ChipsAway reviews on the forums

[Anatol]

Stephen,

Go on an open day.

Then, for a very wide variety of opinions on the franchise offerings out there, join www.smartrepairforum.com

See you there!

Tol

[jlj76]

Hi,



GF reversed into a peugeot 207 back and there appears to be some minor scratches. The bloke has now got back to us and said:
somethings cracked - effectively the back plastic bit on the car and blend in the painting.
and that is going to cost £266.
I was wondering if this is the ballpark figure for something like that.
What are my options?
here is a pic of the damange

http://i39.tinypic.com/fm29ty.jpg

thanks

Jon

[gio6500]

Has anyone used the guy in the Northwest? His name is Carl Mullineux
I have a black metallic Audi A4 with a few scratches here and there and a scuff to bumper. Will this be corrected using the two-mark system which I am assuming that is still being used by CA?

Cheers

[isee]

Hi Anatol, Picked up a nasty scratch on the side of the rear bumper and the front of the car is beginning to go "starry night" on me.
What price and results can reasonably expect on an Interlagos Blue BMW?

Also, could you recommend a London contact for the job pls?

Best regards

Isee

Edited by isee on Tuesday 7th September 19:21

[Assassin007]

There are some unhappy chipsaway franchisees by the looks of things:

http://www.canyoutrustthem.com/index.php?go=detail...

[magnus911]

If it helps anyone; I recently used chipsaway in Battersea (near the heliport) and was satisfied with the work. Small dent, some missing paint and some big, deep scratches caused by driving over a rock. They made it look pretty new and the costs were reasonable.

[laminad123]

I can recommend Chris Game of chipsaway. Did a good job on the rear bumper of my E46, paint taken off exposing a bit of black plastic. thorough job done and now looks good as new.



probably not the most challenging request but i thought service and communication was v good

Dan

[Ullevi]

Nice job.

Is what I've heard right, that you cannot wash the car for a couple of weeks after one of these repairs ?

[laminad123]

Ullevi said:

Nice job.

Is what I've heard right, that you cannot wash the car for a couple of weeks after one of these repairs ?

He recommended leaving it 3/4 days. I should be getting other spots on the car done in the near future (this was an accident caused by someone else)

I like the way they are honest about what is/isn't achievable/sensible. Dent masters semi attempted to flatten out a dent in my front wing on the wheel arch crease. Did a crud job but charged me half the amount. Should have had it replaced in retrospect

[Terzo123]

It's with a heavy heart that i have to post on this thread

A work colleague has managed to damage the front of my car, by means of heavy rubber jet wash hose. He's pulled the hose across the bonnet and both wings, and then down the bonnet and off side wing. The whole bonnet is covered in small sctatches, some worse than others, and the tops of both the wings are similar

I've been to two body shops, both have quoted within a tenner of each other and both say the same thing, namely that the bonnet and wings need painted.

The colleague responsible has held his hand up and is willing to get the car repaired, but is wanting me to get a quote from the likes of chipsaway/sprayaway

Can such companies do these kind of repairs.

My main worry is that they say they can do the repair, and the resulting job is crap.

[Anatol]

IMHO, no professional repairer will attempt a bonnet (or indeed a three-full-panel) repaint outside of a controlled environment.

HSE guidance is also very clear that doing this would be illegal under COSHH law and leave both the repairer and potentially their customer liable to an unlimited fine.

However, scratching from hose grit may (depending on the type and amount of current finish) be suitable for polishing out. Before committing to a bodyshop front end respray it may be worth speaking to a pro detailer about what can be achieved (and at what price point) with their techniques.

If paint is needed, I would suggest that the only legal and professional way to get a front-end respray done is in a spraybooth. Several ChipsAway (or other similarly-branded repairers) have fixed sites with booths, and their focus on paint and light panel damage means they do not have some of the most expensive overheads of a major-crash repair shop, courting insurance work, so they might be suitable and more competitive than the quotes you already have. It may be work doing some research on the local branches and seeing if you can get them to beat your quotes.

Best of luck.

Tol

[ExPat2B]

Tell him to Foxtrot Oscar.

Your own car and non fault damage ? Don't touch chips away with a bargepole.

The finish WILL be be substandard.

It WILL deteriorate faster over time than the surrounding paintwork.


The only time chips away makes sense is if you have damaged the car yourself and can't afford a full respray.

If someone else damages your car through their own negligence then there is only one option and that is a bodyshop repair.

[Anatol]

ExPat2B said:

Don't touch chips away with a bargepole.

The finish WILL be be substandard.

It WILL deteriorate faster over time than the surrounding paintwork.


The only time chips away makes sense is if you have damaged the car yourself and can't afford a full respray.

