Okay so after 2 months of enjoying my car and going out of my way to park it in safe places with plenty of space around it, some idiot either keyed the car or drove a shopping cart along the side of it and it now has a scratch on the driver's side door and the rear quarter panel.

Any one who has gone through this unfortunate scenario have any advice for me in getting this fixed that preserves the factory finish of the paintjob?

This bothers me every time I approach the car because it is flawless otherwise and I want to get the paint fixed up to look as pristine as possible.

I took it to the Euro Motorcars "Appearance Center" and I am thankful that they were honest in explaining that they can repaint it but that I would probably get better job done at a real body shop. I talked to my Euromotorcars Service Advisor and he recommended the Euromotorcars Bodyshop in Rockville.

Does anyone in the DC area have any experience with the Euromotorcars Bodyshop or have a recommendation for another body shop that deals with Mercedes vehicles and does outstanding flawless paint work?

It is a shame that the entire door and the quarter panel is going to have to be repainted due to the gross negligence or the vandalism of another individual.

Can I expected the newly painted panels to be just as good as the factory paint and finish?

Thanks so much!

 

You may be able to cover it somewhat, and its worth a try. Dr Color Chip. They advertise in the MBCA magazine. I bought some and used it to cover a scratch on the C pillar.

 

Sorry to hear about your car. We have dealt with the body shop when they were at the old location. The Rockville facility is a state of the art facility that was built last year. Will the body shop manager is great - if they do not do the work right he will make sure it gets done properly. We have used them for our Mercedes and BMW. The work for the Mercedes was great. For the BMW it was so so initially but in the end it turned out perfectly. That was before the new facility. My husband had someone slide into his car's bumper during the snow and he is planning to go it there.

Based on the description you will probably need a repaint of the panels and some blending. Take it to the body shop and see what they have to say (I wonder if the body shop gives you free service loaners ).

 

Thank you so much for your post! So sorry to hear about your husband's car. Hope no one was hurt!

I feel better about taking my car there after having received a a personal recommendation from you about the Euromotorcars body-shop. I have a second car so the loaner is not going to be an issue. I just want to take the car to the best body-shop in the area that I can find. For whatever it is worth, after doing some research it seems the Euromotorcars body-shop is MB Certified.

If anyone else has had any experience with the Euromotorcars body-shop, please post your comments here as I'm sure it will be beneficial to other forum members in the area.

 

Royal Auto Body/Imperial Auto Body

I am very very picky when it comes to my car. These guys are truly the best. Great customer service, award winning work, quick turnaround time. Ask for Raffi or Tigran and tell them Shahrad with the old silver e class sent you.

(301)-424-4500

I have fixed all my cars with them and send all my close friends/family to them. Very good guys.

 

Wagonwerks in Alexandria ,VA is without a doubt the best auto body and paint shop on the East Coast. They are expensive but they're worth it and they stand by their work. Check around and you'll see why I recommend them so highly. All they work on is high-end cars i.e. you won't find a Chevy or Ford on their lot.

 

Back in college, I had my '94 mazda rx7 keyed badly on the passenger door and rear quarter panel. I totally understand what you are going thru. It will take a good body shop to get the paint back to original and matching the rest of the body.

I would definitely take it to a reputable shop that will be able to do color-matching for you.

There's always jealous ppl out there who do these things to make themselves feel better about where they're not.

Good luck!

 

Thanks so much for your concern! What a waste... considering the environmental damage in having to repaint a door and and rear quarter panel that was perfect until someone decided to vandalize it. I guess these things happen and it could have been worse.

 

Thanks! I called them up just now and they seemed very nice and knowledgeable. I was planing to take it to the Euromotorcars body-shop in Rockville because they are closer and they are supposedly Merecdes Certified and only work on Mercedes vehicles. I also figured they can get any needed parts quickly, as I heard some of the trimmimg and lining around the door are one-time use.

Do you actually believe that Wagon Works will do a better job? I want the best possible paint job done on the car so I can take it to either place but Euromotorcars is a lot closer.

Anyone knows what specific attributes make a body shop Mercedes Certified? I hope it is more comprehensive than the CPO certification

 

It's hard if not impossible to repaint one panel to perfectly match the car.

That being said, your best bet is to talk to your service advisor or any service advisor at the MB dealership. They can recommend a shop that they use whenever they need to repaint their cars after a lease turn-in.

Most cars that are leased and returned to the dealer need some type of painting / touch-up, usually on the bumper or doors.

