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Nationwide Crash Repair Centers. Avoid.
atrixblue.-MFR-.
Posts: 6,887 Forumite
There are a Few locked treads on here about the company, none that currently open so I thought I would share an experience ive had with them.
I understand that the quality you get may differ form one repair center to the next as they are national. but this is my experience form my local nationwide crash repair center in south wales.
I managed to catch the under carriage and sill on my car on a raised curbside, notified RSA Motability who wanted it taken in to be assessed due to under carriage damage. I originally just wanted to inform them of it, after looking at it myself on a friends garage 4 post ramp it there appears to be only scuffs on the undersealer and no denting and the sill dented and scratched But its their car and I cant argue with that.
Nationwide crash repair center collected the vehicle and dropped off a courtesy corsa 1.2 easytronic 13 plate, although my car a 1.6 diesel manual that was all they had, it had large dents and dings and a cracked bumper looked visually battered and bruised up, it had no fuel left in it either it was running on fumes.
When they DROVE my car away, it had half a tank from filling the day the mishap happened.
a few days later phone call to say it was ready.
they drove it back to me and collected courtesy. whether wasn't the best raining and dull outside so I couldn't make a full assessment on it to tell what the repair was like.
day later the whether perked up and was sunny, and OMG was the repair really bad.
I counted 7 fish eye's (if your not familiar with what fish eye means or looks like look here http://autobodystore.com/forum/showthread.php?19194-Do-I-have-solvent-pop-or-fisheye for an example) all around the fuel filler cap flap.
A large thick run, with multiple other smaller runs all across the rear quarter panel they attempted to colour sand out but not fully.
Obvious rub down scratches in the base coat in passenger door jam, door and C pillar into rear quarter panel around the filler cap and rear light edge of the C pillar all the way down to the front of the car where by there was thin white paint dribble under the lacquer on a red car!.
Untouched filler at the location of the sill scratch protruding out of the painted underseal sill guard on sill.
Deep Machine buffer scratches in window trim chrome strip, deep holographic swirls all over passenger door C pillar rear quarter (see here http://www.lustrdetail.com/Images/faqholograms.jpg for an exact example) missing clear scratch guard protectors on lower arch and door jam.
Gouge in paint above passenger door handle where they used a screwdriver to release the cover cap to gain access to the screws to remove handle and painted over this with no attempt to rectify it.
Finger print in passenger door edge.
Buffer burn through on passenger door edge to bare metal.
I started the car to discover my car, had travelled 40+ miles in their care, when the repair center is 28mile round trip and down on fuel.
I called the repair center to report the defects, I contacted RSA motablility to report the defects to them also to keep them informed, they (nationwide) arranged collection, and courtesy car. sent a truck this time to collect and we went through the car marking all the defects with a white paint pen.
I had no reason to go out after collection of my vehicle so it was a full day before I drove the courtesy car, this one was a corsa 1.4 sxi 2014 plate, this one also has dents and scratches.
A day later they then returned my car and upon inspection, it had been severly coloursanded and buffed up, hardly any defects were corrected within the paint and still the filler, thumb print. large runs, fisheyes were still present, so I rejected it.
I used the courtesy for the first time, that day and notice there was no bite to the clutch at all, infact there seemed to be leak as returning with car back home there was a large puddle of hydraulic fluid where the car had been parked up. I called to report it, and request a replacement courtesy, I was told I was the first to complain about it and would have to wait as they had none available. Until the next day.
I waited for a call the next day and nothing.
I started to panick a little as I had hospital appointment the next day and it was little notice to arrange a lift with anyone.
called that afternoon and they arranged for another vehicle to be dropped off, 7:30Pm they dropped it off, a citroen c4 Picasso 64 plate, this one also has damage to rear quarter rear bumper and rear door, it also appears to have disabled class tax in the window :eek:.
The gentleman who dropped this car off informed they are repainting the side of the car and that it maybe ready Saturday or Monday at the latest.
so if you have mishap I would avoid these and ask if the insurers have another approved repairer on their books. or you could end up having to send the car back repeatedly for them to get the work up to standard if they even can.
If they cant repair it properly this time round, I'm going to be instructing for a repair to be done at a dealership bodyshop instead and return of my excess.
I understand that the quality you get may differ form one repair center to the next as they are national. but this is my experience form my local nationwide crash repair center in south wales.
I managed to catch the under carriage and sill on my car on a raised curbside, notified RSA Motability who wanted it taken in to be assessed due to under carriage damage. I originally just wanted to inform them of it, after looking at it myself on a friends garage 4 post ramp it there appears to be only scuffs on the undersealer and no denting and the sill dented and scratched But its their car and I cant argue with that.