I own a bodyshop. I also operate a small fleet of ChipsAway vans. I have extensive experience of both repair methods, and no reason to be biased towards either. In my professional opinion, either method can achieve professional or unacceptable results, and either can result in acceptable repair durability or not. It is down to the skill of the individual repairer, as with any skilled trade.

The above advice is both wrong, unhelpful, borders on actionable, and flouts the name and shame rules without even daring to give an example. Shame on you, sir.

[ExPat2B]

Anatol said:

ExPat2B said:

Don't touch chips away with a bargepole.

The finish WILL be be substandard.

It WILL deteriorate faster over time than the surrounding paintwork.


The only time chips away makes sense is if you have damaged the car yourself and can't afford a full respray.

I own a bodyshop. I also operate a small fleet of ChipsAway vans. I have extensive experience of both repair methods, and no reason to be biased towards either. In my professional opinion, either method can achieve professional or unacceptable results, and either can result in acceptable repair durability or not. It is down to the skill of the individual repairer, as with any skilled trade.

The above advice is both wrong, unhelpful, borders on actionable, and flouts the name and shame rules without even daring to give an example. Shame on you, sir.

I am really suprised at your reaction.

If someone else damages your car - the only acceptable end result is the car returned to the same state as before - finish, durability and corrosion guaranteed.

I speak from personal experience, I have had chips away work done on my cars before. I was happy with the ( imperfect ) results - but were they to the same standard as a bodyshop respray ? No way ! and after a couple of years of salt and sun you could definatly see the repairs.

I honestly don't know how you can compare the finish and durability of the two. I have had multiple resprays and multiple chips away repairs and the results were always higher quality with a bodyshop respray.

Bringing skill into this is not really relevant is it ? a poor technician will do a bad job regardless of what he is using. And I flat out refuse to believe that a skilled chips away repair will ever achive the same standards as a skilled complete panel respray as there will always be blending involved.

[Anatol]

ExPat2B said:

I am really suprised at your reaction.

If someone else damages your car - the only acceptable end result is the car returned to the same state as before - finish, durability and corrosion guaranteed.

I speak from personal experience, I have had chips away work done on my cars before.

That is like saying "I have had a bodyshop work on my cars before - and than therefore speak to the quality of all bodyshop repairs". If you're going to ignore the name and shame rules, at least have the decency to name the individual technician you were not happy with. Don't tar with the same brush an entire industry.

The most recent iteration of the paint system is a 2k product. Experience of the (now illegal) old 1k product really doesn't tell you anything about the current durability. ChipsAway offer lifetime warranties on their work. This is *superior* to the manufacturer warranty, and the majority of bodyshops.

ExPat2B said:

I honestly don't know how you can compare the finish and durability of the two. I have had multiple resprays and multiple chips away repairs and the results were always higher quality with a bodyshop respray.

We do thousands of each, every year. The results are identical for either method or we don't return them to customers. Your example may be good evidence of the poor work of one or perhaps a couple of branches, but that CANNOT be used, as you have, to give a blanket prediction of how every branch in the market will perform. Our testimonials page is full of happy comments from PistonHeaders. We achieve results that enthusiasts are delighted with.

ExPat2B said:

Bringing skill into this is not really relevant is it ?

Hugely. Bodywork is a skilled trade. All our repairers are at least trained to NVQ3 or have completed traditional apprenticeships in vehicle body and paint. All repairers under the ChipsAway brand are required to complete mandatory re-accreditation repairs on a regular basis to ensure skill level. This requirement is not made of the vast majority of repair technicians in the marketplace.

ExPat2B said:

And I flat out refuse to believe that a skilled chips away repair will ever achive the same standards as a skilled complete panel respray as there will always be blending involved.

Well, that speaks to your intellectual honesty. I can attest to the results of literally thousands of repairs, bodyshop and ChipsAway, provided with a lifetime warranty, in the nearly 8 years since I took over the business I own. You may flat out refuse to believe the standards, but that doesn't mean the evidence agrees with you. Suggesting that a brand that has become without doubt the most successful in body repair cannot achieve results that customers find acceptable begs the question of how any the branches in that brand thrive - and they do.

And if you think that bodyshop repairs do not involve blending - this is simply wrong. Blending up the C pillar is a technique every single bodyshop employs, for example, otherwise on cars without a roofline gutter, a rear quarter repaint becomes also roof, upper and lower sill, a post, and the opposite rear quarter, and sills - which insurance companies simply will not pay for.

Out of interest, what do you think are the inherent differences between a repair in a bodyshop or a ChipsAway repair? What about between a ChipsAway bodyshop and a non-ChipsAway bodyshop? How do you distinguish these offerings when making blanket advice as to the quality?

