Took the car to the car wash this afternoon to remove a little road grime from our Christmas trip to Naples, FL from Port St. Lucie. Saw a guy there with a white '08 XKR...NICE!. Anyway, my car comes out and I start to pull out towards the street. I'm going to turn right onto northbound US1. Traffic (five lanes, one left turn, one right and three going north)was zipping by at 40-45 miles per hour. I'm looking South and then start to pull out. BAM! A woman on an electric bike going south tried to pass in front of me. As I pulled forward, she slammed into the front right fender, rolled over the hood and fell on the ground in front of the car. I jumped out and asked of she was OK and called 911. Police and paramedics got there about the same time. She said she bumped her head and that her knee hurt. No blood. Looks like a minor injury, thank God. Anyway, I talked to the police, gave a statement and then the paramedics took the woman to the hospital as a "precaution." While I was waiting for the police to finish their report, I glanced at the hood. Big dent in the middle of the hood! Yikes! I mean the car didn't even have a door ding before now. Then I walked around to the passenger side. The woman's bike caved in the front fender just forward of the wheel! There's also a nasty scrape by the fog light. I then looked at the bike. Total damage consisted of a two inch scratch on the front fork and a bent front rim. Anyway, I called the insurance company and then my mechanic to ask if he knew a good body shop. He recommended someone and the car's going there tomorrow. I've been told silver is a tough color to match...I hate Mondays.

 

Yes, truly a bad day........ As far as the color matching, I too have a Platinum paint job, and have found that it is possible to get a good match......but pretty tough to do. When I had my Quad LED Tail Lights installed, they had to paint them a couple of times just to get close. Hopefully, your guy is very good, as it is totally subjective. Good luck and look on the bright side, it could have been much worse for you, your Jag or the Cyclist.........
Brian

 

paint will have to be blended, not just touched up unfortunately, and re-clear coated. Dent on the hood may be able to popped out, depending on if there's any creases. I've had a few 'soft' spots pushed up with the dentless repair guys. all the best chaz

 

I think the photos uploaded. If not you can see them in the photo gallery titled accident photos.

 

Yikes!

 

Ouch! That's not pretty.

Good luck.

 

whoa, wasn't expecting that kind of damage. I see a new fender in your future.

Hood doesn't look bad, good chance it can be brought back.

 

I know how it felt when our car was struck in the passenger door. Do not fear it will look great after the repair.

 

I hope the poor woman is ok!!!

dave

 

You are right. We should be concerned about her health. If she is OK I’ll take it back!

 

I have a call into the insurance people to find out how the woman is doing. She didn't appear to be badly hurt at the time of the accident. My hood apparently broke her fall. She hit that before sliding off onto the ground. Better to hit your head on the hood than the concrete. If she had hit the road first, this would probably be a different story, as she wasn't wearing a helmet. The car is at the body shop my mechanic recommended. When I took it there, the body guy was also amazed that a bike did this. Of course, it was an electric bicycle and I'm not sure how fast she was going. Also, she was on the heavy side, probably 170 lbs. As for the body shop, when I got there, there were three other Jaguars (One XK8), a Mercedes 500SL and a classic 50s Thunderbird. that made me feel good about the place. Time will tell. They tell me they'll need the car for a week after the adjuster gets there. Thanks for all your concern. I'll follow up as this saga progresses. Maybe I'll be able to get photos of the process.

 

That electric bike did more damage to your Jag than the Chrysler 300 did to mine. Those bikes are mean SOB's.

My experience with silver paint has been very good. The color match should be computer mixed using the OEM body paint code and not eye-balled by an 'old school' painter.

 

My body work and paint looks great and you could not tell looking at it now. Tell your body person what you expect. I told mine, if it is not correct I will not take it and if I find a problem you will get it back.

I did expect that the both of you would begin comparing notes. I had visions of my booboo is bigger than your booboo.