I’m pretty sure this happened away from home and I’m just now noticing. The scratch is really deep hitting the metal in the deepest part. I have full coverage but I’m worried a claim will raise my insurance too much to be worth it. I’ve wrenched on cars before but never painted anything because it scares me.
Is it time to start watching chrisfix videos or should i just deal with insurance?
Vandalism would normally be covered by comprehensive coverage, and won’t affect your premiums; you’ll just have to pay a deductible. If you tried to do it yourself, you’d never get the paint to match quite right, so you’re better off taking it to an auto body shop to have it professionally repaired.
Yes, I had this happen to me last year. Insurance covered it under comprehensive, no noticeable change to my insurance rate.
Depends, how much do you care, and how good does your car still look?
If you drive a pristine car that you plan on selling eventually: get it done at a bodyshop.
If you drive an older car or plan to keep it until it dies, and dont care about the looks too much: chrisfix has some good videos on working with a paint penIf you drive a 20 year old car in the rust belt: lol
It’s somewhere in between. A 2012 ford mustang. Some minor scratches on the driver’s side that i bought it with. The passenger side was perfect. I care a good amount but I’m not made of money. I’m definitely considering some DIY rn
Definitely repair. If you have comprehensive coverage, then double definitely!
My deductible is $500 though and that feels like a lot to spend on a scratch.
Basically any bodywork job involving painting panels is going to cost at least $800. And if it’s multiple body panels it will be more.
If you’re in the the US, file a police report. If for anything documentation (and local crime statistics). I’m sure there won’t be any real investigation, but it does help identify patterns.
Also, when/if you choose to file an insurance claim, you’ll have a police report number. Which may or may not help grease the wheels of the claim.
In the European countries that I am familiar with, a police report is mandatory for an insurance claim, and a formality.
acab
My local pd lets you submit police reports yourself online. I’ve done maybe 10 or so in the past for work. No cops required lol.
I wouldnt bother with ChrisFix when it is about paintwork, after i saw his videos on bodywork i lost all trust in his skills concerning that. AmmoNYC (irrc) has an old video featuring a Mercedes g-class where he shows different ways to do it, from “i just dont want it to rust” to “only the best is good enough”.
I’ll be honest, i wouldn’t know better. I was just watching his deep scratch video and it seems like something i could do and I’d be happy with results similar to his.
If when you run a fingernail over it, if your nail catches in the scratch, the scratch is very likely too deep to fix with paint correction(like buffing/polishing).
A proper fix will require prep, painting and blending, which you shouldn’t try to do yourself. You could buy a touch up stick that matches your paint to cover the scratch. It won’t look perfect and won’t last forever without clear coat on top, but it will prevent rust.
Before you decide how you’ll deal with this, you can bring it to a body shop for an estimate, most shops will do that for free. Most shops can give you an estimate from photos emailed or submitted to their websites.
If you’re just worried about rust I’d say do it yourself it’s not that hard
How deep is the scratch?
He said down to the metal.
Oh yeah, sorry missed that.
In that case, as Gellis12 said, professional paint job is your only option (to match the original paint).
You can make it a little bit less visible, but a lot of those “quick, easy and DIY” solutions will actually make it look worse.
Deep. To the primer mostly but i see metal at the end of it for about an inch. It’s long too, maybe around 24 inches long
Chrisfix has a couple videos on fixing deep scratches and scuffs. This one seems most relevant to your predicament
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Did you park like an ass? Sorry to hear that happened, a body shop is your best bet
It doesn’t matter. Leave a note, don’t destroy someone else’s property.
I’m not advocating for vandalism, but people don’t usually key cars for no reason
It’s summer. Children are out of school. Bored children do shit for no reason.
That’s absolutely true but I’d really hesitate to blame the youth for this. I don’t live where theres much or any foot traffic because I live in a circle. I do park in the street but so does everyone.
people don’t usually key cars for no reason
Dashcam video channels (example) have tons of vids showing randos vandalizing cars for no discernible reason. Some people are just antisocial, destructive a-holes.
I’m not advocating for vandalism, but people don’t usually key cars for no reason
lol
You are conflating the average person with all people. Yes, the average person doesn’t key cars at all, but that does not mean there are not people who absolutely might key a car for no reason.
Truth be told i probably deserve it on some sort of cosmic scale of karma.
But also I didn’t do anything that would make my car a target to my knowledge.
You know what? Good on you for recognizing that we’re not perfect. You’re cool in my book OP. Sorry this happened, wish I had constructive advice to give.
Thanks man, appreciate it. I’m just a dude. Far from perfect but not a blight on society either. I’m ok with being an average person
I once parked a car for a while on a well populated road, in a completely legal spot, without parking in a weird angle, without parking too close to anyone, and there’s no one there that would know me and have a problem with me, so the only likely explanation is that some jackass teenager found it funny to key my car for no reason.
No I always park away from people at work and at the grocery store, And always in the lines.I haven’t gone anywhere else these past few days. That’s why I’m not sure why this happened.
Dang that really sucks. People are the worst sometimes.
