Stopped off at a bakery in down town San Diego to pick up some goodies for the family and as I return to my car I see the door of a red Jeep just laying against the fender of my car. The guy left it open while he was climbing in and out of the Jeep to take off the roof panels. Needless to say I was pretty PO'd and let him know it. His response was underwhelming to say the least as in he didn't even understand the problem with what he'd done.

This is my first ding since buying the car in 2017 so I guess I'm fairly lucky. I try to be reasonably careful where I park the car but you can't always find a great space. In this case there hadn't been anyone in the spot on the driver side of the car when I pulled in. I saw the Jeep back in as I was getting ready to leave the bakery and thought I hope the guy takes care when he opens his door because it was down hill towards my car and having a Jeep I know they don't have any door detents. They just swing open till they get to the end of the strap.

It could have been worse, I don't see any dent, just a scuff in the paint. As the guy was not being cooperative, I took a picture of his plate as well as the one here with him holding the door after I blessed him out, and the one of the damage. Wondering whether it is worth it to call the insurance. I do pay a S-ton here in CA every six months, though surprisingly the rate on the Mercedes is only a bit higher than my wife's 2015 Honda Odyssey. If I do call and the insurance company pays out a claim, would that show up on a Car-Fax report? It isn't an accident so I'd hope not. Kind of on par with a windshield replacement I'd think.

The butt head:


The ding:

 

Ugh, sorry that happened to you and sorry it was by someone who is an ***.

I sometimes park far away, but, usually when I return there is someone that decided right beside my car was the only good spot out of thousands.

So most times I don't care and just stuff it in a spot and hope for the best.

For the butthead to not be mortified and apologize and offer to pay for repairs is beyond me. I've paid for and will continue to pay for all MY mess-ups.

Some people suck.

 

PS for something small like that go get a paint pen from the dealer and expertly clean the area, hit it with the paint pen/nail polish type touch-up, and then when dried you can cut it down to be smooth (as long as there is not actually a dent in the fender). If it's minor a good detailer may even be able to fix you up like that.

Good luck!

 

People suck! It will be a comprehensive claim and show up on CarFax. However, it won't show up as an accident. I've had some dumbass kick in the rear quarter panel of a previous car and somebody else made a scratch in the rocker panel with a stone on another occasion. Both were listed as vandalism, but had no effect on the resale. Your situation doubly sucks given you have Magno paint. Can't touch up that stuff or polish out the damage. You are looking at a respray of the whole side of the car at a minimum as Magno paint is very difficult to blend. That's why PPF is pretty much a must if you have Magno paint. I don't have Magno, but my whole front has PPF, so in this case all it would have done is potentially damage the PPF a bit and the self-healing may have just corrected it on its own.

 

I would get the plate run off the jeep, and claim it with his insurance.

 

Mango paint...that's the sticking point. Can't be touched up easily like other paint, so like SS said, a major paint job to get it back to OEM condition. You basically have 2 choices; live with it or contact insurance, because it's going to be costly to get it right.

 

Or a grey sharpie no joke.

It maybe worse in real life, however, it looks to me like this can easily be made to disappear.

I got bumped from behind last year and for a about week the tiny vertical 1/4" line made by the other persons license plate the rear bumper SCREAMED at me every time I saw the car from the back. Then one day I forgot about it, and, it's actually really hard to find again now unless I really try.

 

In my opinion its not worth trying to get insurance involved. First you have to prove the damage was actually caused by that guy which you cant then second its just probably not worth your time and sanity.

First ding since buying the car in 2017. Have you really gone over the car and looked, I seem to find something new to me all the time. Most are probably I just never noticed, the lighting is just right,

I go out of my way to park alone but never fails to find a tiny dent or scratch that makes me wonder how on earth it happened. i specifically remember one time parked at Lowes out at the farthest section all alone only to come out and theres someone parked right next to me car. Made zero sense why someone would do that.

