Annual cosmetic repair budget?
Discussion
Anyone else finding they’re needing to set aside a chunk of money each year for cosmetic repairs on their car due to the selfishness and stupidity of the general public? Or are most people just accepting the damage as part and parcel of having to live amongst the 
s of Britain?
I work damn hard, spending well over half of the year away from my family and treat myself to nice cars as a reward. And then utters decide it’s ok to leave dents in my doors, park 6” away from my car and scrape their jeans down the side of my car getting out.
The first dent is from a couple of months ago and today I’ve come back to this and what looks like jean scrapes down the side of my car. I can’t get out because I need to put ‘right-hand-down’ to reverse out of the space. Last year someone did the same but parked 6” from my driver’s side so I had to climb in through the passenger side.
Generally I’m needing 2-3 repairs a year and probably spending about £500. I park at the far end of car parks to avoid this but I seem to be a tt magnet. I genuinely miss the days of running sheds and reckon this will probably be my last ‘nice’ car that I actually care about, it’s just not worth the stress.
TLDR: I hate the general public as they’res.
s of Britain?I work damn hard, spending well over half of the year away from my family and treat myself to nice cars as a reward. And then utter
s decide it’s ok to leave dents in my doors, park 6” away from my car and scrape their jeans down the side of my car getting out. The first dent is from a couple of months ago and today I’ve come back to this and what looks like jean scrapes down the side of my car. I can’t get out because I need to put ‘right-hand-down’ to reverse out of the space. Last year someone did the same but parked 6” from my driver’s side so I had to climb in through the passenger side.
Generally I’m needing 2-3 repairs a year and probably spending about £500. I park at the far end of car parks to avoid this but I seem to be a t
t magnet. I genuinely miss the days of running sheds and reckon this will probably be my last ‘nice’ car that I actually care about, it’s just not worth the stress. TLDR: I hate the general public as they’re
s. I’d be even more careful about where you park.
Friends take the p*ss out of my antics in car parks looking for the best place. But they clearly don’t care about their cars, like I do mine.
Secondly, learn how to correct simple scratches to paintwork. An evening on YouTube will make you slightly more immune to these careless fks.
Friends take the p*ss out of my antics in car parks looking for the best place. But they clearly don’t care about their cars, like I do mine.
Secondly, learn how to correct simple scratches to paintwork. An evening on YouTube will make you slightly more immune to these careless f
ks.I've given up, All 3 of mine have been crashed into while parked in the last 18 months
van- Uber driver did a 3 point turn reversing into the side of it and driving off.
Civic- someone crashed into the back of it in a supermarket, no details left of course
Leon- Crashed into on the works car park after owning it 2 weeks, front bumper is still hanging off now
I just can't be bothered anymore, I used to wash my cars twice a week but seems little point if they're just going to get smashed to pieces.
van- Uber driver did a 3 point turn reversing into the side of it and driving off.
Civic- someone crashed into the back of it in a supermarket, no details left of course
Leon- Crashed into on the works car park after owning it 2 weeks, front bumper is still hanging off now
I just can't be bothered anymore, I used to wash my cars twice a week but seems little point if they're just going to get smashed to pieces.
swisstoni said:
Secondly, learn how to correct simple scratches to paintwork. An evening on YouTube will make you slightly more immune to these careless fks.
I’ve actually got a random orbital polisher on order to sort out my Dad’s car, although his damage is all self-inflicted. Not so useful on the dents, though!ks.sheepman said:
I've given up, All 3 of mine have been crashed into while parked in the last 18 months
van- Uber driver did a 3 point turn reversing into the side of it and driving off.
Civic- someone crashed into the back of it in a supermarket, no details left of course
Leon- Crashed into on the works car park after owning it 2 weeks, front bumper is still hanging off now
I just can't be bothered anymore, I used to wash my cars twice a week but seems little point if they're just going to get smashed to pieces.
That’s terribly unlucky and I reckon I’d just give up as well. I don’t know if people have always been like this but it seems half the population give zero fvan- Uber driver did a 3 point turn reversing into the side of it and driving off.
Civic- someone crashed into the back of it in a supermarket, no details left of course
Leon- Crashed into on the works car park after owning it 2 weeks, front bumper is still hanging off now
I just can't be bothered anymore, I used to wash my cars twice a week but seems little point if they're just going to get smashed to pieces.
ks about how their actions influence others - as evidenced by people who watch YouTube videos (and other ste) in public with the sound played through their phone speakers. Wear some fking headphones, you s!We are the same , very careful Parker’s yet my wife’s car and mine have both been hit recently.
