My XF was keyed from the door panel to the rear bumper.

I'm really upset

I was trying to sell the car quickly so I can move cross country to NYC where I won't be able to have a car.

I think insurance will cover it, but how will this effect the trade in value?

Where should I go for the paint job - the dealer, I'm thinking.

 

If you are going to get it repainted anyway......maybe you can wet sand it using a 2000-2500 grit and the elbow grease some rubbing compound. If you do not feel comfortable, go to a detailing pro that is insured.

My roof was raked by flying debris here in DC over the weekend.....I will try paint correction first before a respray.

Good luck.

 

A job like that, being done through insurance, shouldn't really effect trade-in or resale. If it's done right no one will ever know it happened.

 

Before I had an XF my S-Type was keyed.
I was convinced that a paint job was necessary but was pleasantly surprised when the dealer body shop foreman said "look at this...the color of the scratch is white, It is only the tough clear coat that was scratched".
I watched while they fully buffed it out back to perfect.
I was sure that it had scratched right down past the paint to the primer but I was thankfully wrong.
Hope you have the same luck!

 

Can't dealers and Carmax tell if a panel was repainted?

I got the feeling the whole panel would be repainted.

 

I'm too far away to be able to help with repair options but still close enough to get mad about this kind of mindless vandalism. I don't imagine 'really upset' comes anywhere near how you must be feeling.

Hope you get it fixed OK and the insurance covers it.

Graham

 

To my knowledge, no they can't physically tell if it's done correctly. It is however painfully obvious when it done improperly. They will be able to see it was done through service records on your car however.

 

I think they have a Paint meter. I bet it will hose me about $5000 on the value.

 

Read what richper says in post #4.
You may be luckier than you think.

 

I have seen scratches repaired by very localised spraying using a special pre-spray to help the metallic come out right i fading in. One guy was a real magician, on a silver car he did while I was watching you could not see the repair afterwards! (Silver is supposed to be the most difficult.)

So if it comes to respray, search out the best one doing insurance work. Simply phone your insurers and ask them who does the best work.

 

Sorry to hear about that . I have no help but some photos taken and insurance should cover this .

 

You have some nasty little ******* where you live ! If it is just the clearcoat affected, this can be flatted back and more put back on. If it's into the base coat or primer, it's a lot more work, plus the new base coat has to be matched to the existing one. However, as your car is quite young, fading will probably not be an issue.

 

I sympathize with you...mine was keyed today. What a shame.

 

In the meantime of searching the web for some other people who have similar woes, I found two comments on a Benz forum worth quoting:

"Imagine someone punch[ed] your wife because shes so cute and they are jealous of you... Same thing... Leave our babies alone !"

"The only thing on this planet that deserves to be killed for its actions is a human being."

 

Infuriating Where was it (so I can avoid that place)?

Well yeah, animals don't damage things they're jealous of out of spite.

 

I feel your pain brother.

 

Dont know where it happened exactly, but somewhere local. NoVA

 

Here was the outcome:

scratch was involving 5 panels. The quotes ranged from $1700-$3000

Insurance would have paid for it, but it would have resulted in a CarFax hit.

I was in the process of trading in the car anyways, so just brought it "as is" to the dealer. Dealer informed me that the car is not eligible for certified pre-owned anymore because paint work would be on greater than 2 panels. He took $1000 off the trade in price for the work. I'm sure it was more than that, but that's life.

Hope this information helps someone else.

This experience has left a bad taste in my mouth and I seriously doubt I will spend my money on luxury vehicles ever again. The world is a very sad place.