Are SMART Repairs Worth It?

A SMART repair often suits a small scuff or scratch in one place, and its starting price is lower than painting the whole panel: from £75 plus VAT (£90 including VAT), against £150 plus VAT (£180 including VAT) for single panel paint. Whether it is worth it for your car depends on the size and position of the damage, the colour and the paint around it. Our SMART repair is not used for dents, and damage spread across a panel may suit a different repair. At Coventry Body Shop, our workshop in Wyken, Coventry, the damage is inspected before any work is agreed.

What a SMART repair is

SMART stands for small to medium area repair technique. Instead of refinishing a whole panel, the repair covers the damaged spot and as much of the paint around it as the blend needs, which is usually a small area. The new paint is faded into the original paint at the edges, so the change from new paint to old is spread out rather than stopping at a hard line.

As we use the term, SMART repair is a paint repair. It suits scuffs and scratches in a small area, often on a bumper corner or a door edge. SMART repair costs from £75 plus VAT (£90 including VAT). Like every price we publish, that is a from price.

How a SMART repair is done

In a typical SMART repair, the damaged area is cleaned and degreased first, so that wax and road film do not stop the new paint from bonding. Loose paint is removed, and the area is sanded smooth. A deeper scratch may need a little filler before primer goes on.

Colour matching uses the manufacturer's paint code, specialist colour mixing and a spectrophotometer. The colour is sprayed over the repair and faded out into the paint around it. On paints finished with a clear coat, lacquer then goes on for gloss and protection.

All paintwork is sprayed in our spray booth. We do not bake paint in an oven or use infrared curing. The company director, a former Aston Martin technician and painter, is the only painter on our small team, so every SMART repair is painted by him.

When a SMART repair is worth it

SMART repair works well when the damage is small, sits in one place and has room around it for the new paint to be blended in. A scuff on the corner of a plastic bumper is a typical example. The curve of the bumper can give a place to fade the colour out.

It can also suit a car that is going back to a lease company with a few marks on it. Check the company's return guide first, because it sets out which marks are allowed. Lease return repairs start from £150 plus VAT (£180 including VAT).

For a single mark, SMART repair starts at a lower price than painting the panel. Single panel paint costs from £150 plus VAT (£180 including VAT), and a bumper respray starts from £210 plus VAT (£252 including VAT). These are starting prices, not quotes for the same damage, so the written estimate for your car is the figure to compare.

When another repair is the better choice

Dents

Our SMART repair does not fix dents. A dent with unbroken paint can often be worked out by paintless dent repair, which leaves the original finish in place. Paintless dent repair for a small dent is priced per panel from £90 plus VAT (£108 including VAT), and paintless dent repair for a medium dent from £185 plus VAT (£222 including VAT). When the paint in the dent has cracked, paintless dent repair cannot finish the job on its own; the panel may then need repairing and repainting, or a bolt-on panel may be replaced. Panel dent repair and respray is priced from £175 plus VAT (£210 including VAT).

Damage spread across a panel

Several scuffs on one panel can each be small and still not suit SMART repair. Separate small repairs side by side can leave several blend edges close together, and painting the whole panel can give a more even result. Scuffs spread over several panels are judged panel by panel at the inspection.

Marks in the middle of a large, flat panel

A bonnet or a roof reflects a lot of light, and a blend edge in the middle of it is harder to hide than one on a curved corner. A small mark there may need the colour faded out over a wider area, which takes the job closer to a panel repaint.

Paint that is failing around the damage

If the lacquer around the scratch is peeling, a small repair may sit next to paint that is still breaking down. Cloudy lacquer needs a closer look, because it can have more than one cause. Failed lacquer has to be taken back to sound paint, which often means refinishing the panel, because new paint sprayed over a failing layer can lift with it.

Light marks that only need polishing

Some scratches sit only in the lacquer and never reached the colour. Run a fingernail across the mark: if the nail does not catch, machine polishing may level it without any new paint. The fingernail test is only a rough guide, and at the inspection we measure paint depth with a paint depth gauge to help judge whether polishing suits the mark. Scratch removal and machine polish is priced per panel from £120 plus VAT (£144 including VAT). A few stone chips can be touched in instead, with our paint touch-up starting from £49 plus VAT (£58.80 including VAT).

How long a SMART repair lasts

There is no set lifespan for a SMART repair. It uses the same kinds of paint as a panel repaint, over a smaller area, with filler and primer only where the damage needs them. How long it lasts depends on the preparation under it, the paint used, how the car is looked after and any later damage, and a repair over poor preparation can fail early.

A poor repair can show at the blend edge, as a faint line or a patch that looks duller than the paint beside it. Every job carries our 6-month workmanship guarantee, which starts on the day you collect the car. It is a workmanship guarantee, not a forecast of how long the repair will last. Look at the repair in daylight when you collect the car, and contact us if the paint changes within those 6 months.

Metallic and pearl colours

Solid colours are usually easier to blend in a small area. Metallic and pearl paints contain flakes that catch the light, and the way those flakes settle depends on how the paint is sprayed. In a small repair the flakes have to sit the same way as in the original paint around them, or the area can look lighter or darker from some angles. A metallic or pearl colour may therefore need a wider blend, and the price can go up to reflect that. Even with a careful blend, a small difference can sometimes be seen up close or in certain light, and a panel repaint may then give a more even result.

Older paint may also have faded a little away from the colour on the paint code. The spectrophotometer helps here, because it reads the paint on your car as it is now, and the mix can be adjusted to suit it.

SMART repair and insurance

A small scuff can cost less to repair than the excess on a car insurance policy. If so, a claim on your own policy may pay out nothing, so check your excess before you decide whether to claim. Making a claim can also affect your no-claims discount, so ask your insurer how it would treat yours.

If you do claim, we photograph the damage, prepare a written, itemised estimate for your insurer and, if you want us to, deal with them about the repair. Your insurer decides what your policy covers. We are not on any insurer's approved list, so check your policy to see whether you can choose your own repairer. Our insurance and accident repair support page explains how this works.

Getting a SMART repair assessed

A small inspection is free. For damage that needs a closer look, the deep inspection is charged from £200 plus VAT (£240 including VAT), and that fee is taken off the repair bill if you go ahead with the work. You get a written, itemised estimate before any work starts.

There is no deposit to pay, and you can cancel or move a booking at any point free of charge. Drivers from within about 100 miles can bring their car to the workshop. We do not offer collection or delivery.

To ask about your car before you book, call or WhatsApp +44 7903 105777, or send photographs with the Send enquiry button. One photo from a few steps back and one close up, taken in daylight, show us where the damage sits on the panel.