No one wants to walk up to their beloved vehicle and see scratches, dents, and dings. A bad scratch ruins the value of your car, exposes it to rust and degeneration, and means you’ll be spending money at some point: either on that Mini Cooper touch up paint kit (or some other kind of automotive touch up kit) or later down the line to repair a bad scratch. Here are some important questions about dents, dings, and scratches that can help you make the best choice for your car and your needs.
Do I Need Dent Insurance?
You might never have heard of this, but some insurance companies actually offer dent and scratch insurance. There are a couple considerations here:
- How likely are scratches and dents for you? Do you have a lot of little kids running around with a tendency to scrape their bike handles all up and down your car? Do you live in an area where there are lots of bad drivers where dents and scratches are common? Do you live where hail is frequent and have no covered area to store your car?
- Are you bothered by dents and dings? Car scratches need to be taken care of lest the car’s paint job start suffering damage and the vehicle get serious rust. But when it comes to dents and dings, it matters most what you feel about it. If you plan on running the car as long as you can, and dings aren’t serious, then you might not care enough to bother with the expense of dent insurance.
- Are you willing to do what it takes to avoid dents and scratches?If you don’t have other reasons, like hail or lots of kids’ bikes, to worry about damage to your car, then the best way to protect it is avoid parking next to other people, to park politely so you don’t give someone reason to want to scratch your car (or make it hard to avoid by hemming them in) and be cautious every time you open your door or move around the car. If that’s all just a bit too much to worry about, insurance might be a good idea.
Can I Fix the Scratch Myself?
That depends on what type of scratch you’re talking about. There are five levels of scratches, categorized from 1A through 4. A 1A or 1B scratch you can probably take care of yourself with a Mini Cooper touch up paint kit or Kia touch up paint–whatever you need. You might be able to take care of 2 if you know what you’re doing. Anything more and it’s probably best to take it to a professional.
Do I Need a Matched Paint Touch Up Kit?
Do you really need to get a specific Jeep Wrangler touch up paint kit or Mini Cooper touch up paint kit? It depends. The auto industry identifies four neutral colors that are easy to match (and also pretty popular): black, white, grey, and silver. If you’ve got one of these colors, particularly white or black, you can probably get a generic car touch up paint kit. With any other color, though, you’re going to get the best paint match if you get a Mini Cooper touch up paint kit that is mixed precisely the same as your original paint job.
How Much Does it Cost to Get a Serious Scratch Fixed?
A lot. A deep scratch that goes all the way through the clear coat and the paint job and exposes the bare metal could run from $300 to $3,000 depending on the precise nature of the scratch and how big it is. Ironically, it’s probably better to have a long scratch that’s really deep all the way down than one that varies in depth. It’s the varying nature of the scratch depth that can make that scratch particularly difficult to deal with.
Dents and scratches are always a pain, but getting them taken care of immediately is always the best bet. Whether you need a Mini Cooper touch up paint kit or a way to remove a minor dent, don’t wait. Get it done fast and you’ll be glad you did.