Can anyone recommend a reputable car bodywork repair shop?

Soi Haad Ngam, Chaweng.

Only makes body repairs.

Soi 3 Maenam

Also in Mae Nam.

His name is Wichien and he was the head mechanic at Dan Autos before he went out on his own.

Follow the little dirt tract along the right-hand side of the police station close to Soi 1 Mae Nam. It bends to the right at a muay Thai gym (it's only about 78 ot 80 metres). Wiichien's "shop" is just after the bend.

The place looks a mess but he is very good! Check the pics of my Suzuki!

R

Edited February 16, 201214 yr by robsamui

Soi 3 Maenam, fast and excellent!

Soi 3 Maenam, fast and excellent!

That's good to know.

Which one is soi 3? Angela's is Soi 2 - offhand I can't think which is 3.

Where on Soi 3 is trhe shop?

Ta

R

Rob, can I ask how much it cost you to get your Suzuki from pic 1 to pic 2?

Soi 3 is opposite the PTT car wash , body shop about 200 m on the left, a huge place you cannot miss it.

Why not try Dan Auto? A few of my friends have had bodywork repaired there, excellent job and not expensive.

Rob, can I ask how much it cost you to get your Suzuki from pic 1 to pic 2?

Hi,

Just sent you a PM.

R

Why not try Dan Auto? A few of my friends have had bodywork repaired there, excellent job and not expensive.

"Expensive" is a relative term.

They certainly do a top-quality job, but I'd rather go to the person who trained them in the first place. That way I get the same quality and at less cost!

R

Soi 3 is opposite the PTT car wash , body shop about 200 m on the left, a huge place you cannot miss it.

Why not try Dan Auto? A few of my friends have had bodywork repaired there, excellent job and not expensive.

A little bit of a comparison this morning :

Same work same original parts :

Soi 3 : Baht 24,000

Dan Autos: Baht 9,000

Haven't tried the other one yet.

Soi 3 is opposite the PTT car wash , body shop about 200 m on the left, a huge place you cannot miss it.

Why not try Dan Auto? A few of my friends have had bodywork repaired there, excellent job and not expensive.

A little bit of a comparison this morning :

Same work same original parts :

Soi 3 : Baht 24,000

Dan Autos: Baht 9,000

Haven't tried the other one yet.

Wooooooooooooo!

R

Soi 3 is opposite the PTT car wash , body shop about 200 m on the left, a huge place you cannot miss it.

Why not try Dan Auto? A few of my friends have had bodywork repaired there, excellent job and not expensive.

A little bit of a comparison this morning :

Same work same original parts :

Soi 3 : Baht 24,000

Dan Autos: Baht 9,000

Haven't tried the other one yet.

Come on Rooo, you makin me twitch, dude.

Wass the crack?

Soi3 is a nono, Mr Dan is cool - - but what of the ex-head mechanic from Dan?

Did I spend 60K on my truck only to be taken as a prune?

Get there and tell us!

R

Edited February 21, 201214 yr by robsamui

No Rob, Dan autos called, they had to quote again, still waiting. I still haven't been down to your guy, will post on here when I do.

No Rob, Dan autos called, they had to quote again, still waiting. I still haven't been down to your guy, will post on here when I do.

Aha! I did wonder why the price difference between the two quotes was so great. So Dan's got it wrong . . . ?

Waiting all agog and with breath baited to hear the rest . . . thanks for the investigative research!

R

Soi Haad Ngam, Chaweng.

Only makes body repairs.

Paid 10K for fixing the back of my caribien, all rusted through, even the hinges on the door was falling off.

I had revised quote comparing 2 genuine parts for fairness:

Soi 3 : 10K

Dan's revised: 14K

Still waiting for Dan s 3 weeks later for the total quotation.

Haven't visited the other one yet.

Very interested in this. I need some body work doing on my Mitsubishi Triton. I went to Dan Auto, they quoted me 50k for a complete respray, which it doesn't need...

I had revised quote comparing 2 genuine parts for fairness:

Soi 3 : 10K

Dan's revised: 14K

Still waiting for Dan s 3 weeks later for the total quotation.

Haven't visited the other one yet.

OK comparing apples with apples , genuine parts :

Behind Police station : 8.5-9 K

Soi 3 : 10k

Dan Autos : 14K

I had revised quote comparing 2 genuine parts for fairness:

Soi 3 : 10K

Dan's revised: 14K

Still waiting for Dan s 3 weeks later for the total quotation.