Nationwide crash repair center collected the vehicle and dropped off a courtesy corsa 1.2 easytronic 13 plate, although my car a 1.6 diesel manual that was all they had, it had large dents and dings and a cracked bumper looked visually battered and bruised up, it had no fuel left in it either it was running on fumes.
When they DROVE my car away, it had half a tank from filling the day the mishap happened.
a few days later phone call to say it was ready.
they drove it back to me and collected courtesy. whether wasn't the best raining and dull outside so I couldn't make a full assessment on it to tell what the repair was like.
day later the whether perked up and was sunny, and OMG was the repair really bad.
I counted 7 fish eye's (if your not familiar with what fish eye means or looks like look here http://autobodystore.com/forum/showthread.php?19194-Do-I-have-solvent-pop-or-fisheye for an example) all around the fuel filler cap flap.
A large thick run, with multiple other smaller runs all across the rear quarter panel they attempted to colour sand out but not fully.
Obvious rub down scratches in the base coat in passenger door jam, door and C pillar into rear quarter panel around the filler cap and rear light edge of the C pillar all the way down to the front of the car where by there was thin white paint dribble under the lacquer on a red car!.
Untouched filler at the location of the sill scratch protruding out of the painted underseal sill guard on sill.
Deep Machine buffer scratches in window trim chrome strip, deep holographic swirls all over passenger door C pillar rear quarter (see here http://www.lustrdetail.com/Images/faqholograms.jpg for an exact example) missing clear scratch guard protectors on lower arch and door jam.
Gouge in paint above passenger door handle where they used a screwdriver to release the cover cap to gain access to the screws to remove handle and painted over this with no attempt to rectify it.
Finger print in passenger door edge.
Buffer burn through on passenger door edge to bare metal.
I started the car to discover my car, had travelled 40+ miles in their care, when the repair center is 28mile round trip and down on fuel.
I called the repair center to report the defects, I contacted RSA motablility to report the defects to them also to keep them informed, they (nationwide) arranged collection, and courtesy car. sent a truck this time to collect and we went through the car marking all the defects with a white paint pen.
I had no reason to go out after collection of my vehicle so it was a full day before I drove the courtesy car, this one was a corsa 1.4 sxi 2014 plate, this one also has dents and scratches.
A day later they then returned my car and upon inspection, it had been severly coloursanded and buffed up, hardly any defects were corrected within the paint and still the filler, thumb print. large runs, fisheyes were still present, so I rejected it.
I used the courtesy for the first time, that day and notice there was no bite to the clutch at all, infact there seemed to be leak as returning with car back home there was a large puddle of hydraulic fluid where the car had been parked up. I called to report it, and request a replacement courtesy, I was told I was the first to complain about it and would have to wait as they had none available. Until the next day.
I waited for a call the next day and nothing.
I started to panick a little as I had hospital appointment the next day and it was little notice to arrange a lift with anyone.
called that afternoon and they arranged for another vehicle to be dropped off, 7:30Pm they dropped it off, a citroen c4 Picasso 64 plate, this one also has damage to rear quarter rear bumper and rear door, it also appears to have disabled class tax in the window :eek:.
The gentleman who dropped this car off informed they are repainting the side of the car and that it maybe ready Saturday or Monday at the latest.
so if you have mishap I would avoid these and ask if the insurers have another approved repairer on their books. or you could end up having to send the car back repeatedly for them to get the work up to standard if they even can.
If they cant repair it properly this time round, I'm going to be instructing for a repair to be done at a dealership bodyshop instead and return of my excess.
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Comments
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I've had two repairs at Nationwide Farlington Portsmouth and they have been fine.0
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Scratches and marks on the courtesy car aren't really a problem.
Did you get your car sorted in the end?0 -
Its still with them at the moment.Scratches and marks on the courtesy car aren't really a problem.
Did you get your car sorted in the end?
theres been no contact with me telling me what stage their at or nothing I'm not impressed with the service so far. I would have taken it elsewhere but RSA wanted them to try and rectify even after their chance the first time.0 -
When I ran a vehicle recovery Co' it wasn't very often that I went out on the job, but a few times I found myself the only one left in the yard.
I attached the the winch to the towing eye which screws into the front end on a big estate car {I forget what?}. Pressed the button on the remote to pull it up and the car stays there whilst the bumper clatters up the bed of the lorry !
"It had a front end smash 6mths ago" said the owner.
"Where'd you get it repaired mate"? says I, "Cos it looks like they rivetted the front beam on instead of welding it".
