The Youth Of Today...

[romaro]

Last night a group of inebriated teenagers decided it would be great fun to take bits of wood out of a nearby skip and mindlessly throw them at cars. Unfortunately my 220D was one of the casualties - scratches to the bodywork, a few chunks out of the plastic windscreen surround and lots of scratches on the windscreen.

Now I'm a peaceful sort of fellow most of the time, but if I were to find those same kids again and happen to have a big stick in my hand...

Anyway, the real purpose of this thread is ask for some help and advice from you knowledgeable people. I naturally want to get everything repaired, and to the best standard possible.

What's the best option for removing scratches on the glass? They're mainly relatively light scratches, but you can I feel the scratches with my fingernail. Not too keen on the DIY kit option, which seems to involve drills and spinning discs! I've found these guys, who seem pretty decent:

Glass Doctors

Anyone have any experience of them? The link above about a scratch on an X5 being repaired suggests that I might be able to claim it on my insurance. Would I need to report the vandalism to the police in order to claim on my insurance?

If the windscreen has to be replaced, I'd definitely want an original Lexus one. Any ideas on cost?

The scratches to the bodywork aren't too bad. I've polished out some of them already, but some are a bit more stubborn - still light scratches, but I can feel these scratches with my fingernail. Would these eventually polish out (have just tried Autoglym polish so far)? If so, any hints/tips on how to do it and what to use?

Failing that, I guess I'll need the services of something like Chipsaway. I've had some experience of them before, and they did a pretty reasonable job. Would it be better to go to Lexus themselves for the highest quality repair job though?

Sorry for all the questions - my heads in a bit of a whirl and I'm somewhat devastated! :( Any advice would be really appreciated!

[legendswraith]

Last night a group of inebriated teenagers decided it would be great fun to take bits of wood out of a nearby skip and mindlessly throw them at cars. Unfortunately my 220D was one of the casualties - scratches to the bodywork, a few chunks out of the plastic windscreen surround and lots of scratches on the windscreen.

Now I'm a peaceful sort of fellow most of the time, but if I were to find those same kids again and happen to have a big stick in my hand...

Anyway, the real purpose of this thread is ask for some help and advice from you knowledgeable people. I naturally want to get everything repaired, and to the best standard possible.

What's the best option for removing scratches on the glass? They're mainly relatively light scratches, but you can I feel the scratches with my fingernail. Not too keen on the DIY kit option, which seems to involve drills and spinning discs! I've found these guys, who seem pretty decent:

Glass Doctors

Anyone have any experience of them? The link above about a scratch on an X5 being repaired suggests that I might be able to claim it on my insurance. Would I need to report the vandalism to the police in order to claim on my insurance?

If the windscreen has to be replaced, I'd definitely want an original Lexus one. Any ideas on cost?

The scratches to the bodywork aren't too bad. I've polished out some of them already, but some are a bit more stubborn - still light scratches, but I can feel these scratches with my fingernail. Would these eventually polish out (have just tried AutoGlym polish so far)? If so, any hints/tips on how to do it and what to use?

Failing that, I guess I'll need the services of something like Chipsaway. I've had some experience of them before, and they did a pretty reasonable job. Would it be better to go to Lexus themselves for the highest quality repair job though?

Sorry for all the questions - my heads in a bit of a whirl and I'm somewhat devastated! :( Any advice would be really appreciated!

look at your insurance i bet it has glass cover. If all else fails you can polish glass with micromesh but it takes a while

[MacRS200]

Little ******, really can't understand what makes them want to do things like that.

Can't help on the glass front but as said check your insurance I am sure you will find a bad stone chip right in your line of vision :winky:

[Pip]

Little ******, really can't understand what makes them want to do things like that.

I can, they are inbred.

[chips229]

Hi,

Sorry to hear of the damage to your car.

I think the problem is all down to the fact these yobs dont get enough attention at home and will do anything to get attention from others any way they can.

[P4UL T]

Your glass excess cant be more that 50 quid, makes sense to get a new screen fitted

[Purvesh]

Your glass excess cant be more that 50 quid, makes sense to get a new screen fitted

I would agree, and when you do specify that you want an original lexus one.

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

Blind madness, there is just no social justice, hence these gyts do whatever they like.

As far as the screen is concerned, RAC Autoglass will only replace it if it hinders your view and the damage falls inside of the 10 or 20CM directly ahead of you/your vision.

They may offer to fix it (which will be free to you) and I would say best option.

If they do agree to replace it, insist on the factory one and get it done there even if they offer to come to you. That way they won't bodge it up (supervisor watching). The original one has the heater elements etc and you won't get the distorted glass, which I got previously on my Audi. If you can get one with a shade band do it...(boy I miss that feature).

Good luck -

[jay m]

little ******, being a joiner and always having tools in the boot i would be out chasing them with my nail guns, then they'd see how funny it really was when you have a nail sticking out of them lol.

but as far as the windscreen goes i got my one replaced through autoglass through my insurance so it was free and didn't effect my no claims which was a boost as ive had too many of them lol.

