My car is going back to the Lease company, what do I do? You have had your company lease car for 3 years and it is going back soon. There are a few little marks that need attention so rather than pay the lease company charges call Peter on 07830 36 46 86 and he will provide a free quote for the work and it is almost certainly going to be cheaper than paying the Lease company and, because it is a mobile service he will come to you to carry out the work. That is what happened with this X-Type Jaguar. Peter is able to fix most of these types of  damage at your home or place of work so there is no need to arrange lifts to work or have the kids picked up by family or friends.

I’ve kerbed my alloy! What do I do now? Many of us have done it, we get ourselves a new car and before we know where all the corners are we catch the front nearside alloy on the kerb. It is usually the front nearside wheel that gets damaged first, either from poor parking, or because you get pushed onto the kerb by inconsiderate oncoming traffic. The tools in Peters van allow him to repair many of these sorts of damage and this is one he did for a Peugeot 308 driver.

Working Breakfast Visitor Iain arrived in a car with a large scar on the O/S/R door of his Mum’s car as the result of a coming together with a bollard. Having seen this sort of thing before, Peter was able to remove the deposits with a selection of the tools available leaving only a small dent that fellow Working Breakfast member Dent Technique will be able to remove. That’s a Brownie point for Working Breakfast ( http://www.workingbreakfast.com ) and one for Peter.

My car has been keyed, what do I do? This is what Peter at ChipsAway in Leicester, Leicestershire would do. The Customer had bought a coupe for the summer. The price was very low because both sides had been visited by an idiot with a key. For £300 + VAT Peter was able to repair the damage while the Customer was at work, so he drove too and from work as usual. In this case the panels had suffered minimum distortion during the ‘keying’ so after cleaning down the panels very little filler was needed to bring the levels up. I good quality primer applied after the filler has been flatted with 1500 grade wet and dry paper. Flat the baked primer to remove any edges. Peter mixed the correct version of the pale yellow paint and applied a few coats. Yellow is often a ‘low hide’ colour and needs a few extra coats. ChipsAway aquaclear lacquer is then applied and baked to a high shine.

How do I fix a bumper scuff – well this is how I would fix a bumper scuff. This example had one at each end. Stage one is to make sure the areas are clean and free from wax / polish / silicone, there are a number of preparations available for this. Make sure you have the right colour, this one is Reflex Silver and from the ChipsAway database the “red” version is mixed. The standard variant would stand out like a sore thumb. Any filling should be done first and after flatting down a good quality primer is applied and baked to form a stable layer to add the paint to. The ChipsAway AquaClear paint is water based to meet environmental EU Paint Directive 2004/42/CE so is low impact and safe to use. After drying at the correct temperature the areas are ready for the ChipsAway lacquer to be applied. For most applications 2 coats are sufficient and after a good bake the repair is ready for a quick polish and the Customer drives off happy to be in a car repaired by Peter of ChipsAway.

Does my partner have to know? Can you keep a secret?

This happens quite a lot with all ages groups and with all ages of vehicle. The record so far is 2 days and 34 miles into ownership of a new car.

I have met up with some very nice people in supermarket and pub car parks and even the odd lay-by.

I’ve had puzzled looks from some people on busy streets who could not understand why I offered to do the work on my drive rather than theirs – “does your partner not talk to the neighbors” – sometimes it is like a light going on followed by “Aah, I see”

My partner has scratched my new car. This is a very common one. It does not seem to matter who answers the door.

If it is the lady of the house it is often “my partner took my car to work today while his was being serviced and look what he has done! Can you fix it?” Usually the answer is Yes.

If the man of the house is at home it goes along the lines of “my partner took the car to the shops and look how it came back! Can you fix it?” Again the answer is usually Yes.

“I bet you get lots of calls from Ladies!”

I got an email from a guy who had found me on the web so I gave him a call to see how I could help, and this was his opening line. He really thought that he was probably the first man to call on my services.

After a moment to come up with an answer that was not rude I explained that I probably dealt with more men than women and left it at that.

Mercedes CLS in Leicester LE1. Damage over a rear arch and onto the rear door was repaired by Peter of ChipsAway Leicester in LE1. Cause unknown, but possibly a 4×4 in the supermarket car park the damage greeted the Customer on return to the car. After applying a small amount of filler the area was rubbed down to remove any signs of the damage, the area was then primed to provide a good base for the paint Peter had mixed specially for this repair. A couple of well blended coats of lacquer brought the area up to ‘as new’ and a final polish was all that was needed.

The Shopping Trolley did it …

One of the most dangerous things made by man is the Shopping Trolley. Well that’s what Peter would think if he took all the calls seriously.

There is no doubt that a free running trolley can damage your paintwork. If someone forces their trolley between 2 cars they can scratch the paintwork – BUT – if the damage is more than about 1 metre above ground level it was NOT a trolley.