MDMercedesGuy

In the form of an idiot in an Explorer who didn't watch where he was going and backed out of a parking spot into the side of my car while waiting for the car in front of me to park.

What a mess... At least it's contained to the fender. Anyone have any idea how successful they can blend a color like sapphire grey?

tanktube67

Sucks!

xXHotelCrazyXx

Honestly from the looks of it, looks like those can be removed from a paintless dent removal guy and can be buffed out...

jpflip

Ouch a brand new car...I feel your pain but today's paint shop can do amazing job.

shotgun_banjo

ouch....if the paint is in-tack try the dentless option but the sharp marks might peel the paint off when the metal gets pushed back in.

RLE

Paint matching will be no problem but since the front fenders are aluminum, the average schlub may not be able to eliminate the creases..

But then, the other guy is paying so just insist on an undetectable repair.

Undone

My gosh I would be so pissed if that happened to me.. Today I found a nail-like thing in my tire and I was so angry.. It ruined my whole day. Went to a tire shop and the guy started laughing and pulled it out and said it didn't even pierce the tire =P But in your case I think its not that bad considering its only the fender.

MDMercedesGuy

It's very hard to capture in photos - it's definitely not a PDR candidate though. There are 4 wrinkled spots, it's pulled out from the door and the paint is gouged and cracked in a spot.

MDMercedesGuy

It's actually going to the local MB/Bentley/Rolls/Maybach dealer's body shop that I can see from my living room so I'm not worried about them working the aluminum as much... Based on what I learned working in a body shop through college, there's no chance that they can fix the existing fender and have it look right.

It just makes me sick... 9 months and 1 week to the day after delivery.

MDMercedesGuy

Just got an estimate... $1,750 if they can repair my wheel which has a small nick on the edge of the rim... if not, it could reach close to $2,500.

We both have the same insurance company - hopefully that doesn't turn out to screw me.

jpflip

I bought my car 3 weeks ago and the wheels (AMG) were damaged by sidewalk. I took them to a very good shop near Montreal to get them refurbished and they came out simply perfect. They charge me $100.00 per wheel + $20.00 for tire removal,installation, balance.... There has to be a good shop in your area for damaged wheel....Good luck!

RLE

They will replace the fender, then. And when you both have the same company, there are no deductibles. My experience, in my state.

Larry3Jswft

Depends on the company and the state, but don't be afraid to threaten them with bad-faith: each claim should be adjusted on its own merits.

MDMercedesGuy

Bringing my own thread back from the dead here... this is the saga that will never end.

So in the end, my car was delivered back to me with a repaired wheel. After sitting down and looking at it closely, you could see a change in shape where the wheel was repaired, and it had a dull appearance. It took a few days to come on after picking the car up - I took it back and they ended up replacing the wheel no questions asked.

Fast forward to about 1.5 months ago, I came out of work and noticed what looked like wax that had been missed on my back edge of my passenger door. I went to wipe it off, and a strip of clearcoat a few inches flaked off. The bottom of the door was starting to flake, as was the back edge of the hood. I took pics, but it was wet so it is somewhat hard to see:




So back to the body shop it went. They claim that they got bad material... at any rate, they put me in a Corolla for a week and stripped/re-clearcoated the passenger side of my car and the hood. I got the car back a week ago today.
It's been raining, I have been busy and haven't paid much attention. Tonight, I was at a gas station and had the hood up - and the lights caught the paint on my hood and I about fell over. It looks like some fool took a dirty or dry chamois across it - it is scratched all to hell and is dull in several spots. I took video and emailed the body shop - I can't wait to see what they are going to do about this. There isn't a scratch or swirl on the rest of the car (I'm **** about swirls - 2 bucket wash every time, several chamois to dry, etc). It looks worse than the 10 year old Saturn I sold when I bought my C. The swirls are hard to catch on camera but can be seen starting at about 9 seconds.

I'm trying not to be an ***, in fact I have been beyond nice about all of this up to this point. I'm particular about my car, and all I am asking is that they put it back into the condition it was before I got backed into. They fix everything from smarts and Sprinters to Maybachs and Rolls-Royce there - I can't see how they could screw up this badly.

xXHotelCrazyXx

Looks like the hood just needs a better polishing job. They should be able to knock that out in 30 minutes.

MDMercedesGuy

Hopefully. The whole damn situation disgusts me. I wouldn't have delivered a Saturn from our body shop that looked like this. I took the best look at it I could when I picked it up - Mother Nature has not been too cooperative to look it over until now.

I've got a nice random orbital and polish, but I'm not gonna touch it with my own equipment in case it decides to get a case of automotive psoriasis again.

xXHotelCrazyXx

I understand your feelings, I am the same exact way!