Hello Everyone,
When I bought my car I pulled the carfax on it and it had been in a minor accident on the driver’s side. When I talked with the salesman he claimed the car had been backed into at the local shopping mall but all the damage was repaired by the insurance company. Looking at the driver’s side at the time nothing jumped out at me as being off so I took him at his word and bought the car.
After a few days I was ready to wax her for the first time and noticed the bottom edge of the driver’s door pictured below.



My question is, is this type of damage repairable at home? Is there anything I can/should do about the chipped paint in the short term to keep this from getting worse?

 

They did not get the panels lined up right and then the door caught on the fender. If you know how to do body work you could probably realign things and bend the door back.

Touchup paint on the chips would prevent rust. You could even use fingernail polish.

 

I dont want to do anything thats going to make it harder to deal with later but you mentioned nail polish.. Matching a color would not be possible but something like a clear enamel maybe?

btw.. thanks Don for your assistance.

 

The chevy dealer probably has touch up paint for your paint code. Lacquer not enamel, I think.
Looks like the fender is not hung right from here. Maybe a hinge is loose.

 

If you look closely at the reflections on the door both above and traveling forward of the GM "Chiclet", you see that the leading edge of the door panel is bent outwards.

That bend/distortion is causing it to foul the fender when the door is used, a bodyshop can probably "fudge" the door and fender fit enough to eliminate the issue.

As Don pointed out, your dealer will have matching touchup paint, but until the basic problem is rectified....the paint will just continue to chip off.