Bad paintwork can come out of any repairer. So can good. SMART repairer or bodyshop. And a ChipsAway repair comes with a lifetime warranty underwritten by the network itself - the largest repair network worldwide. Ensuring you get a repair that stays looking pristine is a feature of the brand - unlike the vast majority of bodyshops.

I've said it before, but if someone (particularly a layperson) thinks they can really predict how people they've not met, using techniques and materials they've no training in, will perform on repairing damage that they've not seen, based on a very limited set of data given the size of the marketplace, then that's a matter for them, but it's very unlikely to persuade anyone else not similarly prejudiced.

[Carlton Banks]

Anatol said:

ExPat2B said:

I am really suprised at your reaction.

If someone else damages your car - the only acceptable end result is the car returned to the same state as before - finish, durability and corrosion guaranteed.

I speak from personal experience, I have had chips away work done on my cars before.

That is like saying "I have had a bodyshop work on my cars before - and than therefore speak to the quality of all bodyshop repairs". If you're going to ignore the name and shame rules, at least have the decency to name the individual technician you were not happy with. Don't tar with the same brush an entire industry.

The most recent iteration of the paint system is a 2k product. Experience of the (now illegal) old 1k product really doesn't tell you anything about the current durability. ChipsAway offer lifetime warranties on their work. This is *superior* to the manufacturer warranty, and the majority of bodyshops.

ExPat2B said:

I honestly don't know how you can compare the finish and durability of the two. I have had multiple resprays and multiple chips away repairs and the results were always higher quality with a bodyshop respray.

We do thousands of each, every year. The results are identical for either method or we don't return them to customers. Your example may be good evidence of the poor work of one or perhaps a couple of branches, but that CANNOT be used, as you have, to give a blanket prediction of how every branch in the market will perform. Our testimonials page is full of happy comments from PistonHeaders. We achieve results that enthusiasts are delighted with.

ExPat2B said:

Bringing skill into this is not really relevant is it ?

Hugely. Bodywork is a skilled trade. All our repairers are at least trained to NVQ3 or have completed traditional apprenticeships in vehicle body and paint. All repairers under the ChipsAway brand are required to complete mandatory re-accreditation repairs on a regular basis to ensure skill level. This requirement is not made of the vast majority of repair technicians in the marketplace.

ExPat2B said:

And I flat out refuse to believe that a skilled chips away repair will ever achive the same standards as a skilled complete panel respray as there will always be blending involved.

Well, that speaks to your intellectual honesty. I can attest to the results of literally thousands of repairs, bodyshop and ChipsAway, provided with a lifetime warranty, in the nearly 8 years since I took over the business I own. You may flat out refuse to believe the standards, but that doesn't mean the evidence agrees with you. Suggesting that a brand that has become without doubt the most successful in body repair cannot achieve results that customers find acceptable begs the question of how any the branches in that brand thrive - and they do.

And if you think that bodyshop repairs do not involve blending - this is simply wrong. Blending up the C pillar is a technique every single bodyshop employs, for example, otherwise on cars without a roofline gutter, a rear quarter repaint becomes also roof, upper and lower sill, a post, and the opposite rear quarter, and sills - which insurance companies simply will not pay for.

Out of interest, what do you think are the inherent differences between a repair in a bodyshop or a ChipsAway repair? What about between a ChipsAway bodyshop and a non-ChipsAway bodyshop? How do you distinguish these offerings when making blanket advice as to the quality?

Bad paintwork can come out of any repairer. So can good. SMART repairer or bodyshop. And a ChipsAway repair comes with a lifetime warranty underwritten by the network itself - the largest repair network worldwide. Ensuring you get a repair that stays looking pristine is a feature of the brand - unlike the vast majority of bodyshops.

I've said it before, but if someone (particularly a layperson) thinks they can really predict how people you've not met, using techniques and materials you've no training in, will perform on repairing damage that you've not seen, based on a very limited set of data given the size of the marketplace, then that's a matter for them, but it's very unlikely to persuade anyone else not similarly prejudiced.

Anatol wins with a well reasoned argument.

[johnpeat]

I think there's a bit of a dislike of 'roadside' paintwork repair services because - and I'm basing this only on my experience - a lot of them will attempt mobile repairs which are beyond the scope of that.

The bodyshop where I worked did a LOT of rectification work for dealers who'd called in mobile repair companies to repair relative minor paintwork problems (bumper scrapes, minor vandalism etc.) - and a ChipsAway franchise(?) was amongst those...

End of the day, the circumstances where you can effect paintwork repair in the open-air are limited, to say the least! The number of cases where they'd attempted a repair only have the repair literally 'wash off' or where the match was atrocious was considerable.

Bodyshops can, of course, do a poor job too - but the ability to control the environment in which you work is a key part of getting a decent result and you cannot do that on a dealer pitch or outside someone's house.

