Very unusual bodywork quote

[Sim Dhillon]

Earlier today I went to get a quote for new sills, arches and a respray. When I had my mini I got all the work from this old fella. So I took my cavalier to him to get a quote and he refused to do the work!! He said I think your wasting your time and money, it's jus a cavalier. Even with the work done it will be worth £400 max! Haha. He said he aint touching it. I was not expecting that atall lool

[TurboDan]

Unfortunately allot of bodyshops will say this. Its probably down to experience and knowing that fitting a wheel arch is never as simple as just that, always turns into more rust inner archs etc.. and so turns into a bigger job than it should be.

Theres also the the whole issue that rust will come back at some point and that means that the customer will also come back complaining that the rust is back. So sometimes its easier to just not do the job in the first place.

Sometimes we used to get customers to sign a sort of disclaimer regarding rust and that it could come back etc..

[Sim Dhillon]

Where do I go from here then? I still want the work done

[TurboDan]

Well you'l just have to try another bodyshop until someone agrees to do it.

Haveing worked in a bodyshop for many years i always tell people that when going for quotes make sure you tell them EXACTLY what you want doing and the standard you want it doing to ie. if you literally want it concourse then tell them that.

Being an old cavalier if you dont tell them most places will just treat it as an old shitter thats having a bodge job done if you see what i mean. Let them know that your an enthusiast no matter how nerdy you might sound it will help.

Just remember you get what you pay for in the bodyshop game.

[Sim Dhillon]

Cheers dan, I might give retro power a ring in the morning

[btcctroy]

I've done quite a lot of welding repairs for people, I only do long lasting repairs which unfortunately doesnt come cheap. A lot of people don't want to pay for it either, and appear generally to go cheap as poss which is fine but don't expect it to last. So as Dan states know exactly what you want the end result to be and how cost effectiveness it is.

[James McGrath]

Earlier today I went to get a quote for new sills, arches and a respray. When I had my mini I got all the work from this old fella. So I took my cavalier to him to get a quote and he refused to do the work!! He said I think your wasting your time and money, it's jus a cavalier. Even with the work done it will be worth £400 max! Haha. He said he aint touching it. I was not expecting that atall lool

Behaviour like that is appalling and gives the industry a bad name.

He's there to do a job, a job for which he will be paid, not to give is own opinion on someone else's pride and joy.

They should do the best job they can no matter what car it is. It is their reputation after all.

[btcctroy]

Earlier today I went to get a quote for new sills, arches and a respray. When I had my mini I got all the work from this old fella. So I took my cavalier to him to get a quote and he refused to do the work!! He said I think your wasting your time and money, it's jus a cavalier. Even with the work done it will be worth £400 max! Haha. He said he aint touching it. I was not expecting that atall lool

Behaviour like that is appalling and gives the industry a bad name.

He's there to do a job, a job for which he will be paid, not to give is own opinion on someone else's pride and joy.

They should do the best job they can no matter what car it is. It is their reputation after all.

Exactly but this doesn't happen money and time rule

[Robsey]

A lot of welding jobs are simply "get me through the MOT", hence all the plates and patches that are on 90% of cars more than 5 years old.
So I suppose many garages will expect this as a "standard" request.

It might sound nerdy to some, but it is better to advise the garage that you want a pukka job done, and are looking for a realistic price to reflect this.

Afterall - who can afford to turn down money / work / customers these days?

[gsi pie]

round my way not many bodyshops with blow a car over

just no money in it these days not worth their time !

unless you got a good friendship with the painter

[Sim Dhillon]

got another quote today, £1700 for sills arches and full respray. the lad seems good at what he does he owns a subaru powered bug

[Robsey]

the lad seems good at what he does he owns a subaru powered bug

Ah yes - The RJES subaru conversion in the VW bug and type 2 Transporters.

I'm thinking of fitting an EJ22 into our T25 camper.

[Envoy CDX]

Hunt about, you'll find someone eventually.

[humbucker]

got another quote today, £1700 for sills arches and full respray

that sounds very reasonable, although define "full respray"