ChipsAway reviews on the forums
Discussion
Saabyfox,
Silvers are known in the trade as 'tricky to match' but that's not actually accurate. Matching the colour is very straightforward, but since you're not actually dealing with paint, but lots of little aluminium flakes in a binder, blending a repair into the original finish requires a much higher degree of finesse than with flat colours, or the distribution and alignment of the flakes just shows up the new paintwork really obviously despite the fact that the paint is exactly the same formula . Hence why even minor scratches may need to be blended out to a large area to look seamless.
ChipsAway operators who have not graduated to our two-pack paint system would almost certainly not take on scratches on a high-profile silver panel - and rightly so, the one-pack would not offer a satisfactory repair.
With chipping, if you imagine where a chunk has been taken out of the paintwork by a stone chip, the aluminium flakes are going to sit at a different angle all round the altered profile, and reflect the light differently, appearing darker or lighter than the original paintwork - in the same way that two halves of one panel split by a change-in-angle crease line look different tones. The only way with silvers to achieve a natural repair is to totally restore the profile (ie, filler skim and hand flat each chip (!) or grind back to bare metal and respray edge to edge). Not a feature of SMART repair, or any particular brand, it's just the physics of reflection.
All part of the reason why, for any repairer of any brand, repairs to high-metallic cars are always more expensive.
Witchfinder - isn't that just a feature of humanity? Kinda harsh to point the finger at all Chips franchisees too, that's an experience of one particular guy. Others may offer more consistency...
CG
>> Edited by ChipsAway Guy on Wednesday 17th May 09:30
Silvers are known in the trade as 'tricky to match' but that's not actually accurate. Matching the colour is very straightforward, but since you're not actually dealing with paint, but lots of little aluminium flakes in a binder, blending a repair into the original finish requires a much higher degree of finesse than with flat colours, or the distribution and alignment of the flakes just shows up the new paintwork really obviously despite the fact that the paint is exactly the same formula . Hence why even minor scratches may need to be blended out to a large area to look seamless.
ChipsAway operators who have not graduated to our two-pack paint system would almost certainly not take on scratches on a high-profile silver panel - and rightly so, the one-pack would not offer a satisfactory repair.
With chipping, if you imagine where a chunk has been taken out of the paintwork by a stone chip, the aluminium flakes are going to sit at a different angle all round the altered profile, and reflect the light differently, appearing darker or lighter than the original paintwork - in the same way that two halves of one panel split by a change-in-angle crease line look different tones. The only way with silvers to achieve a natural repair is to totally restore the profile (ie, filler skim and hand flat each chip (!) or grind back to bare metal and respray edge to edge). Not a feature of SMART repair, or any particular brand, it's just the physics of reflection.
All part of the reason why, for any repairer of any brand, repairs to high-metallic cars are always more expensive.
Witchfinder - isn't that just a feature of humanity? Kinda harsh to point the finger at all Chips franchisees too, that's an experience of one particular guy. Others may offer more consistency...
CG
>> Edited by ChipsAway Guy on Wednesday 17th May 09:30
ChipsAway Guy said:
Waynepixel - ChipsAway is one of the most expensive franchises to buy into. And I'd know - I have bought three territories off them! The flip side to that is that they don't take a percentage, rather it's a fixed weekly license fee. They're consistently in the running for franchisor of the year, and the undisputed market leader in their sector, so they can afford to set high prices to buy in. Many operators run as one man/woman and a van, while others have fixed sites or a fleet, and plenty of employees. We're recruiting for a trainee technician at the moment - but we're quite a long way from you in Kent... Raising finance to buy a franchise off them is pretty easy though - the banks know they're a good bet for a business development loan. If you're looking at it as a business option, feel free to drop us a line; we act as supplementary trainers and business development mentors for franchisees starting up, so we know the answers to most of the questions.
Night all!
The ChipsAway Guy
Thanks for your help and information regarding ChipsAway. So am I wright in thinking that most of your work come from the ChipsAway network of clients.
