Corolla Scratch Repair Quote

[jordieDAFC]

So the other week some kind, thoughtful person decided to butcher the side of my car door with their door and not leave any details (Although, I believe it happened at work and have a good idea who it was but can't prove it🙄)

Got in touch with ChipsAway and the guy quoted me £330 based off of the photos i provided him - Tough pill to swallow but it is what it is. I sent him the paint code for the car and he's come back with an email saying that because its a 3 stage paint (2SZ?), He might struggle to get a decent paint match and he would possibly prefer to repaint the entire side of the car. I did wonder if it would be a struggle to match the paint, but wasn't quite expecting the entire side of the car to be repainted which will be a pretty significant cost. 

Waiting on some other quotes coming back from another body repair shop and from the Toyota approved repair shop to see what they are proposing to do

I've not had any issues with paint/bodywork in the past so wasn't sure if that was a reasonable proposal from the ChipsAway guy? 

       

[TonyHSD]

Hi, 

this doesn’t look that bad and imo can be just polished off with t cut and machine polish. Even if some small marks remain visible at close it will be much better than touch up or re spray of the entire side. And yes, pearlescent paints are very difficult to match., and touch ups are usually gone disaster.  

[AndrueC]

I had a minor scratch at the back of mine (no dent - just a surface scratch). I cleaned it, dried it and used touch up paint. You can see the repair if you look closely but not from a distance and not at all once the normal grime and dirt has settled.

It depends what kind of finish people want. On my 5 year old car I have no expectation of perfection. As long as it's not obvious to casual passers-by and their is no risk of corrosion I'm happy.

[Bper]

Hi Jordan,you are right, 3-stage paint also called tri-stage it can be trickier to match perfectly. It involves a base coat, a mid-coat for effects like pearl or metallic, and a clear coat. Matching all three layers exactly can be difficult.The 2SZ might be part of your car's paint code. It's going to be helpful to have this code for any body repair shops you contact.

Repainting the entire side is a more extensive solution. It ensures a good color match but it can be expensive.I would ask Chipsaway why is a full side repaint preferred.Can they try a spot repair with extra attention to matching it might take a bit more time.

Try some other places and also speak to a body shop they might be able to do it cheaper ask if they do spot repair options for 3-stage paint.I would compare all the prices for full and partial hope this helps 😊

[Roy124]

I pranged the wing of my Merc.  A new wing and paint came  £650.  The garage that did it was not satisfied with the colour match.  It was only visible if you knew to look.

Many years ago someone who was an ex-professional painter did a friend's Jaguar.  The colour was a rose quartz.  He was not pleased with the result and also resprayed the whole side.

I think Chips will probably be right.

 

[jordieDAFC]

2 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, 

this doesn’t look that bad and imo can be just polished off with t cut and machine polish. Even if some small marks remain visible at close it will be much better than touch up or re spray of the entire side. And yes, pearlescent paints are very difficult to match., and touch ups are usually gone disaster.  

As far as scratches go they aren't too bad. Definitely not deep ones, but they are scratches nonetheless. Not sure if t-cut and a mechy polish would fix it - Would love if it did! 

1 hour ago, AndrueC said:

I had a minor scratch at the back of mine (no dent - just a surface scratch). I cleaned it, dried it and used touch up paint. You can see the repair if you look closely but not from a distance and not at all once the normal grime and dirt has settled.

It depends what kind of finish people want. On my 5 year old car I have no expectation of perfection. As long as it's not obvious to casual passers-by and their is no risk of corrosion I'm happy.

For a car coming up for 4 years I accept there will be bits of wear and tear on it - It's actually not too bad for its age! Stuff like this where its very noticeable from the side is a bit too much for me though, especially since its a nice deep colour 😅 I'd love it to be perfect, but would settle for it just not being noticeable unless you were looking for a defect

1 hour ago, Bper said:

Hi Jordan,you are right, 3-stage paint also called tri-stage it can be trickier to match perfectly. It involves a base coat, a mid-coat for effects like pearl or metallic, and a clear coat. Matching all three layers exactly can be difficult.The 2SZ might be part of your car's paint code. It's going to be helpful to have this code for any body repair shops you contact.

Repainting the entire side is a more extensive solution. It ensures a good color match but it can be expensive.I would ask Chipsaway why is a full side repaint preferred.Can they try a spot repair with extra attention to matching it might take a bit more time.

Try some other places and also speak to a body shop they might be able to do it cheaper ask if they do spot repair options for 3-stage paint.I would compare all the prices for full and partial hope this helps 😊

I think from the email he's thinking about doing the whole side of the car to guard against a mismatch in colour, or reduce how noticeable it is - which is fair enough, I understand the reasoning. Its not a large area that is needing repaired which is why I was surprised at him recommending the full side being redone. He's asked for me to stop at the bodyshop to chat it over so will do that, also booked in to speak to the Toyota approved place too 

45 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

I pranged the wing of my Merc.  A new wing and paint came  £650.  The garage that did it was not satisfied with the colour match.  It was only visible if you knew to look.

