cars, the 5 I've had have been victims of careless but accidental door-dingings, but no one has ever intentionally vandalized any of my previous cars. I'm taking delivery of my 1st MINI tomorrow, and seeing the stories above has me worried: do vandals for some reason tend to target MINIs more than the average car?

Sadly I think any car seems to be a target now - this is my first car that has been vandalised (though I wouldn't have noticed on my previous one because it was so dented, dinged and scratched), but at uni every year for the last four years something has happened to one of my housemates car (Seat Arosa, Renault Clio and another Mini), just jealous people, probably drunk half the time round where we live. I wouldn't be overly worried.

[andrewcregan]

As suggested by Tigger, I have found Chips Away offer a superb service at a reasonable cost - my father has also used them, and was very happy too. I think they have franchises all over the country - certainly seen in Hampshire and Cheshire. Good luck.

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

Quote: Originally Posted by thebadun (original)

I'm going to start filling in the scratches (after I clean the car!) until it's proud of the paint then he's going to wet sand the scratches back to the correct level then polish and protect. I think I'm going to get the car detailed at the same time so all panels look the same and theres some quality protection on there too.

Hmmm.... If you don't mind me asking, what are you planning on filling the scratches with?