Originally Posted by DaveW
In 1990 I was quoted £800 for a bare metal respray on my BGT. the shell was complete, with no rust remaining and several new panels.

I didn't get that in writing, and he didn't mention anything until I went to pay, and the bill was £1,400.

He mumbled about it taking more time than he expected. The moral is to get a written quote. But you all know that.

Because this car was for concours and I didn't want shortcuts, I didn't argue, but it cost him other customers who were put off by what happened.

That was 1990. When I sold that car in 2008, the paint was still excellent. No deterioration, no bubbles.


The trouble is that it can work both ways, with the tradesperson costing in a risk premium to cover unforeseen eventualities.

When I had the footings done for my garage, one company said that if I wanted a fixed-price quote I'd be looking at £50k. I told my builder and he said "Bollocks to that, let's just start digging and see what we find, it might be bad, but probably won't be". I ended up with a bill for that phase of £12k.

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Tim H.
1986 4/4 VVTi Sport, 2002 LR Defender, 2022 Mini Cooper SE