My friend/roommate was moving my car out of the way in the driveway (we leave our spare keys for eachother if we need to move it) and scratched it against the side of the house. He came up to me first thing the next day and told me, which I’m pretty grateful about.
Its a somewhat small, but nasty gash that reveals the silver/grey metal underneath my 2002 Mitsubishi Eclipse (which otherwise is in perrfect condition).
Its about 1.5 inch long, and 1/8 inches wide on the rear of my car, near my gas tank.
Would you charge him? he offered to pay? We’re both in college and have little money, keep in mind.
Just an Eclipse…take it to a shop that can possibly blend in the touch up paint. Fact is a scratch in the open can rust, look bad and really lower your resale of the car if you do not plan to keep it for a really long time.
What is your deductable? What is his deductable? A scratch can cost you $1000.00 easily on trade in…if I was him (and I bet he did) I would offer to pay for the repair.
It’s a car, he’s your friend. He made a mistake. People do. Forgive him, forget it, buy some touchup paint, move on.
I’ll second that. If you had the money to fix it, would you? Or would you use it for something else? If the answer is something else, just touch that bad boy up and have him buy you some beers.
I’d charge him a 12-pack and the next time you both have your eye on the same person, they have to give way to you. Be Goose to your maverick, so to speak.
You’d be amazed what touch-up paint and a little rubbing compound or polish (make sure it’s cool with your car’s finish) can to do a scratch that size. Get the paint from your dealer so it matches exactly, fill the scratch in thin layers and let it dry each time. Carefully buff it out, I use my electric buffer.
touch it up yourself. or, call your insurance and find out how big of a hit it would take on your monthly insurance rate. maybe his insurance can pay for it…
personally, anytime you let someone else drive your car, you risk this sort of thing. really–it’s a pain in the arse reality.
Take a contract out on his family. Tell him that for each day it isn’t fixed one of them loses their kneecaps and after 6 days you will have your guy knock one of them off. If it isn’t fixed in 2 weeks they are all dead and then your heavy will start to work him over.
Seriously though, it really isn’t much of a scratch, its just that the first scratch hurts the worst. Shit happens and it isn’t worth getting too worked up about etc…I don’t know how you would fix it…frankly I don’t know if it is really worth the time, money, or effort.