Car Sratched

owey

look at https://www.maplin.co.uk and try there scratch remover product code N80BL £7.99 for 2 tubes, never tried it myself but if it doesn't work you can always take it back, better than £350.

vansboy

You could try asking a body shop - independent, not insurance type place, to machine polish the marks out.

They MIGHT have more success than you have with non-trade materials.

VB

Rizla_3

Depending on the age and value of your car, it's probably worth getting this seen to.
If you lease your car as many people do these days, then when you return it, it is highly likely that you will be charged the full cost of the repair (plus the admin costs of the lease company more than likely!). If you own your car, then you will get the best price for it when you sell it - a scratch of this kind can seriously devalue the resale cost of your car (by thousands), especially if has broken the paintwork and has begun to rust. And the rust issue is a reason to get it done sooner rather than later.

On some cars this can be repaired by filling the scratch with paint and then flattening it and polishing it... on a black car this kind of repair can be almost invisible. But with light coloured metallic cars, this just isn't possible. In fact, any kind of repair on light metallic cars are very difficult. Even if the scratch was just on the door, they would more than likely have to repaint the whole side to get a good colour match, (Yes, I'm afraid that cheap isn't always best, and some things are just worth doing properly).

In light of this, it is doubtful if a smart repair company such as ChipsAway would be able to do this on your car. But in terms of generic advice, if the damage seems minor, it's always worth approaching a "smart repair" company, as they can often repair just the damaged area. S.M.A.R.T. sands for 'Small Medium Area Repair Technique', and can save you fortunes with things like scuffs, scratches, dents and minor damage to upholstery and trim.

Okay, so having established that you need to go to a bodyshop for a full repair, you need to choose one. I'm afraid that there are monkeys out there that will take your money and bodge the work - there is (company) car outside my office right now where the repair is far worse than the origional damage... I know because you can still see the damage through the repair! The lady wanted it done on the cheap and got what she paid for, now she will have to have it redone or I will refuse to sign off on it.

You should always shop around for prices, but when selecting a bodyshop it is actually better to phone around repuatable used car dealers and ask them who they use. Not all bodyshops are the same, they aim at different markets, some will do retail, and they charge a lot of money, and they aren't always good as they know that retail customers will often accept excuses. There are others that paint for main dealers, and although they will be top quality, they charge premium prices.
However, second hand dealers squeek when they walk - yes they are that tight! They demand good work, but don't want to pay for it... so ask a few of them. They will know the good painters who charge sensible money (can you imagine a dealer using any other kind?) The only problem is that good painters often have a lead time of weeks, so to prevent rust in the mean time, wax over the scratch.

As luck would have it, the painter that my company uses just wandered in. He says that for a 5 door BMW in silver, a main dealer would charge around £1500 to repaint the whole side, he would charge £500-ish for a 5 door. For a three door would be around £400, but it could be less - although he prefers to paint the whole side, if the scratch hasn't broken the clear-coat (varnish) then you can often polish out the scratch on some of the panels and get away with painting one or two, mouldings can also make a difference if you can just paint the area between them.

I hope that helps.
Rizla

GabbaGabbaHey

avi wrote:

Parked my 5 series silver car in a shopping centre and someone deliberately strached the left side of it all the way from the front to the back.

Don't suppose they have CCTV covering the car park? If they do, you might be able to see who did it (and the shopping centre security staff or local plods may recognise them if they are persistent offenders) ...