Some little 4year old across the street whose parents dont keep an eye on just ran his bike up my driveway and scratched the crap up on my passenger side door panel - His bike is a piece of dirt with no rubber handles , just metal - He basically keyed my car! about 9 inches along - all white underneath- what are my options?- regardless He will PAY- noone scratches my FJ but ME.- seriously should I get the whole door repainted or see if they can buff out the scratches?
I feel your pain, I just picked mine up (out of state) on Saturday, drove 400 miles home and found a ding over top of the toyota decal on the back quarter panel. It's not worth the stress to deal with it.
You have every right to feel the way you do, but you may also want to consider the 4 year olds situation. From your description it sounds like his parents don't care about him (don't keep an eye on him, give him a crappy bike, etc). He probably doesn't have much of a life, and the grief you put on him may make it worse.
IF you had scratched it on a rock while 4wheeling you would look at it with a sense of pride. Not trying to tell you what to do, just thinking about a poor little kid who only has a crap bike, and lives across the street from someone with a rockin' new FJ.
On the scratch issue my number one concern would be protecting the door if the paint deeply scarred. It sounds like it is deep so I am not sure buffing would help - might be time for that touch-up paint.
As the Dad of three boys into, well, typical boy stuff, I have kind of gotten past my expectation of keeping things brand new for long. My kids definitely don't run amuck but they are still kids. Without know the whole deal on the neighbors I would take precautions against future incidents but try and let it go - after maybe talking to the parents about taking responsibility for the damage.
And for the scratch I would advise taking it off road as soon as possible! If you have a few "battle scars" of your own to be proud of the bike scratch won't seem so bad!
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The FJC Countdown - less than 5 days until returning to the States and getting my FJC (and some decent Sushi)!
Well you say you see white so you probably cant just buff it out. But if you can find a reputable body shop it shouldnt take more then a day to fix it and since its new paint you probably wont even notice...just the fact of whos paying!! Good luck!
Jessa