Not sure I understand what you mean by the ChipsAway client network. If you're asking whether or not most of our time is spent working for other ChipsAway operators (as trainers/developers) then no, that's only about 3 or 4 weekends a year out of our turnover.
Some ChipsAway businesses will have a network of dealerships they draw work from on a regular basis, some will be mostly or exclusively retail, others will have a mix. I would say that with our business we are about 95% retail work, with business coming from ordinary advertising such as Yellow Pages, yell.com, newspaper ads, leaflet drops, and the like.
We have some national accounts - the AA and its membership, Walon, Allianz Cornhill, and a few other large national fleets, but apart from that there's no network of established clients.
HTH
CG
Some ChipsAway businesses will have a network of dealerships they draw work from on a regular basis, some will be mostly or exclusively retail, others will have a mix. I would say that with our business we are about 95% retail work, with business coming from ordinary advertising such as Yellow Pages, yell.com, newspaper ads, leaflet drops, and the like.
We have some national accounts - the AA and its membership, Walon, Allianz Cornhill, and a few other large national fleets, but apart from that there's no network of established clients.
HTH
CG
JonRB said:
Yeah - shite!
How are you meant to know if your local ChipsAway operative is any good if there is no consistency between franchises?
Exactly, your branding is ChipsAway, if some franchises are bad they will ruin the reputation for all, you need to raise the standard of you franchises it is as simple as that.
Despite your claims I shall never use your franchises.
Dakkon said:
Exactly, your branding is ChipsAway, if some franchises are bad they will ruin the reputation for all, you need to raise the standard of you franchises it is as simple as that.
Despite your claims I shall never use your franchises.
Being a franchisee myself, I'm not in a position to manage the quality or reputation of any business but my own. The ChipsAway network is at least regulated for quality at some level, unlike all the rogue and sole traders out there.
The branding is in the main an asset, as throughout the trade, ChipsAway is known as far and away the best quality network out there (most dealerships don't talk about SMART repairs - they simply call them ChipsAway repairs). Of course a few bad apples can spoil it for everyone - and the network would be delighted to be rid of them.
Using a ChipsAway franchise or not is of course a matter for you. Trying to set the record straight about quality in the network (and identify the reasons for the differences across it) was the point of the original post.
CG
So are we saying metallic finishes can be done or not? I've seen our local ChipssAway guy in B&Q's car park occasionally but never been in the Mustang which has a couple of large 'chips' missing - by large I mean 4-5mm.
Both on the edge of doors ... I presume these can be fixed?
Thanks
Both on the edge of doors ... I presume these can be fixed?
Thanks
Alloy repairs isn't something all operators offer, no. It's part of a bolt-on package to the main paint package and covers wheels and interior trim.
The standard alloy repair system involves aerosol paints. This is just my opinion, but I don't believe aerosols offer a satisfactory quality repair to any modern alloy wheel finish.
Far better results on alloys would involve a properly sprayed two-pack paint repair (which is how the wheel would have been originally painted at the factory). Operators who have the two-pack system on their vans can offer you this sort of repair.
Two further caveats - like all chipsaway repairs, the repair is designed around repairing damage, not a total failure of the original finish. If the problem isn't that you've kerbed or scraped the wheel, but that the manufacturer's paint has rubbish adhesion, or that corrosion is deteriorating the whole finish of the wheel, it would really need to be shot-blasted of all the old finish, and painted again from scratch. Clearly, that's not a mobile repair (but some Chips guys do offer it on a collect-and-return a few days later basis.
And secondly, some alloy wheels aren't painted (although about 95% are - with most of the exceptions being BMW/Merc). Some are turned alloy that's then lacquered - you can spot these by the radial lines running across the surface like the grooves on a record. As turned/polished alloy is really shiny, it looks great, but the lack of any good key means the lacquer almost always fails, and fast. Very minor scuffs in these can be repaired by having the wheel reground - but that's a specialist job for a metalworker, not a paintwork repair. Deep ones - either replace the wheel, or the turned finish will have to be painted over after filling, which changes the whole look of the wheel. And some wheels aren't painted, they're powder-coated, or chrome plated - these ones have an extremely fine mirror-like reflection in the colour, not just the gloss. These can't be patch repaired. Damage on them means a whole new coating.
