What's your experience with panel beaters?

[NXA-16H]

Here's an intelligent question, and perhaps an intelligent conersation too.

My old Barina was recently taken to a panel beater for dent-removal and a respray after the Blacktown Hailstorm some weeks back.

And whilst the quality of the respray is acceptable, other areas like the warped black plastic door trim, rear cabin light being stuck back together with a screwed-up ball of cellotape, and NON OEM Windscreen is shithouse, to say the least. :mad:

Does anyone have any hints/tips or had any previous experiences that they would kindly share?

In other words;

1. Who, and who not to take your vehicle to.
2. Things to look out for.
3. Miscellaneous issues that you've had.

Much appreciated.

NXK-43Y

[EL BURITO]

I use one panel, They did a great job after my little brother riped the front door off his car, and ripped off part of the front wing and damaged the roof as well.

They have just done my drivers door and front bumper.
The only issues i have had in recent year are not with the panel beaters but the insurance assessors saying work was not needed

[immenotu]

Ive had good repairs done at the 2 places ive been to. One was a new rear bumper, and the other was a whole new front end, windscreen and dash. Both repairers did a great job.

One thing I look for is the number of "done up" cars (custom paint jobs, body kits etc.) regularly at the shop which is often a sign of good work. This isnt always true but people who have spent a lot of money on customising cars usually know the best local places.

[USC]

panel beaters are like apples...some are really bad and sour while others can be nice, crunchy and sweet. you`ve got to be able to pick the right one and insist that you get a good job done.

ive noticed that a lot of panel beaters arent motivated and dont give a dman really...they just want some money to live...gota avoid those ones...

u have to go to prestige/restoration places if you want quality work. smash repairs aim at putting ur car on the road as quickly/cheaply as possible with a average/below average job done.

[entice]

I personally have never seen an insurance repair I have been happy with.

I think if you pay privately, you may get different results.

Issues ranging from:
1997 wrx front on collision as someone shot out of a driveway. Took over 9 weeks to repair. They ended up:
1. painting the engine bay and under panels in same colour as exterior, when they are matt from factory
2. replacing the timing belt without aligning the cams... engine needed a rebuild after they fired it up and put a hole in the piston
3. painted the front bumper all body colour, when the "grilles" and vents were meant to be black
4. forgot to replace all oem stickers under teh hood and on radiators etc etc
5. after they reassembled with the wrong screws in the wrong place, and forgetting half of the wiring loom, they took the car back without my knowledge to a subaru dealer to clear all error codes etc etc... now, might be a small point, but do you think this issue would get logged on teh database? you betcha.. and how would that affect resale?

1999 MX5 - tap tap magic. Brilliant job.. ut then again, not a panel beater.would certainly recommend

2003 STi - went back to teh same shop 4 times to have the small dent repaired. Each time the patch of "wrong colour" grew and grew. the owners of this large shop swore black and blue they couldnt see the mis match in colour, until i insisted they get the rep/colour technician from the paint company out. They ended up respraying the whole side of the car...but I had to insist that the car was properly stripped down for paint, not masked off.. as the same shop had issues with severe overspray on a family member's car.

There are only 2 panel shops that I could recommend in Melb, from work I have seen. I dont think eitehr of them are affiliated with insurance companies. I have used one of these 2 due to my restoration projects, and hence paid privately for work, not via insurance. Oh, and if you think that just because a shop may have ferrari's or porsches or exxy mercs out the front, that they are great, I can tell you something to change your thoughts.. it involves a ferrari, insurance repair, and a lot of bog....

[xplosv57]

I've had 2 repairs with a previous car which took a hell of a long time for the damage on the vehicle, each repair needed a second and third visit to get right cos their work was shonky, and even after the 3rd visit had not been perfect!!!

My current car had a visit to a panel shop with extensive damage, was fixed very quickly, the repair (especially the paintwork) was very good, and the only issue which i've had (which i still have) is i'm still waiting on trims from Holden, so really isn't the panel beaters fault, but they have been helpful with that issue all along even though it's out of their hands!!!

[USC]

yep..Holden hardly stocks any trims overhere...all has to come from Germany (min 4 weeks wait).

It so true that Shops with ferrari`s at the front mean nothing...

at the end of the day, I think a repainted car will never be as good as a factory painted one...

the wrx story about using wrong screws etc etc makes me feel sick!! I dont understand why in australia, dealerships dont have their own panel beating centre!! only BMW does I think. In the UK, they all do!!