[romaro]

Thanks for all the replies so far guys.

I agree with you Jamboo - I'd definitely want to go down the repair route on the windscreen if at all possible. I'm probably being paranoid, but I would have my doubts about someone like Autoglass replacing the windscreen and doing an as-good-as-new job.

Does anyone have any idea of windscreen replacement cost if going through Lexus? My insurers will still cough up some money (not as much though) if I don't go with their preferred windscreen fitters.

[romaro]

Well, had a rough quote from Lexus this morning - £1200 :o

This is for respraying the three panels affected and replacing the windscreen. The windscreen itself would need to be removed in order to do some of the respraying (chips to the paint right at the top of the windscreen), so might as well put a new one in!

The chap estimating the work was a bit dubious of the Chipsaway option. He thought it was okay for older cars and as long as it was fairly low down and out of the way on the bodywork. In more obvious places he suggested the colour difference would show and that the finish would deteriorate over time. Fair comments?

Anyone have any experience of these sort of repairs and going through insurance? Can I insist that I want Lexus to carry out the work? I'm concerned they'll want it done by Dave's Dogdy Dent Shop! (apologies if there is Dave out there who runs a dodgy dent shop - I'm sure you do sterling work...)

[Scarlet Pimpernell]

Well, had a rough quote from Lexus this morning - £1200 :o

This is for respraying the three panels affected and replacing the windscreen. The windscreen itself would need to be removed in order to do some of the respraying (chips to the paint right at the top of the windscreen), so might as well put a new one in!

The chap estimating the work was a bit dubious of the Chipsaway option. He thought it was okay for older cars and as long as it was fairly low down and out of the way on the bodywork. In more obvious places he suggested the colour difference would show and that the finish would deteriorate over time. Fair comments?

Anyone have any experience of these sort of repairs and going through insurance? Can I insist that I want Lexus to carry out the work? I'm concerned they'll want it done by Dave's Dogdy Dent Shop! (apologies if there is Dave out there who runs a dodgy dent shop - I'm sure you do sterling work...)

You should be able to insist on a Lexus bodyshop. You my not get a couretsy car, for example, and you'll pay your excess...lose your NCB discount etc...

Feel it for you.

Chipsaway are not that bad, you might want to get them to do just one panel first....it'll cost a fraction....matching paint should be OK - it still a reasonably new car...and the dangle of 2 more panels will mean they do a good job...

PS - try "Maguires Scratch X" on those stubborn scratches - you could be pleasantly surpirised!!

[xdeity]

make sure you report it to the police for a start, i know a lot of people think the police do nothing about these things, and initially they generally don't, because its very difficult to prove who it is, but if the problems continue, things can be done, such as covert observations, plain clothes bobbies, cctv installation, ASBO's.

really feel for you on this as i had the same problem at my last address, some bloody idiots decided to trash my Alfa Romeo and a few other cars on the street, and therewas an incident where all the tyres were slahed on the entire street. the police did a few nights surveilance from an empty house and locked all of the hooligans up, got them asbo's, and then the problems stopped.

as for your windscreen, my wife had an rac autoglass repair job and you really could not tell it was there.

[eXOBeX]

make sure you report it to the police for a start, i know a lot of people think the police do nothing about these things, and initially they generally don't, because its very difficult to prove who it is, but if the problems continue, things can be done, such as covert observations, plain clothes bobbies, cctv installation, ASBO's.

really feel for you on this as i had the same problem at my last address, some bloody idiots decided to trash my Alfa Romeo and a few other cars on the street, and therewas an incident where all the tyres were slahed on the entire street. the police did a few nights surveilance from an empty house and locked all of the hooligans up, got them asbo's, and then the problems stopped.

as for your windscreen, my wife had an rac autoglass repair job and you really could not tell it was there.

Someone slashed tyres on about 40 cars in three streets (including mine) in the early hours of New Years Eve. Luckily I was away so didn't get done. Got the ***** on CCTV too - tempted to YouTube it now and put a link on the local Knowhere Guide...

[NetOne]

Everything can be repaired including windscreen. In order to keep everything original the best way is to use chip away and glass polisher. I've got some scratch and chip on my windscreen couple months ago. I did not use the repairer but replaced it instead because it's free from insurance. The car ended up in a professional workshop for a week to fix up the mess. The replacement of the windscreen was carried out badly. They peel off the paint a few spot around windscreen frame. There was a big gap on the top and one corner of the windscreen was a bit out that you can observe it from inside the car. The passenger’s door step metal plate was badly scratched, whirl with bending mark, he must have had put all his body weight on it to pull the windscreen during the replacement. And both front seats and floors were dirty like **** with a bit of oil. I know this does not really concern some people as they think car is just for transportation purpose. I don’t know how fussy you are but I just could not tolerate with it. That guy was from a company that also replace windscreen for Lexus dealerships. Sometime it’s not just that we are being paranoid, it just could happen in real life. Therefore if you really care for your car and would like to avoid all the hassle and distress, you better ask whether he’s got experience in replacing windscreen for this car. Stand watching him doing it if you can.