As for pricing, a small kerb scuff might cost as little as £35+vat to get fixed in a low cost of living part of the country. Kerbing right round the edge of a 19" alloy with scuffs on the spokes too somewhere expensive might be as much as £100. Most operators heavily discount second and further repairs though; we're generally around £50-75 for the first wheel, with further ones about half the cost of the first, since we're already turning up and mixing the paint, which is a large part of the overhead cost.
Hope this helps!
CG
The standard alloy repair system involves aerosol paints. This is just my opinion, but I don't believe aerosols offer a satisfactory quality repair to any modern alloy wheel finish.
Far better results on alloys would involve a properly sprayed two-pack paint repair (which is how the wheel would have been originally painted at the factory). Operators who have the two-pack system on their vans can offer you this sort of repair.
Two further caveats - like all chipsaway repairs, the repair is designed around repairing damage, not a total failure of the original finish. If the problem isn't that you've kerbed or scraped the wheel, but that the manufacturer's paint has rubbish adhesion, or that corrosion is deteriorating the whole finish of the wheel, it would really need to be shot-blasted of all the old finish, and painted again from scratch. Clearly, that's not a mobile repair (but some Chips guys do offer it on a collect-and-return a few days later basis.
And secondly, some alloy wheels aren't painted (although about 95% are - with most of the exceptions being BMW/Merc). Some are turned alloy that's then lacquered - you can spot these by the radial lines running across the surface like the grooves on a record. As turned/polished alloy is really shiny, it looks great, but the lack of any good key means the lacquer almost always fails, and fast. Very minor scuffs in these can be repaired by having the wheel reground - but that's a specialist job for a metalworker, not a paintwork repair. Deep ones - either replace the wheel, or the turned finish will have to be painted over after filling, which changes the whole look of the wheel. And some wheels aren't painted, they're powder-coated, or chrome plated - these ones have an extremely fine mirror-like reflection in the colour, not just the gloss. These can't be patch repaired. Damage on them means a whole new coating.
As for pricing, a small kerb scuff might cost as little as £35+vat to get fixed in a low cost of living part of the country. Kerbing right round the edge of a 19" alloy with scuffs on the spokes too somewhere expensive might be as much as £100. Most operators heavily discount second and further repairs though; we're generally around £50-75 for the first wheel, with further ones about half the cost of the first, since we're already turning up and mixing the paint, which is a large part of the overhead cost.
Hope this helps!
CG
Mikey, your 4-5mm chips on door edges, on presumably a high-metallic finish,
They can be touched in extremely cheaply, and if it's done by airbrush, very evenly. But they will remain visible, as they've only been coloured in, not reprofiled.
They could be rubbed down/filled to perfectly smooth, but the repair would then involve blending into the door panel. The chipsaway (2 pack!) system is certainly up to these repairs - we've painted out the whole side of large silver saloons that had been vandalised with a key scratch - but they're not small or cheap repairs.
Chip repairs are the bane of our lives. They form a tiny percentage of the work we do. And unlike primary paintwork repairs, they are on an 'improve only' basis, unlike the scuffs and scratches we can restore to their full natural beauty.
'ChipsAway' is originally a US brand. And (I'm told) that in the USA they'll refer to any paintwork damage, including long vandal scratches, as 'chipped paint'. So while it makes sense over there to call us that, people over here understand 'chips' to mean stone chips, or door edge chips.
On an almost daily basis I wish we had a brand name that more accurately reflects what we do in the UK market!
CG
They can be touched in extremely cheaply, and if it's done by airbrush, very evenly. But they will remain visible, as they've only been coloured in, not reprofiled.
They could be rubbed down/filled to perfectly smooth, but the repair would then involve blending into the door panel. The chipsaway (2 pack!) system is certainly up to these repairs - we've painted out the whole side of large silver saloons that had been vandalised with a key scratch - but they're not small or cheap repairs.
