What would you do if your car was vandalized? For example, getting keyed all the way around every panel, and was stabbed(knife/screwdriver) once/twice in every panel?

1. fix (repair holes and repaint whole car)
2. let insurance total it
3. leave it and keep the insurance check.

 

Since I am one of the more picky type, after that much damage I would not want the car anymore. Even if just one body panel has been repainted it pisses me off lol. If it were my car I would try and push for it to be totaled. If that wasn't an option I would let it be repaired then probably sell it or trade it in.
Hopefully this didn't happen to your car. That's some crazy vandalism, someone must have REALLY hated the person they did that too. I'm glad my car sleeps in a garage at night and at work is protected by a 15ft barb wire fence and armed guards.

 

get it totaled. get the check and buy it back cheap. or just move on.

 

I guess it depends on how much you really care for the car and how much money you have into it. I would get it repaired as long as the whole car got repainted. If getting it repainted wasn't an option, then I wouldn't want it

 

Many people will probably respond with depending on the sentimental value of the car. I've seen people who had their cars totaled and they bought them back because they had sentimental value. In the end, it was an absolutely un-fucking-believable headache to get the car back on the road (though the damage was different than yours) with all damage "repaired". Even as much as I love my car, I would probably get it totaled and move on. Hopefully the insurance company prosecutes whoever is responsible.

 

I'd tell myself to quit being such an a-hole to other people because Karma sucks

 

Go all in and slap these on the car:

Car Truck Decals Full Color Flame Spears Vinyl Vehicle Graphics 6ft & up

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bullet-Hole-Decals-50-Caliber-/191015770494?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c796d597e&vxp=mtr

 

Yeah, id really try to get it totaled. Even if it was repaired adequately it would bother me to no end. I hope your asking out of curiosity man, and your car is fine.

 

07 TL? I doubt the damage as you describe it would be close to total loss. So you only have choice 1 or 3...I would pick option 1.

 

no, #2 is definitely an option. $5k for full paint job + $1k for new headlights and taillights + $xxxx to spot weld all the holes and bondo the dents. 07 TL-S with my mileage is ~$14k on kbb.

 

Sorry about your car, Paperboy.

 

So to answer some questions people are having, yes this happened to my car. I have had many people ask me if I pissed anyone off recently but if any of you guys know me personally, you know I wouldn't intentionally piss ppl off like that and I always treat people fairly. Anyways dwelling on this stuff isn't good because there's no way to know who does stuff like this, and staying angry would only make the perpetrator feel better. I am gonna have to let it go and blame it on the fact that I left it outside instead of in my garage. You never know if random strangers/haters walk by and do stuff like that just because they dont like your car or are jealous.

Some positive notes:
My volk rims and roof are untouched. The rims would have been a PITA to replace and damage to roof would very likely total the car.

I know a lot of you guys say repainting a car is rarely ever perfect, which is why for awhile I considered letting it be totaled. I do want to get my car fixed as nicely as possible. Personally I hate signs that tell a car has been repainted, such as overspray and paint quality. I will most likely be doing the prep work myself such as removing the window trims/sidemarkers/headlights/taillights so that all the shop has to worry about is fixing the holes/dents and putting on a good quality paint job.
I'm still dealing with insurance right now so the details are being worked out. Over the phone the guy did say this amount of damage is likely to total the car. I told him I wanted them to get an adjuster out to be sure first so an adjuster will be coming to see my car soon.
What put me off against totaling it is that given my mileage the payoff wouldn't be very high and there aren't really any other cars in this price range I really want. My car runs perfect right now with no problems and it'd be a shame to throw that out.

 

Sucks man, I thought Alhambra was a quiet, decent place. I would hate to see your car totaled. But I also understand your point. Hopefully they are able to repair it, if you want to keep it. What do you want to happen? Do you want to keep it and repair it, or do you want to start all over?

 

Damn man, sorry to hear this happened to you. It boggles my mind that there are people that have it in them to do these kind of acts. I guess the only positive way to look at it is if their lives are so bad and shitty that this is how they act, then it's gotta really suck to be them. The good thing is you'll move on, the car will be repaired/replaced, but their lives are still going to be shitty.
Keep us posted on what happens.

 

dude......

 

if it were my paid off car, i'd opt for insurance to fix it, while paying only a low deductible.

i will never get back the THOUSANDS i put into the car, so she's with me for the long haul. forever.

george, you're too. go for the option that takes the least amount of money.

 

i doubt the ins will have it total

 

Perhaps it is, obviously if you decide to fix it you need to find the best body shop there is...a place that does restorations would be a great shop, they are used to repaints, welding, etc. They know how to repaint a car so it doesn't look like a repaint. Good luck with whatever you decide!

 

I had my 03 black Passat totally sprayed with rocks from a sanding truck , it was resprayed all but the passenger side doors. I took it to a quality local shop and sat down with them and explained what I expected. The end result even after 3 years you could not tell it was a repaint. Cost more but it paid off. Insurance claim.

 

That's a bummer... I sincerely hope everything works out for the best.

 

Bummer! Sorry to hear about this. If you were on the east coast, I'd send you to the only person I let touch my cars. He'd have it looking brand spanking new for WAY less than $5k.

Glad you wheels and roof were not touched. The roof is the hardest part to fix if there were damage to it. Keep us posted!

 

why not take off all the mods you put on there, total the car and get another TL? Vandalism that savage is usually triggered by something, so who did you piss off?