Many years ago someone who was an ex-professional painter did a friend's Jaguar.  The colour was a rose quartz.  He was not pleased with the result and also resprayed the whole side.

I think Chips will probably be right.

 

Tbh I'd probably settle for it being only visible if you knew to look - I'm the only driver so I never have to look at the passenger side 😂 Where do you stop when you respray the side of the car? Because you've got to tie into the existing paint at some point, Presumably they stop on a panel edge? 

[Roy124]

@jordieDAFC I agree, I settled for just the wing.

[jordieDAFC]

Got another quote back today from Shine Repair who believe they can do this for £275 via a touchup.....quite a bit different to the quote from ChipsAway. I did state it was pearlescent paint too so assume this has been taken into account

Be interesting to see what the Toyota Approved place thinks tomorrow

[giffardo]

Check out this...May work...

 

[Chainbreaker]

Yep, pearlescent paint such as scarlet flare is notoriously hard to repair due to the layers involved. My local paint repair guy has told me before that pearlescent red on mazdas and toyotas, as well as the pearlescent yellow on Renaultsports are extremely difficult to match and blend in, which probably explains the high price for repair. 

This is why I went for white on my corolla. Cheaper, much easier to repair and still looks great (when its clean that is!)

[twintopp]

i`ve got a chip in my offside door mirror , with the prices quoted here i shudder to think what will cost. 

[jordieDAFC]

Just for a wee update on a very expensive repair......

So, queried the Shine Repair quote with them and they revised it to £320 and were adamant that they will achieve a showroom level finish on the paintwork - I'm doubtful personally, but for some reason they are absolutely certain it won't be noticeable 

Also visited the Toyota approved repair centre yesterday and they were aligned with the Chips Away quote and wanted to respray the full side of the car and blend the wings in - Full quote for that with Toyota was £1550....Expensive, but would also remedy some other very very minor scratches elsewhere! 

[simond64]

2 hours ago, jordieDAFC said:

Just for a wee update on a very expensive repair......

So, queried the Shine Repair quote with them and they revised it to £320 and were adamant that they will achieve a showroom level finish on the paintwork - I'm doubtful personally, but for some reason they are absolutely certain it won't be noticeable 

Also visited the Toyota approved repair centre yesterday and they were aligned with the Chips Away quote and wanted to respray the full side of the car and blend the wings in - Full quote for that with Toyota was £1550....Expensive, but would also remedy some other very very minor scratches elsewhere! 

£1550 is more an insurance claim. I’d need interested if you had the minor damage insurance from Toyota when buying the car if this repair would be covered, the size, place and area is restricted but maybe covered, shine or dent devils tend to be appointed for that, doubt it would cover the whole side respray though

[jordieDAFC]

42 minutes ago, simond64 said:

£1550 is more an insurance claim. I’d need interested if you had the minor damage insurance from Toyota when buying the car if this repair would be covered, the size, place and area is restricted but maybe covered, shine or dent devils tend to be appointed for that, doubt it would cover the whole side respray though

Yeah I think it'll be going through with the insurance company unfortunately. Excess is just a little bit more than the quote for the Shine Repair so may as well suck it up and get a proper job done on it. Still pretty p*ssed that somebody does that amount of damage and strolls off leaving you out of pocket

Tough one to take when you're a tight **** with money 😂

[2badmice]

On 4/1/2024 at 2:11 PM, jordieDAFC said:

So the other week some kind, thoughtful person decided to butcher the side of my car door with their door and not leave any details (Although, I believe it happened at work and have a good idea who it was but can't prove it🙄)

Got in touch with ChipsAway and the guy quoted me £330 based off of the photos i provided him - Tough pill to swallow but it is what it is. I sent him the paint code for the car and he's come back with an email saying that because its a 3 stage paint (2SZ?), He might struggle to get a decent paint match and he would possibly prefer to repaint the entire side of the car. I did wonder if it would be a struggle to match the paint, but wasn't quite expecting the entire side of the car to be repainted which will be a pretty significant cost. 

Waiting on some other quotes coming back from another body repair shop and from the Toyota approved repair shop to see what they are proposing to do

I've not had any issues with paint/bodywork in the past so wasn't sure if that was a reasonable proposal from the ChipsAway guy? 

       

What about the dent in the door?  PDR won't work as it's on the swage line and obviously won't deal with the scuffs and the guy is right about blending the colour.

If you want good resale value have the repair carried out by an approved Bodyshop, but based on what it is, claim off your policy, you've paid enough over the years, time to get something back minus your excess.