With dealers, it was perhaps a two-sided coin tho. They wanted the repair done cheaply and quickly, having us come and collect the car and take a few days to return it isn't ideal and so perhaps the dealer was partly responsible for pressing the repairer to 'have a go' - I obviously don't know that.

For private punters tho - they need to be better informed of the differences in quality available for ALL forms of repair (esp the taxi driver I saw yesterday who's 10-plate Saab was three entirely different shades of Silver!!)

[ExPat2B]

Carlton Banks said:

Anatol said:

ExPat2B said:

I am really suprised at your reaction.

If someone else damages your car - the only acceptable end result is the car returned to the same state as before - finish, durability and corrosion guaranteed.

I speak from personal experience, I have had chips away work done on my cars before.

That is like saying "I have had a bodyshop work on my cars before - and than therefore speak to the quality of all bodyshop repairs". If you're going to ignore the name and shame rules, at least have the decency to name the individual technician you were not happy with. Don't tar with the same brush an entire industry.

The most recent iteration of the paint system is a 2k product. Experience of the (now illegal) old 1k product really doesn't tell you anything about the current durability. ChipsAway offer lifetime warranties on their work. This is *superior* to the manufacturer warranty, and the majority of bodyshops.

ExPat2B said:

I honestly don't know how you can compare the finish and durability of the two. I have had multiple resprays and multiple chips away repairs and the results were always higher quality with a bodyshop respray.

We do thousands of each, every year. The results are identical for either method or we don't return them to customers. Your example may be good evidence of the poor work of one or perhaps a couple of branches, but that CANNOT be used, as you have, to give a blanket prediction of how every branch in the market will perform. Our testimonials page is full of happy comments from PistonHeaders. We achieve results that enthusiasts are delighted with.

ExPat2B said:

Bringing skill into this is not really relevant is it ?

Hugely. Bodywork is a skilled trade. All our repairers are at least trained to NVQ3 or have completed traditional apprenticeships in vehicle body and paint. All repairers under the ChipsAway brand are required to complete mandatory re-accreditation repairs on a regular basis to ensure skill level. This requirement is not made of the vast majority of repair technicians in the marketplace.

ExPat2B said:

And I flat out refuse to believe that a skilled chips away repair will ever achive the same standards as a skilled complete panel respray as there will always be blending involved.

Well, that speaks to your intellectual honesty. I can attest to the results of literally thousands of repairs, bodyshop and ChipsAway, provided with a lifetime warranty, in the nearly 8 years since I took over the business I own. You may flat out refuse to believe the standards, but that doesn't mean the evidence agrees with you. Suggesting that a brand that has become without doubt the most successful in body repair cannot achieve results that customers find acceptable begs the question of how any the branches in that brand thrive - and they do.

And if you think that bodyshop repairs do not involve blending - this is simply wrong. Blending up the C pillar is a technique every single bodyshop employs, for example, otherwise on cars without a roofline gutter, a rear quarter repaint becomes also roof, upper and lower sill, a post, and the opposite rear quarter, and sills - which insurance companies simply will not pay for.

Out of interest, what do you think are the inherent differences between a repair in a bodyshop or a ChipsAway repair? What about between a ChipsAway bodyshop and a non-ChipsAway bodyshop? How do you distinguish these offerings when making blanket advice as to the quality?

Bad paintwork can come out of any repairer. So can good. SMART repairer or bodyshop. And a ChipsAway repair comes with a lifetime warranty underwritten by the network itself - the largest repair network worldwide. Ensuring you get a repair that stays looking pristine is a feature of the brand - unlike the vast majority of bodyshops.

I've said it before, but if someone (particularly a layperson) thinks they can really predict how people you've not met, using techniques and materials you've no training in, will perform on repairing damage that you've not seen, based on a very limited set of data given the size of the marketplace, then that's a matter for them, but it's very unlikely to persuade anyone else not similarly prejudiced.

Anatol wins with a well reasoned argument.

Anatol, what do you make of the Chips away guarantee ? from http://www.chipsaway.co.uk/guarantee-terms

"Chip repairs, 'touch-ins' and any other repairs identified as such to the customer by ChipsAway will be on an 'improve only' basis (i.e. that we will do our best to improve the look of the vehicle), and no representation is made and no guarantee offered that such a repair will be in any way undetectable against the original finish. Repairs may be identified as an "attempt to improve only" in which case ChipsAway do not guarantee any improvement."

[Anatol]

That's repairs to stone chips that aren't sprayed or "Touch-ins", and repairs explicitly identified as such - for example when polishing out light scratches in the lacquer layer. In our branch we only offer these sorts of work as a free courtesy extra.

All our sprayed-paint repairs come with the lifetime, unlimited-mileage warranty that is a feature of the ChipsAway brand.

[10 Pence Short]

At what point are the mods going to be consistent and halt this advertisement?