Car scratches, where do you stand?

Soldato
Joined
25 May 2008
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North Wales
I really don't care at all about them, i live in the countryside so there's no way to avoid them from going down narrow lanes and having to put your car right in the hedge if you meet someone etc. Then there's stones flicked up by tractors and the like on the other roads.

As someone else said there's way more important things in life to worry about than if a there's a scratch in some paint on the metal box you sit in for an hour a day.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2010
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The second one is 100% carelessness, it was avoidable if potentially also due to impatience.

You're clearly not a frequent driver of country roads.

In some cases they can be avoidable if you're able to see the other side of the road is clear then moving into the middle to get around. But in places that have blind bends it's not always possible to avoid them, and having patience by keep stopping until traffic has passed is just dangerous and will cause an accident.
 
Soldato
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South East
I am entirely too concerned about them. I'm the sort of sad act who won't go anywhere without a full risk assessment of the parking situation at our destination. Are there plenty of bays? How wide are they? Is there a good chance I can get on the end of a row? I have gone for meals at otherwise wonderful restaurants, and spent the entire evening anxious because I've been forced into parking in a sub optimal spot. On entry to any decent sized carpark (supermarket for instance) I will immediately drive to the far end and walk. I once scratched my bumper on a high kerb, and spent ages angry about it despite the damage being invisible unless you got on all fours and stuck your head under the car.

It's ridiculous, and I wish I could be more sanguine about it. Much bigger things in life to worry about.

I'm exactly the same. My girlfriend hates it. It's pathetic, isn't it? :D

My excuse is that I paid a lot of money for my car, it is my passion, and I want to be proud of its appearance.

Stone chips on the front don't bother me though. They're unavoidable. I just touch them up if they're noticeable from more than "crouching-down-inspecting-the-bumper" away.


You're clearly not a frequent driver of country roads.

In some cases they can be avoidable if you're able to see the other side of the road is clear then moving into the middle to get around. But in places that have blind bends it's not always possible to avoid them, and having patience by keep stopping until traffic has passed is just dangerous and will cause an accident.

This is why I have stopped using Waze for navigation in favour of Google Maps. Its constant obsession with taking the shortest route on the crappiest narrow cart track roads to save 47 seconds of journey time got on my nerves. Google Maps just seems a bit more keen to stick to main roads, and uses the same real time traffic info.

Even if you do get a "kiss" from a sticky-outy bit of shrubbery, in my experience it's nothing that can't be fixed with a bit of polishing compound. Easily fixed and not something you really need to look at forever more.
 
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Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2010
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21,781
My concern on PCP's would be managing these comsetic repairs, and, when they become quorate.

yes - I take care where I park, the dilema, is that in Cambridge, the free parking is often on narrow streets with tight parking, and, mirror clipping liklihood,
so, I usually accept the risk, knowing there would be some repercussion on my renewal price if I claimed.
 
Soldato
Joined
9 Dec 2009
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5,163
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Bristol
I have 3 levels:

1: Stone chips and bush scrapes = The joys of motoring, it just happens and I don't sweat it, but fill/polish as best I can.

2: car park door dings, trolley scrapes etc. These annoy me because it's due to people being lazy and they can be avoided if they took more care. I park a good walk away from wherever I'm going to stay away from people who cluster around a store/business entrance.

3: Vandalism. Kicked in panels or having the car keyed would make me really angry. It's malicious damage. I've only had 1 car keyed and, with hindsight, I did a silly thing by putting 2 wheels up on the pavement and narrowing the pavement for pedestrians. It was near a school and I think a mum with buggy wasn't happy. I was young and stupid.
 

fez

fez

Caporegime
Joined
22 Aug 2008
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Tunbridge Wells
Couldn't give too many less ***** honestly. Our older car is a 2014 308 that has quite a few dents and scratches and some chips on the edge of the door. Our new car is a 2018 3008 which has some chips / light scratches to the paint that were there when we got it and then about 2 weeks into owning it a deer ran into our car at full speed and put a couple of dents in the door and a nice set of scratches down the side.