The other day, I spent £250 on preventative maintenance on my car by doing a gearbox service . Was over the moon at how nice it was driving, took it out for a spin and went to the pub in the evening. I parked in an end space, furthest from the entrance of the pub, in a half empty car park and came back to this.
Luckily it pretty much came out. I don’t have a clue how someone managed it.
Oh and took my car for some new tyres, the first time since they had been refurbished / fitted with new tyres 2 years ago. They are spotless, careless fitter managed to do this:
The other day, I spent £250 on preventative maintenance on my car by doing a gearbox service . Was over the moon at how nice it was driving, took it out for a spin and went to the pub in the evening. I parked in an end space, furthest from the entrance of the pub, in a half empty car park and came back to this.
Luckily it pretty much came out. I don’t have a clue how someone managed it.
Oh and took my car for some new tyres, the first time since they had been refurbished / fitted with new tyres 2 years ago. They are spotless, careless fitter managed to do this:
I absolutely drives me mad too; I'd say that in the last 10 years driving one mark was self inflicted (car park concrete post) and countless others by careless parkers, people walking past our house, the neighbours kid kicking a football at one car after I'd just finished working my way round it over a period of weekends with my DA.
A while back I went over my wife's car with my DA polisher as we were going to trade it in to get something bigger for us to share when I finished work. I parked so carefully when we had a weekend away in it and kept expecting to find a mark on it each morning having left it in the hotel car park, but it was fine. Made arrangements to meet up with my Aunt at a garden centre before we headed off back home and parked as far away from the entrance as I could and not another car near it. Of course we came out and another car parked right next to it (surrounded by other spaces). It was raining, so we quickly said our goodbyes and jumped in.
Only when I got home and saw the back bumper as I drove off in my son's car:
I reckon it was some kind of painted plant pot as it was a kind of white paint rubbed off, presumably as they carried it to their boot (no wonder the other car driver parked next to us looked sheepish).
I had to use fine wet and dry paper to get the white paint off and reduce some of the scratches, but some slight mark were down to the plastic/primer, so I just left them as they were pretty fine and hard to see unless you knew where to look (of course I did!):
A buzz with the DA polisher and a bit of 'glaze' to help fill any minor marks and good enough for trade in time (they never looked that carefully at it in the event, but hey ho):
They tried to sell us paint protection on the 'new' car, my wife just laughed at them and said that she didn't expect to see much of me for the next three days as I'll be polishing it myself. He gave up after that.
I did actually buy a form of paint protection in the end though:
It even came pre-dented at no extra cost
(I did pop it out though just for the hell of it).
Seems the only way, though it does seem a bit silly to have a 'nice car' sat on the drive and get about in a scruffy old Ford, but we do use the main car for longer trips and/or when we know where we'll be able to leave it. Still not foolproof though I guess, but at least I can go to supermarkets and leave it in pub car parks and not worry. Luckily my wife is good at parking as far away as possible from doors if she has to take the main car out and of course I was driving the day her car got scraped in the car park...
A while back I went over my wife's car with my DA polisher as we were going to trade it in to get something bigger for us to share when I finished work. I parked so carefully when we had a weekend away in it and kept expecting to find a mark on it each morning having left it in the hotel car park, but it was fine. Made arrangements to meet up with my Aunt at a garden centre before we headed off back home and parked as far away from the entrance as I could and not another car near it. Of course we came out and another car parked right next to it (surrounded by other spaces). It was raining, so we quickly said our goodbyes and jumped in.
Only when I got home and saw the back bumper as I drove off in my son's car:
I reckon it was some kind of painted plant pot as it was a kind of white paint rubbed off, presumably as they carried it to their boot (no wonder the other car driver parked next to us looked sheepish).
I had to use fine wet and dry paper to get the white paint off and reduce some of the scratches, but some slight mark were down to the plastic/primer, so I just left them as they were pretty fine and hard to see unless you knew where to look (of course I did!):
A buzz with the DA polisher and a bit of 'glaze' to help fill any minor marks and good enough for trade in time (they never looked that carefully at it in the event, but hey ho):
They tried to sell us paint protection on the 'new' car, my wife just laughed at them and said that she didn't expect to see much of me for the next three days as I'll be polishing it myself. He gave up after that.
I did actually buy a form of paint protection in the end though:
It even came pre-dented at no extra cost
(I did pop it out though just for the hell of it).Seems the only way, though it does seem a bit silly to have a 'nice car' sat on the drive and get about in a scruffy old Ford, but we do use the main car for longer trips and/or when we know where we'll be able to leave it. Still not foolproof though I guess, but at least I can go to supermarkets and leave it in pub car parks and not worry. Luckily my wife is good at parking as far away as possible from doors if she has to take the main car out and of course I was driving the day her car got scraped in the car park...
