There is a plethora of mobile body repair and dent removal services around which seem to break down into 2 groups - paintless dent removal and localised body repairs involving filling and painting.
Can anyone explain in simple terms how they work and what the different processes involved are? Do any of the services offer both types of repair at the same time?
Also, how do they charge? I read in another thread that the repair in question would take 3-4 hours and cost about £100.
Do they charge for the total time taken or the size, number of repairs undertaken?
Finally, if you're not too bothered about the odd ding and want to save a bit of money, is it worth waiting to accumulate a few before calling someone out and getting them all sorted in one go?
Thanks in anticipation.
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I've only ever used the non-painting type following a slight accident. The top of the wheelarch was pushed in, no paint damage. The guy used a piece of flattened iron (it looked like a motorbike tyre lever!) behind the damage and levered it to get the worse of the dent out then used what can only be described as pointed pieces of plastic - imagine a chunky childs crayon - and tapped these with a pin hammer to get the crease lines back in the right place. The technique isn't that hi tech, but getting behind the dent is required so depending where the dent is determines if the technique can be used. He charged £35, but he was doing a colleagues car at the same time and it's a few yars ago. Took him just over an hour to do both cars (colleagues was a dint in a door about the size of a 10p caused by a wheely bin hitting it).
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Finally, if you're not too bothered about the odd ding and want to save a bit of money, is it worth waiting to accumulate a few before calling someone out and getting them all sorted in one go?
That's what I did. I got all the little jobs done when I wanted to sell it. The pricing was difficult to work out; I had a graze on my plastic skirt where I backed into a stone wall in Cornwall, a scuffed alloy and a few bits and pieces that needed doing. The chap who did it charged me for the alloy and the graze (which required a bit of filling) and did the other bits FOC. I guess that when he had the paint made up and was waiting for the filler to go hard, he may as well do the other bits.
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Interesting Davey. Sounds quite crude but obviously effective.
Robert - well I think these things are inevitable but I don't do much mileage and am usually quite careful where/how I park so I don't envisage getting too many more bumps (touch wood). I thought that if someone was coming to do a job anyway he might as well be busy rather than standing around waiting for things to cure/dry etc.
I'd still like to know how the filler/paint jobs are done and whether or not any outfits will undertake both types of repair.
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We had a Punto that GF screwed againt the gate post on the inside of cornering, it was caved in at the bottom where the rear doow would be if it had one, and the metal sill cover was also caved in.
A mobile repairer did an excellent job for £120, we did it to sell it, but wished we had had it done as soon as it happened (The Fiat dealer quoted £1200 to replace the rear quarter panel) The new buyers couldn't tell, we could as we knew, but it was 98% perfect.
We saw the man repairing another car at the side of the road and made a note of the phone number of the van.
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VM what about the sods law at work here? You just know that a pristine car is going to collect a dink/scratch/scrape, but one that has already got one is safe!
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Oh I'm a great believer in Sod's Law RF - hence the fact that I haven't got the jobs done yet :) Fortunately an unexpected windfall is coming my way soon and, although I'll almost certainly keep the car (which I actually like very much), I can't help thinking about buying the newer model MPV in which case I'll want to get the car sorted out first.
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