Dilemma, some opinions please!

[gemini.m3]

hey all..

I take meticulous care of my car, am extremely OCD about dents/dings and scratches but unfortunately deal with the reality that my 1 is my daily driver.

Recently I realized I had a massive ding near the rear quarter panel wheel arch.. most likely due to a shopping cart (assholes!) - I had some dents pulled 6 months ago but this apparently was very hard for the PDR guy .. I had a PDR guy that took excellent care of the dents I had prior but he was out of town and went off google reviews to find another.. He advised a 95% repair, it turned out more like 50%, if that.

At this point I'm left with the dilemma that the only way to make this better is to have a 'spot' repair with a body shop that will require painting a portion of the quarter panel, blending into the door and clearing the entire panel. As you could imagine I'm less than excited about that as I could be making one small 3-4 inch problem a much bigger problem if the paint doesn't match or they can't get the texture right.. on the other hand they COULD do it and it would only cost me roughly $500

You can only really see the extent of the remaining damage if you look at the car at an angle from behind, it looks a bit textured from where he did the PDR work

I don't know that I'll own this car for another year and a half.. so the question is how much repainting can possibly affect the resale of the car

I need to take some OCD meds, what would you guys do?

Here is a before and after of the PDR work.

[tock172]

Most buyers do not even recognize respray or orange peel when they see it. Even seasoned eyes need some time with the car to notice it. But that is all beside the point, because if the work is done professionally and you document things extensively with before & after photos, the right buyer won't have a problem with it and it shouldn't influence value greatly.

That being said, and I know won't be easy because I can sympathize with your OCD feelings, but I would try to live with it. My 135i has a few dents, as did my M3, S4 and all of my other BMWs and previous cars. It's just part of life and owning a car, as defeatist as that sounds. No matter how careful you are, sometimes things just happen. Ultimately you are better off learning to let things like this roll off your shoulders.

[champignon]

I've never paid a lot of attention to this sort of minor issue on daily driver cars I owned. It might effect the trade in value slightly, but then most dealers will go out of their way to find small things to "ding" you on during the trade in process anyway.

I am taking a different approach to my little collection of MT BMW Coupes, because I intend to keep them for a very long time and since they are a hobby for me, I don't mind being anal about them.

If this is a car you do not expect to own longer term, I would just roll with it, unless it was going to be worth the $500 to you to see this fixed during the remaining time you will own the vehicle.

[gemini.m3]

what can I say.. when it rains it fucking pours.. minding my business leaving work and some asshats hit my car from behind.. enough to scratch up the paint on my rear bumper

its funny i told myself today i was going to live with that imperfection on the wheel arch and that id consider fixing it if something else happened.. well something else happened!!!

at this point considering turning a negative into a positive, buying the OEM performance rocker panels which are supposedly getting discontinued soon painting those, painting the bumper, and potentially still fixing that wheel arch..

i swear u cant have nice things.. the lady who hit me had the nerve to say "all this for a scratch?" yea, when you drive a beatup car guess it doesnt matter to u.. some people.

one thing i learned from all of this and I will share with you.. up until this point I had been modding my car nonstop.. wanting more more latest was a turbo upgrade.. now all I want my car is back to normal :/ enjoy what you got fellas!

[Gray_Panther]

All i can say life is too short to go crazy over small dings. I am OCD also and I feel your pain, but you still have a great car to enjoy.
Just keep taking care of the 1er!

[Esteban]

It's sad and ironic. The people who hit you never seem to care... about your car or their own car. At least not like we do. Sorry that happened to you thrilla.

[ShocknAwe]

OP: Jet Black or Black Metallic?

Either way, much easier to do repairs with black paint, but with jet black you don't even have to blend in the traditional sense as long as the surface is kept even with the existing paint.

[gemini.m3]

metallic =/

i think the repairs will come out fine.. not worried bout that the body shop i've picked works on bentley's, lexus', bmw's all day.. infact the BMW body shop next door apparently sends the harder work to them lol.

wondering how much the rocker panel paint will cost for the performance panels.. sticking my car in a bubble after that.. SHEESH!!!

[tock172]

Time to file an insurance claim.

And I'm not trying to gloat in any way, but this is why I drive my Honda to my office most of the time. Just getting lunch at a local establishment is an exercise in anxiety for me, dealing with lunchtime traffic and tiny parking lots.

[gemini.m3]

does the premium on insurance go up if u file a claim without an at fault accident? and will that show on carfax?

[tock172]

Originally Posted by thrilla135

does the premium on insurance go up if u file a claim without an at fault accident? and will that show on carfax?

The vehicle history report on your 135i will likely show an accident. It depends on who keys it in. Someone hit my M3 while it was parked and the Carfax report said 'vehicle hit a parked car' which was totally wrong.

Your premium should not increase if you were not found to be at fault.

Just a word to the wise: I always go through my own insurance carrier, even when someone else is at fault. I pay my deductible and I pick the body shop. Then I leave it up to my company to subrogate with the other carrier to get my deductible back. I have never lost a penny of my deductible doing this. Although it might help that my insurance agent is a BMW enthusiast.

[champignon]

Originally Posted by thrilla135

what can I say.. when it rains it fucking pours.. .. the lady who hit me had the nerve to say "all this for a scratch?" yea, when you drive a beatup car guess it doesnt matter to u.. some people.

Was this the lady that ran into you?

[IEDEI]

meh!

consider then battle scars and move on!

[gemini.m3]

appreciate all the responses on this. I'm still undecided. I recorded a video, the original is much longer which I'm going to end up keeping if I decide to repair the dog area on the rear quarter for proof the car hasn't been in a major accident:

I'll ask the question differently. If you were buying this car as a used purchase, would you rather the damage / imperfection on the quarter but know the body hasn't been repainted or would you rather have it fixed but knowing some of the quarter had new paint (oem paint used at this body shop) and new clear?

I'm going to have to repaint the bumper, no way around that but bumpers are ok. I'm also going to try to turn all this negative into a positive and purchased a set of performance side skirts that will be repainted also.

the cost to repair the damage in the video on its own is about $500 - i know you can't keep a daily driving car perfect i just found another small ding near the fender that ill have pulled its like a never ending battle!

I guess I'm thinking about this more from a resale perspective and no better audience than the people who are addicted to the 1 like I am