Often times consumers in this industry are left thinking body shops are overcharging. A scratch only a few inches long can bring in a bill up to or beyond $1000. It's easy to jump to the conclusion there taking you for a ride given the shop down the road only wants half. You can also bet your boat that someones even willing to do it for a quarter of that preferred high quality shop. So, when doing it properly how does the bill get so high??? That's why your reading isn't it? So lets have a look at what's involved.
Teardown- all moldings, door handles, bumpers, mirrors, antenna's, lights, nameplates and anything else tight to the panel being repaired needs to be removed & in the case of some nameplates or moldings replaced all together. This is to allow for thorough sanding and preparation of the panel and to eliminate the chance if clear coat bridging a molding, paint peeling and keeps overspray off the part all together.
Next comes repairing the scratch. In most cases it needs to be sanded about 3-4 inches back, primed then block sanded straight. Sometimes there can be a dent that you may not have seen but the repair professional knew was there, it can add more time to this type of repair. Once the scratch is fixed the entire panel needs to be sanded and usually the next panel to the right and left require sanding for color blending. Blending is a necessary step and if you would like to learn more about it I suggest you look at my blog titled "why the shop needs to blend color".
So now the one scratch has turned into painting three panels. It may sound crazy but its what is required for an undetectable repair. Like I touched on earlier in regards to using a cheaper shop, it can be done and maybe even look half descent but they are more often band aid jobs not meant to last. Most of the time you don't get a job that looks good, usually you will get a job where the clear is excessively textured, runs in the panel, the clear coat was blended (leads to fading edges) and sometimes much worse.
Now comes the actual painting itself. It's a smaller part of the job. The actual spraying will likely be completed within about an hours time, the comes the drying which takes about 30 min on average. Once well dryed it can be reassembled, re-decaled, cleaned up and ready for delivery. Sometimes a shop will wetsand the finish to remove dust nibs and other imperfections from the clear to give the best possible finish (another time consuming procedure). Some shops are more particular then others when it comes to polishing as it is purely cosmetic and often goes unnoticed by the customer.
Materials make up a very small portion of a repair invoice. Most of the repair costs are a result of the required procedures being quite labor intensive. The labor rates of a body shop at the time of this writing are anywhere from $30-$65 / hr. A mechanical shop is about $80-$140. The reality is a body shop is not making a fortune off of that scratch repair (when doing it properly), but don't forget even if they are charging you through the roof there not necessarily doing it right. Take the time, educate yourself and ask the shop the right questions.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
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