Reluctant to price a panel job! What gives?

[maxstu]

I recently put my van in to a local one man spray shop. I wanted to get the bottom of the windscreen panel repaired before fitting new seal and screen.

On advice from this guy he recommended a new panel to really be confident of success. I agreed as the old panel was fairly rotted under seal. It's Number 1 in this exploded diagram.....

http://www.ahschofield.co.uk/vanPics80- ... /BRP1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So I sourced one and had it delivered to his works place saturday week.

So I've asked how much is this going to cost. He been a bit vague and keeps repeating he can't really quote cos there is more rust to remove. Any ideas how much this should cost? Ball park figure is all I need.

So I've removed the dash for him. He's taken the windscreen and seal out and cut old panel out.
I called him again today and he's now working on another vehicle! I told my van must be ready by thursday. I said he'll try.

I getting fed up with his attitude and lack of progress. He's already put a small dent in drivers door. He's had the van for two weeks tomorrow. He had the new panel over seven days and he can''t give me a price!

Should I pull the van and take it elsewhere? How much should I pay him for his poor effort to date. How long should this really take? My opinion is two days. Tomorrow he's had van two weeks?

Any views much appreciated

[camper]

In past owned vehicles the problem of getting a straight answer&when it will be done has happened .If that was my vehicle i would make inquires elsewere but explain to the other repairer the situation.If a better service is offered pull the van out.

[Cruz]

Does he have regular contracts? Quite a number of bodyshops cannot survive purely on walk-ins and have regular repair contracts where that customer expects to be priority thus your job will be parked. Also rough estimates can only be taken with a pinch of salt because the price can rise depending on how much extra work needs doing due to unseen rust etc.

Whilst it's annoying you can hardly blame bodyshops for that practice........unless he's just a lazy a*** and parks it when something easier and more profitable turns up.

[maxstu]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I made an enquiry at another business about 1/4 mile away. And they were grinning from ear to ear when I mentioned my story to them. Apparently he's well known for always complaining there's never enough work coming in. Then when he get's some he reacts and moans there's too much pressure on him. Just my fecking luck

Will contact him tomorrow and get a final yeah or nay for thursday. If nay the other business reckons I should offer a token £100 for work to date. Then give them a call. Move vehicle to them, but do not tell my chap the full story about where the vehicle might finally end up.

New place reckon it's two days work max. Plus they will quote a price BEFORE commencement. As they've a bay and T25 already in the workshop I feeling a bit more confident with them

I hear what you're saying Shaun. I gotta a feeling he's more interested in insurance jobs TBH. But this was pre-booked and I source the new panel (genuine VW at £125) plus I took out the dash. He only had to knock out old screen then rip out old seal as both are being replaced. Remove headlights pluso grill then cut old panel out. I've not even asked him to re-spray new panel.

Surely he can price that up in a estimation?