 

Pics of the damage?

 

Sorry to hear this man....if it is paid off and running good, get her fixed up and she will look like new...any pics of the damage? If you dont wanna show then I understand. But goodluck with everything

 

Sorry to hear :/ And just reading about the vandalism pissed me off. Whoever did it really went out of their way.
and it's not something I expected b/c I live close and drive down to Alhambra pretty often too, and when I'm down there my car's always parked outside.
Hope everything with insurance goes well, and props to you for handling this so well.

 

yeah my car is paid off, and runs great with absolutely no problems. mileage is a bit on the high side so I think the payoff amount wouldn't be worth it. Plus it'd be a hassle taking off all my mods. Even though the mileage is up there, I have had this car for a couple years so I know it inside and out, and I know that everything is maintained perfectly. Even if I went to look for another TL I dont think I can find one maintained as well for a similar price. I'll probably end up just fixing the damages through insurance.

A lot of people have indeed asked me for pictures but as of now I don't want to put them up publicly yet, just because you never know who's looking up info on my car. I might post up pics after everything is fixed though, we'll see.

 

3 things to invest in if we learned anything at all here.
Camera
Shock sensors
Gun

 

Man, I'm angry for you after reading all of that. You are handling the situation much better than I think I would, so props to you. I think you're definitely going the right route. Like you said, you know her inside and out and there's some real satisfaction in that.

Good luck with everything!

 

"you know I wouldn't intentionally piss ppl off like that "


so who'd you piss off then?

 

Damn sorry to hear that paperboy

 

Sorry Paperboy, that sucks. Maybe you could look at this as an opportunity to go custom color.
I know you're going to feel defensive when everyone assumes you pissed someone off, but aren't these things (without an attempt of theft) are pretty rarely 'random'? Unless it's kids, and i don't know if a kid would be able to pull that off? That's quite a bit of force to punch through sheet metal like that, isn't it...
My first thought reading this was, 'who was she, and was she worth it'? I had one in college do something similar to me. Bipolar psycho left the screwdriver at the scene though, and yes, i pressed charges

 

I once totaled my car which had close to 140K miles on it, my deductible was 1K. I was thinking to keep the car until I heard payoff amount. I later bought newer car with 1/2 mileage for less then I received from insurance from private party.

High mileage doesn't effect insurance pay off too much. Insurance pay off is calculated based on recent sales plus/minus adjustments.

This is really sucks,
good luck.

 

Bitches, indeed, be trippin'. Could have been a gang initiation activity, for those skeptical that it was a random act. Honestly though, I don't think it's our business to ask OP any questions that are outside how to handle the car situation. Honestly, I wouldn't know what to do either. I retract my previous advice in the light of all the mods and the maintenance you've done, knowing your car is in very sound mechanical condition. I think you'll end up making your decision based on the insurance amounts. I wish you the best of luck bro.


Winston Churchill

 

Btw these are not holes from punching, it's from a screwdriver and/or knife.

 

Was expecting this thread to come up after seeing your FB status. So sorry to hear George. Part of me wants to say just take the payout, buy back the car, and drive it to the ground as a beater. I know how much time and money/effort you put into the car and I would hate to see it totaled/junked. It's no longer going to be a "show car quality" but it still gets you from point A to point B regardless of looks. Take the money, invest it, and who knows when a new TL-S will show up around the area that will tickle your fancy. Fix only what is completely necessary and leave the rest as is.

 

That really sucks. I would try and keep the car since it's paid off and it's only cosmetic damage.

My ex keyed my TL Feb 13th of '06. I bought it 12/05. It was still a new car. The only problem I had was the repair looked better than the factory paint but it was only noticeable right after a wash for about an hour (it's black). You can get a quality paint job, better than stock if you shop around.

I would make plans before getting it repaired though. What is going to happen if they see your better than before shiny TL? If you can't park it in the garage every day, an aftermarket alarm (I've rotated my tires with the factory alarm on the whole time my accident and nothing) is a good idea. A gun is not a bad idea. If they were pissed enough to do that to your car, they might just want to hurt you. I'm guessing they didn't have the balls hence the damage to the car instead but still.

In my opinion the only way someone gets that mad is over a chick.

 

Bah...this sucks, sorry to hear this George. I'm w/ Justin - go with the least expensive route - I'd personally fix and repaint, you've invested a lot of time on top of the money spent on the vehicle. Also, if you've ever wanted to go for a different color, now could be the time!

 

sorry to hear.

if you decide to get it all fixed up...be sure to be firm and establish your expectations with the body from the get go. they'll be more incline to meet and exceed them since they will know what to shoot for. good luck in whatever the outcome ends up being. at least you weren't harmed in all this (well physically at least....emotionally ).

 

Well I would want them to feel like they wasted their time, because now my car will have a new paint job. That's probably the most I can do to them since I don't know who they are. If they ever come back and see my car fixed up(or if they know me personally they will find out on FB or here on Azine), they'll just know that I can overcome this frustration and that their immature and illegal act will not put me down and in fact my car will come out even better

But I have definitely changed my parking situation to avoid any more situations like this.

I will definitely be working with the body shop so they know what I'm expecting and I do plan to prep it for them a bit by removing some window trims, door handles, etc for them. Not saying I don't trust the shop or anything but I just like it knowing that I am putting everything back on with oem bolts/screws in the right place.

 

Are you going to copy Aaron by doing a color change?