Car owners dislike unexpected scrapes and dents
Vehicle owners are upset about damage to their cars, including scrapes and dents caused by other drivers or unknown incidents. They seek advice on repair options and express concern about the cost and potential for recurrence.
SOURCES (44)
“Bought the car about a month ago, recently a friend noticed a lot of gaps, of course i immediately tought front end damage and theres a lot of other problems on the car that confirm previous owner/s was the type of person to pull smth…”
“That’s not even a ding, that’s along a door edge ? If you didn’t tell her don’t, get a touch up pen you’ll never know. If you did, do the same. Your only human, accidents happen don’t be to hard on yourself. To prevent door edges I’ve always had them with PPF for the last decade.”
“This is my first ever accident with over 10 years of driving experience. It was overall incredibly minor, literally just faint scratches to the paint job and a crack in the reflective bit on the front of the car. I payed for the safe trip coverage. We exchanged info and I called U-haul about it and I got conflicting responses from "oh yea we should be able to cover it no problem" and "Technically the Safe Trip coverage only covers the cost of damage to the truck" so idk if th”
“new to this sub, hello!! yesterday, as i was pulling out of a parking spot, i scraped (and left a dent as i moved my car back up to not further scrape it while reversing) someone’s car. tried to call them out of the building by asking hospital staff to announce their car make, model and tags on the intercom, but no show. i left a note and my phone number. i’m an insured driver, but on a provisional license. this is the first time this has ever happened. th but of their care was a bit closer to m”
“I think someone dinged my door while parked and left a pretty sharp dent and next to it, something happened to the coating or paint but the texture feels rough and dry as you can see in the picture. Is this fixable? submitted by /u/Thy-Lich [link] [comments]”
“Hey guys, I’m a college student. This morning I was pulling into a spot, I misjudged the space and ended up scratching the car while the owner was getting out of the car. We both cringed, exchanged info, and went off to our classes. It was a small scratch on the bumper and a scratch on the reflector. I offered to pay and they said they’ll have insurance cover it. What do I do? Should I wait to hear back? I’m freaking out cause my premium will go up submitted by /u/1iukiyo [link]  ”
“Very new black car. Recently got a graphene ceramic coating. I noticed this scratch (on driver door under window) and many more behind the door handle. I'd prefer to avoid excessive corrections on the clear coat, and I'm not in the tax bracket to be able to recoat every time I have a scratch. It's a very light scratch and only visible at certain angles, but visible from relatively far away (~2ft) at those angles. How do I get this out without having the installer buff and recoat the”
“Hi everyone! Just bought a used car. Overall it’s in great shape minus the scrapes in the photo. Can they be fixed or at least buffed enough to blur them out as much as possible? What are my options? I’m looking for an easy DIY solution. I don’t have access to electricity or water next to the car unfortunately. Thanks a lot! submitted by /u/EpicSyntax [link] [comments]”
“In my opinion it’s not even worth fixing however if it really bothers you i would just pay out of pocket it won’t be that much since it’s just a few small scratches”
“I took my car to the dealer to have some recall work done. When I picked it up there was a sizable dent in the passenger size door. It's a little hard to see in the photo but much more noticable in person. They checked their photos from check-in and acknowledged responsibility. They are saying they can take care of it with 'paintless dent repair' -- Do you think based on the damage that will fix it? Will it be noticable? I'm worried that even if they get the dent out it will be n”
“Is it the type of garage where you can park where there isn’t a pole? Reason I ask was in Alabama recently with a friend parked next to one and backed up and turned to soon swiped half the car. If so don’t park by then if there next to your spot. Take the L hopefully insurance won’t ding you too bad; some like all state have accident forgiveness, I’ve been in a few over the last few years never went up wasn’t my fault but no fault state. Does your partner know ? Don’t over think it; don’t stress”
“For context, I don’t have a garage and there are some street cats where I leave. Today when I arrived at the car, I noticed a lot of dirty paws and then the worse, there are cat scratches on one of the exterior trim next to the windshield on my 2019 Ford Focus ST-Line. Most of the scratches seem to be relatively light, but there is one deeper scratch where the claw actually punctured the plastic/rubber slightly (visible in the picture). The piece has a textured/matte black finish, so I’m concern”
“Rear door to quarter gap looks good, I think the front door/rear door gap looks bad is because the rear edge of the front door is rolled in like it bumped into something when opening the door. That door edge is also circled in red marker, likely to mark unrelated prior damage, likely part of the total loss value calculation. I don’t see any impact point that would cause that gap to close.”
