When we got back from France last October, I found that sometime during the holiday our van had been clonked on the left-hand rear corner by person or persons unknown.

At first I thought that this was pretty superficial but a discussion with a certain dealership soon persuaded me otherwise as I was told that a) the damage could not have been done to a worse area of the caravan, b) the damaged panel could not be repaired and c) the only way to fix it was to replace the whole of the lower alloy panel (which is pre-painted at the factory) from the rear light unit to the gas locker. This they could do for a total of £3,300 and they would need the caravan for a week.

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Naturally, faced with that sort of outlay, I contacted my insurers who asked for photographs of the damage and a copy of the dealer's estimate. They then arranged for a loss-adjuster to call to look at the damage. The man they sent was rather arrogant and refused even to consider the repair by the dealer. He telephoned later to say that he'd arranged for a local caravan bodywork repair business to contact me to discuss the work. I'm still waiting for them to call.

A month later I again contacted the insurers who arranged for another local company to contact me. They sent a technician round to examine the van and he quickly decided that the job was beyond his expertise. Back to square one.

By this time I was getting pretty hacked off and started exchanging rather robustly worded emails and phone calls with my broker in Southend who was very helpful and the insurer in Liverpool who seemed to think that the repair had been done weeks previously. Eventually the matter was put in the hands of a firm of 'super loss-adjusters' who promised me that they would sort things out to my satisfaction. In the end their managing director suggested that I send photographs of the damaged panel to a company in Southampton who specialise in repairs to caravans and motorhomes of all kinds.

I was still uneasy about having the repair carried out by a non-Eriba specialist but when I spoke to the company's chief technician on the phone he was so confident that I decided to entrust the Triton to his care.

Well, I took it to Spitfire Garage's bodywork shop in Woolston, Southampton on Monday of this week and left the caravan with them. The technician looked at the panel and when I asked if they would peel it back to gain access to the rear, he told me that they would glue pads to the surface to which they would attach rods and then gently pull out the dents with various sized slide hammers before making good the paintwork.

On Wednesday morning I had a call telling me that my van was ready for collection and I fetched it home today (Thursday). To say that I am happy with the workmanship is an understatement. The paint is an absolutely perfect match for the original - but judge for yourselves:

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So, a repair that would have cost £3,300 at a dealership was completed to my satisfaction by a bodywork specialist for 'well below £1,000'.

That seems like excellent value to me so if you ever need panel repairs to your beloved Eriba, I can thoroughly recommend Spitfire Garage, Southampton.

The usual disclaimer, I have no connection with the company other than as a satisfied customer.

Excellent job mate. Well done. It looks as good as new
Randa

Quote: Ray Lawrence wrote in post #3

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How on earth could they have justified the £3300 repair?
A few years ago I would have just put filler in the dent and re-sprayed.

Was the £1000 job fully covered by your insurance, less excess? Certainly the final picture look perfect. :)

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Recently there's been a discussion on Facebook about dent repairs on an Eriba and one of our members, Heather Jones, passed on this information.

https://youtu.be/rYqwLyMaC28 (best to silence the annoying music on the video as there is no narrative)

http://www.hbc-system.com/Dent-repair-sy...avans-7918.aspx

Randa