White van reversed into my grande punto

Hey guys,
Last night one of my flatmates backed his van into my car when trying to reverse. The damage isnt major but to get it fixed back back to the same state as before doesnt seem very hopeful. my car is a year or so old, reg jan 2007 and i recently brought it second hand (grey 1.4 dynamic grande punto).

The guy said he would pay to get it fixed but the first quote i have gotten is 320+ vat for repaint of front bumper and wing.

If they repaint it and "colour match", how long before the colours fade and become visible different? Any idea if getting a replacement bumper would be better? cost ?


Thanks
Stephen

Hi Stephen

Colour fade? To be honest most body shops spray to a higher/better standard than factory.

The repair will last exactly the same amount of time as the original.

There is very little damage. Put your trust in the body shop. They know what they are doing. That is an easy repair.

Believe it or not most new cars have been to the bodyshop before they have even made it to the show room most are dented scuffed on the transporters.

thanks for the advise. i was just concerned that in say two years the original colour will have faded by a different amount to the part that was redone.

Do you have any idea how much it should cost to get this sorted? 320+ vat seems pretty excessive.

thanks
Stephen

It is excessive. Bumpers are the easiest part of a car to respray. All thats needed is removal, flatting down and a respray, a couple of hours work for any decent bodyshop. You should only be looking between £120 - £150

Paint does not fade as such, if it does it takes years of neglect. It is usually the lacquer which gets scuffed, scratched, hazed and looses its shine. One of the colours which does fade is types of red. This is due to bleeching from the sun. I can take an old car that looks faded and have it looking like new by sanding the lacquer and then polishing it. I also spray sections of cars and can put brand new paint on to an old car and I promise, you would never tell where the new paint was.

As for the repair.
I disagree bumpers are no easier than most other panels. wings, bonnet, doors.
I do agree, that sounds expensive.

This is how I would repair it, and expect a good bodyshop to.
Leaving the panels on.
Sand down the immediate and surrounding area where the damage is. This will remove 60% of the scuff marks and provide a good surface to paint to. If required fine fill any scuffs to the bumper.
use plastic primer where the paint has been scuffed off on the bumper.
repair any damage to the wing edge and fill if needed.
spray the immediate damaged area with a small spray detailing gun.
fading the paint into the surrounding area. Spray lacquer , again feathering the edges apply two thin coats and then spray the edges using spot repair thiner to allow the lacquer to fade out properly. Leave to dry and sand with 1500 grit paper then 2000 then compound and polish.

To add to what is written above.
Below is a pic of a car i'm currently working on. It is a 51 plate.

the door has been partially resprayed. The spray work finishes roughly in the centre of the door. The spray work starts on the right at the door edge next to the wing (the wing has also been resprayed as is a new one) and works its way from right to left. It starts thick to cover the primer which was used to cover the filler and begins to get lighter until only a dusting of paint is applied. this is blending the new in on top of the old. the entire door has then been lacquered.

Its a poor pic but hopefully will give an idea.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g6..._07160035.jpg#

for us to repaint that bumper alone you are looking at £120. i would charge the same amount to repair that.

£120-150 sounds about right for that little scuff. I had worse repaired FOC while they had the paint mixed for the huge crease and scratch in my Bravo's rear door.

what does that mean (FOC)

F##K Off C~nt


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