[supergiga]

Hi guys, I'm a long time lurker and first time poster. Just got my first car, a BMW 320i coupe in Space Grey, also got my first door scrape with only 400 miles on the clock, I won't bore you with the specifics but basically the electronic fob operated gate where I live is broken so it has been left half-open leaving a tiny gap (no margin for error) to get your car through, I had to squeeze through at an angle earlier today to accomodate a buffoon who wouldn't exit properly, next thing I know.. s-c-r-a-p-e Ironically enough I was speaking to someone earlier complaining about the gate situation and saying someone would have an accident soon.

The most annoying thing is when I pushed the other gate it opened further, but the concierge left the gap very narrow for no apparent reason and everyone has been squeezing through for a week!! I have fixed this now to the relief of the others in the car park I am sure (some nice Bimmers, 911's and Aston Martin's down there). Particularly annoying as I drive very carefully generally.

I was hoping you experts could let me know if you think I could get this fixed easily and how much it would cost, I was going to take it to my local BMW dealer's body shop, photo's attached. There is a very slight dent in the door which might not be clear in the pics, there is also a scrape on the wing mirror.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. I've a good mind to send my bill to the people I pay to manage the place where I live for incompetence/negligence.

[Jaws]

Too bad. I can empathize with your situation. Body shop costs are dependent upon location, but what I will tell you is that the complete door and rocker panel will have to be re-painted and clear coated . I would expect that you'd be in the 500 GBP range.

edit: Just noticed that door appears to be dented. If that's the case, add some more money for the repair.

[supergiga]

Thanks for the reply, doesn't sound like it'll be cheap then. Would you reccomend a BMW dealer body shop over any other?

[montreal red]

ouch... thats prob going to cost you around $600 to repaint the whole door panel at the dealership here in north america...i dont know how much it would cost in the uk.

[supergiga]

Funnily enough, I didn't think the damage was too bad at first as when I wiped the door with water the paint looked fine, the main mark just seemed to show when the water dried and the scraped area became dry.

With this in mind, is there any product I could use for the time being to go over the area where the paint has been scraped, such as polish?


Thanks.

[lkn]

try your luck at an auto detail shop.. see if the detailer can do anything with the paint scrapes.

[PaulBailey@ltbmw]

Ouch! That's terribly unfortunate. . .

Cough

Insurnace Claim
. . . Hit and Run
:-P

[jaespark87]

when i scraped my old maxima , i erased the paint marks with nail polish remover (believe me, it works).

[LODOSS]

I think you can get all the scratches out with some sort of abrasive stuff but the the dent...

[Back in a Subie]

Might want to check out who is responsible for/owns the gate that did the damage. If you rent and your landlord has left the gate broken, to the point it caused damage to your property, you might be able to make an insurance claim or get them to repair it for you. Might be worth looking into.

[LEDZEP]

Welcome. Don't know how things work in England, but it may well be worth looking into some responsibility by the management company for that gate. At the very least, a serious threat might yeild some financial assistance with the repair.

[supergiga]

Thanks for the replies, I am chasing the estate Manager and have written him a letter, to which I will enclose the quote from my local BMW dealer which I am going to have undertaken in a couple of hours, if that is fruitless I will be going to the legal service near me and ask one of the solicitors there to write a letter, hopefully that will yield assistance with the costs.

I bought some 'Zymol cleaner wax' in the mean time and it really is great, it has greatly improved the main scrape to where it is barely visible from a few feet away, hopefully this will mean BMW won't be too harsh with the quote.

Thanks again

[Jaws]

Originally Posted by supergiga

Thanks for the replies, I am chasing the estate Manager and have written him a letter, to which I will enclose the quote from my local BMW dealer which I am going to have undertaken in a couple of hours, if that is fruitless I will be going to the legal service near me and ask one of the solicitors there to write a letter, hopefully that will yield assistance with the costs.

I bought some 'Zymol cleaner wax' in the mean time and it really is great, it has greatly improved the main scrape to where it is barely visible from a few feet away, hopefully this will mean BMW won't be too harsh with the quote.

Thanks again

Don't limit yourself to the dealer. Ask around and find out who works on higher end cars. You could end up saving yourself some money (if you have to pay) and getting a better quality repair.