This is *not* how I envisioned a moving sidewalk.
June 13, 2010 12:15 PM   Subscribe

The hood of my car has flecks of cement all over it. Some of them have come off, leaving scratches behind; others are stubborn. What can I do?

On Friday morning, I parked my car before walking to work (there's no parking available on site, so we're left to find a parking spot in the surrounding neighborhood). When I came back roughly nine hours later, the house I'd parked in front of had a new sidewalk, and the hood of my car had spots of dried cement all over it. I've been able to get most of it off using my thumbnail/a soapy rag/elbow grease, but it seems like every time I turn around they've multiplied. Furthermore, the spots I've been able to get off have left some significant (though thankfully not very deep) scratches where they used to be. I'm a little annoyed; my car isn't new by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd still like it to look nice. (And quite frankly, cement and scratches are not conducive to a car looking nice.) My question is twofold:

1. What's the best way to get the rest of the cement off? Pressure washer? Something else?
2. What's the best way to get the scratches taken care of? As much as just getting the car repainted would do the trick, that's a little more expensive than I'd like.
posted by andrewcilento to Travel & Transportation (6 answers total)
 
Have you contacted anyone in your municipal government about this? It seems that if they planned to replace the sidewalk in this area that the street should have been closed to parking. I'm not one to advocate for frivolous lawsuits, but if city employees caused damage to your car in the course of replacing the sidewalk, it seems reasonable to ask the city to pay to repaint your car.
posted by nayrb5 at 12:20 PM on June 13, 2010 [2 favorites]


Response by poster: nayrb5: "Have you contacted anyone in your municipal government about this? It seems that if they planned to replace the sidewalk in this area that the street should have been closed to parking. I'm not one to advocate for frivolous lawsuits, but if city employees caused damage to your car in the course of replacing the sidewalk, it seems reasonable to ask the city to pay to repaint your car."

Would this apply even though I live in a different county than the one my job's in?
posted by andrewcilento at 12:32 PM on June 13, 2010


Yes. Basically the idea is to go to the city and tell them that one of their sidewalk gangs damaged your car. It doesn't matter where you live if you get in a car accident, and this is the same.

Take pictures!
posted by rhizome at 12:35 PM on June 13, 2010


nayrb5 has it. the city has a general liability policy for exactly such things. call the city and ask for the insurance company's claims phone number. they will ask you detailed questions about the day, time, description of area, work gang, your car, what you were doing there and for how long, condition of your car, etc, etc. Be adamant and certain about the condition of your car before and after - especially that you immediately noticed the damage. they will probably just ask you to go to a paint shop and get an estimate, then cut you a check in that amount.

you don't say how extensive (over how many panels) the cement spots are, but if the spots are spread over multiple panels and all on one side, you may have a case for a full repaint. if it's only on one or two panels, or just the hood, they will probably just match/paint those panels and then blend to adjacent. insurance companies hate to paint whole cars.
posted by toodleydoodley at 1:04 PM on June 13, 2010


Something similar happened to my sister's car a couple of years back when the house next door was being built. The perpetrators suggested cleaning it up with a dish sponge and detergent: The results were not perfect, but much better than expected.
posted by Dr Dracator at 2:13 PM on June 13, 2010


You could accept the idea that our culture fetishizes cars entirely too much and just live with it. Or take it to the next level. Turn it into an art car.
posted by Dick Paris at 7:13 PM on June 13, 2010


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