Had some low life run a key down both sides and across the hood and headlights. Have an appointment tomorrow with the insurance adjuster to have a look and give me his estimate. Think I will take it to the dealers shop thinking they have a better handle on the car and paint. Wish me luck

 

good luck sir! very unfortunate to have to see an rx out of commission for dumb stuff like that. be prepared that this aint gonna be cheap to fix!

 

Sorry to hear buddy. Has it gone down to bare metal?

 

Wasn't done because of improper parking?

The dealer doesn't have their own paint shop but they should have a list of shops which they recommend to do the painting. As you may know, the paint shop's paint will be like factory but will not be the same as factory (ie. paint thickness, formula). This is due to the fact that the factory paint itself is done by a robot, and a body shop does it by hand.

Once factory paint is compromised, it will never be the same.

 

No improper parking, actually went to a storage auction and parked in a mall parking lot next door, straight as an arrow in my spot, might have been someone upset with my bidding? or just the luck of the draw. The police officer that took the report said just 2 months ago in the same lot his 2011 SS Camaro got keyed, so he understood my frustration with the incident. Will see the adjuster today and then go visit a couple of high end shops about 45 miles north of me, in the big city. The dealer uses one shop, they responded to my question last night(Sunday) and the BMW/Mercedes shop uses another shop not too far away from the Lexus used shop. I will drive to them both, talk and get the tour to see which one I feel best with.

 

Yeah hopefully your car will be back looking all new and good again. It's unfortunate people do these to such nice luxury vehicles.

 

Adjuster estimate $5,800, shop said it will likely be another grand by the time they are done...but they will argue with the adjuster and not bother me for more.. about 2 weeks till they get it done I* asked to the return of the two front headlight units as they are just scratched and still very usable. They are about $1,100 each without the bulbs I'm told.

 

How many panels are we talking here? Do you have a pic? Sounds a little over the top to me.

 

Hood, complete left and right sides to the tail lights. They are pulling door handles, 1/4 glasses, roof rack, replacing door side moldings, pulling the Rolex moldings, rocker panel moldings, front and rear bumpers. They are going to paint the area above the doors as it has no where to break the paint, so looking from the side, everything you see will be repainted, both sides. I have to cough up $200 to fix the stone chips in the hood and lower below the headlight areas front fenders that is not part of the insurance repairs even though they are getting paid for the repaint. I see their point about the stone chips and agreed to pay as I want it to look like new. One day to take apart, one day to put together, about 7 to 10 days to get through the paint shop.

 

ouch! That's pretty nasty. You covered by insurance?

 

Yea, $500 deductible

 

well for the stone chips... there is a insurance claim on that too... stone chips are considered road vandalism to the vehicle. can be claimed.... after you get the car all repainted and stuff... maybe you wanna look into getting a clear bra done to prevent stone chips from coming back

 

Got to see the vehicle yesterday, looks pretty good all taken apart. Bumpers off, headlights and grill off, all door panels off, mirrors & door handles removed. The moldings on the doors pulled and will be replaced with new as they are not reusable according to the shop. The moldings at the base of the door glass are also pulled and one will be replaced as it came off bent. The 1/4 glass on both sides pulled as well as the entire roof rack. The scratches were totally sanded and primed, actually the painter fellow was water sanding and block sanding smooth the entire primed areas. I asked the service rep about a small chip I had in the windshield and he suggested rather than have it fixed with a chip repair (i had other chips too from the Arizona desert sand storms) I contact the insurance company and have it replaced before they paint the vehicle. No sense having a glass guy leaning and resting on the freshly painted panels. So today a new glass is to be installed. I looked at some of the almost finished work in the shop and their paint work was dead nuts right on for color match, I think I will be a happy guy in another week or so when the car will be done. I will post the final cost when the job is done, but it looks like a small bit under 7 grand without the windshield.

 

Got the car back today, 17 days in the shop, you would never know they painted it. Awesome job and clean too. I looked for over-spray anywhere, not a drop. Everything works, I did have them slightly adjust the wiper arms a bit higher than they set them, but otherwise great job. Total bill without painting the roof, bumpers or tail gate, $6925.00. That included the parts such as door mldgs and grill plus the two front headlight housings. This is a shop that not only does fantastic work but knows how to keep a customer happy by doing what they said they would..It is a Penske shop.