Damaging your new car with accidental scratches or dents is heartbreaking, not least because it immediately affects the value of your new car but the damage is also unsightly to look at!
There are many unfortunate mishaps that can happen to your car, from paintwork scratches to dents to alloy wheels or a crack to your bumper. They are all stressful and often avoidable incidents, but should they happen, a repair job will be the solution to getting your car looking like new.
Let’s break down the types of damage and scratches to your car, as well as how best to help avoid them.
Types of New Car Scratches to Avoid
Car Paint Scratches
Depending on the extent of the incident, paintwork scratches to your car can simply mean superficial damage to your paintwork; but sometimes scratches can lead to underlying damage, affecting deeper levels of your body work, leaving you vulnerable to rust and corrosion.
It’s important to repair all types of paintwork scratches to your car promptly and thoroughly, to avoid further more expensive damage from occurring. If you are not sure what the extent of the scratches is, seeking professional help when assessing the damage is key to understanding the level of car scratch damage.
Bumper Scratches
Bumper scuffs and scratches are another common problem for car drivers.
Bumper scratches affect the bumper panel of your car and will need to be treated differently than paintwork scratches to your car. There are many complexities to bumper scratches which involve treating plastic, painted and textured bumpers, as well as metal and chrome bumpers.
Heavy bumper scratches and dents often require a replacement bumper panel by traditional repair methods, but at ChipsAway Ireland we can carry out isolated bumper repair techniques at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional repairs.
Rather than wasting money on an expensive complete bumper replacement, we will restore your bumper to pristine condition with our professional bumper repair service. No matter the type of bumper dent or scratches to your car, our repair specialists will remove any minor cosmetic damage caused by bumper scuffs, scrapes, cracks, dents and paintwork scratches.
Alloy Wheel Scratches
Although avoidable in theory, alloy wheels scratches are another common but frustrating occurrence for drivers, due to daily tasks like parking close to kerbs. This type of damage can scratch or hairline crack your alloy, damaging its protective layers, leaving it vulnerable to debris and damp causing further issues like rust and poor handling conditions for the driver.
Treating scratches to your car alloys will need another type of repair service to get them looking like new. Rest assured, no matter the level of scratches or dents to your alloy wheels, ChipsAway Ireland can return your car wheels to their original condition without breaking the bank.
Five Ways to Avoid Scratches to Your Car
Now that we know what the types of common scratches to your car include, we have some tips for avoiding them as well as ways to prevent scratches to your new car.
Prevent Parking Scuffs
The most common places to inflict scratches to your car are at the local supermarket or any shopping car park for that matter. For this reason, it’s always best to park with caution – within the white lines, away from trolley parks and wandering trollies, while watching out for kerbs, pillars and walls!
Remember if you are the unfortunate victim of a careless driver opening a car door or reversing too closely to you, take photos of the damage and look for a CCTV to see if you can chase down compensation for costly dents or scratches to your car.
Hand Car Wash
Motorised car washes are a quick option for many motorists, but a hand car wash is the best way to avoid cosmetic scratches to your car.
Abrasive motorised brushes can create minor scratches to your car paintwork, whereas a thorough hand wash option will allow for caution as well as a thorough clean using quality products; leaving no opportunity for debris to collect in areas unreachable by the drive-thru car washes.
Reduce Your Speed
Reducing your speed to allow for harmful objects in the road, low-hanging branches and other drivers getting too close and kicking up harmful debris, will help you avoid scratches to your car.
Country lanes are a common place to pick up speed, but be cautious to look out for potential hedge scratches, increased gravel chips and oncoming vehicles. So go easy on the gas and you can help to reduce the risk of scratches to your car paintwork and alloys.
Park Safely At Night
Parking your car on a private driveway or in a garage overnight will help to reduce your car insurance premium because it will reduce the likelihood of theft, damage, or scratches to your car when stored at night.
Thieves or vandals find it easier to do their dirty work when your car is parked in a public street, but you can help to avoid this by parking under a well-lit street light. This will help deter key scratches or the vandalism of your car, which if left untreated can lead to further damage caused by exposed metal and rust.
Wax Your Car
Prevention is better than cure – did you know that a simple car wax can help prevent scratches to your car?
Car wax will act as a barrier between your car paint layer and the elements including debris and chips hitting your car when driving. A layer of wax will reduce abrasions and help prevent deeper scratches from occurring too. For full instructions, read our guide on How to Wax Your Car.
Fixing Scratches To Your Car
While you will no doubt aim to avoid paintwork scratches to your car, unfortunate things happen. Thankfully a fix isn’t too difficult thanks to ChipsAway Dublin, who can offer a convenient mobile service to fix your car scratch at a time and place to suit you.
Your local ChipsAway specialist can repair the damage so your car will be back to looking like new.
