Hello Dubbers,

I came back to this lovely scratch on the Karmann today, the person who did it buggered off toot sweet but a lovely old lady who saw it happen left a note with their car details.

What should I do, just cop it sweet or start involving the police?

Any advice would be appreciated,

Cheers,
Kevin

are you insured ?

did the lovely old lady leave her details ?

You can make a self report on the damage,obviously the police won't really want to do anything as it will involve paperwork,did the old lady leave her details as she will be your witness? Sometimes it is easier to cop it sweet but the bad taste still lingers.Obviously it is going to cost you money to have it repaired and why should you be out of pocket.I think it is worth going through the exercise even if the only result is that the creep knows that he was seen and will pay for the repair and hopefully won't do it again.

People shit me that do things like this. Contact the registration authority in your state for the owners details and then phone them and tell them they were seen damaging your car and ask for their insurance details. If they play dumb, send the details to your insurance company and they can sue them for the damage. Why should they get away with damaging your property without paying for it.

Yogie

The lady left her name and number and said she is fine to be a witness if needed. I have my insurance with Shannons but I'm guessing the repair will be less than the excess, just don't know if the police will be able to do anything anyway.

Kev

A scratch like that may not have been felt by the poorly trained driver of the other vehicle. iPods, GPS's. Phones, makeup are seemingly being more important these days than concentrating on driving.

I had a truck run down the side of my Kombi while parked in Balmain, he either didn't know he did it or just drove off. A resident in the street left the details of the truck and her contact details. I made a report to the police (for insurance purposes only) didn't expect them to do anything, then I contacted my insurance company NRMA to make a claim, as I had a witness and had made a police report the claim was not treated at fault and I did not have to pay an excess, if I had copped it, then minimum it would have cost me $400 for the excess on the insurance. The insurance company then chase the truck owner etc for the cost of damages and you go merrily on your way.
So I agree with grumble, make a report to the police and if insured claim and let the insurance company follow up. If not insured it gives you the opportunity to chase yourself later.

Whilst driving in Sydney traffic, a truck came round too close and wiped the Drivers side mirror off... My Wife's Lancer...

as she was sitting at traffic lights and couldn't get details..

so, I had to get another mirror etc...
still haven't painted it as yet..

luckily it wasn't the doors...

I'd hate to damage a hand built car like the Karmann ghia...

LEE

you will have to advise the Police if you want to claim on Insurance

all Insurance companies insist on you doing this so they have someone to recover costs from

Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm off to see the Police this morning. Just in case they ask, ay idea what a repair like this would cost?

Cheers,
Kevin

yeah what ever number you think off

DOUBLE it for sure

depending on how colour matching will go and how far u will need to paint to i can probably get my mate to fix it for around the 400 mark max, thats to do it properly, if u want to just paint upto the body trim it will obviously be less.... is there a dint too or just the scratch?

Thanks for that Polak, there is no real ding but the scratch goes through to the undercoat. If anyone could recommend a repairer who would do a good job, please let me know.

I just got back from the police and they are chasing the guy who did it later today, if he admits fault they will charge him and take him to court. If not apparently they have to bring the witness in and get her to ID the guy. Jez!

Report it to the Police - not only have they damaged your car - but they have also left the scene of an accident, which is an offense. They can argue that they were not aware that they had hit your car - in which case they are guilty of another offense - driving without undue care and attention. Either way they're screwed. Try to get the Police to press charges.

You have a witness - so as already stated they don't really have a leg to stand on - plus the fault is theirs so you keep your XS.

I had someone stove in the side of my freshly restored Mini many years back - unfortunately no-one saw it and so I was left with similar damage on a two week old paint job. - was gutted - and very pissed off. Never did get it fixed.

Good luck. Hope it works out.

Cheers Guys,

I'll let you know how I get on, if anyone knows a good painter who would be interested please feel free to give me a shout on 0409 767048.

Thanks again,
Kevin

Have you got good paint? If there are any blemishes or dull spots in the existing paint, then it will have to go to bare metal to paint it properly.

What state are you in?
In Vic Shannons allow us to repair the cars properly as they should be done.
I would paint the rear of the car blending through the rear pillars. This way you will never tell the car has been repaired.
You can paint that area like others have said, but it will be obvious to the trained eye and will get worse in years to come as the different paint fades differently.

The paint is in pretty good nick, it looks a bit flat in the first photo as the car had been sitting in the garage for a month or so. This is what the paint looks like with a wax. It has had a few blow overs in it's time so I think doing the back in one go is a great idea, even if I can't do it through Shannons. I am in NSW and have been with Shannons for 7-8 years so I hope they will sort it properly.

Again if anyone could recommend a painter who would like to take it on, please get in touch, my number is 0409 767 048.

Cheers,
Kevin

and the rear...

That's a beautiful KG you have there mate. looks awesome. North, mid, or South NSW? what about Das Resto Haus? Not From NSW, so can't reconmend any painters in down that way - just wanted to say your car rocks

Hi Mustard,

Cheers, I really love the old thing. The original owner had it from new and babied it it's whole life. I'm in the inner west of Sydney, should have expected some damage sooner! I tried Alan but he is a very busy man, if I can't find anyone local I will book him in to do the full job.

Cheers,
Kev

Shannons should be good with it. I had my roof jumped in in my driveway and they were cool with paying for the panel beating and painting the roof and the bonnet and we payed for the rest. Was a bad situation but turned out good in the end. They even paid for half a hood lining because it had to be dropped to fix the roof. We got mine painted at Cool Top at peakhurst. They did a great job and the guy has been doing beetles for a long time. He does old holdens and stuff to. I'm sure he will give a Ghia a go. From memory he wanted $6k for a baremetal respray and do the roof on the bug and we took it down as a rolling shell. That was pretty reasonable for the quality and what i have heard of other quotes. You should give him a go for a quote.

Hi Guys,

Just a quick update on the KG. I got in touch with Shannons (and the coppers) who recommended a restoration shop in Arncliffe - once there they decided the only way to do it properly was to take out the glass and buzz it all back.

So we decided to do a mini resto at the same time and get rid of the some of the little dings and ripples. Sorry for the crappy iPhone pics but will take some decent pics when it's all back together.

Cheers,
Kev

...and as an anniversary present my wife bought me these Cokers!