Fixing scratches on your car is simple — here's a step-by-step guide

• You can live with scratches on your car — but you shouldn't.
• It's relatively easy to repair them, but you need to purchase a kit and follow some steps.
• Just before winter is a good time to make repairs, but it's never too late.
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• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

I bought a new car over the summer and then endured a minor mishap, requiring a quick repair that I covered in this story.

I referred to scratch repair in that guide, so I thought I'd revisit my repair guide for less demanding fix-its.

Scratches are like the old torture of death by a thousand cuts. Eventually, they'll destroy your car's finish by allowing rust to develop on metal parts. And like the great Canadian poet said, rust never sleeps.

Neil Young references aside, a few years ago I suggested two ways to repair scratches. As I was dispensing this basic advice, it occurred to me that I had some scratches on my own car, a 2011 Toyota Prius, that needed attending to, certainly as winter arrived in the Northeast, where I live. 

Back then, I took care of them. But I later decided to have another look at my ride. And sure, enough, there were some new nicks and scrapes to attend to.

Read on for a basic how-to for doing simple scratch repair:

I've had my Prius for about five years — lots of time to acquire a few dings and scratches.

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Here's the one I decided to repair first: a narrow scribbled scrape. Ugly! Mind you, this scrape was in my plastic bumper. But I had others in the metal body panels.

Matthew DeBord/BI

For the record, I executed this repair a couple of years ago.

A company called TouchUpDirect sells repair kits. For about $30, I got a paint pen to match my car's color, as well as a clear coat pen. Clearcoat is the transparent layer that protects the finish.

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Here's a link to the company's site. I don't recommend or endorse the product, but in my case, it worked well.

TouchUpDirect includes a test card and provides instructions on its website to use the products.

Matthew DeBord/BI

STEP 1: Clean the scratched surface.

Matthew DeBord/BI

STEP 2: Shake up the paint inside the pen.

Matthew DeBord/BI

STEP 3: Double check that you got the right color and ...

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... STEP 4: Compare to your car's finish. In my case, it was a perfect match. TouchUpDirect has a database of auto manufacturers, makes, and model years so you can get the correct color.

Matthew DeBord/BI

STEP 5: Apply the paint to the scratch. I found that I had to use several coats for this step.

Matthew DeBord/Business Insider

Voila! The scratch is now filled in with paint. I allowed about five minutes between coats.

Matthew DeBord/BI

STEP 6: Let the paint dry. I gave it around 30 minutes.

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STEP 7: Apply the clearcoat.

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Nothing to it. But I needed three coats to get what I thought was acceptable coverage.

Matthew DeBord/BI

STEP 8: Let the clearcoat dry and pat yourself on the back for another automotive repair well done. I could have sanded, buffed, and waxed the area for a more pristine fix, but honestly the bumper will never look new again, so I was happy to seal the damage.

Matthew DeBord/BI