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Hi All
On my way home this evening several 'undesirables' were dropping bricks off a bridge and one of them hit my car on the bonnet. My car is an E90 3 series which will now need repairing. The bonnet will need the paint stripping and the damaged area filling and making good.
Can anyone offer me some advice as to the standard of paint job/matching I will get at a BMW body shop as opposed to an independent? I know that very much depends on the standard of the independent but generally speaking is it better to take it to a dealer in terms of the quality of work done?
Thanks in advance.
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No, just because it is a main dealer bodyshop makes it no better or worse than any independent bodyshop, it all depends on the staff that work there. The quality of the work is in the labour of the man doing the job as the materials used are all pretty good these days.
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Thank you. Fortunately I have never had to have any bodywork done so it's a bit of a blind spot to me. So an independent would get EXACTLY the same paint match as a dealer - even to the trained eye?
I wishI could have caught the little **^%$! that did it - he would be minus some arms and legs by now.
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You should report it to the police who will probably increase patrols in th earea and correlate it with other reports from around the same time. Dibble takes this kind of thing very seriously as it's very dangerous.
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In my experience some independents are very good while some are not so good. Best to get some quotes and recommendations from people you know. Maybe go on a BMW forum to find out who is good close to you.
BTW, which part of the country are you in?
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I am in the NW - midway betwixt Manchester and Liverpool.
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If this is an insurance job, you'll need to consult your insurer to ensure that whoever does the repair is an approved repairer. Or does your post imply that you're going to pay for it yourself to protect your NCD?
Edited by Avant on 15/10/2013 at 21:49
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Yes Avant that's my plan unless the cost is prohibitive. I have a £300 excess on my insurance anyway so I may just be 'better off' taking the hit.
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From your description i expect the repair to be £150/250 at a small bodyshop considerably more at a place that does lots of insurance work and has admin people to pay for who will probably want to fit a new bonnet, be interesting to hear what quotes you get.
No screen or pillar damage from the bouncing missile?
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No luckily it appears it just hit the top of the bonnet and bounced straight off away from the car. I am just nervous about an indy as (a) I don't really know any good ones and (b) my neighbour used a small local one recently and whilst it's an 'ok' job there are still tiny imperfections in the paintwork.
I'm not a badge snob but I want the standard of the work to be BMW standard as the car is otherwise immaculate and I look after it extremely carefully.
I am going to BMW at lunch time to get their estimate so we'll see how scary that is before I go ahead.
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Some main dealers send body repairs to a local 'approved' body shop anyway. Such 'approved' repairers may be cheaper than BMW shops and quality may be just as good.
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Have a look on www.crashrepairparts.com, you might be able to get a bonnet pre painted from them, then it would just be a case of fitting it. May be better than filling the damage in and respraying?
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I have been to get 2 quotes this afternoon. The first was from an independent that I had learned was reputable and was an accredited repairer for VW/Audi/Skoda and Ford.
Cost - £600.
Then I went to BMW.
Cost £450.
Guess where it's going?
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Strewth, glad i've got my one man and his dog place.
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They both sound expensive, you need to find a small private bodyshop.
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quite often the maindealer will subcontract it to an independant anyways without you knowing, if they have too much work on, or indeed many dont actually have proper bodyshops despite telling their customers they have...
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I checked that out actually and they have guaranteed that it will be done by them and are happy for me to go and inspect the car at any point in the process. They are both expensive but it wasn't much of a choice.
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The best recent paint job I had done back in the UK was a local backyard sprayer -minging old wooden shed with a rusty tin roof, untidy, but turned out a good job, matched the colour perfectly, still good four years later.
Main dealer isn't any guarentee of a good job.
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An equal reality is that, unless you have knowledge of the standard of work from a particular place, be it main dealer or independent, whichever choice you make will be a risk.
In this case I just had to make a call as I had no point of reference. I'm slightly reassured by the fact that, if the work turns out to be substandard, then at least I have an avenue of recourse (BMW, however successful that may or may not be): whereas with the other place that was it.
Thanks for all the help.
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Well as a point of reference, I had a bumper for a MK4 Astra colour changed a couple of months ago, I'll admit that I self prepped it, but it was primed, painted in metallic, lacquered and baked for the sum of £80 by my local small bodyshop.
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Had the rear bumper and boot lid replaced after being rear-ended. The paint finish and colour matching were perfect, and this was from a BMW bodyshop. The car was 3 years old and metallic grey in colour.
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I'm slightly reassured by the fact that, if the work turns out to be substandard, then at least I have an avenue of recourse (BMW, however successful that may or may not be):
You would have no chance of getting BMW themselves to help you if the work was poor. The dealerships are not owned by BMW and your contract will be with the dealership. For just a small repair I would get a quote form a local smart repairer. Had a very good experience with one on dads car, bodyshop wanted £300 + VAT, smart repairer charged £55 all in. 3 years on its still perfect.
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For just a small repair I would get a quote form a local smart repairer. Had a very good experience with one on dads car, bodyshop wanted £300 + VAT, smart repairer charged £55 all in. 3 years on its still perfect.
There's no way that this can be smart repaired - it's too big/bad.
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At that sort of money you could always look for a secondhand bonnet on Ebay,
for example see item number 121192016156 this is for a Le mans Blue bonnet to fit an E90 2007 Model.
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If its that big / bad then a new panel in the same colour would seem to be the best way forward, and they are for sale for less than £100 in many cases.
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For just a small repair I would get a quote form a local smart repairer. Had a very good experience with one on dads car, bodyshop wanted £300 + VAT, smart repairer charged £55 all in. 3 years on its still perfect.
There's no way that this can be smart repaired - it's too big/bad.
I am not talking about Dentmaster type of repairer. Locally we have a small company whose core bussiness is specialised in sorting Motability cars etc before they go back. They have the ability to carry out small repairs without painting the whole car like a normal bodyshop would do and are thus very economical. There are mobile repairers who do this type of work but the results I have seen are very poor since the climate during spraying cannot be controlled, the one we used for dads car has a fully fitted professional workshop.
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