Annoying but honestly, its a car. If it was going to cause rust I would sort it out but outside of that who cares. No one is going to pay you £500 more for a car without a few scratches than one with some if fixing those scratches cost £200. That would be stupid. Getting them fixed when they happen makes no sense either as you will probably get more over the cars lifetime.

Then again, I am not at all precious about our cars and I prefer driving our old 308 manual to the new 3008 automatic. Would rather have spent that money on an overpriced mountain bike I actually get real enjoyment from.
 
Soldato
Joined
5 Mar 2010
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12,305
This is why I have stopped using Waze for navigation in favour of Google Maps. Its constant obsession with taking the shortest route on the crappiest narrow cart track roads to save 47 seconds of journey time got on my nerves. Google Maps just seems a bit more keen to stick to main roads, and uses the same real time traffic info.

I've had that gripe for years!

I wish you could set some kind of threshold for it not to re-route unless it saves X minutes or Y percentage of the journey time. In most cases the diversions never make any sense because all the traffic in front of you also follows that diversion, which then clogs up smaller roads and the end result is that you'd normally be quicker sticking with the traffic where you currently are.
 
Soldato
OP
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22 May 2007
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3,137
So far I make it 10 posters that are upset or mindful of potential scratches and 11 that don’t really care. So all in all it’s 50/50 people aren’t as bothered as much as I thought.

You might want to double check my numbers but I believe them to be right.
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Apr 2007
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South of the Watford Gap!
In my house we have 2 distinct camps.

My wife and daughter view a car as white goods and don't really care that much, their view being we'll change the car if need be.

Me and my 2 sons, sleepless nights on seeing any damage on our cars. I picked up a 3rd party shopping trolley ding and where the car is currently parked I can see it whilst eating breakfast, lunch and dinner so will most probably try and it repaired by paintless dent repair!
 
Pet Northerner
Don
Joined
29 Jul 2006
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8,025
Location
Newcastle, UK
I used to care a lot when we first got the car. However over time the worry has diminished somewhat as no matter what you do to avoid them, you can't factor in what other people do.

There were times I'd make the OH park in places where we'd have a low risk of scratches, only to find an SUV kind of car parked up and a new thin scratch where the other drivers butt has come up against the car and the jeans stud or bag has caused it. Now I've given up that worry and feel much better when out and about because of it.

Although for reference, we drive a 14 reg VW Golf, which isn't the most expensive of cars, compared to a number of forum members.
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Jul 2004
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Thunderdome
I've just spent a load PPFing my car, so that I can (touch wood) avoid chips/scratches. It's a curse, but I felt the same way about my first car when I was 17; any marks or imperfections would keep me up at night.

Going by some of the responses in this thread, I should definitely avoid buying cars from them :p

It's tough to do and involves being anal, but I've managed to go years with no dents/scratches/curbing at all. It has to be said planning is the key, and not letting my wife drive my cars :o
 
Soldato
Joined
10 Jan 2012
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UK
I'll do what I can to avoid scratches, I'll park the furthest away I can away from other people in a parking lot to lessen the chance of door dings etc
Stone chips are unavoidable, I have 2 on my car that I have noticed, I just filled them in with some colour matched paint, can only tell they are there if I put my eye on the bonnet.
 
Man of Honour
Joined
12 Jul 2005
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Aberlour, NE Scotland
I went shopping yesterday and despite parking away from other cars came back to find a white Audi estate pulling away from the slot next to mine. I didn't think anything of it and put the shopping in the boot. Walking to my door I found a scratch down to the metal on my door and a dent in the rear door, both clearly caused by doors being opend onto them. The rear dent had traces of white paint on it. Rather cheesed off I went to my next shop and parked up well away from other cars only to come back and find a scratch on my front bumper. WTF is wrong with people these days? It seems that you can't have anything nice anymore as people don't give a toss about other peoples property.
 
Soldato
Joined
17 Jun 2012
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11,259
Interesting topic. I assume your talking aesthetics. When you think of what people came from, horse and cart, disease, the struggles they went through, that a car was one considered a marvel or miracle, then it could make a few scratches seem very minor in the bigger picture. How we are so brainwashed by consumerism.
 
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