Is it worth repairing a keying

paddyo57

My car was keyed down two panels some time ago. Due to the risk of having it happen again I did not have it repaired. I am now considering changing the car (a 57 Plate Audi A4) and have been quoted £250 to have the scratch repaired. My dilemma is that if I was to part ex the car would the value of the car with or without the repair differ by £250:think:?

InsideInsurance

Not an expert personally but I know the valuation engineers I used to work with used to deduct less than the cost of repairs from total loss settlements because people generally under estimate the cost of repairs. As the cars got older a lower percentage was deducted as people expect some minor marks etc

GoldenShadow

I've looked into this with my car (have a friend who works in a body shop and has his own tools etc) and he reckons I would be better just trading it in as it is because when it comes down to it they usually cost it a lot less than a body shop would.

I would imagine the value of the car with marks would be a bit less with the scratches, but I expect you will pay more to fix it, than they will add to the price. Ie. if you spend £250 I can't think they will add £250 onto what they would give you previously. So I wouldn't bother, personally.

I find bodywork is quite expensive where I am. I got quoted £110 for my car and my friend did it for me for £40 and a cup of tea (outside on a bloomin' cold November morning, may I add!)

motorguy

paddyo57 wrote: »

My car was keyed down two panels some time ago. Due to the risk of having it happen again I did not have it repaired. I am now considering changing the car (a 57 Plate Audi A4) and have been quoted £250 to have the scratch repaired. My dilemma is that if I was to part ex the car would the value of the car with or without the repair differ by £250:think:?

Trade it in on a wet rainy day?

motorguy

GoldenShadow wrote: »

I find bodywork is quite expensive where I am. I got quoted £110 for my car and my friend did it for me for £40 and a cup of tea (outside on a bloomin' cold November morning, may I add!)

You find bodywork quite expensive because it IS quite expensive to do it right.

If you can get mates rates to get a job done then super, but even in the trade i would expect to pay a minimum of £120 a panel to get the job done right

GoldenShadow

motorguy wrote: »

You find bodywork quite expensive because it IS quite expensive to do it right.

If you can get mates rates to get a job done then super, but even in the trade i would expect to pay a minimum of £120 a panel to get the job done right

The way you say per panel makes it sound like the whole piece is being done ie. respray. My post above should say £210, that was a typo. They were going to respray the entire panel basically, so I assume the same as what you are saying to do it *right*. My friend managed to essentially work on just the scratched bits with his tools because they weren't too deep. If you look immensely carefully on a bright day, apparently you can see a slight scar from them (I can't, I could when he showed me after he did it but I've never been able to re find it since then). He did a fab job on it and I wouldn't have thought he would have been able to do such a good job. Its been a good 8 months and there is no colour difference etc.

Either way it is an expensive business. More scratches have appeared on my car from my work car park but I wont get them fixed, will just trade it in with them on because I don't think it will be financially viable at all to get them fixed and then trade it in. Not without my friend (who I feel bad exploiting because he's busy) anyway!

londonTiger

they wont respray the entire panel, but they do have to blend the paint in because the new paint and aged paint is slightly differerent coloured. it may be worth just buying a new panel from breakers - if it's a cheap common car panels are super cheap.

motorguy

GoldenShadow wrote: »

The way you say per panel makes it sound like the whole piece is being done ie. respray. My post above should say £210, that was a typo. They were going to respray the entire panel basically, so I assume the same as what you are saying to do it *right*. My friend managed to essentially work on just the scratched bits with his tools because they weren't too deep. If you look immensely carefully on a bright day, apparently you can see a slight scar from them (I can't, I could when he showed me after he did it but I've never been able to re find it since then). He did a fab job on it and I wouldn't have thought he would have been able to do such a good job. Its been a good 8 months and there is no colour difference etc.

Either way it is an expensive business. More scratches have appeared on my car from my work car park but I wont get them fixed, will just trade it in with them on because I don't think it will be financially viable at all to get them fixed and then trade it in. Not without my friend (who I feel bad exploiting because he's busy) anyway!

As has been said, you cant just paint (part of) one panel, usually you have to blend / feather in to the next panel up. Also, if its metallic, they'll usually lacquer the next panel up anyway. So a score along two panels involves quite a bit of work.

A quick £40 repair may well suffice on a lot of cars (for instance like the one i drive!! ) but i'm not so sure some sort of touch up job that you can still see depending on how you look at it is going to be the answer on an 07 Audi worth maybe £5000-£7000.

motorguy

londonTiger wrote: »

they wont respray the entire panel, but they do have to blend the paint in because the new paint and aged paint is slightly differerent coloured. it may be worth just buying a new panel from breakers - if it's a cheap common car panels are super cheap.

+1

I've done this before. My son managed to park his car quite neatly in someones front garden whilst taking out most of their fence and a load of shrubs. The front bumper took most of the impact and the headlight brackets broke. For a new bumper or to repair the one that was on it would have cost a small fortune but i got one from a local scrappie the same colour for just £50, a second hand headlight for £30 and got a local guy to put it all back together for £140. Had it back on the road withing 24 hours.

Not sure if second hand panels would be the way to go on the O/P's 07 audi though, given its likely to be two consecutive panels meaning a wing and a door or a door and a door.

colino

With a 57 plate Audi, and assuming it's in metallic, it would be better to take it on the chin and get a bit less as is, rather than getting a lot less with a repair that will be spotted anyway. With silver metallic for example, depending on which panel needs work, you could end up "blending" half of a car to get it right.

londonTiger

57 audi is 5/6 year old car, so the economics might be a little different. Buying parts from breakers is cxost effective for 10+ year old common cars. YMMV.

Weigh out the cost of the repair against reduction in trade value. Also bear in mind traders have contracts with repairers and they can get significant volume discounts for work.