I bought a 6" DA polisher and taught myself how to use it. I have been able to make alot of scratches disappear or at least make them less noticeable. Good thing with MB paint is it seems pretty hard and takes alot to mess up. I just use the Meguiars Ultimate Compound and takes quite alot of time to polish scratches out. I always use it in spring on the hood and trunk to remove light scratches left from the snow brush.

i have alot of rock chips on the hood that actually rust, must be made of some type of steel. I'll clean the area with polishing compound then clean with isopropyl alcohol. I bought a small nail polish bottle size bottle of touch up paint for my paint code and apply it with an insulin syringe. just a tiny dab of paint right in the middle and it will spread to fill the scratch in. Let it dry a few days then go over the area with the DA polisher then apply sealant/wax.

I use the turtle wax ceramic wet wax. Few sprays when im drying the car with microfiber towels and it leaves a nice shine and seems to last a few washes.

 

Just to repeat. OP has Magno paint. None of those polish and touch up suggestions are gonna help them. Touching up Magno and polishing it will ruin the matte paint and make it way worse.

 

Which is the exact reason why I would be running the plate and contacting his insurance. This happened to me, for an accident that wasn't my fault.

I was rear ended at slow speed in my Ford Focus ST in a parking lot where a private gym I used to train at was. The collision cracked the bumper cover, and scuffed up the paint. It was single mother in a pile of **** Cadillac, that was "running late" to pick up her daughter. We exchanged information, and police were not called even though it went against my better judgement. The next day I called her insurance company (Fred Loya) some bargain basement INS company, and they proceeded to tell me that she was not insured, and that the policy number was fake. I did not call my INS company.

Since the car was only mildly cosmetically damaged, I took some time (about 2 weeks) and was just going to pay out of pocket when I received a call from another gym member. The lady that hit me, went to the gym and got the information from his car tag. She mistook his car for mine, hired an injury attorney and went after him thinking it was me. I had to call his insurance, explain that not only it wasn't him at all, but she didn't have the correct make, model, year, or even color correctly. After speaking to his INS company, I received a call from her lawyer. I completely refused to answer any questions, because I didn't have any legal representation. My INS company was notified by the other INS company, who called me, and I had to explain what happened. They were actually kinda ****ty that I had not notified them. Well I had all the facts, and dash cam footage that was recording front and back. The gym owner gave me the video of the accident in the parking lot. Long sorry short, my INS company presented the evidence, threatened to counter sue, and her injury lawyer dropped the case.

Since she literally had zero insurance, zero assets, and it would have cost me more to file in small claims. I paid my $500 deductible, received a comprehensive claim on my CLUE record, and a ding against my Carfax for an accident for a bumper skin replacement. All that has cost me more over the past 5 years, then if I would have paid out of pocket up front.

 

That Magno paint is cool, but search for others on the MBWorld who have had magno paint work done and the reality will set in. I passed on the very first AMG car I fell in love with because it had magno paint. The OP has been very fortunate, he just ran into a remarkably rude person. I'm not sure I could have handled myself with the restraint he did in that moment.

 

Magno paint may look cool in a showroom or a car show, but no way in hell I would ever want a car with it. Totally impractical for the real world.

 

Try a colored marker from a craft store. They're available in many colors.

 

Yes I have. I have always hand washed the car so am very familiar with every body panel.

Took a closer look at the fender today in the sun while I was out. Used a microfiber cloth to cleaned off the spot. I think some of what I saw in the previous photo may have been some of the Magno clear coat residue from the scuff and the cloth brushed it away. Looked better today. I do have some Selenite Grey touch up paint from Mercedes that I used on a rock chip on the hood that I picked up on a cross country drive years ago (posted about that on here somewhere). If I look hard and long enough I can find the spot, but it takes work so I've been able to live with that fix. I'll probably mask off the area and take a toothpick tip or other very fine instrument and dab a tiny bit on there and dress it up after it's dried.

I've been fortunate with the Magno finish but also have been very happy with it. It is some tough stuff for sure and even without any coating it still beads up when I wash the car. I just use my shop vac and blow the excess water off and let it dry. I have a CR Spotless system that works pretty well but might upgrade to a full RO system next year.

From a few feet

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