“Idk what you mean scratch people. The autobody people recognize the dent(s?), but I'm not very knowledgeable about car stuff so I just call it a scratch. I know the door ding is a scratch and dent, but the other 2 I didn't notice dents, but will take a closer look. I may just not have noticed them. Like I said, not a car guy. They did say they'd have to blend to rear door for the paint and I assume that's a big driver of the cost. My deductible is 250. I figure this is gonna be a”
“Sorry if this isn't the right sub. Just looking for advice. I recently had what I assume was a rock scratch my car while on the highway. The first and third images are from this rock. The second image is a door ding that also has a dent. I'm not all that worried about the door ding or rear door scratch. All is on the passenger side. The first and second image are front passenger side door and second image is rear passenger side door. Repair shop is quoting $1.5k for just the big scratch,”
“This the damage at the bottom considered cosmetic damage or unibody/frame damage? I know nothing of cars, thanks submitted by /u/hydrozoa2 [link] [comments]”
“This is a 2011 Toyota Camry. I reversed my car and hit something on the right corner. Part of the side popped out. I’m not really worried about the indent, but I wonder if I could maybe pop the side back in. Let me know what I can do. submitted by /u/SnooRobots6778 [link] [comments]”
“Hit one of the corners in my tight parking garage. The scratches are pretty deep and I can even see some tan underneath so it probably went down to the primer. There’s also quite a few dents. What should I do? I would rather not spend the thousands it will cost to take it to a body shop but I will if I have to. submitted by /u/WorthPatience6191 [link] [comments]”
Replacement at this point, you can’t fix magic eraser damage.
“Do I have to get the door repaired? Can I just wipe the dust off and keep it pushing? Any advice submitted by /u/shar-live [link] [comments]”
“Hi. This truck is a 6 month rental for our busy season and I think something got between the tailgate panels and made little scrapes that are down to bare metal. Can I easily fix this myself or what should I expect if I return it like this? Photo in comments submitted by /u/UpstairsNectarine815 [link] [comments]”
“I recently picked up a used Mazdaspeed 3 that has a little bit of cosmetic damage. I've since ordered a few parts for it including a new set of wheels. The new wheels will sit pretty close to flush with the fender, but the left rear quarter panel has a sizable dent that may cause rubbing at a lowered ride height. I'd love to keep the car around the same height if possible. I've got a friend with some PDR experience (mostly fixing smaller dents) who told me he should be able to at lea”
“Hey all, I recently scratched my 2023 Elantra leaving underground parking at my building like an idiot. Im trying to fix it reasonably my self but not expecting perfection. I just don’t want it to rust or be as glaringly obvious. Would this be a reasonable thing to attempt my self or best left to a body shop? I’ve been quoted $900-$1500 Canadian and frankly I don’t have that kind of scratch to spend on my cars aesthetics lol. much appreciated and thank in advance! submitted by /u/Moi”
“2010 g37 convertible base, it has a scratch with accompanying dent above wheel well towards rear submitted by /u/Creative-Use-5085 [link] [comments]”
“Today whilst I was in Dollar Tree, some idiot scrapped my car in the parking lot and drove off with no note or anything. Is this repairable or would I need to get a whole new bumper? submitted by /u/Turbulent-Win9886 [link] [comments]”
“Got a dent in my front bumper and was wondering if it's a spot repair or total panel replace? It's a 2015 dodge dart. submitted by /u/Plastic_Ad7265 [link] [comments]”
“Hey guys. I let my younger brother borrow my car to get to work since his car is getting fixed. When he was leaving after his shift he backed out and bumped into car in the parking lot. The owner was inside he got our information, etc. However, he’s saying he needs to replace his whole bumper and my brother is young he just got his license so this guy is basically saying he won’t go through the insurance if my brother gives him $1400 bc supposedly that’s how much it’s going to cost him to fix th”
