Body Repair Advice

Gogi

Member
Hi All

Had a bit of an accident today and made a mess of the side panel on the drivers side. The scrape has gone right through the paint and damaged the body (pic attached)
I'm thinking it needs to be fixed quickly to prevent it rusting. Has anyone got a recommendation for of a body shop in the Manchester/North West region or has anyone got any DIY tips? Thanks

Best
G

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Is that the door?

Got a wider pic?

The vans have a galvanised body to stop rusting. But if the galvanised surface is damaged then rust will form.

Better of getting it repaired sooner rather than later.

Is that reflex silver to?

Last time I had that sort of bodywork done they painted the whole side up to the swage line to blend in the paintwork (reflex silver ) because metallic is so hard to blend in..... especially if the paint has any Sun fading.
 
Ouch :( I can advise one to stay clear of and that’s inchcape body shop near audenshaw they made a right mess of mine came back with more damage than it went in with!
 
Just got a couple of quotes back today....one for £800 +VAT and the other for £900 + VAT

Hmm sounds like they going to paint the whole side panel of the van . . .

Insurance job or are you going to have to pay personally for it?
 
Hmm sounds like they going to paint the whole side panel of the van . . .

Insurance job or are you going to have to pay personally for it?
Yes he did mention they would lacquer the whole side panel and then blend it in before you get to the door panel

Well I'm a photographer so I asked one of them if we could do an exchange of services, so fingers crossed on that one, otherwise I'll have to pay it myself!
 
My van has had an unfortunate meeting with a gate pillar (thankfully, not with me driving) and has a decent scrape along the rear quarter panel.

It's a low-mileage 66-plate, T6 with decent part-conversion. Not thinking of selling anytime soon but wondering what level of repair to get done. Had a couple of £500 ish repair quotes from local guys.

Also problematic as it's our daily drive.

Thoughts welcome.
 
got a few pics?

was you going through insurance?

look at choosing a VWCV approved repairer if you wanted a factory repair job done.

A 3rd party repairer may be cheaper?

what colour as metalics can be hard to blend in (paint wise)(it might need the whole panel painted)

If its just a scrape, and just needed a bit of filler + Paint . . . . . . . then the £500 repair/spray should do the job (if its a good bodyshop)
 
We're not sure whether it's quite an insurance job and we'd be happy with an independent, so swithering a bit. The arch is a bit battered, otherwise it'd definitely be a repair...

It's Indium Grey, so metallic.

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Ouch . . . . .

looks like damage on the sliding door, and the rear quarter looks crumpled where the arch has pushed in......

If they are quoting you £500 for a full repair and respray id bite there arm off!

looks to me like it should cost a lot more than that?

have at look at our one . . . .

A Sad Day - #gutted -

edit: it looks like the official word would be to cut off and replace the rear quarter panel as trying to rebuild the rear arch would mean a load of filler that may cause issues in future.

your guys quote may be to just weld in a new arch lip and blend in with filler . . . . . but id be worried about the ripple in the flat panel above the arch.... then plus the spray job.
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To be honest if the quote is £500 for that damage i’d be a tad worried about the quality of the job. It’s a metallic colour so lower half of whole side might require paint in order to blend in under the swage line. Probably going to need a good bit of filling a shaping as well to the arch and door.
 
Yep, we live in a low-cost area for repairs (one bloke, not VAT-reg) but still, I think there's a bit more to it.

I'm not really wanting the cheapest job, more an idea of the best option and suggestions. I could whack it through the insurance and end up with a mis-matched panel. I need to find out how my current insurer deals with claims, if I can pick a repairer, I'd be happier.
 
You can pick the repairer with any insurance company, they will try and take it to their regular bodyshop (wherever that may be) but you can say no and stipulate where you want it to go, they will require a quote etc beforehand but dont let them push you in a direction you dont want to go

My van had a new bumper and couple of trim panels on the front after i nudged someone up the ass in traffic and my insurer wanted to collect my van and ship it 300 miles up north (im on the south coast) to be repaired, i refused to let it go and told them i wanted my local VAG approved bodyshop to do it and after providing a quote to them they paid them direct for the work, i dropped it off and i picked it up and i suspect the total cost to insurer was way less than it would have been
 
Yeah, I had a car disappear for 3 weeks once and having not had the van for 6 weeks last Spring, I'm loathe to let it be despatched to the care of a claims manager.
 
So bought my caravelle in March and away on holiday at the moment. wife took it out in the evening to go to an event and came back with the following surprise for me. :mad::cry::cry::cry:

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Any help of advise on this greatly received, trying to work out if I have to go the insurance route or if I pay to get it fixed myself.

Thanks

Pete
 
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