How long should car damage repair take? Unless you’re an auto body repair technician, you won’t be the one doing the repair, so it’s hard for you to know. Many drivers feel uneasy in this situation.
Is your repair taking a long time because it’s a complicated repair or because they’re waiting for a part shipment? Or are they simply neglecting your vehicle? Just how long should different collision repairs take?
The difficulty of estimating car damage repair
There isn’t one thing you can call auto damage repair since it consists of multiple steps and process. A house painter can tell you how long it will take to paint a wall, and a landscaper can tell you how long it will take to mow a lawn. These jobs change depending on the size of the walls and lawns respectively, but experienced professionals can give accurate estimates.
How long does it take to repair a car? The obvious answer is it depends on the repair. A small scratch repair is going to be a lot quicker than fixing massive damage for an accident repair. There isn’t just one kind of car repair.
Estimating different types of auto body repair
There are even significant differences in the scope of work for the same kind of repairs. One dent repair could take fifteen minutes, while a deeper dent or a dent somewhere else on the vehicle could take several hours to fix. This article will give a broad overview of what to expect from different kinds of car damage repair.
Total collision repair
If your vehicle has suffered a major collision, the repair is going to take a while. Assuming you haven’t (or another driver hasn’t) completely totaled your vehicle, consigning it to the scrap yard, any significant car damage repair will probably take at least a few days.
The major variable is part availability. If the collision has punctured your tire, the collision repair shop can probably get a replacement tire easily. The same is probably true for headlights and hubcaps. However, you might have to wait for a replacement part like a wheel, axle, or an internal component that’s been damaged, like something in your engine block. Internal car damage repairs are also more complex, so they’ll take the technicians longer to complete.
Minor accident repair
If the collision your vehicle has suffered isn’t too damaging, then you can probably get away with a relatively quick accident repair. A minor accident might crumple your bumper, deform your hood, or compromise the alignment of your vehicle. Depending on the workload of the collision repair shop you’ve visited, you can probably get your vehicle back in a day or two, or maybe even the same day if you’re lucky.
Dent repair
What is a “dent”? Is it a shallow depression, about two centimeters in diameter? Or is it a deep gash that’s ten centimeters long or more? Like all car damage repairs, dent repair time varies.
Small dents, especially those without paint damage, might only take a few hours. Such a service would be paintless dent repair, or PDR. These are simple, but larger or more severe dents could take significantly longer. For a major dent, in a car door for example, a car repair technician might suggest a replacement. Replacing the door itself wouldn’t take long, but they may have to wait for the replacement door.
The other big factor in judging dent repair is if it’s not a simple PDR. Once we get into car paints, the process becomes trickier. As it does for scratch repair.
Scratch repair
How deep the scratch is will affect the length of the scratch repair. Minor surface scratches that don’t penetrate the clear coat of your vehicle might only require a few hours of buffing. If a scratch is deep enough that it affects the paint, then the car damage repair might involve sanding, filling, and repainting. Depending on the workload of the auto body repair shop, this might take a day or two, including drying time.
If your vehicle has suffered a severe scratch that’s damaged multiple panels and/or it needs paint matching, then the repair will take longer. Major dents or scratches may require a week or more, particularly if the collision repair shop has to order parts or specialized tools. Regardless of time, you always want to visit an auto body repair shop that offers paint matching. You don’t want to leave the shop with a fixed dent or scratch, but with a splotch of discolored paint where the damage once was.
Glass repair
Automotive glass repairs are usually among the quickest auto body repairs. A technician can fix a small chip or crack in under an hour using specialized glass repair resin. A full windshield replacement takes longer, typically one or two hours.
After a windshield replacement, the technician may recommend waiting for an hour for the adhesive to cure properly. Rear or side window replacements should take about an hour, but not more than three.
There’s a big caveat to this. New models of vehicles often come with sensors in or attached to the windshield, or with heated glass. These auto glass repairs will take longer.
When it comes to car damage repair, advocate for yourself.
Never be afraid to ask how long a car damaged repair will take or how much it will cost. Estimates aren’t guarantees, but if the result differs significantly from the estimate, the auto body repair shop better have a good reason. Otherwise, find someone you can trust for your next car repair.
