KEYED! help needed

[red_s4]

Great site. Been lurking for a while but my first thread is unfortunately a bad one. Bought a 04 plate S4 avant (B6) in January and am loving it.

Except that is for the fact that some motherf&"cker decided to key 3 of my body panels at the weekend. Both rear doors and front left wing. Down to the white undercoat mostly, but a couple of points down to the metal. Each scratch has 2 parallel lines and is about 30-40cm long.

Some questions:

1. is "brilliant red" a specialist colour (like metallic or unique to audi)?
2. will I lose the paintwork warranty if I don't get it done through the dealer network (and is it worth having anyway)?
3. anyone know any good bodyshops that won't rip me off?
4. any thoughts on what I should be having done (complete panel respray, touch up)?
5. any ideas of what this should cost?

It looks like I'm paying for this myself. Living in SW London, my insurance comes with a reasonable premium (£700) but massive excess (£700). Even thinking about losing my 7 years no-claims gives me the shivers.

Any pointers much appreciated.

[dazzer]

Sorry to hear your bad news - jealous good for nothing wasters

Reckon you might need full panel respray with fade into additional panels just to be sure of a good match. Not sure if it's just the metallic and pearl finishes that make matching difficult.

My A4 is metallic and needed some work on the top of the rear wing next to the boot - had to have the whole wing sprayed plus fade into the rear door to get a match. It was a fantastic job but I was stung for 540 notes (paint and laquer).

Find out who your dealers approved bodyshop is and go direct - fair chance you will be OK then as far as quality.

On my experience I would say you in for 1K possibly. Good luck.

Dazzer

[Scotty]

Sorry to hear this. The only good news is you choose a great colour and the fact is it's a flat paint hence repairs should be easier. You may be lucky and get a good company who can seamlessly repair it. It may 'only' be around £350-400. :-\

[TarmacTerrorist]

Same thing here at the end of last year when parked on the street outside my mates while I was watching the grandprix with him.

Two scratches along the entire length of the nearside of the car, one was straight and very deep (to the metal in places) the other was wavey and not so deep but still down to primer-
Front wing, both doors, and rear quarter, bastards even went over the door handles.

I put it down to a couple of kids walking past rather than someone maliciously directing it at me, 3 or 4 other cars were done the same night in ajoining streets in a similar fashion.

Sounds though with yours someone has actually stopped and taken the time to go around the car and damage individual panels, so may point to someone you know....

Insurance company wanted to send it to their approved repairer, but thinking I was doing the right thing insisted it went into Audi to retain it anti- perforation warranty, has been in twice now and still not right, wished I'd of gone with the approved repairer now!

£1250+vat

If i had of got hold of the little f***ers I would have carved my intials into their foreheads.

[red_s4]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. I've been estimated £1200 from an audi approved bodyshop who the local dealer use, so I might go with them. Although a seamless repair is tempting, I'm worried it will still be noticable and I'll have to get the whole lot done anyway.

As for the culprit, I was visiting friends out of town so won't be anyone I know. Just a malicious little sh*t.

[Pete.S]

I hate reading about this sort of thing, you'd have thought the S4 would be one of the least prone cars to it, obviously just mindless w**kers in this case. If it was me, what with the car being pretty new, I too would be tempted to go the Audi approved route, especially if I wasn't planning on keeping the car too long, to preserve residual value, prestine paintwork 'n' all that....

Scant consolation I know, but the d*ck who did it probably can't and will never be able to own a car like yours, so who's laughing at the end of the day? (sounds snobby, but the sort of c**ts who do this sorta thing really wind me up).

[bobjebb]

Red - If you're still on the look out for a bodyshop in SW, PM me.

Ta

[lengster1]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune mate,with red i would do the full side as with red you can find you get a good match in the daytime but under streetlamps at night it can look miles out,a good bodyshop will recommend this anyway.

[wombat]

What is it with these cretins?

My "Brilliant Black" car was keyed down both sides whilst I was in the local supermarket for slightly less than 10 minutes.

Four panels (and one door handle!) have been damaged but not down to metal as far I can tell. Just to make the bill that little bit spicier it's a metallic black paint job with flakes in it.

NOT HAPPY!

--
Darren

[bobjebb]

I think we have enough angry people to warrant a 'sting' now? Count me in. A nice dark car park somewhere. We just need someone to volunteer a car as bait...

[Pete.S]

Try persuading someone off the M3 forums....?