My baby, (72 Mini clubman) Is FINALLY now residing in a panel shop to be painted YAY !

This is the car that I have had for bout five years now, nearly got written off bout four years ago when it was nicked by an idiot, he smashed it then gave it back... At least I got it back....

After me spending months stripping the whole car back to bare metal it has finally made that trip... Not all good tho the panel beater did say it would be done in a month but has been there now two weeks n nothing - not a single thing has been done with it - Oh wait i think he moved it out of the way at one stage... Anyway hmmmmm now two weeks left for him to prep, repair, remove all bits in the engine bay, re-paint, re fit exterior bits etc... yeah right!
Any one else had interesting experiences like this? Any way Just had to tell someone....

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Size DOES Matter!!!

if you've seen a show called overhaulin you'd be surprised what you could do in 7 days.
some panel beaters are like that, leave everything to the last second and its not usually a good sign but have faith. i've had similar experiances but with mechanics, drop thecar off "yeah yeah it'll be ready in a couple of days" and 2 weeks of nagging later the car comes back. sometimes they just put jobs in front of yours etc.
my mini was away for about 2 months after i had an accident, just nudged a guy, he had no damage and i had a broken headlight and the rim was slightly pushed in.
i made the panel shop do the repairs 3 times and im still not happy with it, but im just glad to have the car back.
make sure they do the job right, you dont want rust popping up due to poor prep work. your a playing client so if you dont get what you want make them do it again or dont pay.

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real men race downhill - keiichi tsuchiya

This unfortunately sounds about right for a panel beater.

They're not all like this, but a lot of them give insurance jobs priority because they can make more money quicker off them (bolt on a couple of replacement panels, a quick coat of paint and get them out), but they like having other jobs like resprays hanging around to spend their spare time on.

They know that the drivers and Insurance companies of accident repairs often put a lot of presure because it's their only car. A respray is there by choice and the owner usually has alternative transport organised beforehand.

Unfortunately you can't hurry them along too much once they actually start because if they don't leave anough time between stages you can get problems later on like paint shrinkage if they put on too many coats to quick.

It's hard - but a little gentle presure on them now and again so that they don't forget your job completely and a lot of patience is what's needed. Just call in a couple times a week "when your just passing by" to say hi so that they don't forget your face.

i think i'll do the paint on my mini by myself when that eventaully gets on the road

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why does everyone want a Cooper S when you ca have a better Clubby

He he he. sad but true yeah I was gonna mention bout those tv shows i doubt a small western suburbs panel shop is up to that calibre - as if! And also the panel shop is only a block away from my house, so just going to the supermarket, I 'pass by'. Poor guy hasn't forgotten my mug for bout two years, the last 12 months in particular I have been hasslig him to organise just getting the car there a whole TWO blocks (car was living at a relatives lock up garage, but all up hill and over a main roaad so not pushable lol) Last time i visited, he had pushed the car over to the hoist, sed he was gonna work on it but two insurance jobs had come in that he had to do so your right - they do put them first, to me its all just a bit of time management, no?? Organisation?? I am also a paying customer surely to some degree that matters...... Oh well what can you do. Thanx guys!

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Size DOES Matter!!!