Any idea approximately how much this might cost?

VanyaHargreeves

I feel like such an idiot, I got distracted by someone changing lanes very close in front of me today on an A road, and ended up scraping the wheel arch of my car on the crash barrier whilst going around a corner.

I can't believe I did it, but luckily there was no injury, no other car involved, just some scratches to the wheel arch. Some of the scratches are really deep though, going right down to the metal.

Obviously I would like to keep the cost as low as possible, so if I can do anything about it myself rather than going to a garage, that would be preferable.

Any advice? I have had a look into fixing it myself but I'm not sure if the scratches are too severe for that. If I were to take it to a garage, does anyone have any idea how much it might cost to fix?

Thanks so much in advance.

agrinnall

What car is it? A 20 year old Ford will cost a lot less to repair than a brand new Ferrari.

VanyaHargreeves

agrinnall wrote: »

What car is it? A 20 year old Ford will cost a lot less to repair than a brand new Ferrari.

Thanks, good point

It's a Mercedes A Class A140 Classic.

chrisw

Also depends on age and value of car. If it's an old cheapie then just get some touch up paint to stop it rusting - it won't look briliiant but will do the job. If it's worth a bit more get some quotes from the Smart repair guys.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

These days there are people who specialise in small paint repairs and the chances are that this scrape can be sorted without spending a fortune on paint (which if a resprayer gets going has a minimum cost due to the effort in paint matching - £100 just for paint is not unusual and they often want to fit new parts too)

There are companies like ChipsAway who are pretty good at these sorts of repairs. I've used them and got a selection of dents and knocks cleaned up for around £100 or less.

They've got a picture of your car on "paint scratches" a nicely scraped front wing.

VanyaHargreeves

It's a 2003, worth about £1500ish - it's not had a single scratch on it before now and I really want to get it as unnoticeable as possible. Anyone have an approximate idea? Nearer £200 or £800?

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

VanyaHargreeves wrote: »

It's a 2003, worth about £1500ish - it's not had a single scratch on it before now and I really want to get it as unnoticeable as possible. Anyone have an approximate idea? Nearer £200 or £800?

£1000 got me 2 new wings and a partial respray of everything below the window.

Rather than asking here, ring ChipsAway or some other franchise and ask them to quote, then you'll know.

jaydeeuk1

Wife (honest) scrapped front wing of her mr2 down a bollard, couple of years ago chips away was £100ish to repair, they came out to us, and they even filled in stonechips on bonnet and bumper while they waited for wing to dry.

VanyaHargreeves

Great, thanks so much to all of you! I am planning to get a few quotes from various people tomorrow, but it was too late to do so by the time I got in, so I thought I'd ask on here meanwhile! Thanks for your help, and I'm relieved it won't cost as much as I thought it would!

Ebe_Scrooge

It's quite possible to do a reasonable job yourself. Any deep scratches need to be filled, then primed and painted, finally a going over with T-Cut to blend it in and a good waxing to finish. Places like Halfords can mix paint, but actually ( and unusually ! ) main dealers don't charge much for a can of the "official" paint for your car ( and lacquer if required ).

It won't be absolutely perfect, but it'll be near enough so that you don't notice it. It's not difficult, just time-consuming ( which is why it costs so much for a professional to do it, it's the time that costs ). And you're probably looking at something like £20 - £30 all in, assuming you need to buy paint, primer, filler and wet-and-dry paper.