'26 Rav 4 paint chips. Touch up or repaint entirely?
A few days ago, I made a post trying to figure out what happened to the rear paint on my brand new (~20-day-old) '26 RAV4 in Wind Chill Pearl. I genuinely have no idea how it happened — and no, I didn’t open the trunk into a garage.
Today I went around to a few body shops for quotes and advice. The chips are actually much smaller than they look in the photo. The bottom two are barely visible when the trunk is closed since they sit underneath the edge a bit.
Most of the shops recommended just using touch-up paint from the dealership. About half of them said I should address it sooner rather than later to avoid any potential rust, while the other half said it’s probably fine to leave alone and likely won’t rust. They also mentioned that since it’s Wind Chill Pearl, touch-up paint may end up being more noticeable than the chips themselves (where I'd be able to get away with it if it were regular white).
All of them agreed that the “proper” repair would involve repainting the entire section of the trunk, which would also require removing and reinstalling the badges/lettering. The quotes for that ranged from about $1,100–$1,600 from four different shops, assuming I don’t go through insurance.
What would you do in this situation? Is it reasonable to just leave it alone? I’m hesitant to use touch-up paint if it’s going to stand out, but repainting the whole section also feels a bit excessive for such small chips, but I'm also happy to just do it and get it over with. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
