Bumper repair and spray quote difference

Wilkesy

Active Member
May 1, 2018
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So dented (cracked) front bumper and grazed all way down from under my headlight to the bottom of my headlight. Had a few quotes for a fix and respray and to my amazement it’s not a brand new bumper and respray job.

had a few quotes with quite a difference price difference to others.A body shop around the corner from me are wanting £330 for a fix and respray and to which they stated it’s mainly down to a labour charge that’s why it’s higher. A guy can come to my house and do it as a mobile service for £200 with a different company.

Now I’m not an expert but would it be worth saving £130 because of labour charges or is this a sort of job where it’s pay cheap get cheap services sort of thing or is just down to labour charges at the end of the day.
 

BigJase88

Jase
Apr 20, 2008
3,767
1,069
guy on driveway will do it for cheaper but will be a temporary job, spraying outside with rattle cans in the wind isn't a pro job.

Nice and cheap if you want to sell the car on, but bodyshop and proper job if you plan to keep the car
 
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Seriously?

Active Member
Apr 20, 2018
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Bodyshop every day of the week - OK there are varying standards of bodyshop, but in theory a properly controlled spraying environment is always going to give a better result than spraying outside on a damp day with the wind blowing the dust around (or a hot day where the paint dries before it hits the car)
 
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KXL

KXL
Dec 15, 2016
1,581
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London, UK
Body shop, as the saying goes, pay cheap, pay twice...(for mobile fitting). I guess only if you're doing things like window tints or tyre change, or small scratch repairs, mobile van is ok..but for bigger jobs, wortkshop/body shop is better..not sure if you're based in London or not, but there's a wheel place near Hendon stn that have done a good job for my rims and minor cracks and scrapes.
 

Damo H

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guy on driveway will do it for cheaper but will be a temporary job, spraying outside with rattle cans in the wind isn't a pro job.

Nice and cheap if you want to sell the car on, but bodyshop and proper job if you plan to keep the car
Exactly this! Spraying in the wind is going to get overspray everywhere else.
 

SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
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Definitely go for the body shop repair if you’re planning on keeping the car.

In addition to the body shop being a much better environment for painting, it’ll also be better repairing the crack in the bumper (plastic welding and filling) in a body shop’s temperature controlled environment, rather than have the mobile guy repair it out in the open on your driveway.
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
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I'd say not only a body shop but make sure it's a good one. Ideally, you want the whole bumper painted and ideally, off the car.
 
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SRGTD

Active Member
May 26, 2014
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I'd say not only a body shop but make sure it's a good one. Ideally, you want the whole bumper painted and ideally, off the car.
Agree. I’d assume it would be easier to repair the damage to the bumper off the car, but it’s dangerous to assume all body shops would do a bumper-off job.
 

martin j.

Active Member
Feb 11, 2007
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I would get more quotes, not every Bodyshop will quote the same or be of the same capabilities, I would also ask if they are repair or replace jobs.
 

Wilkesy

Active Member
May 1, 2018
255
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Well the 330 quote explained what they do and they take the bumper off to do the repair and paint and it’s a two day job. He did say once or twice now with available compounds/products it wouldn’t have to Be a new bumper job. Most quotes were done by picture, where as these guys they work around the corner so they have seen the damage in person
 

Mr Pig

Active Member
Jun 17, 2015
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Ask around and see what sort of rep they get. There are more not very great paint shops than good ones. Typically, you're going to see it. Overspray or a not perfect match. To be honest you can often see a slight missmatch on bumpers anyway but it shouldn't be noticeable.

By the way. If hey say the match will improve once it 'beds in', it won't!
 

Wilkesy

Active Member
May 1, 2018
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Anyone had under number plate and bottom lip of the front bumper painted gloss black on a white mk3 leon?

Car is booked in for a front bumper fix and respray(see previous post). The guy mentioned hes painted a lot of leons with gloss black on the front bumper lip and says it'll finish the car off nicely. He offered so i had no intensions of doing it but he also offered to paint it back to white if I didnt like it free of charge, but he is hesitant that I will like it. Also under the my number plate is wrapped and I might ask him to paint that gloss black too, my only thought is this wont devalue the car will it if I want to trade it in? Obviously wrap can stripped off where as paint wont.

cheers.
 

Damo H

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Anyone had under number plate and bottom lip of the front bumper painted gloss black on a white mk3 leon?

Car is booked in for a front bumper fix and respray(see previous post). The guy mentioned hes painted a lot of leons with gloss black on the front bumper lip and says it'll finish the car off nicely. He offered so i had no intensions of doing it but he also offered to paint it back to white if I didnt like it free of charge, but he is hesitant that I will like it. Also under the my number plate is wrapped and I might ask him to paint that gloss black too, my only thought is this wont devalue the car will it if I want to trade it in? Obviously wrap can stripped off where as paint wont.

cheers.
It looks great. The bit under the number plate on Cupras is a black panel anyway. My car was traded in with it on and sold that way to the next owner. See the photo on my signature, click to see bigger photos.
 

Wilkesy

Active Member
May 1, 2018
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It looks great. The bit under the number plate on Cupras is a black panel anyway. My car was traded in with it on and sold that way to the next owner. See the photo on my signature, click to see bigger photos.
Okay thanks a lot of people on the m3 group said plasti dip would be better, think the guy I’m using to paint the car might just be using black gloss paint

just worried if it stone chips it might look a mess or is it easy to go over it if needed
 
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Damo H

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Okay thanks a lot of people on the m3 group said plasti dip would be better, think the guy I’m using to paint the car night just be using black gloss paint

just worried if it stone chips it might look a mess or is it easy to go over it if needed
So long as it’s sprayed properly it’ll be fine.
 
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