Swiped!

[OldTrout]

The 450h is the best car I have ever owned and despite 8 years and 104k miles was immaculate when I bought it.  Today, after 363 days of ownership, somebody has swiped the back while it was parked. Needless to say they did not own up.

The damage looks like this after a gentle wipe with a damp microfibre cloth. Some of the non-red mess appears to be stuck into the paint. In other places there are obvious scratches in the paint.

How is it best repaired?

Thanks.

[AmbroseJohn]

If it was a white car that hit you, it may just be paint of that car and will polish out. If it's gone through the paint to the primer, there's not really an alternative to painting.

[steve2006]

Shame the whole front bumper of the other car didn't fall off complete with numberplate attached, they may have left that behind as well as the damage to your car, there again they would probably still deny being involved,total scum!

It may cut out but best to seek professional help.

 

[Carl911]

I had the same happen to me recently and two weeks after getting it repaired it happened again in exactly the same spot which incidentally was the same spot as yours.

its a bumper off and respray to do it properly.

cost me £270 from a reputable paint sprayer near me.

the annoying thing is no matter how good the spray job you attend to notice a slight difference in colour. In my case with silver its to do with how the metallic flec sits in the paint. Would have to spray in both side panels as way to completely blend at additional cost.

hope you get it sorted quickly as there is nothing worse than driving with damaged bodywork.

[Silver Arrow]

Sorry to see this. Mine was keyed all down one side a couple of years ago and I agree about the metallic fleck. Have a watch of a video on youtube. Someone swears that you can rub out stuff like this with WD40, believe it or not!! I wouldn't try it....but you might!

 

 

[messi]

On Wednesday this week I caught a dustman squeezing a wheelie bin in between mine and my sister car scraping the rear bumper of my gs300. I saw it all happen through the front room window, i looked at my car and its only minor scratches that will probably polish out if I used my DA polisher but then I thought why should I, i didnt cause it, so I confronted the dustman, he denied it at first, but then said I may have done it after I told him I saw him do it, the woman at the council has been great, and she's waiting for the depot to get back to her, but say if the person who caused it disputes it, what should I do?

[Bluesman]

Well you could go down the court but lets be realistic you would be on a hiding to nothing. If he says he didn't do it you could always try torture, but honestly there is nothing you can do other than take a deep breathe and try to polish it out. I couldn't drive away, if I did it I would have to own up to it, its a shame the rest of the world cant be a bit more honest, its not like he would be made to pay for it. Hope you manage to get the scratches out. Mike.

 

 

[messi]

Thanks for that Mike. The council have emailed my sister back apologising for what's happened and have also said they are going have a word with their bin men as a lot of people have complained about the way just drag the bins and then just leave them anywhere on the street 

[OldTrout]

My wife asked about but was unable to find the perpetrator. It was likely not a resident but a visitor to the area. Then she called at our garage for advice (50 consecutive MOT there next year!). Helpful lady asked man next door who has body shop. Helpful man polished out the white paint left from other vehicle and cleaned up most of the damage. It is not now visible with quick glance. No charge, pleased to help!

Some scratches remain and one of the panels is still pushed in but we can live with that. Just wish we didn't have to.

[messi]

Well got an email today from the council and they've accepted liability, thing is they want 2 quotes but I'd rather give to Lexus to do

[Bluesman]

Good news. Keep us all informed.

[AmbroseJohn]

36 minutes ago, messi said:

Well got an email today from the council and they've accepted liability, thing is they want 2 quotes but I'd rather give to Lexus to do

Just tell them that Lexus will be doing the work. If they won't accept that, get a quote from Lexus and I'll give you another for five grand. :)

[messi]

Lol John that's a good idea

[Mike Hartland]

... or get a quote from two different Lexus dealers, probably for similar amounts.

[Boddney]

On 07/09/2016 at 9:28 AM, Mike Hartland said:

... or get a quote from two different Lexus dealers, probably for similar amounts.

LOL Love that!!!

[messi]

Goes in next week to get bumper resprayed, to be honest, since I've polished it, ive got rid of most of the scratches the binman left with his wheelie bin, there's only 2 very faint lines I can see, but hey ho, its going through their insurance so I might as well get it done

[IS200D]

4 hours ago, messi said:

Goes in next week to get bumper resprayed, to be honest, since I've polished it, ive got rid of most of the scratches the binman left with his wheelie bin, there's only 2 very faint lines I can see, but hey ho, its going through their insurance so I might as well get it done

Well done getting it sorted properly, those two faint lines would have really niggled you!

[Carl911]

So the lesson to this story, get that wheeley bin out first thing in the morning yourself to avoid it happening again.

[messi]

The wheelie bin was out, the dustman hit my car with his own big Blue wheelie bin from his lorry

[Carl911]

In that case, fingers crossed it don't happen again.

[OldTrout]

A few days after my post which started this thread, another corner was swiped. It was not as bad as the first one.

Now I have just discovered the front nearside had been swiped much worse in the last day or so. Deep scratches this time and lots of whitish dust rubbing off onto my hands. Just one corner left intact now.

Avoid Oxford is my advice even if you have all-round dash cams and are prepared to pursue the perps.

John

 

[rayaans]

53 minutes ago, OldTrout said:

A few days after my post which started this thread, another corner was swiped. It was not as bad as the first one.

Now I have just discovered the front nearside had been swiped much worse in the last day or so. Deep scratches this time and lots of whitish dust rubbing off onto my hands. Just one corner left intact now.

Avoid Oxford is my advice even if you have all-round dash cams and are prepared to pursue the perps.

John

 

Get yourself some Autosmart Tardis from eBay.

Its a tar remover and should remove any paint from another car if its on there. Then just hose off.

You'll be able to tell the true extent of the damage after that

[Lexus4Me?]

I had almost identical damage, but on the passenger side, on my 450h the other day. The bumper suffered the worse damage and had become detached from its locating tabs at one place. It cost me £170 to get it fixed at a local body shop. He managed to polish out the damage on the metal and achieved a really good match where he resprayed the bumper, which I think he managed to do in situ.
Thanks for the advice about avoiding Oxford but it appears that Norwich is a no-go area too.

I'm beginning to think that video cameras mounted to my house may be worth the investment. At least that would catch perpetrators not owning up while the car is at home. Perhaps I could then wrap the car in a big inflatable tube when I park at the supermarket. I've got to say that my Skoda Octavia is much better protected against damage to the doors at least.

Barry

[OldTrout]

Thanks rayaans. I bought some Autosmart Tardis and used it this evening. When I hosed off it was too dark to see the residual damage but there are deep scratches. I have a touch-up kit coming so I will see how much better I can make it.

The damage runs round quite a lot of the corner which makes me wonder what the perp was doing. We think it happened whilst the car parked on its own well away from other vehicles ay Oxford Crem.