Last summer I had a minor accident and the Fiat authorised garage replaced the bonnet, the front bumper, the left mudguard and the left front door, all of which were a bit dented or bent. Unfortunately only after about ten months I noticed that the shade of my red bonnet does not match the shade of the original red right mudguard. My Panda is the classical red. The new painted bonnet is a bit lighter than the right mudguard. I think I never noticed until those months later as people usually don't notice things that are very subtly different unless you tell them to check carefully. Of course, now, when I know, I can see the difference immediately unless my car is quite dirty.

I wonder why the difference is seen only between the original right mudguard and the new bonnet, but the color of the bonnet matches the left mudguard perfectly, which would mean the color was the same wrong light red everywhere they painted. In that case I don't understand that the red shade of the newly painted left front door matches perfectly the color of the left rear door that was painted in the factory.

How do the professionals pick the right color and do they have to rely on their eyesight to mix the right shade or do they pick a box of paint with the right color and just use it?

I am going to ask and complain at the Fiat garage about what they did but I am afraid it is too late to claim that mistake. On the other hand it is not my duty to notice mistakes within a certain time, is it? It is no big deal, nobody notices unless I tell them to check carefully, but it is a funny unprofessional mistake they made.

By the way I've had enough of that garage. Last year I complained about some strange unwanted suspension noise and they told me it was nothing at all and refused to find where the noise came from. This summer I went to a different garage, not specialized, but very reliable and honestly managed, they'd attended to my father's cars in the past, and they replaced worn parts in the suspension that caused those noises, they even told me that it was high time they replaced those parts. I am not sure if it was the stabilizer pole or the thing that holds the engine, sorry, I don't know the words for those parts. But obvisously, Fiat garage only does some routine, by the book check and don't worry what is really worn too much.

Red is the hardest colour to match. I had some respray work done on my old red 100hp when it was 2 years old. You really couldn't tell where it had been sprayed.

Your car is of a similar age so you wouldn't have expected it to have have faded at such a young age.

Trouble is for you, is that's it way too late to be complaining now. When you have a car resprayed get a fluorescent light over it if you want to check how well it matches.

so does the paint master or whatever you call them have to mix and match or do they just pick a box with a number and use that ? in the latter case it would mean they didn't check the numbers carefully and used a different box of paint

The colour may well have matched perfectly when it was first done, but if by chance the bodyshop have used a lower quality brand of paint it would not be unusual for it to fade at a much faster rate than the original factory paintwork.

Panels that catch more direct sunlight (i.e. bonnet and upper surfaces) will fade more on these circumstances than lower or shaded parts.

so does the paint master or whatever you call them have to mix and match or do they just pick a box with a number and use that ? in the latter case it would mean they didn't check the numbers carefully and used a different box of paint

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The colour code on the car will give the basic colour - which may then be available in ten or more shades! It's up to the bodyshop to choose the correct shade in the first place.