Best way to repair small scratch? Also, Sentrycam fail

[PNWLeccy]

I was parked today for about 20 minutes and when I came back the 2 cars parked in front of me were gone and i saw a paper slip on my windshield. I was annoyed because I figured I had gotten a parking ticket even though it was a holiday and shouldn't have.

When I got to my car, I saw that it was a post it note with someones info telling me they had hit me. I checked out my front bumper and it seems like there was a few small scratches. These are small enough that it feels like insurance is overkill.

I was planning on going to the auto body shop that did my rear bumper repair when someone rear ended me to get an estimate (2 bumpers hit in 2 months ) but is there a better option? Would a detailer be able to repair a small scratch? Are there mobile scratch repair services that people would recommend in the seattle area? How much would these options likely cost? I'd like to just ask him for a couple $100 and move on.

Unfortunately, when i saw the note immediately went to check the sentrycam footage and it was missing missing. I have footage from immediately after the accident when there were no cars parked in front of me but no footage before that. How did this happen? I literally have footage from a few days ago when i drove and from this afternoon after the incident and am only missing the window of time that actually mattered!! Is there any way to recover that lost footage?

 

[PNWLeccy]

Kind of difficult to see the scratches in the picture but there’s one more prominent one that looks white and catches my finger nail and some much shallower vertical scrape marks that you can faintly see.

 

[fooprobe]

Maybe try Tesla’s paint repair kit? I just purchased it to repair a small scratch on my trunk, worse than yours but not bad. But haven’t had a chance to try it yet lol.

 

[Wildbill]

Try this:

Dr. ColorChip Automotive Paint Chip Repair Kit - Dr. ColorChip: Automotive Paint Chip Repair Systems

they have Tesla colors

 

[gaswalla]

seems like a good dual action polisher and compound will negate about 90% of that - or have a detailer do it

 

[PNWLeccy]

Maybe try Tesla’s paint repair kit? I just purchased it to repair a small scratch on my trunk, worse than yours but not bad. But haven’t had a chance to try it yet lol.

I just watched a few videos on using the Tesla repair kit but while it seemed to fill in the scratch, it also looked to have a matte texture. The matte against the glossy paint surrounding it looked very obvious, at least on camera. If you do give it a go, let me know how it turns out!

seems like a good dual action polisher and compound will negate about 90% of that - or have a detailer do it

Yea i haven't got the tools for that. Any idea what a detailer would charge for something like that?

Try this:

Dr. ColorChip Automotive Paint Chip Repair Kit - Dr. ColorChip: Automotive Paint Chip Repair Systems

they have Tesla colors

Does this work better than Tesla's repair kit in your experience?

 

[tuoncan]

Get this. It works for me with deeper scratches

 

[KenMast3rs]

I had similar problem last night with Tesla sentry mode when someone dinged my door. It recorded only the rear camera. Front and sides didn’t record anything.

 

[NoirMS]

I just watched a few videos on using the Tesla repair kit but while it seemed to fill in the scratch, it also looked to have a matte texture. The matte against the glossy paint surrounding it looked very obvious, at least on camera. If you do give it a go, let me know how it turns out!

Yea i haven't got the tools for that. Any idea what a detailer would charge for something like that?

Does this work better than Tesla's repair kit in your experience?

fyi, Tesla paint chip repair kit is Dr. Colorchip repackaged... literally the same product.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Try this:

Dr. ColorChip Automotive Paint Chip Repair Kit - Dr. ColorChip: Automotive Paint Chip Repair Systems

they have Tesla colors

The kit Tesla sells looks to be a rebranded Dr Colorchip kit. I love Dr Colorchip. Best paint invention in the past 30 years.

 

[PNWLeccy]

I got an estimate from Sameday - a mobile scratch repair service of $745(!) and talked to Tesla who only replace parts so would have to throw a new front bumper on. Going off the estimate for the rear bumper when i got rear-ended, I assume it will be around the same which came out to $1162.

The mobile scratch repair was way higher than i was expecting. My question is how to proceed. Would you go back to the person who hit you, go through insurance, have the accident on your carfax and all that or propose some other option? It feels so minor and its kind of ridiculous how much it costs to fix. My concern is that this car will show 2 accidents when in reality they were both extremely low speed rear-end / backed into accidents.

 

[C141medic]

Kudos to the person who hit your car for leaving a note. With that being said, since the damage appears to be minor, if it was me I’d try to fix it myself with the Dr. color chip repair kit and perhaps just ask for them to cover the cost of the kit. $745 seems fairly inflated for very minor scratch repair.

 

[SMAlset]

Since there is a gap in time when it occurred from what you said did you search for that timemark period in all of the 3 file folders?

You're lucky someone left a note and hopefully it has correct info on it. I've heard of people who were observed hitting a car in a lot leave a note but they put fake info on the paper so it looked like they were doing the right thing and someone wouldn't report them for hit and run damage (not sure if it's really hit and run if the car isn't moving).

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Try Dr Colorchip on the deep scratches. Not much to lose there because you'll need the kit for other rock chips. But watch the videos to know how to use it correctly. Then use scratch remover like above to get out the minor surface scratches. If all of that doesn't work, get another quote from a sane mobile bumper repair guy and ask the person that hit you to pay for it. Chances are that a sane estimate will be less than his/her deductible and they'll want to pay you out of pocket instead of involving insurance and therefore carfax.

 

[Mustavo]

I feel you. Bastard keyed my 6 day old on the front driver side fender - turns out this is a complete SentryCam deadspot! The 45 degrees approach angle is unmonitored by Sentry on both sides. I gave the polish compounds a crack, but it was too deep. Ended up ponying up for a $1300 re-spray.

Just got it wrapped top to toe in XPEL, hopefully I won't see this again.

 

[PNWLeccy]

I've reached out to a well-recommended detailer here (Metropolitan Detailing) who quoted me $120 to fix most of it which i feel like should be fine. Anyone have good/bad experience going this route to remove small scratches?

As an aside, I was thinking of also springing for their $325 Essential exterior package while i'm at it which includes:

• Gentle Hand Wash
• Clean Wheels
• Clean Door Jambs
• Paint Decontamination
• Mask Trim
• Single Stage Machine Polish
• Paint Sanitation
• 3 Month Synthetic Sealant
• Polish Exhaust Tips
• Tire Dressing
• Courtesy Vacuum and Windows

Do you think if I got this done to help remove swirl marks and most paint contamination I could go ahead and do a DIY ceramic coating? I don't want to pay the $500+ to get it done but wanted to get it in good enough shape to try and do it myself. Is that a bad idea?

 

[PNWLeccy]

Since there is a gap in time when it occurred from what you said did you search for that timemark period in all of the 3 file folders?

You're lucky someone left a note and hopefully it has correct info on it. I've heard of people who were observed hitting a car in a lot leave a note but they put fake info on the paper so it looked like they were doing the right thing and someone wouldn't report them for hit and run damage (not sure if it's really hit and run if the car isn't moving).

Yea i did. I even checked the recent clips since I came out about 10 min after it likely happened and it was missing from there which I am very confused about since it usually contains the last hour.

Also, I've texted the guy and i told him i was going to get estimates and we can decide how to proceed.