Habitation removal experts for bodywork repair?

[trailtrotters]

Our beautifully maintained Cali recently suffered what appears to be a minor scrape in front of the rear nearside wheel arch. It was just squeezed against a low post when manoeuvering in a supermarket car park (photo attached). Our nearest VW paint warrantied repair centre has said the whole side panel stretching from the passenger door, above the side windows and to the rear will need to be replaced as a manual repair will inevitably not look completely smooth. The bad news is that this would also require prior removal and subsequent replacement of the kitchen, fridge, wardrobe and floor! They do not have the skills to complete this themselves and have offered to try and find a suitable firm to sub-contract the habitation work to.



Has anyone had similar experience and might be able to offer any guidance please? (We have advised our insurers we intend to make a claim.)

 

[WelshGas]

Our beautifully maintained Cali recently suffered what appears to be a minor scrape in front of the rear nearside wheel arch. It was just squeezed against a low post when manoeuvering in a supermarket car park (photo attached). Our nearest VW paint warrantied repair centre has said the whole side panel stretching from the passenger door, above the side windows and to the rear will need to be replaced as a manual repair will inevitably not look completely smooth. The bad news is that this would also require prior removal and subsequent replacement of the kitchen, fridge, wardrobe and floor! They do not have the skills to complete this themselves and have offered to try and find a suitable firm to sub-contract the habitation work to.

View attachment 39291

Has anyone had similar experience and might be able to offer any guidance please? (We have advised our insurers we intend to make a claim.)

Ask VW UK Customer Care/Service?

 

[Max-Felix]

Sounds kind of odd to me. Get in touch with a well recommended local smart repairer - the skilled long timer type not some newby franchise guy with little experience.

Check some YT videos of what some of these guys can do with damage many, many times more severe and complicated than yours.

Don't even contemplate for one second ripping out the interior for such a minor scrape.

Too late now but don't go through the insurance for a minor self inflicted scrape like this, you won't really save anything for a small job as you will need to pay the excess and will suffer with increased premiums for years to come across all your vehicles, protected NCB or not.

 

[Zebedee]

I had exactly the same thing happen “bollardgate” a couple of years ago. I think they were called Twickenham Auto Repairs they were just by the stadium. They took it all out did the repair, put it all back. Actually worked better than originally. Someone else before me had been there as well. Worth travelling too. Took a while but had a loan car but not a cali. If you private message me I can give you details.

 

[VW Guru]

Our beautifully maintained Cali recently suffered what appears to be a minor scrape in front of the rear nearside wheel arch. It was just squeezed against a low post when manoeuvering in a supermarket car park (photo attached). Our nearest VW paint warrantied repair centre has said the whole side panel stretching from the passenger door, above the side windows and to the rear will need to be replaced as a manual repair will inevitably not look completely smooth. The bad news is that this would also require prior removal and subsequent replacement of the kitchen, fridge, wardrobe and floor! They do not have the skills to complete this themselves and have offered to try and find a suitable firm to sub-contract the habitation work to.

View attachment 39291

Has anyone had similar experience and might be able to offer any guidance please? (We have advised our insurers we intend to make a claim.)

Hi breeze van centre in Poole have removed and refitted many kitchen units for body repair to be carried out depends if you want the vehicle to travel that far to have the kitchen unit removed and then take it back and have the repair.

 

[Soton Campers]

Difficult to tell just from the photo but I was a car painter for many years back in the day and the panel beaters could do amazing work. If this particular body shop are saying they can't make a dent smooth without changing the panel then that rings alarm bells of them turning a molehill into a mountain. Get a quote from two other repairers.

 

[Meoncoast]

personally, I would rather have a panel replaced rather than filled and sanded.

 

[Kevthegas]

If Im honest you are very lucky they said what they did.
Better to be told now rather than have months/ years of regrets.
Sounds like you need to get your self down to Breeze van centre in Poole.

 

[Legin]

I do extensive bodywork and painting as part of my hobby and that is not a small repair.

The problem is the steel gets stretched and shrinking it back is very skilled work. I tend to dislike panel replacement as it is very intrusive and typically no internal protection at the attachment welds. For this reason IF a panel beater can fix the existing panel it would be my preference however that looks tricky.

Also insurers will will always push for the lowest cost acceptable repair and that may well be panel replacement.

 

[2into1]

This should give you an idea of where this is going.... (not my van)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/808958519266708/permalink/1077034415792449/
There is lots of discussion on the Facebook thread. In case it's not viewable to everyone, here are the photos ..

 

[trailtrotters]

Good morning everyone. Thank you all so much for your really helpful comments and suggestions. Very much appreciated, no-where else could we have obtained so much good advice in such a short period of time. Fortunately we do not need to rush into anything.

 

[trailtrotters]

Hello again. I know how helpful it is to have final outcomes on threads so here goes.....

Upon advice from our dealer VW Heritage commercials in Bristol, and consent from our insurers, we entrusted our beloved Ocean to SJ Curtis - Car Body Accident Repair & Paint Centre, Southway Drive, North Common, Warmley, Bristol BS30 5LW. They concluded the only option was to take out all the habitation equipment/floor and replace the entire side panel and lamp panel. 6 weeks later (including a week of Christmas closure) we have collected our Cali and asked for our grateful thanks to be passed onto their in-house team who carefully worked on it. The kitchen seems to function perfectly and there is no indication inside or out that it is other than factory finished.

Full marks to LV Insurance too. Our policy is with their Highway subsidiary via Motor Direct Brokers. Their knowledgeable and professional assessor came to our home to inspect the very minor damage (see my initial photo, not the similar situation 2into1 added from Facebook) and thereafter dealt with SJ Curtis direct.

Thanks again to all the forum members for their input.

 

[Tigger]

Hi. How much did this cost please? I have acquired a ding behind the kitchen which I fear will require removal of the kitchen to fix perfectly. It’s a 16 plate Ocean in otherwise good condition with about 28k miles on the clock.

 

[Lee.Van.Cleef]

The dent man is coming out to me this morning to fix a dent behind my kitchen. It's a tricky spot as he likely can't get access behind, but thinks he can use the glue pull method. Will let you know how I get on.

 

[trailtrotters]

Hi. How much did this cost please? I have acquired a ding behind the kitchen which I fear will require removal of the kitchen to fix perfectly. It’s a 16 plate Ocean in otherwise good condition with about 28k miles on the clock.

Hi Tigger. Sorry I don’t know what mine cost as the repairer dealt with the insurance company direct. Good luck.