Haven't visited the other one yet.

OK comparing apples with apples , genuine parts :

Behind Police station : 8.5-9 K

Soi 3 : 10k

Dan Autos : 14K

Thanks for that - it was useful

I have some work that needs doing - I think that I'll give Dan a miss this time.

I had revised quote comparing 2 genuine parts for fairness:

Soi 3 : 10K

Dan's revised: 14K

Still waiting for Dan s 3 weeks later for the total quotation.

Haven't visited the other one yet.

OK comparing apples with apples , genuine parts :

Behind Police station : 8.5-9 K

Soi 3 : 10k

Dan Autos : 14K

Ah - well done. Thanks for doing this, most useful.

The guy behind the Mae Nam police station is called Khun Wichien. (Was head mechanic at Dan's and a lot of the local Thais use him.)

One useful thing about him is that he'll look around for used parts if you ask. Cars are so precious here that they don't get thrown away like in the UK**, but Wichien knows of the scrapyards in Surat and Nakhorn Sri and a couple of phone calls usually does the trick.

R

** such as the 1996 Pajero (pic here) which failed to sell for 99p - 49 baht - recently

Edited April 7, 201214 yr by robsamui

I had revised quote comparing 2 genuine parts for fairness:

Soi 3 : 10K

Dan's revised: 14K

Still waiting for Dan s 3 weeks later for the total quotation.

Haven't visited the other one yet.

OK comparing apples with apples , genuine parts :

Behind Police station : 8.5-9 K

Soi 3 : 10k

Dan Autos : 14K

Final update, got my car repaired on time & a bit cheaper then the original quote. He also does mechanical repairs being Ex head mechanic at Dan's, so taking my car back for the BIIIIIIG service.

More then happy, thanks for the referral Rob.

Could anyone hazard an educated guess as the approx cost I'd be looking at for a complete respray (including front and rear bumpers/wheel-arches/etc) for a Suzuki Vitara?

Soi 3 Maenam, fast and excellent!

That's good to know.

Which one is soi 3? Angela's is Soi 2 - offhand I can't think which is 3.

Where on Soi 3 is trhe shop?

Ta

R

It's the turn where the "James Audio" shop is, on the ring road, then the shop is a little way Soi 3 (perhaps 100 metres) on the left... you can also access from Soi 2, at the 7 -11 keep right then it meets the shop yard at Soi 3,

On the sign for the repair shop in mentions something about insurance claims.

Could anyone hazard an educated guess as the approx cost I'd be looking at for a complete respray (including front and rear bumpers/wheel-arches/etc) for a Suzuki Vitara?

Anyone?

Around 20 -30 K I think if there is no panel work & same colour. .

Could anyone hazard an educated guess as the approx cost I'd be looking at for a complete respray (including front and rear bumpers/wheel-arches/etc) for a Suzuki Vitara?

Not really possible without knowing what bodywork also needs to be done - and that also includes flatting down scratched/chipped/damaged paintwork, if there is no obvious corrosion.

You might also need to be aware that a cheap flash-over usually means not bothering to remove or mask-off bumpers, grille, trim, badges, transfers etc and merely spraying over everything - so don't go by the price alone.

A guess - anything from 10K to 25K - you need to go out and talk to the people who do the work, not to the folks here!

R

I had revised quote comparing 2 genuine parts for fairness:

Soi 3 : 10K

Dan's revised: 14K

Still waiting for Dan s 3 weeks later for the total quotation.

Haven't visited the other one yet.

OK comparing apples with apples , genuine parts :

Behind Police station : 8.5-9 K

Soi 3 : 10k

Dan Autos : 14K

Final update, got my car repaired on time & a bit cheaper then the original quote. He also does mechanical repairs being Ex head mechanic at Dan's, so taking my car back for the BIIIIIIG service.

More then happy, thanks for the referral Rob.

No probs - glad it worked out!

Can you give me an idea of what you had done and how long it took?

Khun Wichien is normally very good but sometimes he needs to farm things out (like air-con or electrics) and then he has other people hold him up . . . (I waited 6 months for some idler to do all the bodywork on my jeep, with Wichien embarrassed all the time about it. When it was all done Wichien took no time to do all the prepping and paint plus the mechanical stuff.)

Basic stuff, rear bumper replaced & realigned, side steps replaced & realigned, front underbody tray secured, sump guard removed , repaired & re installed.

Took one day.