What are the Most Likely Places to Scratch Your Car?
Research by Which? found that more than a third of drivers have had their car damaged while it was parked. The 3 most common areas to suffer damage were found to be car parks, including: supermarkets, train stations and airports, followed by residential street parking and non-residential street parking.
Additional research conducted by Skoda revealed that UK drivers spend £1.5bn repairing car park damage every year. Below we discuss the most popular places to suffer a car scratch, from Supermarket car parks to driving on dirt roads.
1. Supermarket Car Parks Scratches
The supermarket car park can be a danger zone for car scratches. Supermarket car parks can often descend into chaos, especially on busy weekends. Shopping trolleys that seem to be made from magnets and other cars parking too closely. Research conducted by Which? found that you are nearly twice as likely to get hit in a supermarket car park, compared to a shopping centre car park.
To avoid getting a car scratch in a supermarket car park, avoid parking near shopping trolley bays and ensure you are always within the white parking lines.
2. Train Station Car Parks Scratch
Your car also runs the risk of being scratched in a train station car park. Often drivers are in a rush to park their car at a train station, meaning cars are left abandoned by careless drivers.
3. Multi-Storey Car Parks
Multi-storey car parks can be hot spots for minor car damage. This is likely due to the tight bends and large pillars that appear in most UK car parks. According to Budget Insurance, 24% of drivers surveyed had scraped their car on a pillar in a multi-storey car park.
To avoid scratching your car in a multi-storey car park, reverse into spaces where possible, stick to the one-way system and ensure you park within the lines.
4. Airport Car Parks Scratches
Cars can suffer paintwork scratches in airport car parks for a number of reasons. Your car may be moved by the car park manager during its stay, which could result in minor damage. Travellers coming and going each day with bulky luggage could carelessly scratch your car in passing.
Here are our top tips on How to Avoid Accidents in Car Parks.
5. Residential Road Parking
According to research by Which?, 35% of drivers surveyed have had their car damage on a residential street. Car scratches while parked on a residential road is likely caused by careless drivers or vandals, so be sure to fold in your wing-mirrors on tight streets!
6. Main Road Parking
Cars can suffer damage when parked on a non-residential main road because of stones and debris. Road debris such as gravel, small stones and rocks can hit your car if another driver passes at speed, causing small scratches to the side of your car.
Parking on a non-residential road can also put your car at risk of vandal scratches. To avoid potential vandal scratches when parked, try to park in a well-lit area covered by CCTV.
7. Automatic Car Washes
Drive-through and automatic car washes save time and hassle but can cause small paintwork scratches. Some older drive-through car washes use abrasive brushes, as opposed to cloth, which can leave small scratches on the car’s paintwork finish.
8. Parking Under a Tree
Parking under a tree can come with risks. In windy or stormy weather, loose branches and sticks can easily fall onto the car and scratch the paintwork. As a rule, to protect your car from scratches, avoid parking under trees.
9. Driving on Gravel or Dirt Tracks
Driving along a gravel road or dirt track could potentially scratch the car’s paintwork. This is because the gravel on the road can flick up and chip or scratch the car. To avoid scratching your car on dirt tracks, only drive on these roads if absolutely necessary and proceed with caution. Drive slowly to minimise damage to the vehicle.
How to prevent car scratches?
Preventing a car scratch can be a difficult task as there any many ways they can occur, as mentioned above. Not all damage can be prevented, however there are precautions you can take to reduce the risk of suffering a car scratch:
- Use a professional car cleaning service and avoid automatic car washes.
- Avoid gravel or dirt track roads.
- Avoid parking near trolley bays in supermarket car parks.
- Always park within the white lines of a parking space.
- Park in a well-lit area when parking on a main road.
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ChipsAway Car Paintwork Repairs
If your car has unfortunately been damaged in a car park or on the main road, then ChipsAway are here to repair the damage. For a professional car scratch repair, call our ChipsAway specialists or complete our online form for a FREE no-obligation estimate.
Our network of mobile specialists can come to your home or workplace to repair scratch damage. We use colour match technology to ensure we achieve a perfect paint finish every time. Get your free car scratch repair estimate today!
