[ginger]

Some one has keyed my van. I was out of state and stopped at a Kroger and when I came out there was a big key mark on it. I don't know who I upset or why they did it. So how do I get it out?

[jason]

How deep is it? If you catch your finger nail on it, you may have to take it to a good detail or body shop to fill it in.

The way I was taught, and it takes some practice is to put a little shoe polish or dark marker into the scratch. Block sand the paint with 2000 grit wet/dry sand paper with lots of water until you see no more shoe polish/marker. Use rubbing compound to take out sand paper scratches. Polish. Wax.

What you can try however, is getting some rubbing compound and trying to see if you can remove it that way. Start off with the least abrasive stuff and work down to more aggressive if you need to.

[sparky]

If it is quite deep and you can't T-Cut the scratch out, I would definitely recommend taking it to a body shop especially when you come to resell the car people can tell a poor paint from a mile away.

[ginger]

It is deep so I guess that means that I am going to have to take it in and have it done. It is about a foot long.... any one know how much something like that will cost me?

[chevygirl]

I had someone key my car as well, and there a few other things wrong with it as well at that point. I just had my car repainted, and obviously that worked fine.
My stepdad was talking about buffing it out or something before it was repainted. He decided that it was too deep so I kept it there until painting time.

[Slowpoke]

There are different factors in repainting cars. First, how old is your van? Second, what is the type of paint was used in the first place? Where is the scratch? The shop might have to repaint the whole panel if the scratch is as big as you say it is.

The cost? Somewhere 400 to even 1000 dollars.

[fastcarsrule]

Before you take it to a body shop and spend hundreds of dollars, I would try touch up paint. It is easy to apply and while it might not be perfect it does a pretty good job. When I purchased my truck from the dealership they had this on my back bumper because it had some semi deep scratches on it. It was barely visible. If the van is older this would be a much better idea that getting it repainted.

[AlabamaAllen]

You may want to check with your car insurance. They may be able to help you out with the damage. I know mine does but I have a premium policy and pay a lot for it. If it's keyed deep there is no way you can compound it out.