Last fall I took my brand new Subaru Crosstrek to a fairly “off road” place in the wilderness, and scratched both sides pretty significantly. I was in a spot where it had snowed (late fall), there was no place to safely turn around for a stretch of road, and branches reaching into the track scratched the car. I not only got scratched going UP the road, but again when I came back down. But there was nothing for it…
I washed the car, and they didn’t come off. Tried rubbing them with a cloth – some improvement, but plenty left. I tried toothpaste on them (it has a light grit and apparently handles some scratches). Again, a few of them improved, but I’m still left with several long scratches on both sides of the car. The car is silver, and the scratches look like a dull light gray. Not super noticeable. So… I did what any sensible person would do and ignored it until spring. 
Spring is here, and I still have scratches in my car. I called my usual repair guy in Seattle, and he doesn’t do this kind of stuff, but he referred me to a nearby “crash” shop. But I just read their Yelp reviews, and there is a fair amount of criticism of their work on scratches on cars. One guy said they buffed his car so the buffed area looks different than the rest, and didn’t repaint. Another guy said he had a repair done, and the paint on the repaired area started flaking a couple years later. One review said the shop owner said it is just hard to fix paint on new cars. Which might be true. Some reviews seem fine.
I don’t know if they are deep enough to rust, and am not sure how to tell. And now I’m wary of the only referral I have.
Anyone have thoughts or experience on this? I think I’m done with trying to fix it myself. But how do I find someone good to fix it?
“One review said the shop owner said it is just hard to fix paint on new cars.”
I wouldn’t buy that argument.
I guess I’d research and find a body or paint shop with better reviews. Sometimes, they can be buffed out if not too deep.
Is your usual repair guy the Subaru dealership? If not, call the Subaru dealers near you and ask who they use.
Go to any auto parts store and buy some scratch and swirl remover. Rubbing compound that is labeled safe for clear coat finishes will work for deeper scratches.
I’m not doing this myself. @doschicos I NEVER use the dealership except for recalls or stuff under warranty. And the one thing I’ve found is cheaper in Seattle than in the Midwest is Subaru repair, so I’ve felt no need to start using a dealer since I got here. :)) But I guess I could call them about this.
@intparent Don’t quote me on this, but I’ve heard from family friends about how a car waxing does a real good job of covering up scratches…
If the scratch is very light, try waxing and buffing. If it’s deeper and through the clear coat, buy the touch up paint in the exact shade for your car. We buy a tube from the dealer whenever we buy a new car to have on hand. It comes in a small tube and is not very expensive. Apply the paint sparingly to the scratch and let dry. Apply wax and buff out.
If you don’t want to attempt the waxing and buffing yourself, you could go to a detail place with good reviews and see if they think it is the type of scratches that can be hidden with buffing and waxing.
As @doschicos said, take the car to a good professional detailer that uses orbital (DA) polisher/buffer and knows the varying levels of compounds. There all sorts of compounds from very light to very heavy for polishing and rubbing compound is typically used to not only take paint down below the clear coat, but also below the top level coat of paint and further to primer if not careful. No non-professional should ever use “rubbing compound.”
Light to medium scratches can potentially be taken out or just made far less noticeable. Be prepared to spend $200-$300 for a good professional detailer, but will depend on region of the country and how much is done to the car. I’ve seen less spent and I’ve seen far more spent, when the car is more valuable/expensive.
Good luck.
Anybody know a good retailer in Seattle? PM me.
Meguiars Scratch X 2.0 worked extremely well for us. You can get it at target or Walmart for around $8 a bottle. Love this stuff.
@intparent How good? I’m not in the Seattle area, but “I know a guy who knows a guy.” ;))
Seriously, I could do a little research on another forum that I belong to, but we’re talking about the best of the best up there. Wheels/tire off and the whole suspension/brakes cleaned and tidied up. And the price would reflect it.
Otherwise I’d suggest doing a little research on the net, specifically detailing forums.
Around $200 is what we pay at my dealership and usually they package it with other detailing. The local car wash we use for detailing wanted to charge more than the dealership so shop around. When we have had it done they did the whole car so it would be consistent.
My D had our car with her up in the Northeast and used the windshield scraper to take the snow/ice off the car. @-) I was so upset about the scratches to the hood and was so surprised that the buffing took out almost all the damage and what was left is hardly noticeable. One more thing I didn’t realize I had to teach my kid!!! 
Needless to say all the other kids get the talk about how and how not to remove snow and ice from the car.
@intparent I sent you a name of a company in your area, but not the one I originally was thinking of. I’d have to do more research on that one, but that’s far far more money and “concours car show” level.
^^^ Ooops. I would’ve done the same thing as your D. You don’t use the same scraper on the hood?
Brush the hood. Don’t scrape it.
If you are only worried about rust, have you tried touch up paint? If you want it to look factory new again, expect to pay a lot at a quality body shop, using OEM paint.