Key scratch vandalism: almost always through the paint, cannot be polished or rattle-canned. Needs a body shop with a proper booth -- door handles off, strips off, full respray. Light lacquer scratches from hedges may polish out. Insurance claim worth considering.
Gary covers what to do when someone has run a key down your paintwork -- one of the most dispiriting things that happens to a car, and one of the most misunderstood in terms of what actually fixes it.
Can it be polished out?
Almost certainly not. People who key cars deliberately make sure they go through the paint and into the primer or bare metal; that is the point. A scratch that has gone through the lacquer and paint cannot be polished out, and you cannot blend a rattle can down the side of a car in a cloudy S-shape and expect it to disappear. It will look worse.
The exception is light scratching from hedges or branches that has only caught the lacquer surface. That might polish out. Go and look at the scratch in good light; if you can see bare metal or a white primer colour in the groove, it has gone through. If it is a very fine line with no colour change at the bottom, it may be lacquer only and worth bringing in for an assessment.
What actually fixes it
A body shop with a proper spray booth. Door handles removed, trim strips off, the panel or panels resprayed and blended properly. There is no shortcut that produces an acceptable result on a car you want to keep looking right, and certainly nothing that will pass a lease return inspection.
If the damage runs across more than one panel, the cost starts to move into insurance territory. Gary's suggestion: get it fixed as soon as you can -- either pay for it or make a claim. Living with a key scratch does not get easier; you see it every time you walk up to the car.
If it keeps happening
Gary had a customer whose new car was keyed, repaired, then keyed again. His advice was direct: if you are parking somewhere that attracts that kind of attention repeatedly, change the car for something less conspicuous, or change where you park. Not the most satisfying answer, but a practical one.
See our scratch repair and removal page for what can be corrected without a full respray, and our Midi repair page if the damage is more extensive.
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