About Us

If you’re a Watford, Rickmansworth or Hertfordshire car owner who has been unfortunately involved in an accident which wasn’t your fault, you can rely on our professional team to process a car insurance repair claim on your behalf through our selected accident management services. We manage your non-fault accident from start to finish and liaise with the third party’s insurance provider directly to settle your claim.

Subject to approval from your service provider, we’ll carry out the required car insurance repair work, which could be anything from a small car dent repair to major crash repair work. The cost of a car insurance repair will usually be covered by the third party’s policy.  You will be provided with a free courtesy vehicle, comparable to your own wherever possible, until your own vehicle is repaired and roadworthy again.

The technicians at our Watford bodyshop are fully qualified, and highly skilled in performing car body repair work on vehicles which have come in for car insurance repair work. Every job we complete for customers locally and in the surrounding Rickmansworth and Hertfordshire areas, from the smallest car scratch repair or car bumper repair to the largest accident repair project, comes with our long-term guarantee of workmanship.

• Refinishing in a modern low-bake and high-ceiling oven, which can accommodate a wide range of private passenger cars and light commercial vehicles

• High quality, water-based paint finishes and clear non-scratch lacquer systems, skilfully mixed using a computerised paint system for first-class colour matching and an outstanding paint finish

• SMART services available, designed for faster, low-cost car body repair, car dent repair and car scratch repair. Repair work blends in with the rest of the panel through machine polishing. We also can carry out high quality detailing work on cars at the request of Watford, Rickmansworth or Hertfordshire owners

• Car bumper repair, including work on thermosetting and non-thermosetting plastic parts. Plastic welding for minor damage or full bumper replacements are available

• Domestic and commercial car body repair, including car dent repair, car scratch repair, panel beating, body JIG alignment, wheel alignment and alloy wheel refurbishment

• We liaise with all major UK insurers to provide customers with car insurance repair services in all non-fault accident situations

The technicians at Autoprep Ltd are trained to deliver high-quality car body repair services for vehicle owners in Watford and the surrounding areas. If you’ve been involved in a non-fault accident, we provide car insurance repair services where we liaise with the relevant service providers and companies.

We also take on private work and provide repairs for the trade and for fleet companies. Damage caused by collisions will require car scratch repair or car bumper repair work to be carried out on your vehicle. We specialise in these areas, including the reshaping of damaged panels using traditional and modern car dent repair practices.

How We Repair Car Panels

Car Body Realignment

Vehicles requiring car dent repair work after major collisions may have a misaligned chassis caused by the impact. If an estimate for approved car insurance repair work recommends body alignment, our team checks the positioning of key points using manufacturer specifications to establish whether the chassis needs to be straightened or not.

Body alignment is carried out by raising the car onto a modern body JIG system, which allows our Watford technicians to examine the chassis. If the chassis is affected, a hydraulic arm called a dozer is used to pull misaligned components back into place.

Shaping, Planishing and Welding

Traditional car body repair work at our Watford bodyshop is undertaken by a panel beater to reshape the distorted metal panel.

• The damaged panel is stripped and heated, making the metal easier to manipulate

• Hammers, dollies and flips are used to carefully reshape the metal panel

• The damaged area is smoothed out so the car dent repair work blends in with the contours of the panel

Filling, Sanding and Priming

Depending on the level of damage to your vehicle, the car body repair may require filler to reshape the panel before sanding and priming. Priming is also used on car scratch repair and car bumper repair jobs, principally as a preparation method to prevent rust or to create a ‘keyed’ surface so that paint adheres to the panel.

• A paste is applied to the surface which is shaped once the filler has set

• The specialists at our Watford bodyshop use different grades of paper to sand down the dried filler until a smooth, even and contoured shape is achieved

• Primer is used to cover the repair, which is then flatted to create a smooth finish

Refinishing and Spray Painting

To complete the car body repair, the experts at our Watford workshop use high-quality water-based paints and acrylic lacquers to refinish the repaired panel. This highly-effective method is also available for car scratch repair and car bumper repair work.

• Paint is mixed using a cutting-edge computerised system for superior colour matching

• Once the initial car dent repair work is complete, paint refinishing takes place in a low-bake, high-ceiling oven manufactured by Garmat

• After the paint is sprayed onto the panel, an acrylic lacquer is applied to the surface to protect the water-based colour and the vehicle is left to bake

• Once the panels are dry, they will be cut, polished and refitted (if parts have been stripped from the vehicle). The car will then be valeted and quality checked

Modern Equipment

As well as using traditional car body repair services, the technicians at our Watford bodyshop employ Small-to-Medium Area Repair Technology (SMART) techniques which are affordable and designed to minimise material usage. Modern SMART technology, which includes the use of specialist tools and fast-drying materials, enables our team to focus on specific areas in need of repair.

The method also ensures the entire panel doesn’t have to be painted or any of the adjacent panels blended.

SMART services are ideal for the following:

• Car Scratch Repair and Car Bumper Repair – the damaged area is prepped, primed and refinished with specialist materials to eliminate scratches and scuffs

• Car Dent Repair – Dents in metal panels are lifted out using state-of-the-art tools, including rods, to restore the shape of the original panel