Do you remember the days when driving felt so exciting, and you just couldn’t wait to be on the roads? Learning to drive does bring a certain excitement to driving that soon vanishes when your car needs to go to the body shop. It’s no secret, keeping a car on the road can be expensive. Whether you like it or not, you pay out every single time because once you start driving, you can’t live without it. Some cars typically cost more than others. A brand-new car is less likely to have an issue, but an older car might cost less when it does have an issue than a new car would. Modern technology and often costs more to fix! Every driver at some point in their life is going to have an issue that requires a trip to the body shop. A chip or scratch now and then can soon add up to some seriously damaged paintwork. Drivers often find that body shop work, especially paintwork, is the most expensive. It’s not covered by the usual car warranties and some issues come with a big price tag for minor bumps, chips, and cracks.
It can be such an absolute nightmare when dealing with a bodywork issue. This short and informative read will talk you through some of the common problems that require a trip to the body shop and how to make the process smoother.
Table of Contents
The Common Culprits
There are a few issues that bodywork specialists are always going to see in the body shop. Some problems require more work, meaning you’ll have to be prepared for your car to be in the body shop a little bit longer. Bodywork issues are often so expensive due to either dent or serious damage repairs or specific paints costing a lot of money. Here are some of the common culprits!
Car Accidents
Car accidents can cause many problems, both for the car and for the driver. It’s surprising to learn that 4.4 million people were involved in a car crash serious enough they needed medical attention. The number of crashes happening on the roads as they get busier is on a sharp incline.
These complex cases will often require work on both the metal structure and the paintwork. A car is designed with what’s known as a crush zone or crumple zone. It’s areas of the car that are specifically designed to crumple and deform to protect the passengers. As the car crumples, it absorbs some of the energy of the impact, therefore meaning there is less of a force for the passengers. A body shop can only repair the bodywork, so often, a car will go to the manufacturer or a mechanical garage for repairs under the hood first. The process of repairing the bodywork when the car gets to the body shop can be long, and often specific parts have to be ordered from the manufacturer. In some cases, the motor is mechanically written off, and the car has to be scrapped.
Minor Bumps
Minor bumps are one of the most common reasons for a car to require bodywork touch-ups. A minor bump doesn’t even have to involve two cars. It can be your car and a wall or your car door and the wall next to it. It could be a bump that happens when you’re nowhere near the car. However, it happens, these are generally easy to resolve, and you don’t have to be away from your car for long at all. However, minor bumps are one of the most commonly ignored bodywork issues. You might have a scratch or two on your car right now that you know you’ve been ignoring, and that’s because often we don’t notice them after a day or two. Out of sight, out of mind. However, having paintwork damage can drastically reduce the value of your car.
It’s so common for scratches or chips from minor bumps to be left alone because the effort and the expense can often feel like too much hassle. If you have a special paint finish, they are often more expensive than standard ones, although a standard black paint finish does tend to be more expensive than other colors. If you really would like a touch-up of your paintwork in a body shop, ring your local body shops for quotes and compare. You will find that each price will be different.
Debris from The Road
The silent but deadly debris from the road can leave chips and dinks all over your car, including your windscreen. You might have already experienced a stone chipping up and leaving a nice crack in your windscreen. Specific terrains can also make your car more prone to chips and dinks, especially gravel and uneven surfaces.
There’s not much that you can do about this. It’s impossible to avoid driving in certain areas and having to deal with the consequences. It’s often these tiny marks that have come from stones chipping up that drivers ignore. It’s recommended that if you are going to sell your car, you need to fix these tiny marks.
How to Protect Your Bodywork?
There are some simple things that you can to do protect your bodywork. The first is to invest in a high-quality washing kit that comes with polish and a polish cloth. Washing your car with a shampoo, treatment, and polishing at the end will help to ensure there is a protective layer over your car’s paintwork. It’ll also ensure it looks shiny and incredible.
Make sure that you are not over-washing your car. Damage will be done if a car is washed every single week, especially if the correct technique isn’t used. Often, drivers wash their car and scrape debris from the road on the paintwork of the car without even realizing it. Some high-quality car washing kits can be purchased online or even in some body shops.
Conclusion
If your car needs to go to a body shop, Google the ones in your local area and check out their reputation first. A reputable body shop will give you a fair price and a professional service. Always make sure that you’re tending to any issues that require a trip to the body shop before they develop into something worse!