In the UK, most car scratches cost somewhere between £60 and £500 to repair professionally, and where yours falls depends far more on how deep the scratch goes than on how long it is. A mark that sits in the clear lacquer can often be polished away. One that has cut through to primer or bare metal has to be filled, painted and lacquered again, and that is a different job at a different price.
The ranges on this page are UK market guidance, gathered from published trade price guides and repairers’ own price pages. They are not a Bodyteq price list. We quote every scratch individually once we have seen it, from clear photos or with the car in front of us at our Greenwich workshop. If you want to know how each type of scratch is actually repaired, our car scratch repair page walks through the process.
For an exact figure on your car, send us photos of the scratch for a free quote.
How Much Does Car Scratch Repair Cost? Price Table by Scratch Depth
Depth sets the baseline, and the table below maps each common type of scratch to the work it usually needs and the typical UK cost. Several of the guides these ranges come from note that repairs in London and other large cities tend to cost more than in smaller towns, so a London quote may sit nearer the top of a band than the bottom. Not every published price says whether VAT is included, which is worth checking before you compare two quotes side by side.
| Type of scratch | What the repair usually involves | Typical UK cost |
|---|---|---|
| Light surface or clear-coat scratch | Machine polishing the lacquer, or a small localised touch-in | Typically £60–£150 |
| Scratch into the colour coat, not down to metal | SMART repair: sand, repaint and blend just the affected area | Typically £150–£300 |
| Deep scratch to primer or bare metal (one panel) | Clean back, fill, prime, repaint and lacquer part or all of the panel | Typically £200–£500 per panel |
| Key scratch on a single panel | Graded by depth, then polished or repainted | From around £150 |
| Scratches across several panels, such as a keyed side | Each panel prepared and painted, then blended into its neighbour | From around £200 for small multi-area jobs; commonly £500 or more where several panels need paint |
| Light scratch on a plastic bumper | Refinish the damaged area of the bumper | Typically £100–£300 |
Light Surface and Clear-Coat Scratches: What They Cost to Fix
A light scratch has only marked the clear lacquer, the transparent protective layer over your car’s colour. The usual culprits are unglamorous: a hedge along a narrow lane, a shopping trolley, a neighbouring car door, or a gritty sponge on wash day. Because the colour underneath is untouched, the repair is about refining the lacquer rather than adding paint.
Professionally, these scratches commonly cost £60–£150 to put right, and more than one UK guide puts the typical figure at around £90. A quick way to judge which side of the line you are on is the fingernail test: draw a nail gently across the mark, and if it glides over without catching, the scratch is very likely still in the lacquer. If it catches, the scratch has gone deeper and belongs in the next section.
This is the one type of scratch where a careful DIY attempt can make sense. Scratch-removal compounds and touch-up kits generally cost between £10 and £30, and on a faint mark they can work. Rub too hard, or use a kit on a deeper scratch, and you can dull the lacquer around it and end up with a larger area to refinish than you started with, especially on dark paint.
Deep Scratches Through to Primer or Bare Metal
Once a scratch has cut through the lacquer into the coloured base coat, polishing alone cannot remove it, because there is no longer enough paint in the groove to level. A scratch at this depth that has not reached the metal typically costs £150–£300. It is usually handled as a localised repair: the area is sanded, repainted in your car’s colour and blended into the paint around it.
A scratch that has gone all the way through to primer or bare metal is a bigger job again. It needs cleaning back, filling where necessary, priming, repainting and fresh lacquer, and it commonly costs £200–£500 per panel depending on how much of the panel has to be refinished. Where the damage is severe or spreads across more than one panel, published figures start at around £500 and rise from there.
Where the scratch sits also counts. A deep mark on a door or wing is a smaller refinish than one across a bonnet or roof, where the larger flat area makes an invisible blend more demanding and pushes the price towards the top of the band.
Why a Scratch to Bare Metal Costs More if You Wait
Exposed metal in the UK’s damp weather will start to corrode, and once rust has crept under the edges of the paint, the repair has to deal with that as well as the scratch. A thin line of rust costs more to put right than the original mark did. A deep scratch is worth getting quoted promptly, even if you do not book the repair straight away.
Key Scratches and Vandalism Across One or Several Panels
Keyed damage is the scratch repair most likely to surprise people on price, in both directions. A single keyed line on one door can be a modest job, while the same line dragged the full length of the car becomes a multi-panel refinish. The price follows the number of panels that need paint, not the fact that the damage was deliberate.
As a UK guide, a key scratch confined to one panel typically costs from around £150, and repairers who price multi-area scratch work generally start from about £200. When a whole side has been keyed and several panels need painting, the total commonly runs to £500 or more. Each of those panels is prepared, painted and blended into the next, so the colour reads as one continuous finish across the shut lines.
Malicious damage is one of the cases where a claim can be worth considering, as fully comprehensive policies commonly cover vandalism. Check your own policy terms and excess first. If you do claim, we handle repairs through your insurance and work with all insurers, dealing with them directly from the quote onwards.