You guessed it.
Another good 'un. An elderly rastafarian in a very tasty MK4 Golf lost his N/S/F wheel on a traffic island and smashed into the railings designed to protect pedestrians.
"Me just had dat wing repaired an all, tch"
"Well I can't see any reason why the wheel fell off other than the nuts were loose M8, when was it repaired"?
"Bout 4hrs ago . . . at dat place down by de riverside".
Yep, you guessed it.0 -
I've never heard the expression colour sanding. What does that mean please?0
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I've never heard the expression colour sanding. What does that mean please?
sanding off the top layer of paint with 1500 grit wet n dry.. then polishing it
did it on a really badly faded corsa once. came up like glass smooth paint.. however you need to know how many layers of paint are left as you could end up going back to primer...:rotfl:Sealed pot challenger # 10
1v100 £15/3000 -
sanding off the top layer of paint with 1500 grit wet n dry.. then polishing it
did it on a really badly faded corsa once. came up like glass smooth paint.. however you need to know how many layers of paint are left as you could end up going back to primer...:rotfl:
Ah you mean flatting. The vast majority of cars are clear over base these days anyway, probably why I didn't recognise the terminology. Thank you.
Don't get hung up on having it repaired at a dealership, instead ask around for a recommendation for a good bodyshop. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising and even the dealership sites don't get it right every time and that's even assuming they don't sub the work out anyway.0 -
I use the term color sanding as apposed to flatting:Ah you mean flatting. The vast majority of cars are clear over base these days anyway, probably why I didn't recognise the terminology. Thank you.
Don't get hung up on having it repaired at a dealership, instead ask around for a recommendation for a good bodyshop. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising and even the dealership sites don't get it right every time and that's even assuming they don't sub the work out anyway.
Colour sanding to me is getting the right texture in the lacquer to meet the untouched panels matching orange peel to orange peel in other repaired panels if you will, sometimes too much applied lacquer can make the base look off color so you sand the lacquer back to "colour match" without flattening the paint to have that mirror finish or youll spot the difference in reflections compared to other panels.
Flattening to me is: flattening the paint/lacquer to get a base for polishing to a mirror appearance, as light is reflected back to the eye directly this way and make images in the paint appear mirror like and glossy depending on your skill, products used and level of polishing , your not aiming for this type of "quality" if you will in the colour sanding process with a repair your simply aiming to match the other unrepaired panels around the repair.
same principle different end goals.
My local vehicle manufacturers dealership are pretty spot on, ive seen a few examples of their work and I'm impressed with it. even a poor repair by them would blow this companies best out the water.0 -
atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »I use the term color sanding as apposed to flatting:
Colour sanding to me is getting the right texture in the lacquer to meet the untouched panels matching orange peel to orange peel in other repaired panels if you will, sometimes too much applied lacquer can make the base look off color so you sand the lacquer back to "colour match" without flattening the paint to have that mirror finish or youll spot the difference in reflections compared to other panels.
Flattening to me is: flattening the paint/lacquer to get a base for polishing to a mirror appearance, as light is reflected back to the eye directly this way and make images in the paint appear mirror like and glossy depending on your skill, products used and level of polishing , your not aiming for this type of "quality" if you will in the colour sanding process with a repair your simply aiming to match the other unrepaired panels around the repair.
same principle different end goals.
My local vehicle manufacturers dealership are pretty spot on, ive seen a few examples of their work and I'm impressed with it. even a poor repair by them would blow this companies best out the water.
It's flatting, not flattening and given the very small percentage of cars that have solid paint these days, the term colour sanding seemingly is no longer used in the bodyshop trade. I visit 25 body shops a week and have yet to hear "colour sanding" talked about. Flatting is the process carried out as part of the paint rectification process whether that be full panels or localised areas for minor defects and the aim of the game is to make the panel match in with the rest of the vehicle.
It can be done either by machine or by hand depending upon the size, location and nature of the defect. The amount carried out will often depend upon the painters habits (whether he/she is capable of getting a gun finish) and the state of the workshop. The method of flatting used will depend upon the process in place in the bodyshop and that will differ from place to place. Wet flatting is considered old fashioned and messy as well as slow.
You don't touch basecoat unless it's a solid colour which have made a sharp decline in recent years.
Again on the dealership work, there are non approved places who will do a fantastic job, there are dealerships who will do a crap work. You're always better off getting a recommendation from someone who has actually used the bodyshop. Definitely push the insurance company to send it somewhere else though, it is your vehicle at the end of the day.0 -
why were they painting C pilars, near the fuel filler, doors when the damage was the underside/sill?0
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