really black friday

Hi All,

We have been away for a week starting in Skegness, all was well until we received a text saying our house alarm was going off, the neighbour's checked the house the best they could but my missis was still weary so the next day we came home so she could put her mind at rest.

We didn't stay at home but finished the week off locally, on Friday we decided to go to Evesham and stopped off at the Valley country park along the way.

Parked in a disabled bay as we usually do when we visit there only this time I failed to notice the lamppost, I could not see it in the camera screen nor through the wing mirror.

I have done a reasonable amount of damage just below the nearside light cluster, luckily not enough to take the van off the road.

I rang auto sleeper and asked to pop round to them to see if it is fixable as they are only roughly six miles away.

They started talking about replacing the whole rear panel at approximately £8000.00. 

I think really they didn't want to do a repair as they don't do them only little jobs.

They suggested that we take it to a local firm who they use about a mile away, we phoned and they said come round, he looked at the job and said it would be hundreds as opposed to thousands.

He wouldn't give a firm price but said it can be done and they would have to paint it and bake it also the bottom piece of the light cluster is broken and needs replacing.

The way he is talking suggests a bill around £800.00 seems expensive to me but maybe I am out of touch.

Any thoughts?[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Have a word with Cheltenham Laminates, they made/make a lot of AS parts and do repairs.
Maybe send them photos or take the van to them.

Repair costs have gone silly the past couple of years,  from bitter experience we have had two what I would have considered very minor bumps with inanimate objects with our Auris in past 12 months. £700 to 800 seems to be starting point for bodyshop to let you in the door these days. Unless you fancy diy tsomething around £800 doesn't seem out of line with my experience. 

Hope all goes well with repair, seeing more and more mohos with similar damage so wonder if owners decide to live with  cosmetic damage,  ultimately likely to have minimal impact on overall value of van

I'd go through my insurance for anything approaching that amount. After all, that's why we pay up every year.
Our last (only) vehicle claim was about ten years ago, the repairs came in at over £2000. I had to pay £250 excess, but the premium only went up marginally over the next five years.
I now no longer have to declare it when changing companies.
Al.

Sadly my excess is £800.00.

So not much point.
Pete

breakaleg wrote:Sadly my excess is £800.00.

So not much point.
Pete

Wow that's a lot. My car, bikes and van all have between £150-£250 excess.
Do you get a large reduction in premium for such an excess?
Al.

No I didn't have a choice, recently we had a lot of car theft included one in our road.

Most quotes were over £1000.00 and some wouldn't quote at all..
Pete

On my recent repair (£500 at VERY cheap labour rate) there was clear access at the back to reinforce with glass matting before doing the surface. On a similar repair to the Malvern (many years ago) couldn't get behind and the surface repair had to be redone every 2-3 years to remove micro cracking.

The repair to the van pictured below (ar the time only two years old) required the whole back panel replacing to guarantee a permanent repair, the insurance assessor was in full agreement.  Cheltenham Laminating made the new panel and AS Service centre fitted it - super job. I've no idea what it cost.

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Thanks Peter,
They can get to the back of mine so I think that I may be okay
Pete

Bilbobaggins wrote:Repair costs have gone silly the past couple of years,

They have - as have waiting times. It seems that the reason around here (in the SouthEast) is that there simply aren't enough insurance-registered companies to handle the load.

The firm that did the insurance repairs on our Trooper two years ago was visibly overloaded, and simply could not fit all of the crash-damaged vehicles in their compound - so ours was outside for a while (which we were not happy about). I go past one of their local compounds regularly and they are just as packed now as they were two years ago.

Last time I needed body repairs doing on another car I deliberately sought out a smaller backstreet body shop, which had been recommended by a neighbour. They are too small an operation to take on insurance work (too little parking space around their industrial unit), so they were happy to take on anything, with smaller jobs their preference. They did a good job, and the repairs were still looking excellent over four years later, when I sold the car.

So my advice would be to try to find a well-established, smaller local backstreet body shop, and avoid the bigger places (I should clarify that around here "backstreet" typically means that they are located in one of the small industrial estates, away from any of the main towns.)

This place was recommended by auto sleeper.

They had a few vans in a trooper was one I saw an American rv and several coaches in( they have to do them during the school holidays)

They have given us a date in September and we have to call them a week before just in case they are over running
Pete

breakaleg wrote:This place was recommended by auto sleeper.

Understood, but A/S probably have different criteria for recommending places than you might have for choosing a repair shop. In this instance they probably don't care about cost or timescale, because they know it will be your money and your time!

Yes I understand that.
Pete

Don't know if these guys might be able to help, or even if they will fix fibreglass. 

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They have however just fixed the plastic bumper on my Mitsubishi Outlander that I scraped on a wall causing deep multiple scratches and scuffs, making an excellent invisible repair.

Their gallery shows some previous repairs to bumpers etc that seem to be glass/filler based. Unfortunately I didn't take before and after pics of my car, but I was impressed!

£90 + Vat, so £108 all in and only a week wait to get it in. 

Not too far from you I think? - Worcester 

Might be worth a call?

Thanks clarkp.
I will give them a call next week but mine has actually cracked and collapsed,so I guess it will need to be reformed and reinforced before being filled and resprayed and baked.
Pete

Hi Ianh,
The picture doesn't do it justice,
Underneath is cracked right to the end about 7inches long.
And the upper area has fractured in about a 5:inch square.
Sort of pushed flat.

I struggled to take those photos due to my disability I can't get down low or able to kneel.
Pete

I would certainly try Cheltenham laminates, because they make the panels or …made them, and they will probably have the correct colour finish.

The first task is to repair behind the damage, ensure this is done before tackling the visual repair.
Ray

You could also try AEG in Stourbridge. When we bought our van from there they had 2 ex boat builders in the workshop and they could make panels, basins, shower trays etc. Don't know if still there but might be worth a try and maybe not too far from you .

Absolutely agree with Ian, that doesn't look too much of a problem if you can get behind it to layer on some more matting. Then just a case of filling and spraying to match. I would keep looking for a GRP specialist, boatbuilder, surf board manufacturer, or, plain old bodyshop who could fix that at far less than A/S have quoted. 
Don't beat yourself up about doing the damage, many have been there and got the T shirt.

groundhog wrote:Absolutely agree with Ian, that doesn't look too much of a problem if you can get behind it to layer on some more matting. Then just a case of filling and spraying to match. I would keep looking for a GRP specialist, boatbuilder, surf board manufacturer, or, plain old bodyshop who could fix that at far less than A/S have quoted. 
Don't beat yourself up about doing the damage, many have been there and got the T shirt.

you can't compare AS price to repair to as original and someone filling and painting , both totally different quality of repair , painted finish will never be as good as new panel ,

Avontourist wrote:
you can't compare AS price to repair to as original and someone filling and painting , both totally different quality of repair , painted finish will never be as good as new panel ,

Sorry but we agree to differ on that view, I have seen such repairs especially on boats and they are invisible these days. Ultimately it is of course better to replace the whole panel but at 10 times the cost it just isn't worth it.