Reading things like this remind me why I prefer to drive a shed, basically not actually caring is liberating and saves me unbelievable stress and expense.
Added to the fact I have tens of thousands of pounds I can pay off my mortgage and retire years earlier.
Having nice cars is just an expensive pain in the arse I can do without.
Added to the fact I have tens of thousands of pounds I can pay off my mortgage and retire years earlier.
Having nice cars is just an expensive pain in the arse I can do without.
Joey Deacon said:
Reading things like this remind me why I prefer to drive a shed, basically not actually caring is liberating and saves me unbelievable stress and expense.
Added to the fact I have tens of thousands of pounds I can pay off my mortgage and retire years earlier.
Having nice cars is just an expensive pain in the arse I can do without.
Yes it is quite liberating as I've found when I first bought my son's car and then the Ka. However I wouldn't want to do a long drive up to visit family in the Ka and I do actually like having a 'nice' car (even if probably quite lowly by PH standards), so I do find it annoying when damage is caused by other people's carelessness and not my own driving incompetence (well usually anyway).Added to the fact I have tens of thousands of pounds I can pay off my mortgage and retire years earlier.
Having nice cars is just an expensive pain in the arse I can do without.
Good that you've paid off your mortgage early and retired...so have I (well mortgage sometime in the next month or two), but I guess I'm lucky that when I was working my 'shed' was a company car so the parking, etc damage that inevitably happened to those cars over the years wasn't my problem, but I still got to have a nice car. Still annoyed me though and I'd always try to park far from entrances, etc, but couldn't always manage it and of course even if I did someone would always seem to find it, even if there was a empty row for them to choose from.
My family workhorse is damaged on a regular basis. I live on a narrow London street and it get keyed, ridden into by cyclists or scuffed by school children with their school bags. I don’t bother with insurance and take it to a trusty bodyshop every couple of years. It drove me mad when it first happened but I’ve learned to accept it’s all part of life in a busy place. Annually I reckon the cost is approximately £500.
Joey Deacon said:
Reading things like this remind me why I prefer to drive a shed, basically not actually caring is liberating and saves me unbelievable stress and expense.
Added to the fact I have tens of thousands of pounds I can pay off my mortgage and retire years earlier.
Having nice cars is just an expensive pain in the arse I can do without.
Having nice road cars is just an expensive pain in the arse I can do without.Added to the fact I have tens of thousands of pounds I can pay off my mortgage and retire years earlier.
Having nice cars is just an expensive pain in the arse I can do without.
The spinner of plates said:
But don’t think it’s exclusively a uk thing…
I think the thing which is exclusive (well, at least unusual) to the UK is caring. To start with in many other countries I've driven in, touch parking is completely normal - driving slowly into someone else's car's bumper is viewed no differently than leaning your bike on someone else's garden fence is in the UK. Edited by kambites on Monday 8th August 07:09
kambites said:
The spinner of plates said:
But don’t think it’s exclusively a uk thing…
I think the thing which is exclusive (well, at least unusual) to the UK is caring. To start with in many other countries I've driven in, touch parking is completely normal - driving slowly into someone else's car's bumper is viewed no differently than leaning your bike on someone else's garden fence is in the UK. Edited by kambites on Monday 8th August 07:09
I came out of a restaurant and the family parked next to me were getting into their car.
The wife and daughter had both placed their handbags on my roof and the dad was holding the passenger door open against my car.
I instinctively walked over saying “hey careful guys, that’s my car”.
They weren’t defensive, apologetic, defiant or anything - they were just genuinely perplexed this Englander had a problem.
I pointed out how they might damage the paintwork.
Again, just blank faces, Gaelic shrugs and off they went
The spinner of plates said:
kambites said:
The spinner of plates said:
But don’t think it’s exclusively a uk thing…
I think the thing which is exclusive (well, at least unusual) to the UK is caring. To start with in many other countries I've driven in, touch parking is completely normal - driving slowly into someone else's car's bumper is viewed no differently than leaning your bike on someone else's garden fence is in the UK. Edited by kambites on Monday 8th August 07:09
I came out of a restaurant and the family parked next to me were getting into their car.
The wife and daughter had both placed their handbags on my roof and the dad was holding the passenger door open against my car.
I instinctively walked over saying “hey careful guys, that’s my car”.
They weren’t defensive, apologetic, defiant or anything - they were just genuinely perplexed this Englander had a problem.
I pointed out how they might damage the paintwork.
Again, just blank faces, Gaelic shrugs and off they went
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