Driving up the M5 some debris flew at the car from nowhere and what looked like a plastic wing mirror housing bounced off my drivers door, leaving a 2 inch long scratch (to the metal) and tiny dent.
Taking this to the local VW dealer's body shop thinking it would be about £200-300 i was astonished to get a quote for repair of £855 !!!!!!! (This included £495 worth of labour)
As my insurance excess is £500 I thought that it was going to have to be an insurance job at that point. My insurers sent me to their approved body shop, whose quote was..........£309
So, although I would like to get the job done by VW (to keep 12 year perforation warranty etc), I would have to stump up best part of £900
Has anyone else had this level of disparity with VW body shops??
You need to push the insurance companies to use the 'Approved VW' bodyshops, otherwise this could have an effect on resale of your car. Sounds dumb but any excuse!
Current - Audi S5 4.2 Quattro V8See here...
Now Sold - VW Scirocco 2.0GT TSI, Rising Blue, VW Bodykit, H&R Springs, Panoramic Sunroof, Anthracite 'Vienna' Leather Interior, Scirocco R Pedals See here...
Be careful about bodyshops - VW approved does not always mean good. Apologies for the long post - this is what happened to me at a VW approved repairer:-
I bought my previous car (Golf GT Sport TDI 170) from VW Benfield in Newcastle, and when a bus swiped my legally parked car, I insisted that it went to Benfield's VW approved bodyshop - what a mistake.
It needed new bumpers front and back, a new nearside front wheel, a new rear offside wheel, and everything else attached to that wheel (suspension, brakes, chassis arm etc) was replaced, along with the offside rear quarter panel and sill. £6000 repair bill on a 4 week old car!
I was told it was a 2 week job once they had all the parts in. 2 weeks later all the parts were in, 2 weeks after that, my car still hadn't been touched. I eventually got the car back 7 weeks after Benfield got their mitts on it.
The day I got it back, the rain was lashing down and it was dark, so I hadn't noticed that the brakes were squealing as they hadn't been reassembled properly. I had noticed that my top-up bottle of oil that came with the car had vanished without trace. The car didn't brake well either, so I'd assumed everything was a little stiff and it would loosen up on the 10 mile drive home. The next morning I noticed that all the trim they'd removed when spraying and fitting the rear quarter panel was covered in oily black handprints. The brakes were also still shockingly bad - the car was a potential deathtrap.
Despite my concerns on the brakes, they refused to send a recovery vehicle out for it and made me drive the car back to the workshop. They blamed the brakes on slight disc misalignment (as I spoke to 1 technician) and then on a small piece of gravel between the dsc and the caliper (as I spoke to another). The oil stains were cleaned up on the trim and 3 weeks later I got a voucher for the oil bottle replacement.
The only thing i'd been happy about was the visual appearance of the paintwork on the new rear quarter panel and bumpers.
8 months later, the wheel arch of the new rear quarter panel began to rust, so it was straight back - how they managed to get a galvanised panel to rust is beyond me! They must have seriously compromised the zinc coat when dressing the panel prior to painting.
I complainted to VW UK at this point, and they got the workshop to offer me a free valet at any time of my choosing within 12 months. I declined, stating that I had no confidence in them doing a good job, after the state they'd left the Golf interior after i'd orginally got my repaired car back. VW insisted that I accept the free valet so that they could close the complaint case as "customer satisfied" - I refused.
The rear quarter panel was repainted and they glued up the wheel arch liners to the rear quarter panel so that you couldn't see what had gone on behind there. It all looked good again, but a few weeks later I got a small chip on the rear quarter panel and was appaulled how thin the top coat of paint was (solid Tornado Red) compared to the thickness of the factory coat (as seen by the depth of a stone chip on the bonnet) - it appeared to be less than 1/2 as thick on the repaired panel.
The car was 17 months old and started to rust again at the wheel arch - so I part ex'ed it for the Scirocco.
I wish i'd gone for the insurance approved repairer! I may still have had that Golf now! Go for the nearest VW approved repairer that your insurance company also approves, rather than the one at your local dealer if you insurance company doesn't approve them. The insurance companies audit these places on a regular basis, so they have to be good or the insurance company will pay out again for the remedial work.
2013 - Tornado Red MK7 Golf GTD on order
2011-2013 - Rising Blue 170GT
2009-2011 - Pewter Roc 140GT
2007-2009 - Tornado Red Golf 170TDI GT
2005-2007 - Black Pearl Golf 140TDI GT
2003-2005 - Black Pearl Polo 1.9TDI
Definitely not "customer satisfied" there maisbitt!!
I think I'm going to go for the £309 job - but pay privately. My problem is my £500 excess - the insurer wont pay the $855 that VW have quoted as their own repairers have quoted £309. But £309 is £181 LESS than my excess - therefore I would be stupid to do the work under the insurance, but I dont really want to pay £855 to repair a 2inch scratch.
I attach a couple of picture to show what VW think costs £855 to repair (crappy red arrow not actually on the car hehehe)
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IMG_0670.JPG
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have you tried a mobile unit like a "chips away" franchise? If the dent is small enough not to have stretched the skin, I bet they'd sort that for about £100 - 120.
They take the door trim trim off and tap the dent out from the inside of the door with perspex-type precision chisels, then they'd get to work on the paint.
They did a dent on the boot of my Polo about 6 years ago for £60, and painted in all my bonnet chips, it looked like new - I couldn't see the remnants of the dent from any angle (and it had been dented along a curve).
2013 - Tornado Red MK7 Golf GTD on order
2011-2013 - Rising Blue 170GT
2009-2011 - Pewter Roc 140GT
2007-2009 - Tornado Red Golf 170TDI GT
2005-2007 - Black Pearl Golf 140TDI GT
2003-2005 - Black Pearl Polo 1.9TDI
I agree about VW "approved" bodyshops. The one my dealer use is terrible and is known for being terrible.
When I have my bonnet resprayed because of all the stonechips I will be going to a local small bodyshop which I have always been very impressed with.
Be wary with "smart repairs" also I have had done and seen some very bodged jobs. But I guess it depends on the location of the damage and the skill of the person doing the job.
sciroccoboy wrote:Halford are great for paint, shouldnt cost you too much, only advise is dont do it in the rain.
That is a whole new minefield in itself!!
I took mine to CF motoring services in Newcastle, they resprayed both scratches, and the colour match is superb, not easy on viper green i would imagine.
now modified with dump valve, boost gauge in custom made vent, "gt" steering wheel badge, carbon fibre badges, rs4 wheels, lowered 35mm, private plate S18OCO, custom de-cat and cat back exhaust with quad tips, air filter behind fog lamp heat wrapped, customised front bumper grills painted gloss black, customised rear bumper smoothed and lower spoiler painted gloss black, mouldings and mirrors sprayed in gloss black, gloss black roof and rear spoiler, colour coded dash trims, door trims, centre console trims and rear seat trims, led fog light bulbs, s3 intercooler, audi a4 "S line" gear knob, newspeed hi-flow throttle body pipe, newspeed hi-flow turbo pipe, uprated dog mount bush, front to back and side to side quickshift, 20mm front spacers
i work in a vw approved bodyshop, and i bet that would cost you around 400 pounds here at the most, as it is in the centre of the door so no need for blending the panels either side
