http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcfG_2wNTT8

I know that I make a lot of videos rather than photos, but The video I thought showed the damage better than the photos I took. Anyways, today, unfortunately, my car got keyed in Newport Beach, Ca. What happened was that I went to park my car at a mall called Fashion Island. When I got out of the car, my door accidentally bumped the side of a BMW 745i. No major harm was done to either cars, or none at all. Apparently the owner was in the car when it happened. This is kind of how it went:

IDIOT- Was that necessary to hit my car like that?
ME- Oh, I'm really sorry sir.
IDIOT- You know, you gotta learn to respect other people's property!
ME- Dude, it was an accident. Sorry, sh*t happens.
IDIOT- Yeah, Sh*t does happen, but you need to learn to respect other people's property!
ME- Look dude, I'm sorry about your car alright? I love my car just as much as you love yours.
IDIOT- Yeah, but your car is a piece of sh*t!
FRIEND- Calm down
IDIOT- What? What did you say to me?
(PAUSE, I back my friend away)
ME- Okay sir, I'm really sorry about your car.
(Idiot gets into his car)
Me- Take care.

One hour later, I come back, and the car was keyed from the front door to the side of the headlight! You all can bet that I was really pissed! I called the mall security and then I called the police. I filed a report and then when all was said and done, I went home. The police said that I can call my insurance company and that they can pay to have it fixed without raising the rates. I then found out that if I did do that, my rates would actually go up. It was something about a Deductible, but I got confused. I do pay for my insurance, but can anyone explain to me about how that whole deductible thing works? Thanks. Believe it or not, This is the 2nd time my car was vandalized within 2 months.

If that was really what happened then perhaps you should have been a bit more specific in your apology, instead of just saying "I'm really sorry Sir" and not trying to persuade him that it was an accident and saying something like "I midjudged the distance Sir, i apologize" so perhaps that's why he got even more angry with you, not that I'm justifying his act, if it really was him who keyed your car afterwards then he really shouldn't have done it, no excuse, but perhaps you were not very tactful with him? don't know, i guess it's difficult to explain a dialogue of this by writing it down.

There are things out of place on his part like saying your car is a piece of shit and all that, don't know what seven series BMW were you refering to but if it was the one from the nineties it probably was as old as your car

As for the insurance thing I cannot help you in any way i guess, not sure how your policy works.

But i guess you feel yourself impotent, it's what happens in these situations in where something happens and we cannot do anything to avoid it because we didn't see it happen or simply we were just not able to do anything, so let's hope it doesn't happen to you again.

To be honest CCF, I was scared, and I didn't know what to do or say. I was in a sticky situation that I've never dealt with before. Everyone has. I think whether I gave a good apology or not, it would have happened anyway. It was a nice car though. Looked to be maybe 6 or 7 years old. The E65 chassis. Now that I've dealt with that, I'm just going to be more careful opening my door, and just park away from the nicer cars.

Yeah that's why i said it's difficult to put the feeling of a situation like that into words, just one piece of advice, be very careful when parking at an angle to the kerb, we all hate seing small dents in our cars from people who just don't care about cars and open their doors wide open no matter if they hit the car's parked next to them door, but I'm really sure yours was something accidental and it ended up in a bad way.

You shouldn't have left your car alone, I would have got in and drove away (and maybe hit the door against his car again while getting in )

Yes, I wouldn't have left the car alone after that, next to the frustrated BMW owner.

I'd still park next to the nicer cars tho, they're usually more careful too...

Although the BMW owner sounds like a real prick, it's still possible it wasn't him who keyed your car. And at the end of the day, I don't know if you could have proved it was him who did it, so I don't know what the police could have done. But my condolences. Can scratches like that be fixed with a bit of polish?

That's exactly what I thought I should have done, except for the 2nd part though

Can scratches like that be buffed out with a bit of polish? I think my Omega get keyed right down the length of the passenger side recently, I don't know when, where or why (I'm always careful when I park and I don't how a plain old Vauxhall would inspire envy or resent in anyone), but it's not very noticeable, it's not a deep scratch and the silver paintwork hides it (silver's always a good colour for cars).

Today I used rubbing compound and polish to fix the scratch. It did okay, but I think it'd be better to take the car to the paint shop to get the scratches painted over. I honestly think rubbing compound and polish doesn't do the best job. Also, I thought I'd apologize for making a big deal out of the situation to some of you guys. I was just really stressed and concerned. Tomorrow I'm going to get estimates on the cost to fix the damage. For sure it will not be cheap, and it's because of one c*** sucking mother f***er. Excuse the language. I try not to cuss here.

