Bodyshop Charges

Dino · Post by **Dino** » Wed Jul 19, 06 9:16 pm

I've noticed a few people have had their cars repaired and sprayed at professional bodyshops and (I know this is a silly question)was wondering how expensive it is??

My Charger needs a boot floor putting in (which I have) a few dents knocked out here and there, the panel at the bottom of the rear window is a tad rusty and one of my 1/4's needs a repair panel at the bottom.

I realise from a description no-one can give an estimate but what have you guys been charged in the region of?? £3k, £5k, £8k??? More!?!?!

Any advice would be greatly receieved as this could mean that I end up going at it myself with a big hammer and a MiG welder and hoping for the best. lol.

Don't panic Blue this is plan C at the moment

jerry · Post by **jerry** » Wed Jul 19, 06 9:32 pm

hi dino
read your post on the other thread about maybe doing it yourself.
thats the option im taking as bodywork/spraying is just to expensive for me to consider.i spoke to ivor and given time and patients i think i can turn out an acceptable result.as for welding i bought myself a mig on ebay and with some practice iv'e made various repairs and fabricated panels where required.just a thought if you end up down that road.
good luck
jerry

latil · Post by **latil** » Wed Jul 19, 06 9:49 pm

I've made all my own repair panels and done all the welding,there's no way I'm giving anyone a years wages to mend my car.

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Wed Jul 19, 06 9:58 pm

From what you're telling me I'd guess 5K or less from a good bodyshop. The boot floor you could do yourself. With a bit of good tuition and some practice you can pick up MIG welding very quickly, that would probably knock 5 or 600 off quid straight away.

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Wed Jul 19, 06 10:03 pm

A lot of the cost is stripping the car of all trim etc. Strip the car to a bare shell yourself and you save a lot of money.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Jul 20, 06 11:01 am

I know this is a silly point to make, but you need to be clear in your own mind on exactly where you want to go with the car. Mine started with a failed big end bearing and ended up in for restoration - you dont know what is under that paint. When the car is ready to go back together, you need all the gaskets n seals n rubbers etc., do you REALLY want to put all those old wiring harnesses back in, do you REALLY want to re-use all those old brake/fuel lines? If your trunk floor is rotted through is your fuel tank ok? It goes on.

Dave is right though, strip as much off the car as you can and carefully put it to one side so you can make a judgement on what to, and not to re-use.

Pricing is difficult. You can almost spend as much or as little as you like. Depends on how far you ant to go and what quality you want (show, or good daily driver etc.) To give you an idea, I went past the £8k mark a long time ago, and I still have a way to go

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Jul 20, 06 11:08 am

Oh, if you are a dab hand with a welder, try it yourself. It is more than likely not going to cost you anything more vasluable than your time.

I am good with nuts n bolts but when it comes to the body, I wont dare go there. Do what you can if you can.

Good luck kimosabe

SteveCase · Post by **SteveCase** » Thu Jul 20, 06 8:16 pm

I'm just putting in a new trunk floor for a mate with a '70 firebird, it's a real crappy job, and not one i'd want to do again! (especially when he got the wrong floor)!!!!

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Jul 20, 06 9:03 pm

The only pain with fitting a boot floor i found was the time it takes to drill all the spot welds out. but other than that it aint to bad. a air chissel is handy to remove the bits of spot welds left on the chassis rails.

if i was you i would sand the paint off the lower 1/4s to see if the paint is hiding anything. mine had a inch of filler in places with no metal behind it.

MilesnMiles · Post by **MilesnMiles** » Fri Jul 21, 06 10:10 am

At the other end of the scale i paid a dude a princely sum of £75 to fabricate and weld in a floor pan, a raer quarter and part of the panel in front of the rear wheel arch. The quarter is a dogs dinner and has presented me with a new swage line, the panel in front of the wheel is not too bad and could be skim filled to provide a paintable finish. The floor panel is not pretty but has passed two proper MOTs.
I've come to the view that unless the car is rare or of great personnel value to you it may not be worth spending a fortune on.
A 1973 A body /6 converted to a 360 is never likely to command the money the restoration costs would require as is the case with my car.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Sat Jul 22, 06 1:35 pm

with my Fury i'm gonna do as much as I can, (welding that's out of sight etc) but leave the cosmetically critical parts such as new metal into rear arches to the pros.

What I;m hoping is, although on paper the hourly rate for a real pro is going to look high, the fact that they haev all the equipment and expertise to make up repair panels without fuss, should mean they do the job with a low number of hours (compared to me or another amateur!) so I'm hoping it won't be THAT expensive at the end of the daY? We'll just have to see !