anyone used "chips away" or anything similar??

hi

i have quite a few stone chips on my bonnet, and a small dent about an inch diameter on my rear quarter, so i've been thiking of getting a quote off them,

are they any good though? and are they expensive 8O

cheers

TG

I'd say the quality of workmanship varies.

I've only seen one repair job from our local branch in Barnstaple and the job was bad.

A friend of the family had a rear arch scrape repaired by them. They'd smoothed it down ok but the paint was the problem. The car wasn't metalic but afterwards it was! They cant have washed the gun out properly from the job before. I think they lacquered the car too when it shouldn't have been and no matter how much you polished you couldnt get a shine!

Best to ask to see other jobs they've done first before hand at any paint shop.

Ross this does  sound like a one off from a guy who no longer does it so i believe. As I have my own Chipsaway franchise i do know the quality of the jobs that i can do! If the job was so bad why did they not get him out to rectify the probs, I do this for all my customers if there are any problems (do remember that bodyshops have the same problems as us)

For general stonechips and a pdr repair you would be somewhere in the ?80 area depending on how bad etc.

If you do get the lads out to quote ask him to explain to you what the chips will look like when repaired as there is no such thing as perfection unless you have a full bonnet repaint!

HTH    Rob   Chipsawaybelper

Someone scraped down the side of the colour coded bumper on my SAAB 9-3.  I had one of the chips away guys out and have to say that I was very pleased with the repair.  He did spend a long time doing the job - perhaps because I told him I was a perfectionist.    This was 2 years ago and I have just sold the car and the repair aged well and was still not noticable.

Have also had a small trolley dent pushed out of the door using PDR and again I was amazed at the skill of the guy.

I did ask about touch up's to stone chips on the bonnet and he said not to bother as on the flat surface they would be noticable.  In the end I got a small kiddies paint brush and cut away most of the bristles and just dabbed in a tiny amount of the leftover paint into the chips !

Sorry Rob,

It probably was a one off, but thats my only experiance of chips. I probably could have worded the response a bit better and yes, I totally agree with you and like I said I know quality of workmanship varys with every paint shop. There are so many things that can contribute to the finished result. Thats why I suggested to ask to see other work.
Seeing a poor effort from one branch can paint a picture for the whole company to some, its a real shame. Maybe I shouldnt have replied ops:  :wink:

It was only in the last couple of months and I havent seen the owner of the car again recently to find out if he went back.

No probs mate

just trying to put a "Chipmates" point of view across as sometimes we get people slagging us off when its either

1. another company done the workand they just call it a Chipsaway type repair

2.they have never even used the service(which i wouldnt have parted with a substancial amount of money to buy into if it was crap)

3. they call a job crap if it stands out because its too shiny!!!!!! (please polish the rest of your car sir!!!)

Sorry if i sounded abrupt but i fell that I hae a reputation to uphold even if there are a few bad guys around as i do and would like to continue to make a decent living at it

Cheers Rob

Im sorry to say this mate but chips away are crap . please dont think im saying your work is too and its no reflection on your work .but im not franchised , i run my own company i buy my own materials and i go in my own areas . i think the chip repairs they do are descracefull and the laquer they use , i wouldnt even put on the door shut of an austin meastro . If taken three dealerships away from chips away people in my area and had to spend up to three weeks in one dealership sorting out the cock ups theyd made . My advice is if you are good then please please please go and start up by yourself and keep all your old dealerships/traders and make more money for yourself . again im not starting a row with you but where i am the chips away name has mud all over it and it would be a shame for u 2 be associated with that .