If it isn't really noticable from a few feet away, you should probably save your money for something more useful and try to forget about the whole thing (it's not good to dwell on unpleasant little incidents). I mean it's a nice car for a 17-year-old but it was a hand-me-down, wasn't it? What about the cars you really want? Also when something more important goes wrong with the car (bear in mind its age) you may need to fork out for repairs then. This year I've spent over £350 on my car sorting out engine faults, the tracking and a new tyre. And that's nothing compared to the cost of some of the repairs it's had to have over the years.

EDIT: You should be able to talk to someone at your insurance company about your deducible. I know not everyone’s insurance is the same, but I’ve known people who had their cars fixed from vandalism or other damage without raised rates.

I did buy it off a relative with my own money, and I make payments for it. I guess you could say that it was a hand me down, but I didn't get the car for free. If my grandmother didn't buy it a long time ago, I'd be driving the F150. It would have been more of a hand me down because I would have been able to drive it under my mom's name, I'd just pay for the gas and the insurance. I know what you mean about forgetting about it, and just leave it as is, but I want to fix it. I want to keep this car for a long time and I want it to look its best. I have also decided that I'm not even going to modify the car. I'll just leave it stock.

Sorry, I didn't realise you paid for it. I assumed since it was already in the family, it was given to you. This is quite common, my first car was a hand-me-down from my dad, he didn't ask for any money for it (it was 9-year-old Fiat Punto with 100K on the clock).

Hmmm, I understand, what you are thinking about, but G-Mann is not totally wrong. The paintwork is not the most important thing. And repainting can cause several problems:


- the costs (at least for something not really important). Premium paintwork-experts are expensive.


- the exact tone. This is not easy, even with a computerized colour-identification a lot can going wrong. This can destroy the whole impression of the car. And the value, too. More than the scratch.

I have problems with my K 70's paintwork. VW was not able to produce and paint good metallic-paintwork in the 70ies, so at my car it's getting worse year by year. And there is a very ugly paintwork-damage on the front hood's middle. Three years ago I let the car in a garage with a leaking roof. Rainwater, dripping through concrete is worst!
Two reasons made be hesitate for repainting (except the costs):
1. Every painting-professional has refused to make a partly repaint, because it's more than a lottery to catch the 100% original colour-tone (less that 100% looks like sh..) of a 36-year-old-metallic-paint.
2. I've recognized, that my car is one of the very last VW's of that age with a 90% original metallic colour. Repainted ones you can see masses of

O.k., yes, maybe not a perfect example, compared with your car, but perhaps you can see a little coherence. You wrote, that you want to keep your car for a long time...


- the quality of the work. Is the painterman a real crack and has a good reputation? Everyone can make a garage-cough.


- repainting really can lower the value of the car. Original is original. Repainted is repainted and will always be repainted.


- originality. Sure, this scratch happened due a bad situation, but at my cars, mainly my K 70, I am seeing it's scratches and minor damages as a kind of "live experience" and "scars of the life" (like my scars and other damages ).
When I see a little dent in the left back door I think more about my Sweden-vacations in 2000 and less about the Norwegian Saab-driver, who had opened his door careless on the ferryboat between Denmark and Sweden.
Some dirt of old tape on the right passengers door makes me think about our Scotland-tour in 2001 and that exactly at the parking-lot of the legendary Eilean Donan Castle I had to fix the window-mechanic with this tape from the first-aid-box.
O.k., this example is really not from me, it's from a friend. Really. The *ahem* dirt-spot on one seat is a souvenir from a closer *ahem* "talk" with a fantastic girl.


- at last something psychological/philosophical: do you know "Muphy's Law"?
I had this "fact" at least three times after repairing or changing windscreens...

P.S. This morning I had an association to IMCDB in my mind: I've seen a MB SL65.

I have my car back from the paint shop now and the scratch is gone. I'm glad it's now been taken care of.

Hopefully Murphy's law will not get you now - it got me again. You've read, what I wrote about my front-sceens?

I got a new windscreen for my Omega ca. half year ago. What happened last Thursday? I've seen a big stone-dent. Fortunately not in the view-area, but is bad anyways.