Chip repairs are the bane of our lives. They form a tiny percentage of the work we do. And unlike primary paintwork repairs, they are on an 'improve only' basis, unlike the scuffs and scratches we can restore to their full natural beauty.
'ChipsAway' is originally a US brand. And (I'm told) that in the USA they'll refer to any paintwork damage, including long vandal scratches, as 'chipped paint'. So while it makes sense over there to call us that, people over here understand 'chips' to mean stone chips, or door edge chips.
On an almost daily basis I wish we had a brand name that more accurately reflects what we do in the UK market!
CG
I had the Chipsaway guy in Tunbridge Wells fix the bonnet scoop on my Impreza just before it went back when the lease expired. He was recommended by the dealer for my new car and did an excellent job.
The severe scratch on it was caused by me using a shovel to clear 6 inches of snow off the bonnet! I delibrately kept the shovel and inch off the bonnet itself but forgot about the scoop! I can't recall whay the price was but it was reasonable and en excellent job was done. In fact my neighbour is planning to get him to look at some supermarket trolley damage to his car.
The severe scratch on it was caused by me using a shovel to clear 6 inches of snow off the bonnet! I delibrately kept the shovel and inch off the bonnet itself but forgot about the scoop! I can't recall whay the price was but it was reasonable and en excellent job was done. In fact my neighbour is planning to get him to look at some supermarket trolley damage to his car.
Hi, I notice that Chips Away also offers dent repair. With these repairs, do you need to be able to get 'behind' the dent to knock it out?
There is a shallow 'ding' on the upper part of my bonnet (Porsche 911), but it's double skinned in that particular area...
There are also some small dents in the door skins - I assume these are easier to deal with?
There is a shallow 'ding' on the upper part of my bonnet (Porsche 911), but it's double skinned in that particular area...
There are also some small dents in the door skins - I assume these are easier to deal with?
I don't offer paintless dent repairs as part of my business - although getting one of the techs trained up for it is a plan for this summer. It's a real craft, that the operator needs to be using most days, or the skill decay is a problem. Check with your local Chips guy/gal - if they can't offer it, chances are they'll know of (and subcontract) the best of the local dent specialists.
Access to the rear of the dent helps no end, so yes doorskins are among the easier ones (although reinforcement buttressing or opening assembly can still block access).
With car-park type or bonnet dents, PDR is definitely the way to go - it's much cheaper and quicker than a fill and paint repair.
We improve larger dents before skimming and painting them with a slide hammer that is glued to the top surface, which obviously doesn't need rear access, but is really too imprecise to reprofile the dent by itself.
And the chap we contract in at the moment will access some double skinned dents by drilling a keyhole somewhere inconspicuous (behind the boot lining, or seat panels, for example) reprofile the dent through it, and then seal it with a blanking grommet and silicone. Probably an option for your bonnet.
Again, with high-metallic paintjobs, even the slightest ripple in the finish will be greatly highlighted by the change in the angle of reflection in the metallic flakes in the paint, and what would otherwise be a perfectly acceptable job on a flat colour will still be noticeable - worth asking the question of the dent tech "Can you get that out 100%?" before they get started.
CG
Access to the rear of the dent helps no end, so yes doorskins are among the easier ones (although reinforcement buttressing or opening assembly can still block access).
With car-park type or bonnet dents, PDR is definitely the way to go - it's much cheaper and quicker than a fill and paint repair.
We improve larger dents before skimming and painting them with a slide hammer that is glued to the top surface, which obviously doesn't need rear access, but is really too imprecise to reprofile the dent by itself.
And the chap we contract in at the moment will access some double skinned dents by drilling a keyhole somewhere inconspicuous (behind the boot lining, or seat panels, for example) reprofile the dent through it, and then seal it with a blanking grommet and silicone. Probably an option for your bonnet.
Again, with high-metallic paintjobs, even the slightest ripple in the finish will be greatly highlighted by the change in the angle of reflection in the metallic flakes in the paint, and what would otherwise be a perfectly acceptable job on a flat colour will still be noticeable - worth asking the question of the dent tech "Can you get that out 100%?" before they get started.
CG
Excellent post.
