The Scratch on the Golf

A few months ago, I noticed a scratch that looked like it was scraped against concrete on our Volkswagen Golf. The scratch was on the front left side of the car.

Since I hadn’t noticed it at all, I asked on Twitter for opinions on what might have caused the scratch. Here are some of the comments I received:

・Maybe it was a parking lot payment machine… That must have hurt…
・Could it have been a bicycle?
・Our Golf 7 has a scratch in exactly the same spot. My wife confessed she scraped it on a curb block.
・Looking closely, the scratch is deep and not straight. It seems more like something hit and scraped it rather than the car scraping itself.
・Maybe a block wall?

Indeed, it does look like a block wall… Although neither my husband nor I remember anything, I’ve been driving the Golf more often lately, so it’s quite possible I accidentally scraped it somewhere.

Lately, I’ve been feeling that I’m more absent-minded than before. Just recently, after picking up my eldest daughter from kindergarten, I went shopping at the supermarket and forgot her kindergarten bag hanging on the cart. I only realized it late at night and had to rush back to the supermarket before closing time to retrieve it.

And this isn’t the first time—I’ve done this several times.

Since these kinds of things happen often, I’m pretty sure I’m the one who caused the scratch on the Golf.

However, the scratch was too deep for me to fix myself, so I decided to have it repaired at a nearby gas station. Since I had a good experience with their hand car wash service recently (both work and service were great), I asked them to handle the repair.

Loaner Car: Toyota Aqua

When I dropped off the Golf in the morning, they said the repair would be done by evening and offered a loaner car for the meantime. I thought it would be a Prius, but it turned out to be an Aqua, lol.

From the rear, it looks quite similar to a Prius.

That said, this Aqua model is apparently 45mm lower in height than the Prius, giving it a slightly sportier feel. The interior was more refined and stylish than I had imagined.

Riding an Aqua for the first time in my life, I felt it was very easy to use for short local trips. When I first started driving, the body felt a bit soft, the steering was light, and there was some play in the accelerator and brake pedals, which made me a little uneasy. But once I got used to it, it drove just fine.

Being compact, it fits into any parking lot, and I could easily take shortcuts I usually avoid, lol. Plus, since it’s a hybrid, the fuel economy is great. I might be sounding harsh, but I liked that I could drive it without worrying about “What if I scratch it?” or “What about the gas cost?”

That said, I didn’t really feel any “driving pleasure,” so it wasn’t like a Golf or Porsche that makes you want to drive forever. It just wasn’t that kind of car(though comparing them is unfair…). Even though they kindly provided it as a loaner, I only used it for trips to the local supermarket and kindergarten pickup.

Cost of Repairing the Golf’s Scratch

In the evening, I got a call that the repair was finished, and I eagerly went to pick up the Golf. So how did the scratch turn out?

Amazing… the scratch was completely gone. Professionals really know how to fix things well. Also, they washed the car during the repair, so the Golf came back looking shiny and fresh overall.

The repair cost was 26,000 yen including tax. My husband said, “I thought it would be more expensive, but they did it at a surprisingly reasonable price.” Now that it looks so good, I’m going to be even more careful when driving from now on.

Next time, I might try asking them to hand wash the Panamera.