Sooo mad! Someone keyed both my truck and wife`s van on Thanksgiving!!

**savas** · 11-24-2006, 08:02 PM

I searched and went through a bunch of "Keyed" posts (to many of those happening!!)

but didn`t see many Before & After shots?

Anyone that has fixed keyed scratches before recommend the best method? any help is appreciated!

The Truck is worse than the car, but it is 4 years old now (2003) its still in good shape, so not sure if I will have it re-sprayed later (see how it comes out)

and the van`s scratch isn`t as bad.. altough its only a year old!

Here are the pics.. forgive them being so dirty! I need to clean them up!

**imported_mopar** · 11-24-2006, 09:28 PM

I dabble in paint and have limited experience in auto painting, I painted my grill and upper valance on my tundra, with professional paint and tools i also repaired my sons jeep and my daughters 2005 civic new hood and bumper cover.

Enough of that, you`re truck looks metallic, if the key job goes down to the base coat that makes it much worse, metallic paints are very hard to match first off you have the color match then the flop on the metal flake very hard to fix for a pro unless you shot the whole panel, if its just the clear coat thats been scratched then compound it smooth it can be clear coated and will not be noticed after proper sanding a body shop could fix it cheap.

on the wifes car looks like a mono color these are easy to match no metal flake just dealing with color match, pearl paints are easy to do no metal flake flop issues, the flop is the direction the metal fake ends up facing in relation to the rest of the car, when the sun hits it you can tell its a repair.

Bottom line if they`re too deep to buff out then take it to a shop.

I`m very sorry thats happened to you.

**RAG** · 11-24-2006, 10:46 PM

Probably worth it to have it professionally sanded and buffed. Ideally you`ll want to find someone with an ETG so they can tell how much clear they are removing - for keying I usually remove about 20 microns. Often buffing will bring it down to an tolerable level.

**David Fermani** · 11-25-2006, 06:43 AM

Are you planning on making a claim with your insurance company?

**Bigpoppa3346** · 11-25-2006, 08:37 AM

Nice to see that someone was in the holiday spirit. People these days...:sadpace:

**wannafbody** · 11-25-2006, 10:43 AM

I`d file a claim with your insurance company. If it`s deep enough it won`t ever look perfect without a repaint.

**savas** · 11-25-2006, 10:55 AM

Originally Posted by David Fermani

Are you planning on making a claim with your insurance company?

Im not planning on it right now, I may call them and ask how this is covered, premiums etc.

I usualy avoid insurance claims (don`t want my premiums to go up).. major issues are another story.

The worst part of all this is my wife and I have no idea who would do this? it could be random but it appears we are the only ones targeted! :grrr

**paul34** · 11-25-2006, 12:48 PM

this type of claim should not increase your premiums unless you make several, which hopefully you won`t have to.

**RAG** · 11-25-2006, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by paul34

this type of claim should not increase your premiums unless you make several, which hopefully you won`t have to.

Really. How do you know? Just curious for future reference.

**RAG** · 11-25-2006, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by wannafbody

I`d file a claim with your insurance company. If it`s deep enough it won`t ever look perfect without a repaint.

Tis true...all depends on what you`re willing to settle with. Body shop work is not fun.

**paul34** · 11-25-2006, 02:18 PM

Originally Posted by RAG

Really. How do you know? Just curious for future reference.

If I`m not mistaken, I believe this falls under the category of your comprehensive coverage and shouldn`t raise your premium as it isn`t something that is your "fault."

However, several comprehensive claims in a relatively short period of time can raise your premiums. I`m no expert on insurance, however, but I think others may want to chime in here... I would hate to give bad advice

**ret** · 11-25-2006, 02:55 PM

That sucks!

Try what I did in this post...worked well on my buddies car.

http://autopia.org/forum/click-brag/...ur-quater.html

**fstop128** · 11-25-2006, 03:52 PM

that is truly awful! it was probably a random act. no thought put into it. the maturity level of some people is so lacking.

u can try and get estimates and see if its affordable, out of pocket, to have the areas repainted. that is true about the metal flake and metallic paint. a dealer repainted my car and had to do some of it over. i can see the difference in the sun. my paint is dark, phantom gray, honda color. looks black.

with a repaint they will blend or feather the paint into the seams or up to a trim pc to make it less noticeable. the lighter the paint color the more forgiving it is to repaint.

**David Fermani** · 11-25-2006, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by paul34

If I`m not mistaken, I believe this falls under the category of your comprehensive coverage and shouldn`t raise your premium as it isn`t something that is your "fault."

However, several comprehensive claims in a relatively short period of time can raise your premiums. I`m no expert on insurance, however, but I think others may want to chime in here... I would hate to give bad advice

Paul34 you are correct. I`m in the Insurance business and Auto Comprehensive claims(within reason) don`t go to underwriting and affect your premiums. For example, all these people in Florida that made hurricane claims on their vehicles recently didn`t suffer increased premiums. You will have to pay your deductible though, unless you know who caused the damage. Make a claim - that`s what you have insurance for.