If anyone is in East Central Scotland I can recommend a Chipsaway rep called Findlay Georgeson. He was very honest with me (preferred not to tackle marks caused by an egg hit on the door due to the matching problems mentioned above) and also seemed to have regular private clients with some rather tasty motors (Bentley and Aston etc).
The work he did on my front wing and rear bumper were almost completely invisible.
>> Edited by douglasr on Wednesday 17th May 22:31
If anyone is in East Central Scotland I can recommend a Chipsaway rep called Findlay Georgeson. He was very honest with me (preferred not to tackle marks caused by an egg hit on the door due to the matching problems mentioned above) and also seemed to have regular private clients with some rather tasty motors (Bentley and Aston etc).
The work he did on my front wing and rear bumper were almost completely invisible.
>> Edited by douglasr on Wednesday 17th May 22:31
Hi everyone I live in kidderminster where Chips Away do all there training and also live opposite one of the trainers , I was amazed at what can be done and have had several things done from a small chip to a large scuff and recommended them to a friend who had his day old BMW reversed into on a car park ,Several garages said it would be a new bumper but chips away fixed it and it looks spot on.So in my experience they are excellent but they can only be as good as they are trained and there will always be ones who have a natural skill and patience to do it properly and others who just but into the franchise thinking of it as a money making scheme .But it seems the good ones are always busy with the dealerships and have had further training as they are willing to invest for the future. hope this helps
Rich,
After some very recent developments with our Head Office, we now cover Cambridge, Ely and area. There have been quite a few operators in this area over the years, and the local region currently has about 5 businesses providing coverage throughout, ranging from started last Christmastime, to about 7 years under their belt.
chrissarjeant,
The trainers at Kidderminster can do some amazing things - the Head Office senior execs seem to delight in damaging their company cars in new and interesting ways just to keep the trainers' skills up to scratch ;o)
One thing I would say though is that being busy in dealerships isn't necessarily a sign of quality. Dealers want repairs done fast and cheap - the car is just a profit source to them - and the level of quality they want is that the damage won't be spotted by a punter seeing the car for the first time. And repair long-term durability they couldn't care less about.
When you work retail, you have to potentially satisfy a customer whose car is his/her baby, who knows exactly where the damage was and will inspect the precise area very thoroughly for any trace of it, and who may be planning to keep the car indefinitely, and will be on your case if the finish doesn't last.
In comparison, keeping dealers happy is a walk in the park :-)
Michelle & Anatol - ChipsAway Guys.
>> Edited by ChipsAway Guy on Wednesday 17th May 19:39
After some very recent developments with our Head Office, we now cover Cambridge, Ely and area. There have been quite a few operators in this area over the years, and the local region currently has about 5 businesses providing coverage throughout, ranging from started last Christmastime, to about 7 years under their belt.
chrissarjeant,
The trainers at Kidderminster can do some amazing things - the Head Office senior execs seem to delight in damaging their company cars in new and interesting ways just to keep the trainers' skills up to scratch ;o)
One thing I would say though is that being busy in dealerships isn't necessarily a sign of quality. Dealers want repairs done fast and cheap - the car is just a profit source to them - and the level of quality they want is that the damage won't be spotted by a punter seeing the car for the first time. And repair long-term durability they couldn't care less about.
When you work retail, you have to potentially satisfy a customer whose car is his/her baby, who knows exactly where the damage was and will inspect the precise area very thoroughly for any trace of it, and who may be planning to keep the car indefinitely, and will be on your case if the finish doesn't last.
In comparison, keeping dealers happy is a walk in the park :-)
Michelle & Anatol - ChipsAway Guys.
>> Edited by ChipsAway Guy on Wednesday 17th May 19:39
Bikes can be a total pain in terms of id'ing the colour used. The actual repair process is pretty similar, except that pretty much anywhere on the bike could well have petrol spilled down it when refuelling, so a paint system that is damaged by solvent exposure is a non-starter, and also bikes tend to have virtually no texture in the lacquer and a really deep gloss in the factory finish that would put many car marques to shame.
T&M
T&M
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff