truelove

ahhhhhhhhhhhh, i knew it would happen eventually. there isn't a car i've ever driven where i haven't F#$%ed it up somehow. and today it happened to my coupe. i washed it, vaccummed it out and was doing some work outside my garage. and then i tried to drive into my garage with the hatch open. it screwed up the back spoiler part, the part with the little glass window in it. i guess i'll be gettting that replaced. does anyone have any clue how much that'll cost. i'm trying to decide whether or not to turn it into insurance. and that'll depend on how much it'll cost.

dangit!!!!!!! i'm so stupid.

tifosiv122

No clue about the costs, but sorry that really hurts.

Erik

truelove

you're telling me. i just did it like half an hour ago. i'm just sitting here stairing at the wall in disbelief. i will get it fixed as soon as i can. but i can't believe i did it.

hokusbenz

man that really sucks. you didnt see the mfd light up red with the hatch open message?

vyse

Bah, I've done something just as dumb; in my previous car, I was going out at night, and I forgot my mom's car was parked on the driveway (not to mention it's black so it wasn't really obvious). Also, being lazy, I opened the garage door with the remote in the car, so I didnt' even look outside, put it in reverse, and let the car roll. Within 1 second, BANG, two little indents on my rear bumper appeared from the screws on the license plate holder on my mom's car. Good thing there's a front plate, hence there was no major damage on the other car (just a bent license plate), and only two small circular dents on the rear bumper of my car. Luckily I haven't done any other stupid stuff to this car yet, *crosses fingers*.

truelove

i'm pretty accident prone so i knew this would happen eventually. here's a rundown of my stupidities.

i parked my mom's car (this was in high school right after i got my license) in front of the garage and got out. except i forgot to put it in park (duh ), it rolled down the driveway, through a doghouse and through the neighbors fence. that was ALOT of damage.

about a month later with that same car, i backed out of the garage right into my grandparents car. except it wasn't as simple as the bumpers hitting. i sideswiped their car. tore up the whole side of both cars. not too bad, but bad enough.

that same year, probably 6 months later, i backed my parent's van outta the garage and hit the garage door (it wasn't all the way up yet). i have no idea what i was thinking.

a couple years later, i hit a curb with that van and dented the bumper.

then i got my own car, my cougar. here's what i did to it while owning it.

hit a patch of ice and slid into a guardrail going about 45 mph a couple years ago.

my wife's brother also backed into it with his truck. not my fault obviously.

some drunken frat boy idiot decided he wanted to slide across the hood one night while it was in the parking lot at school. had to have the hood repainted.


so as you can see, i am very accident prone. i guess i'll be addding this little incident to the list and turning it into the insurance to be fixed. fun fun.

Dr. Plastic

Dude maybe you should give up on the "backing up" part and just drive forward. That seems to be the common denominator!

Outland

You could just fill it, and paint the whole thing to match the car

Accidents are just oportunities to do some customizing

MarkL

Man, sorry to hear about that -- I know just what you mean about disbelief -- you keep saying "if only ... if only...." Sounds like the damage was minimal, hopefully no paint work needed. Hey, I'm glad you're not around here so there's no chance you'll need to borrow my car

Don't feel too bad. A young guy lived in a townhouse next to my mom years ago. He had parked his new Jaguar XJ6 part way into the garage. For some reason, he then closed the garage door! Cracked the back window and other nasty damage to the trunk.

Good luck getting it fixed!

Matt230K

So the damage is right on the back edge? Is it something that you could cover up with an AMG spoiler??

jlm

I can't say for sure, but the pricing from my rear-end rebuild includes an item for 'tailgate outer covering' which lists at $447.72. It's one of the bigger items called out, so it could be the one. No other big items (other than the 'tailgate' itself) have anything to do with the hatch.

jlm

Benzer

I dont know how much but i am sure it would be a big number.

Replacing the lense for the fog light ALONE cost me 285 cool ones - part (165.00) & labour for the driver side.

This is just for the lense only (

Matt230K

They ripped you off. I have changed a fog light lense on a C240. I'm assuming it is very similar to a coupe. The part was around 20 bucks.

truelove

well, if it's a big big cost, i'll just claim it on my insurance. my deductible is only 250 or 100 depending on what this falls under. i'm not too worried about it. my family reassured me that it will look like new when the auto body shop gets done with it. and i'm sure it will. plus they made me feel better by telling me all their stories about they're acts of stupidity involving cars over the years. some of them are pretty funny and involve alot more damage than what i just did. my grandma managed to rip off the entire driver's side door on a snow drift as she was backing up.

i'm gonna call the insurance company to get some options and then call my service department to get an auto body shop recommendation. they'll probably be able to fix it with minimal work. they're pretty nasty scratches and some rippling but only on that back painted panel.

i feel like crap about the whole thing, but **** happens. hopefully my baby will be looking like new in the next couple weeks. at least until my next act of stupidity. plus my sister just hit a deer this weekend causing $3000 of damage to her car, which made me feel a little better. of course, i feel bad for her car and the deer.

Matt230K

I think we need some pics.

truelove

my poor baby...

truelove

look what i did to her ...

Matt230K

I thought you said it was just the part with the little plastic window. You're definitely going to have to go to a body shop to have that piece painted. As long as you go to a good one, you'll never know the difference.

FrankW

OUCH...!

now u got to get that part painted. don't see the damage on the little spoiler tho?

truelove

sorry, i guess i explained it a little wrong. yeah, obviously it's the part with paint on it. i'm gonna get a recommendation from the dealership on a body shop. i guess they have a really good one that they send all their cars to. i know it'll look like new when they're done with it. but i still feel horrible. i just want my baby looking better now.

has anyone heard if Maaco does a good job. i know burt reynolds endorses them so they can't be bad right? no seriously, i've heard they do a great job and i just checked the better business bureau here and they're recieved no complaints.

tommy

Just look at Burt's hair. That tells you what kind of job they do.

Seriously, don't compoud your mistake by going cheapo on the fix.

If you have no alternative, then the body shop that your dealer recommends would probably be fine. I'd ask some quality shops in your area for their recommendations as well - they'd probably send you to body shops as good as the one that your dealer will send you to, but be a little cheaper. Maaco jobs tend to look good at first, then look like crap down the road. Besides, Capri's a tough color to get just right - I wouldn't trust them.

truelove

okay, i'll talk to my dealer. they send all their cars to a shop and supposedly they do a great job. they send all their Porsches, MBs, Audi, and VWs there. i didn't know maaco was a cheapy way to go. i'll ask around i guess. thanks.

MarkL

Here's something to be aware of. Most paint shops, especially the best, always want to blend into the adjacent panel in order to better hide any color variation. Unfortunately, I've needed body repair in the past (not my MB), and I've tried to discuss this with the shop and avoid it where possible. I hate putting new paint over perfectly good paint on adjacent panels if not necessary. Since that rear panel looks pretty small, I'd get their opinion on keeping the paint only on that small panel and not blending into the rear fender panels.

I've found that matching clearcoat colors may not be as difficult for a good shop as in the past. But the application of the final clearcoat can also be problematic, as far as differences in shine, bubbles, etc.

I wish you the best of luck w/ the paint repair.

truelove

i'm just glad it's a small panel on the back of the car. at least it's not the hood or door or something obvious. i'll take pictures of the before and after when it's all said and done. i hope they do a great job. i'll find out in the coming weeks.

RedC230K

Adam,
Midtown uses Bennishek and Duffy in Pioneer Park.
Mike Bennishek has a CLK and a C320 himself.
They are really really good - and a little more expensve than anyone else.