[NXA-16H]

<snip>

the wrx story about using wrong screws etc etc makes me feel sick!! I dont understand why in australia, dealerships dont have their own panel beating centre!! only BMW does I think. In the UK, they all do!!

Agreed 100%.

Apart from BMW, I've also seen a Bentley/Audi/Volkswagen Panel shop in Annandale that's attached to the Bentley dealership itself.

And as sure as my arse points to Terra Firma, I wouldn't take my Bentley to Castle Hill for a repair job. I can tell you.

NXK-43Y

[kabel]

I very recently have had some work done which has been a horror story !
My work was done by the HSV dealer`s panelshop and had to go in three times until it was correct.
I had no arguments from the manager of the panelshop as to the lack of quality of repair work.
What really got up my nose was that I collected the car twice after being told the work was finished only to take it back and have it resprayed again.
As if the lax workmanship was not enough they chewed out a front tyre
$640.00 thank you very much,
Damaged the drivers side interior door panel.
Overspray in numerous places.
Wet sanding residue in the car-front and back
Buffy compound in all the panelgaps and creases
A reading on the trip meter of 38.9l/100km for a 1.5km drive.
And generally the car was returned a mess which took the better part of two days to clean up.
After waiting nearly eight weeks to have a front bumper and front guard painted I would have expected better.
Oh and where were Shannon`s......NOT SHARING MY PASSION..that`s where!
The assessor told me twice to sort it out myself if I was not happy with the work,after telling me that they inspect the work prior to the car leaving the panelshop.
Even with me offering to take the car to him to look at it ..`too busy`.
Not once did I raise my voice or rant at the panelshop or the assessor.
I picked the car up on Friday and will now write a letter to Shannon`s,
whom I have three cars insured with,BUT also the panelshop and the HSV
salesrep I bought the car from,so that he knows how his peers treat customers. YEESH !

[MatsHolden]

yep..Holden hardly stocks any trims overhere...all has to come from Germany (min 4 weeks wait).



xplosv's trims are for a Calais though. lol

[USC]

xplosv's trims are for a Calais though. lol

then its probably coming from Korea...:p

At least german parts are always available...just need to wait for shipping!

[Wraith]

I've had both good and bad experiences...

Simple result, stick to and recommend the good, give up and warn others about the bad !

[Keep'emRunning]

worst thing happened to my fiance.. when she got her car back from a fnearside front end prang, the guys, using a chassis puller/aligner, stretched the entire drivers side front quarter nearly 10mm longer than it should've been!

Could almost drive a semi through the door jams and gaps in the front guards..

AAMI said it was an 'acceptable' repair :rolleyes:

[USC]

worst thing happened to my fiance.. when she got her car back from a fnearside front end prang, the guys, using a chassis puller/aligner, stretched the entire drivers side front quarter nearly 10mm longer than it should've been!

Could almost drive a semi through the door jams and gaps in the front guards..

AAMI said it was an 'acceptable' repair :rolleyes:

lol...thats probably the funniest thing Ive heard today...:p

she shld prob. get rid of the car...

[entice]

go and pay for an independant assessor to look at the car,
then present that to AAMI..

then, if there still is no action try (VCAT in Vic) the local legal system.

[Keep'emRunning]

lol...thats probably the funniest thing Ive heard today...:p

she shld prob. get rid of the car...

haha good advice.. she sold it a few years ago.. we got tired of constantly putting it in for wheel alignments because the tyres kept scrubbing out.

So, if anyone ever sees a white suzuki cino crabbing along the road..wave! :)

[USC]

haha good advice.. she sold it a few years ago.. we got tired of constantly putting it in for wheel alignments because the tyres kept scrubbing out.

So, if anyone ever sees a white suzuki cino crabbing along the road..wave! :)

I have driven a friend`s hyundai in sydney that was smashed at the back and front. After repair, headlights werent even aligned, chassis was still bent as engine was not sitting right, there were screw holes missing in the engine bay to hold air filter etc properly as they were filled with bog during repair, doors were not aligned either(allowing heaps of wind noise and water to get in), there was a huge gap between bonnet and bumper & between other panels, firewall had cracks in them, tyres scrubbed against the splash guards and quarter panel when turning, wheel alignment was completely out of wack for all four wheels and could not be adjusted unless they used camber pins, clear coat started peeling after a year and the list goes on...

the panel shop that did the repair must have been the dodgiest one around!