Car keyed!
 

I was away down in London last week for an overnighter with work and, as I have done for many years, parked up my car in a quiet residential area of Bridge of Earn which is mid-way between where I live and my boss's house (to then travel down to Edinburgh Airport in his rather tasty 330d).

On returning the following day, I was devastated to see someone has keyed the rear passenger door. Absolutely gutted as this is the only blemish on an 11 year old car that I pride in keeping immaculate. Whenever I look at the passenger side, the scratch is all I now see.

Not accusing anyone, but we did notice that a new house has recently been constructed and the chap appears slightly grumpy. Could it be that he has scratched as a warning / deterrent not to park outside his house ( a note on windscreen would have done me fine!)? It's not really the kind of area where kids / teenagers hang around and I think if it were kids they would likely scratch multiple panels. Who knows? Anyway, have reported to Police who interviewed me today and are going to knock on doors. Doubtful they'll get anywhere but worth a shot.

Have tried T-Cut which has very slightly improved but still extremely noticeable. Local (trusted) bodyshop quoted £230 which seems high. My next step was therefore to speak to a detailer and see if they could do something to improve appearance to point where not noticeable. On that note, can anyone recommend someone in Fife / Tayside area or has anyone on here got any tips?

Not nice to hear, but could it be a simple error by someone who isn't aware they have done it? Something sticking out a pocket scraped accidentally?

A "keying" is normal far too deep to polish out, generally down to the metal :(

Might just be me looking for the good in people, I can't imagine Bridge of Earn generating this sort of behaviour.

Should also mention that my colleague, who travelled down with us, parked his Landrover Discovery up behind me and has had his front passenger door keyed. Would like to think it was accidental, but given this it would appear to be malicious. His discovery (a lovely old T Reg V8) isn't quite as well kept as my Volvo so he's not that fussed. Battle scars he calls it!

My old S60 got the rear quarter done.... I'd had all the paintwork done and some little ****e ruins it because he's an arse!!

TT

If you can feel the scratch by running your thumb-nail across it then it will not polish out. Trade price for a whole panel is £100 so £230 sounds a high retail mark-up. Smart repairs might make it less noticeable, but for a perfect finish go for a body-shop respray of the whole panel. Best bet is to find someone who'll do the job for cash at a discount.

I have a few scratches to do and have looked around the diy guides. Highperformance junkies have quite a detailed guide with supplies coming in at about £50 -60 so might be worth considering.

jor

Perhaps it's just his crude method of expressing his displeasure with a couple of cars using his road as free car park outside his house by people who are not residents in the area.

T-Cut will just make the scratch more shiny. Get a proper man. I have had all sorts of scratches and marks and they are wizards at sorting these things out now. Look for a specialist dent and scratch man rather than a detailer. They are subtley different. If they are good you will not know which panel was keyed a few months down the line.

It does depend on how you want the final finish to look many smart repairers are just okay and bodyshop should provide a flawless finish like it was never there.

Cost wise in honesty 230 sounds reasonable to me. Few years back mine was about 700 to resolve keying on 3 panels...

So sorry to hear what happened.

It is actually really upsetting to have your pride and joy vandalised.