newbie needing bodywork repair advice

[4chopsontour]

hi,
to my shame I have already managed to bump our new motorhome ...showing I am truly new to owning a motorhome !!
we have an elddis autoquest and I have hit the lower rear nearside causing a dent with scratches the size of a hand and it has also 'split' the bodywork.
I fear for a big repair bill....
is it straight to the insurer for me or is there any hope of a small repair bill ?

 

[brum43]

Hi chopsontour, do not know if this helps but here goes. Our first outing with our new Compass Avantgard two years ago started with me backing the van three times into various banks of grass and splitting the rear bumper for over half it's width and up the right side. I did a "temp" repair with a heat gun using the white glue sticks. This has lasted very well and will remain so until we exchange the van. Dont know if body work will do as well. B43

 

[ALANROBINS]

Hi, We also had minor reversing damage which crunched the fibreglass on the rear lower panel, I wrote an article in the January edition of the magazine "finding a fix for our fibreglass" which provided details of a mobile GRP specialist who did a great repair job whilst the van was parked on our drive, this is in the "Talk" section, if you do not have a copy let me know and I will provide you with the contact details, so much better than taking it to a body shop for repair, he was happy to do the work via an insurance claim or of course you could pay by cash to protect your no claims bonus. Hopw the reply is not too late for you............. Alan

 

[4chopsontour]

Many thanks. We took it to a bodyshop today and they have quoted £150 for the repair which is much less than I thought it would be...phew! Lesson learned the hard way as usual!!

Thanks for your replies

 

[ALANROBINS]

Just a word of warning, bodyshops tend to finish a repair job with matching 'paint', as you would expect with a car panel, most motorhome panels are GRP/Fibreglass, in my view the best repair is to use the manufacturers 'gelcoat' which can be applied by a GRP specialist and is a lot lot thicker than paint so it can withstand scratches from hedgerows and the like, with the correct finishing paste you can rub out these scratches on Gelcoat, with a paint finish this is so much thinner and if you then get a scratch it will be difficult to rub out, without rubbing away the paint!! Over and out...................

 

[Yaminamezeli1]

Hi Alan,

We too have also suffered some damage to our fibre glass and also some scratches on the body work, on our first trip away. Could you please send me the details of the GRP specialists you recommended. My email yamina.mezeli@googlemail.com Thank you.