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Driving standards
14 Feb 2007
Topics: Automotive, PAS 125, Kitemark®, Thatcham
PAS 125 sets out technical requirements for vehicle body shop repair - what's been your experience with this industry?
Body shop repair standards are variable at best. I've used small operators who take hours tinting paint and polishing out production marks and sinkage, but also had experience of bigger firms whose colour matching on panels ends up looking like a pair of harlequin's trousers. Filling, rubbing down
and spraying is an art - shame more body specialists don't take more pride.
New cars often mean new materials: what changes in car manufacture are making things more challenging for body repair shops?
New materials, especially aluminium, are a huge challenge. Cars like the Audi A2 and A8 require specialist skills. Same thing with new Jaguars with their unique aluminium bonding processes. But these new materials can bring higher standards and better training, which has to be good for the industry as a whole.
Why did you decide to help launch this new PAS?
Anything that improves standards in the vehicle repair sector has to be good for consumers. I'm proud to be associated with an initiative that will raise the performance of the body repair industry and deliver better value, standards and service. Everybody knows that it's an industry that needs to raise its game.
How do UK drivers and body repair shops compare to other countries?
British drivers are some of the best in the world. I've done 35 series of Worst Driver in places as diverse as Belgium and Canada, so I've seen it all - the French are some of the worst. UK body shops are pretty good too. I had a Jensen Interceptor re-sprayed in Spain. My eight-year-old could have done better.
This industry is often seen as being overrun by cowboy operators ? what should the industry do to improve its image?
All body shops should operate to a prescribed set of given standards and aim to offer genuinely "invisible repairs". Some of the work I see is scandalously bad. Insurance companies should help promote a licensing scheme to weed out those cowboys who persistently tuck up consumers.
If your car were damaged in an accident, how would you get it repaired?
I'm lucky enough to have a bloke in a shed who can lead load, tint by eye and always gets the colour match spot on. And he doesn't charge £300 just to open the tin!
Quentin Willson (www.quentinwillson.co.uk) is one of Britain's best-known motoring authorities. He spent over a decade presenting BBC's Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson. He is a regular face on television, and is the creator and owner of the Britain's Worst format. He is also a columnist for The Sunday Mirror.
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The PAS, or Publicly Available Specification, forms part of our spectrum of standards information ranging from full international consensus to bespoke individual company advice.
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