Bumper Scratches Versus Panel Scratches
Most bumpers are plastic, and plastic behaves differently from a metal door or wing. It flexes, it needs specialist materials to take paint properly, and on many modern cars it hides parking sensors or cameras. Light bumper scratches typically cost £100–£300 to repair across the UK, and the price climbs where sensors or trim sit in the damaged area or the plastic itself has cracked.
Bumper damage has enough variables of its own that it has a dedicated page: our car bumper repair cost guide breaks down scuffs, cracks, dents and replacement in detail. If your scratch runs from the bumper onto a wing or door, we quote it as one job across both.
What Moves the Price: Depth, Area, Panel, Colour and Paint Type
Two scratches that look alike in a photo can still be priced differently. These are the factors behind most of the gap between one quote and another:
- Depth. Lacquer, colour coat, primer or metal: the single biggest driver, as the table above shows.
- Size and number. One short mark is quicker to put right than several scratches, or one that wanders across a panel.
- Panel and position. Scratches near door handles, trim, body lines or tight corners take longer to prepare and blend, and a large flat panel such as a bonnet or roof needs a wider blend.
- Colour and paint type. Solid colours are the most forgiving; metallic, pearl and special finishes need more precise matching and blending.
- Damage alongside the scratch. A dent, rust or cracked plastic under the scratch has to be repaired before any paint goes on.
- Where you are. Labour rates vary by location, and repair costs in London and other big cities tend to be higher than in smaller towns.
Colour is where a poor repair most often gives itself away. We match paint to the finish actually on your car using a spectrophotometer, mix it in genuine Standox paint and cure it in our low-bake oven, so the repaired area hardens fully and blends into the paintwork around it.
SMART Repair or Full Panel Refinish: Which Your Scratch Needs
SMART repair, short for Small to Medium Area Repair Technology, refinishes only the damaged section of a panel instead of the whole thing. For a contained scratch it is usually the most economical professional route. UK guides generally put SMART scratch and scuff work from around £80, rising to £250–£300 for larger or deeper areas.
A full panel refinish becomes the right answer when the scratch covers most of the panel, when several scratches are spread across it, or when the colour needs blending over a wider area to stay invisible. It costs more because more of the panel is prepared and painted. Stretching a small-area repair over a large area is how you end up with a patch you can see in daylight.
We are specialists in SMART repairs, and part of every quote is telling you which of the two routes your scratch genuinely needs. Where a small repair will give an invisible result, that is what we recommend.
Getting an Exact Price From Our Greenwich Workshop
A price band tells you whether a quote is reasonable; it cannot tell you what your particular scratch needs. That depends on the depth at each point along the mark, the panels involved and your paint, and it only becomes clear once someone has looked at it properly.
Our estimates start from clear photos or a look at the car, and the quote you receive sets out what each panel needs, with no hidden costs added later. The repair itself happens at our family-run workshop in Greenwich, where drivers bring their cars from across South, South-East and East London. For dents, cracked bumpers and other panel work, our London car body repair cost guide explains how the rest of the car is priced.
Request your free scratch repair quote with a few photos taken from different angles, then bring the car to Greenwich when you are ready.
Car Scratch Repair Cost FAQs
How much does it cost to fix a key scratch on a car?
Across the UK, a key scratch on a single panel typically costs from around £150 to repair, while a keyed side with several panels needing paint commonly costs £500 or more. The deciding factors are how many panels have to be repainted and how deep the scratch goes on each one. We quote keyed damage panel by panel once we have seen photos or the car.
How much does a deep scratch cost to repair?
A scratch through the colour coat but not down to the metal typically costs £150–£300. One that reaches primer or bare metal commonly costs £200–£500 per panel, because it has to be filled, primed, repainted and lacquered rather than polished. Getting a deep scratch looked at promptly helps, as exposed metal can rust and make the job bigger.
Is it worth claiming on insurance for a car scratch?
For a single light or moderate scratch, often not: the repair frequently costs less than the policy excess, and a claim can affect your no-claims bonus. For extensive damage, such as a keyed side or an accident, a claim can make more sense, so check your policy terms. If you do claim, we handle repairs through your insurance and work with all insurers.
Can a scratch be fixed without repainting the whole panel?
Often, yes. A light scratch in the clear lacquer can usually be machine-polished out with no new paint, and a contained deeper scratch can be put right with a SMART repair to just the damaged area. A full panel refinish is only needed when the damage covers most of the panel or the colour has to be blended over a wide area to stay invisible.
Why do scratch repair quotes vary so much?
Because quotes are often based on different amounts of work. One repairer may plan to polish a mark while another plans to repaint the panel, and paint type, the number of panels involved, whether VAT is included and local labour rates all shift the figure. Ask each repairer exactly what the quote covers, whether that is a polish, a SMART repair or a full panel, so you are comparing like with like.
