Bodywork repairs following accident - paint match

Sorry but it won't, we are talking about a modern twin-pack paint finish that does not fade in the same way as a conventional single component paint finish does, the lacquer protects the paint from fading, you might get slight age fading but it would not be noticeable.

However early metallic cellulose systems did fade but this colour formulation is a factory standard ARG twin-pack.

Stephen.

: : The fact the insurance company won't pay for these extra panels is : irrelevant, the skilled sprayer would automatically paint these : areas to obtain a perfect colour match. :

You really don't understand anything about the crash repair trade Steve, you might know you paint but you know nothing about the business model of these 'approved repairer' bodyshops - this thread has nothing what so ever to do with the competence of the paint sprayer and everything to do with getting the cars out and hitting the monthly target, it's all about volume, not quality. I

Of course its relevant , the garage is completing works as per the client instructions i.e the insurance company .

As long as the work undertaken is satisfactory and the colour meets the original specification the op has little come back on the garage .

We have the same problems with insurance companies in my industry , if we have to repair and repaint a doorframe it means just that it doesnt mean paint the skirting and architraves , same with counter top repairs and wall repairs .

We to get clients going postal because we havent painted the whole wall or replaced all the timberwork

What the op and others need to realise is that the tradesman may fully agree with the op in this case however the op is not paying the bill the insurance company is and extra work has to be paid for

Its nothing to do with competancy , the op hasnt complained about the quality of work just the fact the colour hasnt been blended

There could be several reasons for this considering the age of the vehicle one possiblity could be the paints being incompatable (solvent versus waterbased or two pack catalised ) .

I wouldnt class that as a modern paint finish

But the correct match will be fresh paint as apposed to well faded 26 year old paint

Any attempt to fade that paint artifically will cause colour issues further down the line , the garage cant win

But the work done has not been done to original specification has is, otherwise the colour would match.

There are many spray shops not insurance approved who would be more than happy to carry out the repair, and properly.

You don't have to take it to an approved repair shop, you can stipulate any body shop especially if you know their reputation.

This garage (nor any other) will not generate much work if they operate like this, At the end of the day it is down to customer satisfaction and the customer is not satisfied simply because the work carried has led to a poor paint match.

Stephen.

All paint ages and fades , take a look at a 3 year old sign written van when the graphics are removed you can clearly identify the markings

How much of that is traffic film?. I noticed that the paint I sprayed my frogeye in darkened over time, it was Lancia Corsica Red cellulose back in about 1985. Polishing a spot showed that the polished area was noticeably less dark than the weathered paint, is that normal or just general road filth build up.

Advised the insurance company that a decent match was unlikely, then proceed without asking the car owner? Shambles.

We're not talk "Very poor paint job. Its now blatantly obvious that the back has been resprayed but not the whole car"

OK, I accept what you're saying - I didn't know that's the way it worked. I would have hoped the spray shop would have advised they were about to make a complete hash of the job because, erm, 'them's the rules' and presumably backed up in small print. Cautionary tale, therefore.

Rob

Things might have changed since I ran my car repair business, although I was not insurance approved it did not stop me from doing insurance work properly.

However if it's anything like my neighbours recent Merc paint job turned out then I don't understand how these people manage to stay in business.

Stephen.

Thats normal

Not really the insurance company are paying the bill

Thats the difference when you paying yourself and seking advice and the insurance company is paying

Accident repair paint matching is always hit and miss. You can often clearly spot cars where panels has been repainted. Some better than others, but never an exact match. Various colours causes different problems. Red paint changes by long exposure to sun light. It isn't helped when manufacturers change the colour selection for each model year, even if nothing else has changed. Probably not much of a problem if the car is otherwise fine, but as the song goes "the first cut is the deepest...". A complete respray may pose its own problems, such as overspray or lack of finish. Again there are specialist people who know what they're doing, but the insurer's bodyshop probably isn't one of those...

No it wouldnt if the original paint had faded over 26 years

Correct , however they would then be following the ops instructions not the insurance companies , its also likely the op might have to pay a betterment value too

They wont care as long as the insurance company is happy after all its the insurance company that pay the bill

Thats because you will have priced accordingly and generally dealt with the owner .

These insurance approved repairers are screwed down on price so they will only do the minimal amount of work

They stay in business because the insurance companies keep feeding them work , infact several of the larger 'chain' body shops are owned by insurance companies.

"steve robinson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org...

: : What the op and others need to realise is that the tradesman may : fully agree with the op in this case however the op is not paying the : bill the insurance company is and extra work has to be paid for

Exactly, and that is were "Betterment" comes in.

They don't need to 'generate work' it's handed to them by the insurance Co, often via email or fax, nine times out of ten

So what your saying is that the garage can do a poor job as long as the vehicle owner signs it as ok, then that's all right.

Yes there could be a similar scenario here but if the sprayer has chosen the correct paint type which is reasonable to assume because the formulae is still readily available there would be no issue, especially as there is only one colour shade as previously discussed.

Stephen.

The only difference now is water based paint has been introduced along with low VOC but the mixing furmulae still remains the same as does the twin-pack paint.

You can still paint a modern car in the same paint type today as you could 30 years ago, yes we have alternatives but the same paint in use today is still classed as modern.

Not with a metallic twin-pack it won't, cellulose will yes.

What I'm trying to ascertain here is that the garage could use many methods to match the paint better simply from the gun, but he has just sprayed the panels without caring if it matched or not.

Stephen.