looking for good body shop/ hail damage!

[AlfJTS]

Hello everyone, have big project that needs a good body shop, does anyone recommend a good one in or around Brisbane? severe hail damage.
Thank you everyone in advance.

[kiwirgv]

I'm in the same boat as you - currently getting hail repairs done to my Lancia.

Questions:
What model car is yours? new/old?
What exactly do you want to get done? just hail repairs? paintless repair, or do you need paintwork done as well?

If you've got a relatively modern car, most Paintless Dent Removal places will be able to do a good job.

Many places are still fully booked - one place I was recommended could only look at my car in September! that was just for the assessment, let alone the repairs.

If you've got an old car though, or if you want to do more than just PDR, then you might want to be a bit more choosy.
I took mine to a few Paintless Dent Removal places that were recommended by the insurance company. I let them know that my car was old (1969) and uncommon (lancia fulvia), and they said okay, but when I turned up for the assessment, each one was hesitant, and definitely didnt fill me with confidence. One wanted to just fill every dent with bog and paint over!
That said, I think they're fine with modern Fords/toyotas/golfs, but they haven't got a clue when it comes to old cars, and i didn't want to trust them with mine.

One place I found is Sleeping Beauties (http://sleepingbeauties.com.au/Aboutus.html), which is a full restoration workshop. Very good quality work, and they specialise in classic/vintage cars - one of their cars won a Pebble Beach concourse competition. I'm taking the opportunity to strip the full car back to bare metal and a quality respray. They're a little expensive though, but if that's the end-result that you want then it might be worth it.

Another place is Shipstones (http://www.shipstone.com.au/).
I'm yet to have an assessment from them - the earliest they can do is May, apparently. But they've been recommended to me independently by two classic porsche owners, each saying they wouldnt go anywhere else, and one Lancia owner.

So, it depends what you want to do - you say it's a big project, give us more details.

[Craig_m67]

Me too, although it's a much loved 156 (nothing fancy)

[Darryl]

Obviously depends what you are looking at repairing but I'm very happy with the results of paintless dent repair by ProDent in Albion (http://www.prodent.com.au/) on my 166 which had a *lot* of hail damage and now looks perfect (except for the @#$$ unobtanium tail-lights). The list of panels damaged (and the turret boot and bonnet in particular were really golfball-surface like) was pretty extensive:

Bonnet
L/H/F Guard
L/H/F Door
L/H/R Door
L/H/R Qtr
R/H/F Guard
R/H/F Door
R/H/R Door
R/H/R Qtr
Turret
Boot Lid

For general bodywork/paint I like to use Champs at Slacks Creek (http://champsbodyworks.com.au). They can/will do a job to suit from a patchup job on a track car to a showcar level of paint/finish. I suspect they also have more than enough hail work at present but doesn't hurt to ask... You will have to excuse Ivan's poor taste in cars (tell him I said so) but if you dig deeper you will see they have worked on a lot of exotica as well as Aus/US "muscle".

[Craig_m67]

No, I do (and redo) all my own work

Mine is a 1.9JTD Sportwagon (facelift), special to me so I will repair it eventually.