My repaired panel is a different colour: what can I do?

Contact the workshop that carried out the repair as soon as you notice the mismatch, even while the paint is curing. Check your repaired panel in daylight from several angles, following the repairer's advice on when to assess the cured finish. A genuine colour mismatch can come from the paint mix or how it was applied, including too little blending. The panel is then repainted, with blending into neighbouring panels where needed.

How should I check the difference before reporting it?

Look at the repaired panel and the panel beside it together when both are clean and dry. Start in even daylight, away from strong reflections from coloured walls or nearby vehicles. Then move around the car and compare the finish straight on and at an angle.

Notice whether the difference stays visible or appears only as you change position. Note the light in which the mismatch shows, such as daylight, shade or street lights, because colours can agree in one light and differ in another. A door that looks too blue from every direction suggests a different problem from a metallic wing that looks right straight on but much darker from the side. A dull reflection can also make a panel seem a different shade.

If the repair is recent, ask the repairer when its finish should be assessed after curing. You can report your concern immediately and agree a review point. Curing should not be treated as a correction for the wrong colour.

Is the problem the shade, the metallic effect or the surface?

These differences can overlap, so a visual check helps describe the problem rather than provide a definite diagnosis.

• The repaired panel looks too light, too dark or a different shade, such as warmer or bluer than the surrounding paint. Polishing cannot change the paint colour, so correcting a wrong shade usually requires repainting.
• With metallic or pearl paint, the brightness changes differently from the neighbouring panel as you move. This change with viewing angle is often called "flop". The way effect particles sit in the paint can contribute, including how the paint was sprayed. Correcting it usually requires repainting.
• Reflections look duller, hazier or more rippled on the repaired area. The rippled texture is often called orange peel. Some surface differences can be improved by machine polishing, depending on their depth and the available paint thickness. Matt and satin finishes are not polished, because polishing makes them glossy in patches.

Do not start rubbing the panel with an abrasive compound to test your theory. Polishing removes a small amount of the surface coating, and excessive polishing can damage it. A surface assessment should establish whether polishing is suitable or whether the finish needs further paintwork.

What could have caused the mismatch?

A paint code can have several colour variants, and the wrong variant may have been selected. The original paint may also have faded, so a formula based on the code alone may not suit its present appearance. Painting a panel without blending can leave a visible colour boundary.

A bumper painted off the car can also look different once refitted. Its plastic substrate and separate painting conditions can contribute to a different appearance from neighbouring metal panels.

What would correcting the panel involve?

The repair needs to address the difference you can actually see. Repainting a single panel can correct a mismatch; inspection establishes whether neighbouring panels need blending.

A small inspection of the mismatch is free. If a deeper inspection is needed, it costs from £240 including VAT (£200 plus VAT), which is taken off your repair bill if you go ahead.

We mix paint to the manufacturer's paint code with specialist colour mixing, and all paintwork is sprayed in our spray booth. Correction starts with checking the colour against your car and establishing whether the mix or application needs changing. The reading supports colour selection; it does not promise an exact match.

Where blending is needed, we soften the transition between the correction and the surrounding paint. Read about blending paint into the panels next to a repair if you want to understand why an undamaged neighbouring panel may be included.

A full respray is rarely needed for one mismatched door.

You cannot rely on fading to correct a mismatch. Sunlight and exposure can change paint unevenly, so the repaired panel and the surrounding paint may continue to look different.

If the mismatch is on a bumper, a bumper respray may be appropriate. The bumper needs assessing against the adjacent bodywork while fitted, because its curves and viewing angles affect how the difference appears.

Who should I contact if another workshop painted it?

Go back to the workshop that carried out the repair first. Describe when the difference is visible and ask the workshop to assess it. If you commissioned the repair as a consumer, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires reasonable care and skill, independently of any guarantee. If that requirement was not met, you can ask for the work to be redone at no extra cost; a price reduction may be available if correction is impossible or is not provided within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience. Check any guarantee terms as well.

Keep the repair invoice and a record of your contact. Ask the workshop to explain whether it considers the issue to be colour, effect or surface finish, and what action it proposes. Giving it the opportunity to inspect the panel before further work helps keep the original concern clear. If the workshop disputes the mismatch, ask for its reasons in writing before arranging an independent assessment.

If the repair formed part of an insurance claim, contact your insurer about the mismatch too. For repairs arranged by the insurer, ask how to raise a complaint about the work's quality before arranging further work.

What should I send to get the mismatch assessed?

To arrange an assessment at our workshop in Wyken, Coventry, call +44 7903 105777. Once you have booked, we advise bringing the car in so we can see the mismatch in person.

Tell us which panel was repaired, when it was painted and when you notice the difference. The final repair price is set after inspection, and no deposit is needed.