Someone has scratched my car

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

As the title says, I parked my car this morning around 10am. There was a car parked to the right of me and a tight space left to the left of me. Went back at lunch to get something out of the car and noticed a large black SUV parked to the left in the tight space. Whoever it was left about a 1.5 foot gap between our cars so it is very tight. It dawned on me how tight it was, and sure enough, there was a small scrape on my car where he/she opened their door and pressed it against mine with enough pressure to scrape my paintwork.

The scrape definately wasn't there before, it lines up perfectly with the edge of the other driver's door. I've noted the reg of their car. What can/do I do now?

RangeR

Step 1 : Take photos from all angles

slimjimmc

Also note the details from their insurance disc.

beauf

Check for CCTV covering it.

_Kaiser_

Is it a public car park or office/staff car park? That may help in identifying the culprit.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Is it a public car park or office/staff car park? That may help in identifying the culprit.

No, unfortunately its a public car park and I don't recognise the car, could be anybody's.

I've taken pics of the car and noted their insurance details. There's CCTV but its away up the far corner of the car park so I'm not sure how useful it would be. Thanks for everyone's input sofar.

Cathalog

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote: »

No, unfortunately its a public car park and I don't recognise the car, could be anybody's.

I've taken pics of the car and noted their insurance details. There's CCTV but its away up the far corner of the car park so I'm not sure how useful it would be. Thanks for everyone's input sofar.

Just make sure, as another poster said, that you have plenty of photos of the damage, from multiple angles. Make sure it's clear in the photos that the scratch lines up to this person's door-edge. And finally, take a long-range shot clearly identifying the two cars and their license plates.

No harm in overdoing the photos!

Kenny Logins

I bet the scrape will polish out in less time than it would take you to take the photos.

listermint

Agreed, Is it a scrape or is it paint transfer?

If the latter then just rub it out with TCut and a cloth. Wasting time tracking this down.

beauf

They have a point. Unless its bad and too the metal. You might want to take the bigger view and just sort and forget about it. I generally avoid tight parking spaces. Theres always some muppet who will squeeze in.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

No, the paint has been scraped from the metal underneath, it definately won't buff out. If I could fix it myself I wouldn't be bothered.

Its the kinda thing that might cost €10 to fix or it might cost €80, I really don't know. If its a tenner or something like that I won't even pursue it.

irish bloke

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote: »

No, the paint has been scraped from the metal underneath, it definately won't buff out. If I could fix it myself I wouldn't be bothered.

Its the kinda thing that might cost €10 to fix or it might cost €80, I really don't know. If its a tenner or something like that I won't even pursue it.

Were you in the car at the time, how's your back!!!!!

Take em to the cleaners......

listermint

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater wrote: »

No, the paint has been scraped from the metal underneath, it definately won't buff out. If I could fix it myself I wouldn't be bothered.

Its the kinda thing that might cost €10 to fix or it might cost €80, I really don't know. If its a tenner or something like that I won't even pursue it.

Rule of thumb (or finger) is if you can catch your nail in it, its going to cost you.

Rub your across it (90 degress) and if it catches into the scratch, then persue the dude. Prob leave a note indicating you will be contacting his insurance company and leave your details on it so they can contact you and are not caught completely off guard.

Diemos

It's annoying, had a woman to that to my car while I was sitting in it around Christmas, she didn't give a damn, was getting in her car, obviously hadn't seen me in my car. I got out asked her what the hell she was doing, she told me "that her hands were full and the wind caught it, what was she supposed to do?"

You can't win.

corktina

I'd say you would be wasting your time pursuing it with no proof that it was this person did the damage. Unlikely they will admit it.