Car Body Repair & Respray Cost UK 2026
A SMART repair — small, medium area repair technology, done by a mobile technician in a few hours — costs £80–£200 per area. A deep scratch through to bare metal costs £200–£350 per panel at an independent bodyshop, a full panel respray £350–£600, and a complete car respray £2,400–£2,900 or more.
Matching the repair to the damage
SMART repair handles localised cosmetic damage without repainting a whole panel, usually at your home or workplace in two to four hours. Typical 2026 prices: scratch repair £80–£180, bumper scuff £100–£200, dent removal £55–£150, and alloy kerb repair £55–£90 per wheel.
Scratches scale with depth. Surface swirls and clear-coat marks polish out for £50–£100. Through the paint but not to metal needs localised repainting at £100–£200. Down to bare metal requires filling, priming, painting and lacquering — £200–£350 per panel at an independent bodyshop.
Dents split the same way. Paintless dent removal, where the paint is unbroken and the technician works the metal back from behind, starts at £60–£120. Once filler and repainting are needed, a larger dent runs £200–£400 per panel.
Resprays. A bumper is around £280, a single side panel around £400, a full panel £350–£600, and a complete car £2,400–£2,900+. If you have damage in several places, ask for a combined price — multi-area visits usually attract a 15–25% discount.
Body repair prices by job
Sources: DentDash, Chipex, HowMuchShouldItCost, CentralGear, DJ Auto Body Repair and SMART Repair People 2026 UK price guides. Complete car respray £2,400–£2,900+ excluded from the chart for scale.
Why quotes differ so widely
Paint type. Solid colours are cheapest. Metallics need more coats, and three-stage pearlescent and candy finishes are dearer again. Some manufacturer colours are notoriously hard to blend invisibly, which adds labour whatever the panel.
Blending into adjacent panels. A good bodyshop blends the new paint into neighbouring panels so the repair is invisible. That costs more than spraying the single damaged panel, and it is the difference between a repair you cannot see and one you can spot in daylight from ten feet.
Mobile SMART versus bodyshop. SMART is cheaper and far more convenient for localised cosmetic damage. It cannot address structural damage, large areas, or anything where panel alignment has moved — if the damage crosses a panel edge or the gaps look wrong, it is a bodyshop job.
Bundle the work. The 15–25% multi-area discount is real and rarely offered unprompted. Get everything looked at in one visit rather than fixing the bumper now and the door in three months.
Claim it or pay for it?
For most cosmetic damage, paying is the better answer. With a typical excess of £250–£500, a £150 SMART repair is below the excess entirely, and even a £400 panel respray is close to it. Claiming also costs you your no-claims discount and raises renewal premiums for years — frequently more than the repair itself.
Claim where damage is extensive, where structural or safety components are involved, or where another party is at fault and their insurer should be paying. In those cases your insurer will normally direct you to an approved repairer; using your own choice of bodyshop instead can affect what they pay, so check before booking.
Two points on value. Repairs done well and documented do not harm resale, but visible mismatched paint does — which is an argument for paying for proper blending. And if you are preparing a car for sale, our valeting guide and depreciation guide cover what actually moves the price a buyer will pay.
Body repair costs — common questions
A SMART repair costs £80–£200 per area for localised cosmetic damage. A deep scratch through to metal is £200–£350 per panel, a full panel respray £350–£600, and a complete car respray £2,400–£2,900 or more.
Small, medium area repair technology — a localised repair that fixes cosmetic damage without repainting the whole panel, usually done by a mobile technician at your home or work in two to four hours. Typical prices are scratch £80–£180, bumper scuff £100–£200, dent £55–£150 and alloy kerb repair £55–£90 a wheel.
Much cheaper. Paintless dent removal works the metal back from behind and starts at £60–£120, but it only works while the paint surface is unbroken. Once the paint has cracked and filler and repainting are needed, the same dent costs £200–£400 per panel.
Usually not. With a typical excess of £250–£500, a £150 SMART repair falls entirely below the excess and even a £400 respray is close to it. A claim also costs your no-claims discount and raises renewals for several years, which commonly exceeds the repair cost. Claim for extensive or structural damage, or where another party is at fault.
Yes, and it is worth asking explicitly because it is rarely volunteered. Multi-area visits typically attract a 15–25% discount, since the technician's travel and setup time is shared across the jobs. Have everything assessed in one visit rather than fixing damage piecemeal.
A properly executed repair with correctly blended paint should not. Visible mismatched paint will, and so will evidence of poor-quality filler work — both suggest to a buyer that the car has had damage handled cheaply. This is the practical argument for paying a bodyshop to blend into adjacent panels rather than spraying a single panel in isolation.
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