General Dented in Car Park

Currently reading:
General Dented in Car Park

Joined
Apr 13, 2015
Messages
43
Points
17
I work in a hotel and thus park Gabriella my dark blue TA500 in the car park, she's there almost all the time. I got to her on Saturday morning to find a dent on the nearside just behind the wheel arch, luckily there is no damage to and other panel. I took her to the locally fiat recommended body shop repairer and have been quoted £285. remove panel, knock out dent, re-spray as using fiat original technique and paints lacquers. It will take about 3 days. Then my boss said get chips away in to repair it, has any one ever used one of these chip, dent repair companies, are they as good as there advertising would have us believe?
 
A proper bodyshop will use an oven to bake the primer etc at x°C for x minutes as per manufacturers requirements. This also preserves any paint warranty as it has been repaired to manufacturers specs.

Chips away do the job on your driveway/ car park using infrared heat lamps and a gazebo ( if its raining) , although they do a good job its not exactly up to manufacturers specs and may void any paint warranty on that panel.

Depending on how old the car is and if any warranty is left would be my deciding factor in who to use, also it depends on how good a finish you want. At least with an approved bodyshop the finish should be up to showroom standard.
In my experience chips away etc are fine for stone chips and small alloy scuffs, any major panel work should be left to bodyshops.
 
I've seen a photo of one of those driveway companies using a tonne of filler on a dent. Not sure if it's true/real, but hey.

If it's small I'd be inclined to try a cheap fix/get a proper bodyshop. It'll look better in the end most likely.
 
It depends on the type of dent. If hasn't damaged the paint or only minimal damage and it isn't across any creases in the original panel shape a chips away type repair could work very well. Better in fact than a body shop beating, filling and painting.

If it can be done properly I'd prefer that every time compared to messing with removing, replacing, filling and painting.

Sounds odd that they talk about "removing the panel".

It's difficult to say without seeing the damage but as you've been quoted £285 it doesn't sound very serious.
 
I work in a hotel and thus park Gabriella my dark blue TA500 in the car park, she's there almost all the time. I got to her on Saturday morning to find a dent on the nearside just behind the wheel arch, luckily there is no damage to and other panel. I took her to the locally fiat recommended body shop repairer and have been quoted £285. remove panel, knock out dent, re-spray as using fiat original technique and paints lacquers. It will take about 3 days. Then my boss said get chips away in to repair it, has any one ever used one of these chip, dent repair companies, are they as good as there advertising would have us believe?
CHIPSAWAY. I use them all the time and so should you!
 
A proper bodyshop will use an oven to bake the primer etc at x°C for x minutes as per manufacturers requirements. This also preserves any paint warranty as it has been repaired to manufacturers specs.

Chips away do the job on your driveway/ car park using infrared heat lamps and a gazebo ( if its raining) , although they do a good job its not exactly up to manufacturers specs and may void any paint warranty on that panel.

Depending on how old the car is and if any warranty is left would be my deciding factor in who to use, also it depends on how good a finish you want. At least with an approved bodyshop the finish should be up to showroom standard.
In my experience chips away etc are fine for stone chips and small alloy scuffs, any major panel work should be left to bodyshops.
Chipsaway are more than good enough. What warranty? You having a laugh? Fiat dont do warranties, do they? = )
 
Chipsaway might be good enough for a nice hot climate like Greece, but at the minute its cold and damp here in the UK. Not exactly good weather for paint spraying.
I was on about the anti-perforation warranty, and I do know of someone who was knocked back due to having a " non approved" repair that had rusted through from under the paint. The repair was done in weather like we are having now on his driveway, and subsequently the repair wasn't up to the manufacturers spec so was rejected when he tried to claim for perforation.

All I was doing was giving the OP the options available and maybe the thought of IF there was any paint warranty left.
 
Chipsaway might be good enough for a nice hot climate like Greece, but at the minute its cold and damp here in the UK. Not exactly good weather for paint spraying.
I was on about the anti-perforation warranty, and I do know of someone who was knocked back due to having a " non approved" repair that had rusted through from under the paint. The repair was done in weather like we are having now on his driveway, and subsequently the repair wasn't up to the manufacturers spec so was rejected when he tried to claim for perforation.

All I was doing was giving the OP the options available and maybe the thought of IF there was any paint warranty left.
From what I know, Chipsaway give a warranty over the work anyway so this isn't an issue.
 
it's not a major dent but I know it's their and Gabriella doesn't look her best with it their, we have an accident repair centre in the village so i'm nipping her there in a bit.


Thanks for every ones comments ill let you know the outcome!
i used to be like that with dents but now as the car ages, i stopped caring = ) i repaired the first 2 dents, but the last 3 i havent bothered with.
 
i used to be like that with dents but now as the car ages, i stopped caring = ) i repaired the first 2 dents, but the last 3 i havent bothered with.

Folks seem to have a different attitude to dents in Southern Europe.

Gibraltar is one of the worst; an undented Gibraltarian vehicle is about as rare as rocking horse droppings. I 've often wondered if they use a small hammer to put a couple in during the PDI, just to get you started.
 
Folks seem to have a different attitude to dents in Southern Europe.

Gibraltar is one of the worst; an undented Gibraltarian vehicle is about as rare as rocking horse droppings. I 've often wondered if they use a small hammer to put a couple in during the PDI, just to get you started.
It's also to do with the driving culture. When people park, they have no qualms about hitting each other's bumpers. Motorcycles have scraped my bumper trying to jump on to the sidewalk. I have come back to my car to find my numberplate hanging off due to someone hitting my bumper parking when i was away from the car. Someone phyiscally dented my car when parking as they basically drove into it = )

The other day a woman hit my bumper parking while i was sitting in my car stationary. She tried to drive off but i stopped her. She said whats the problem, I know there is no damage i barely touched you! I said wait a minute, let me check first. I checked, looked ok, and let her drive off. These are daily occurrences. Motorcycles hitting my mirror when zigzagging, normal business = )

So all that means i cannot keep up, and am not willing to invest in removing dents and scratches unless they are so bad there would be a rust problem. At the cars value of 5000 GBP or so, even less so = ) Most of them end up on my plastic bumper anyway, so rust is never an issue.
 
Gibraltar despite being very happy as part of the UK does have the Mediterranean driving culture of "you can push your way through anything if you use the horn" and "if this parking spot is too small ill make it bigger"
 
So a little update....
I had a chap from chips away look over the dent, who said he could not repair it because it had happened on a fold in the body and it would have to go to a body shop.
Yesterday I took her into to Bidwell Max & Son in Rackheath near Norwich. £280
I've also asked them to remove the driver side door card off and see if they can do something with the speaker.
Just had a call the 'Gabriella' is ready to pick up, the speaker is faulty if i pick one up on the way they can fit it while i wait. So I'm off to Desira parts department in Norwich who have one in stock at £22.
 
Back
Top