Hello All:
So it has been three and a half weeks since I picked up my '14 MDX and yesterday afternoon, after making a quick stop to the grocery store, my brothers and I noticed a 1/2 inch gouge in the driver's side front panel. The consensus is that is was either a strategic hit by a shopping cart (there was none near the car when we returned), a stone from the road, or a car door (however given the small size - it looks HUGE through my eyes but I know it's not reality - and location this option seems unlikely).

My question is what would you do given the relative newness of this car? Should I even bother having it repaired (yes it went through the paint and I can 'feel' this one)? My gut is telling me to have it repaired, however, I do NOT want:
1. To pay a lot of money to get it fixed; and
2. Have it repaired only to chance it happening again shortly after the repair.

I'm out of my mind, I know... I would upload a picture but apparently I still can't add attachments. Thanks for your thoughts!

 

Grab a pic of it and post it up, so we can see the damage!!

 

I don't have the ability to upload attachments as I'm a 'new' member. When I hit the 'insert image' button it wants a URL. I suppose I could post them on a 3rd party site (Dropbox, Googledrive) but it would be easier to be able to insert them right into the post...Is there a way to do this that I'm not seeing?

 

I would get it fixed if it is noticeable

 

Since this is apparently the only way I can do it:

 

OK, so apparently these aren't loading (at least for me) so I'll post the raw URLs:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwGD...it?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwGD...it?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwGD...it?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwGD...it?usp=sharing

 

Ouch sorry about it. It is not a rock chip for sure.

I really hate people done this to others car. Whatever by accidentally or intentionally.
I got a door ding on my 1 week old lexus. I was alredy super picky in parking spot already and still got one. Lucky i was about to pay fix to get it fixed.

repaint probably is last option you wanna do. Have body shop to sand it and see if they can make it un-noticeable.

 

Yeah, I parked far away as well then I came out of the store and saw someone parked right next to me when there were at least 100 other open spots in the lot.

 

People might be jealous of your beautiful MDX and done this terrible thing.

My friend saw an brand new M-Benz GL in parking lot another day. And there was an Indian dude key the whole door panel. My friend was happen to be there and took a picture of that guy. He gave the picture to the car owner.
But.... can the picture really prove something and make that guy to pay for it?

It is really a horrible behavior to done this to other people's brand new car.

 

It doesn't look like it has gone thru bare metal (raw metal is silver) yet, however it's exposing the metal(black colour) underneath the car paint. I would use touch up paint from the dealer ASAP before it rust. Buff it with a scratch removal compound to smooth out the edge than apply the touch up paint.
That first ding or scratch always hurts
You can get those guys that can spot air brush the scratch if it still bothers you.

 

you almost had the pictures right!!

when you paste the URL links, add the [IMG] www.picture.com [/IMG] tags without spaces

or you can press the mountain image above and just paste the URL directly

 

I'm sorry about your car tho, I would not use touch up paint on that.
It'll make it look WORSE.

it'll need to see someone that can wetsand, paint, clear and a buff.

looks like a shopping cart tagged it, or someone trying to take a wide turn into the parking spot and kissed the fender. they knew it and took off.

 

That is exactly what I did..."pressed the mountain image..."

 

Am I looking at big $$?

 

Am I looking at big $$?

I had similar incident with my TSX. Put in insurance claim, paid deductible. Done.

I think the entire fill (door panel) was just over $1K, of which I paid $250.

 

I would avoid paint as much as possible, worst case scenario only. It opens up the real possibility of other issues, can be costly, and it depreciates the vehicle. Maybe it's the lighting but it looks as though there is a small indent. Dent removal should be able to get that out, and a reputable detailer would make that scratch go away, worst case some touch up can be applied and polished over after curing if it's needed and it should look fine, hopefull you won't be able to tell but short of that it would definitely be better but results will vary and at that point, it's up to your level of tolerence. A body shop could do it as well but naturally most are going to try to steer you into painting it, might even go as far as lying about being able to remedy without painting.

Even if you claimed it, unless you have a zero comprehensive deductible, you will not save any money painting it, probably save a few hundred not painting if your deduct is $500. Some shops have ways of "making the deductible go away" but you would likely have to know someone and would need to decide if you wanted to even be involved in something like that.

 

Thanks for the info. I do indeed have a $0 comprehensive deductible.

 

Sometimes I think purposely parking far away is just asking for trouble.

 

I would think it would be a couple of hundred to touch it up. I would price at the dealer since they will be able to do a perfect match.

If it was a door ding, I would not bother since those are inevitable (at least on each vehicle I have owned). I think I might have the one like yours fixed since it is in an obvious location. I also try to park a little farther out and almost always get someone beside me too! Don't mind if its a nice vehicle as I assume they are also trying to limit dings.

I try not to park too far so as not to be conspicuous and never double park (that is asking for damage from a punk) and I try to park uphill near nice vehicles and close to a cart return.

Sorry about your scratch :-(

 

Sorry about your new MDX Snooks.

 

I think most of us on these forum do the same thing and always get some one that parks right beside us. Sorry to here about what happened.

 

it looks like you got other car paint on your fender, it is not deep scratch? if so try to get and . Good luck

 

So I'm still on vacation but couldn't take it any longer. I reached out to my dealer and sent him the pics. He doesn't seem to think it will be more than a couple hundred $ to repair...we'll see. I was about to make a claim with my insurance company but he told me to hold off (I have a $0 comprehensive) but will go that route if the estimate exceeds $400 out of pocket. Thanks to everyone for your advice/thoughts.

 

So sorry to see that this has happened to you.... hopefully you can get the damage repaired and nothing like this will ever occur again. What you've shown is something that I dread myself even though my Acura is over five years old.

I was about to say more (i.e., commentary regarding the kinds of persons who would inflict this kind of damage on someone else's property) but will leave it at that.

 

Just thought I would update everyone and let you all know that I took it in to the dealer today and they told me it would cost $250 total to repair/repaint. While I'm pissed I have to spend this money it could have been much worse!

I also had two other repairs that needed taken care of (the center console trim came off and the cover for the rear seat side curtain airbag came undone) but those are warranty repairs.

Thanks to everyone for your words.

 

 

looks like a cart swipe. if it was a car it would have caused more damage. i've had that happen to my TL (the car pulling in hitting the rear qtr and then leaving knowing what they had done). the damage was much more significant than what you had.

someone suggested parking next to the cart return is safe? think twice. you want to park your car in an area that would get the LEAST amount of car and a foot traffic. end spaces, BIG giant spaces...i think there is a website somewhere on where to park your car safely/minimal risk. it was in one of the "where do you park" threads on here.

OP glad you worked it out. sorry it cost $250...but...that kind of crap would piss me off and i'd be fixing it too.

 

Thanks TLtrigirl. Yeah the guy did an AWESOME job repairing it.

 

Im ordering a new 2015 with several options, dealer installed. Would the body side moulding option be an advantage or a waste of money? Havent seen to many MDX's with them.Thought it could save a couple of knicks.

 

Body side molding for the MDX looks useless. It is mounted real low. In this thread, they would have been ineffective. There are photos of the body side molding. Its up to each owner.