“I usually have terrible luck posting questions but I’ll give this a try. I tripped and dropped a box on the hood of my Mustang. It’s a small dent (of course dead center of the hood) but it didn’t chip or crack the paint at all. I’m hoping I can use a dent pulling kit, where you glue the puller and gently lift the dent out. I’ve never used one before and YouTube university makes it look pretty easy. Is it? I’m trying to not have to sand this down and repaint it if I can help it. Is there a better”
“Parked my car while i was doing groceries came back to it scratched, no car in sight. I’ve removed small scruffs and scratches with autozone kit, but im unsure i will be able to with this one. What are your recommendations? submitted by /u/piggorlax [link] [comments]”
“I was reversing round a corner the other day and scraped my neighbours wall 🙃 Of course the wall is fine but I have a giant patch of white paint on the side of my car now. How can I get rid of this without removing the actual car paint too? It comes off with gentle scraping but I would be stood there for hours trying to get it all :/ submitted by /u/Top-Complex-5325 [link] [comments]”
“And what repair kit would you recommend? submitted by /u/No_Idea_Guy [link] [comments]”
“It will require body work and paint. You provided zero vehicle info or an idea of where it is on the car or anything so can’t help you with anything else. Yep it’s scratched go get estimates”
“Its driving me insane. These two new scratches have shown up just in the past couple days. How is this happening!? I feel lile everytime I look at my rear bumper now theres a new scratch. Is someone scraping my car in a parking lot? Someone throwing somethingi, hitting my car? Any insight into the origin of these scratches is much appreciated. submitted by /u/zj_wave_84 [link] [comments]”
“Could these scratches have been caused by road debris or rocks while driving? I have not hit anything or been hit. (Sorry for the dirty car) submitted by /u/Green-Relationship-6 [link] [comments]”
“I bought my Tacoma two weeks ago and came back from lunch to see this deep scratch. I can see through the paint. Did someone key my car? Or a door? I didn’t hit anything. I need advice to get this out and fix it. Should I go to the dealership? Any advice to cover the scratch? Thank you! submitted by /u/Toastydantastic [link] [comments]”
“2013 Toyota Camry. I've pulled up on one too many parking curbs I think. Any suggestions on how I can at least make it look somewhat decent? submitted by /u/Appropriate-Song-842 [link] [comments]”
“In SoCal on this 2018 x5 the front bumper got scratched and the shop I went to is asking for $8k. Does that make any sense to you? submitted by /u/mindhacker999 [link] [comments]”
“i dont even want to get into this driveway setup because its genuinely one of the most scuffed ive ever seen. essentially, they had a tree right in the middle of the driveway. this was the result of trying to back out while not hitting the owner’s cars. ive already filed an insurance claim, and i just generally feel like shit. how screwed am i, really? 2019 toyota highlander in otherwise great shape. im supposed to leave for college in 2 days, timing could NOT be worse. submitted by”
“Side swiped my sisters car leaving one day and I got all the damaged, nothing crazy but it bothers me a lot submitted by /u/Enough_Vacation_2685 [link] [comments]”
“Day after my birthday, someone scraped up my parked car and didn’t leave a note :) I’ve reached out to a couple of shops for quotes and the cost is what it is, but is there anything I could do at home for this? It’s a 2023 Mazda CX-5 and I have a paint pen (obviously won’t work for this), but is a repair through a body shop the best option? I’m just nervous to pay to get this repaired, and have something similar happen again. I just don’t know the severity and the long term impact of not repairi”