Unfortunately my scratch repair kit from Halfords has not worked when trying to hide a gouge where someone keyed my car at the weekend.

I have had a look around to find companies that will repair scratches etc. and found chips away, has anyone used them?

I am based in Maidstone, Kent, so if anyone knows of any one decent who could do it, that would be great.

Cheers!

I’ve used them a few times before: Once, they were very good, the second time, not so good. In fact, they had to come back and redo the work.

Because they are a franchise, the quality of work varies, depending on the person you get.

I’m not saying don’t use them, just make sure you kick up a stink if you aren’t happy.

I called the local guy a couple of weeks back as mine got keyed too, he had a look and was honest in saying he couldn’t deal with it as it was too deep so if yours is down to the undercoat/body chances are it would need a respray.

Luckily I do not think it is too deep, I can still see paint underneath, so I think they have just taken the top layer off. Still sticks out like a sore thumb though.
I will give them a call, I have also found a 10% off on the AA site for chips away too.

In my experience if I needed the whole side of my BMW painted I wouldn’t use chips away. You’d be better off using a bodyshop even if it’s not a main dealer approved one

I will have a look around, with a bodyshop obviously the price of a respray will be far greater, is it worth claiming on insurance down this route?

Depending on the colour you won’t need a respray. Just paint the damaged panels

Yeah usual advice is to claim it off insurance (I think mine would have been around £800 but not actually bothered to do anything about it yet), guess depends on whether you have a protected no claims or not?

no such luck with the protected no claims! darn it.

If you can upload some photos I can offer a bit more advice as I work for a big insurance bodyshop

I agree, it depends a little on the guy you get from chips away, some are good and some less so. but on the whole they are worth trying versus a respray/repaint. one time I used them was excellent, then another it looked great but after a month or two the paint sort of faded so I called him back. The other time they were honest and like the other person said, they said the scratch was too deep so I ended up at a bodyshop who did a great job. Next time I’d probably take it to the bodyshop for their assessment first. Perhaps one approach might be to find the local bodyshop that the insurance companies use locally, they tend to use the same ones in my area.

i used them once and was very pleased, especially for the money. i’d managed to put three deep scratches in to the GRP body of the car, rear of door going on to front of rear wing. it was pretty hairy where fibres had been brought out. he did that work, plus stone chips on bonnet and wing/door, and a similarly hairy scratch over the headlight, all for about 140 quid IIRC.
they have a satisfaction guarantee. they charge by the panel they work on. they come and quote wherever you are, and typically will do the work on the spot if you accept the quote. you could see the door/wing repair if you knew where to look, but it would pass causal inspection. i’d use them again.

Keying can take a lot of work to fix

Having been on the receiving end it can require every panel painting which implies more serious damage when you come to sell it. Good luck