How Much Should Car Paint Repairs Cost Me?

Looking to respray or repair your car’s paintwork? You may have questions about how to do it, what you’ll need and where best to find the matching paint colour for your car.

These are all legitimate queries, but one of the first things you should be looking to find out is how much car paint repairs actually cost. After all, with the cost of car ownership spiralling as a result of higher running and servicing costs, you won’t want to pay over the odds for expensive repairs.

To help put right your car’s paintwork without breaking the bank, we’ve put together this essential guide that offers a ballpark look at typical paint repair costs.

Quick Links

• How Much Does It Cost to Repair a Car’s Paintwork?
• What is the Car Paint Repair Process?
• Is It Worth Respraying Your Car?

How Much Does It Cost to Repair a Car’s Paintwork?

Car paintwork repair costs vary from affordable to eye-watering. It all depends on a range of factors that you’ll need to consider carefully so you can find the right approach for you and your budget.

Here are some of the things that will affect the cost of your car paint repairs.

Full or Partial Respray

An obvious but important point; the price you’ll pay will depend on whether your car needs a full respray or just repair work to a single area. The more paint required, the costlier it will be, and you’ll need to factor time and labour into that equation if you’re taking it to a professional too.

You might have assumed that paintwork repairs aren’t possible without respraying the whole car or at least a full individual panel, but this isn’t the case. It’s easy to achieve a perfect colour match to your existing paintwork, so you can carry out minor repair work to small areas without the need for a complete respray – which can work out significantly cheaper.

If your car does need a full respray, however, you’re looking at around £3,000 for the whole car, assuming minimal remedial work is required. In contrast, having a single undamaged panel resprayed is likely to cost around £400.

Of course, these costs are for a professional repair, so you can expect to pay significantly less if you take the DIY route. It’s important to note though, that spraying a car is a challenging task, so you should only take it on if you’re confident you can make a good job and achieve flawless results.

Presence of Bodywork Damage

Dents, scratches, rust and other bodywork damage can also have a huge impact on the total cost of your paintwork repairs. If for example, rust is a bigger problem than you originally thought and has spread to other areas of your car, the price of the work could increase massively.

There’s no getting around fixing the bodywork either. If you were to spray over a damaged area to try to hide it, the results would be poor and you could end up with a bigger problem that’s more expensive to fix.

Colour and Finish of Desired Paintwork

Want to give your car a bold new makeover? Opting for a rare colour or paint finish might add value to your car, but it will set you back a sizeable initial outlay.

Just like in our homes, not all car paint colours and finishes are created equal, so you can end up spending more or less depending on the look you hope to achieve. Metallic and pearlescent finish paints for example, are likely to cost you more than standard finish products, so you’ll need to shop around to find the right paint for your budget.

If you’re keen to change how your car looks but don’t have a big budget for repairs, you might consider car wrapping. Our handy guide on everything you need to know about car wrapping can help you decide if this is the right direction to go with your car makeover.

What is the Car Paint Repair Process?

If you take your car to get a professional paintwork repair, they’ll start by giving it a thorough clean to remove any dirt, dust or loose/damaged paint. Then they’ll tape up and cover any areas that don’t require painting, before the work can begin.

From there, it’s a case of stripping away the old paint, either from a small section, a single panel, or the whole car. This is one of the most time-consuming and labour-intensive parts of the process, and will take longer if remedial bodywork repairs are required.

Once the area being painted is stripped down to the bare metal, it’s primed to maximise paint adhesion. The new paint is then applied in smooth, even layers, before being left to dry and finished with a clear coat lacquer.

Is it Worth Respraying Your Car?

Is your car’s paintwork looking tired and dull? Perhaps you’re sick of the colour and fancy a change? If you’re planning on keeping the same car, respraying or wrapping the bodywork could be something to consider.

Remember though, that a full paintwork respray from a professional is likely to set you back around £3,000, and that’s only an estimate. The cost could be significantly higher depending on the paint and finish you want, as well as the work involved in finishing it to a high standard.

If you aren’t ready to part with your car just yet but are set on changing its colour, wrapping could be a cheaper way to go. Vinyl car wraps are available in a huge range of colour and applying them is significantly cheaper than paying for a full respray, so it could well be the way to go.

Of course, there’s also the option of respraying your car’s paintwork yourself. That might sound daunting, but with the Holts Paint Match Pro range along with our expert guides and advice, it’s something most DIY’ers should be more than capable of.

Whichever way you choose to give your car’s paintwork some TLC, the Holts car care range is here to help you achieve a showroom shine time after time. Visit the homepage to learn more.