Minor Bodywork Repairs
It happens to us all eventually. Dents and scratches can appear on our cherished motors overnight. Initially, these unsightly blemishes look like expensive repair jobs; possibly even worth ringing our insurance company about. Think again though, because many small ‘dings’ are removable at a surprisingly low cost, and amazingly quickly.
For a totally professional finish, you might expect your car to require a week in an expensive ‘body shop’, having panels completely stripped while the dents are filled. Nowadays however, there are numerous ‘Paintless Dent Removal’ firms, many of whom will come to your home to carry out the work. Better still, the cost can often be well under £100 and the job will usually take only an hour or so.
As the name of the technique suggests, no additional paint is applied as the dent is gently manipulated back into its original shape, leaving a factory finish that an expensive body shop would be hard pressed to match. Naturally, the procedure requires a good degree of ‘finesse’; there is an art to doing this well!
Similarly, if you find your pride and joy has been ‘keyed’ or badly stone chipped, there are several companies out there who can perform minor miracles on your car’s paintwork, without having to strip the entire panel. Again, Scratch Removal Specialists will travel to your home, where you are likely to be charged no more than £100 to £150 for the repair, depending upon the size and nature of the scratch or chip. The repairmen use special software
to identify the original paint colour, and are then able to recreate it. Even metallic paint can be perfectly replicated.
The surface area around the scratch will then be stripped before the new paint is sprayed and lacquered. In only an hour or two, the damage will have completely vanished, to be replaced by a perfectly matching finish.
These services are terrific if you want to restore your car’s gleaming exterior, and even more so if you want to sell your car at a good price. A car with minor bodywork damage might lose up to £500 on its book value, so spending £100 to £150 now in order to raise the bodywork’s standard can make a lot of sense.
The expertise doesn’t end there, with many such firms also offering minor repairs for alloy wheels (specifically for when an alloy has been ‘kerbed’) and even limited upholstery repair (cigarette burns in seats, holes left in centre consoles by mobile phone cradles).
If you have any concerns over the quality of these repair systems, you should keep in mind that most car dealerships will have used a service of this kind frequently in the last few years. One of the better-known national firms even claims to have had Ferrari and Porsche dealerships as customers.
Before you choose your repair firm, ask local dealerships to recommend one – that way you are sure to get the best. Avoid cheap ‘fly-by-night’ versions of these reputable firms as an amateur could do serious damage to your car!