So you took a turn a little too tightly in your car, and now there's a long scratch right across your door. Or maybe you got into a small fender-bender, and now there's an unsightly line in the paint across the front of your car. Now what? You could take it into an auto shop for a professional paint job, but for a small scratch, it should be fairly easy to take care of yourself. Here's a step-by-step guide to touch paint up without an expensive price tag from a professional.

1. Figure out how bad the damage is: Before you can start with your touch up, you first need to know just what it is you're fixing. Car paint scratches are classified under several levels: 1A, 1B, 2, 3, and 4. A level 1A is a very small scratch, whereas level 4 is pretty severe. If you're looking at a level 4, you might need help, but smaller scratches are easily fixed yourself.
2. Select your touch up paint kit: Car touch up paint kits are fairly easy to find and will likely not be incredibly expensive. Make sure you find a paint touch up kit that's right for your car, and that's able to handle the severity of the scratch you're dealing with.
3. Sand out the scratch: Your car's paint is going to have to get worse before it gets better. Sanding out the paint helps the new coat adhere better, and can level out the surface so you're not left with a mark where the scratch used to be. Try to use a very coarse sandpaper, as this will have the best effect on the end result.
4. Prime and paint: Apply even coats of a primer to start, and once the primer has fully dried, apply even coats of the paint. Follow the directions for your specific touch up paint kit to make sure you get the best touch up paint job possible for your car.

 
Looking for a touch up paint kit for your car? Contact Scratch Wizard for touch up paint kits for a wide variety of makes and models, all at a far lower cost than a trip to your local auto shop.