If it's good enough for MB for their resale... would be good enough for me.

 

No disrespect intended, Mate, but I beg to differ. Modern technology has remade the body shop paint booth. Top flight shops can make just about perfect matches, even of old and faded paints. I would pick a place such as WagenWerks and let them work their magic. I've seen what they can do and I would give them my work.

 

Is it WagonWorks or WagonWerks? A couple of forum members have recommended them to me but have spelled the name as "WagonWerks" but the only one I could find on google is spelled "WagonWorks." Same place that I keep hearing about?

http://www.wagonwork.com/

Google Street View:

http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1T4G...N&hl=en&tab=wl

 

That's what I did. I just wanted to get a second opinion because there's a bit of a conflict of interest here because my Mercedes dealer actually owns the body shop recommended by my service advisor. From the research I've done, the Eoromotorcars body-shop in Rockville is supposed to be a state of the art facility that they completed just a few months ago and I'm leaning more towards them because they are apparently Mercedes certified (whatever that means) and they primarily work on Mercedes vehicles. Like you said they probably work on the dealer's own cars because the dealer has a HUGE pre-owned inventory and probably work on a lot of their cars before they are offered for sale. So hopefully they know what they are doing.

Ugh. What a hassle. I wish I could put up some kind of a notice that says that I have been keyed once this year and to please leave me alone for at least another year!

 

I believe your Mercedes will be well taken care of at Euromotorcars.
Having said that, looking back 20 yrs ago, my new 911 Porsche was keyed in the DC area, and the only place I would ever take it for such repairs is WagonWork. They completed the paint job, and it looked OK to me. However, their top tech inspected the car and decided it needed to be completely redone because it didn't meet their standards; turned out perfectly. I know they specialize in German cars, especially Porsche, but I don't think M-Bz is on their list of "certifications." Suggest you call them to discuss your problem, and even ask them about Euromotorcars' credentials/reputation.

 

My car has been at the Euromotorcars bodyshop since last Monday and I was just told that I will not get it back until Monday or Tuesday of next week. They are taking a bit longer than expected but as long as they do an excellent job, I am okay with the extra time.

Can someone with some experience tell me some things to look for when I pick up the car next week? Any particular areas I should especially look at?

My service advisor told me that the paint finish would be flawless and absent a carfax entry no one will be able to tell the panels were repainted. He felt very confident about their work -- for whatever that is worth!

The original State Farm estimate was for about $900 for the two keyed panels but Euromotorcars wanted to blend the driver's door (which was not damaged) and wanted to do a very thorough job so they submitted a supplement to State Farm bringing the total job cost to a little over $2,000. State Farm after trying to drag their feet approved everything. I hope the results would be commensurate with what they have billed to essentially fix two keyed body panels!

Thank in advance for any advice on inspecting the finished paint-job.

 

So how did the vehicle turn out??

 

Um. I got the car back. I'd say it is inconclusive.

I wasn't happy with the entire experience mostly because they ended up keeping the car for 10 days and it seemed too long to be without my car to fix a key scratch. This is about the smallest job you can present a bodyshop and should have been fixed in just a few days.

I have honestly been too busy since I go the car back but it seems under the correct light conditions I can see a faint line going from top to bottom between the roof and the left passenger door where the new paint job ended. It is really tricky to see that and so far I have only been able to confirm the location of this aberration on the paint under the lighting conditions of my home garage and even then only from a certain angle.

Also they had used some weired tape to cover up the painted area with plastic when apparently the car was out and there is still residue/glue on the paint in some areas that are very difficult to get out even after multiple car washes. I have not had the time to take the car there to get them to kindly remove the glue crap that is on some of the body panels. They should never under any circumstance should have used any tape on the body panels of the car that leaves any residue whatsoever.

If I am ever unfortunate enough to have paint work done again, not sure if I would take it to the Euromotorcars Bodyshop. Especially with the glue gunk the car certainly was not in pristine condition when I picked up. For what they charge and all the hype about how the only work on Mercedes and Bentley's they need be much more through on their work.

I am afraid to take the car to a bodyshop to get their opinion on the work given what I have noticed on my own out of fear that it will necessitate another trip to this place to get everything fixed and I will again be out of a car for god knows how long.

The best way I would describe the experience is "Lots of hype, lots of delays, and unsure when and what I am going to get back." So basically, hype, delays, and uncertainty just about covers it.

Oh and they ended up billing State Farm nearly $2K for the key scratch.