Bodywork & paint repairs

In the final instalment, Rob Hawkins takes our Prius to a bodyshop to have the nearside sill, doors and rear bumper repaired and painted.

Since we bought our 2005 Toyota Prius in late 2016, we’ve completed just over 5000 miles (165,254 total), spent nearly £500 on petrol, and averaged almost 48mpg (we never got anywhere near the claimed 65.7mpg).

This month we tackle one of the biggest jobs on our project car. The 12-year-old paintwork was looking a little tatty in places, especially around a couple of nasty gashes along the nearside sill, several dents in the nearside doors and lots of scuff marks on the rear bumper. We could have picked over the entire car, but a complete respray would have been uneconomical. Instead, repairing and respraying the sill, doors and bumper was within budget. Our most promising quote of £780 came from a wellestablished bodyshop, Branch Auto Bodies of Leeds, who handled all the work.

Other jobs this month have been less successful. Having refused to pay Toyota a whopping £183.54 for a new nearside door mirror, we failed to secure it with its original mounting bolts, although it’s better than it was. We resorted to buying a new wheel trim (we had three of the four when we bought the Prius) from Toyota to cover over one of the tatty alloys.

While we’ve been economical with

some aspects of our project, when it has come to servicing and repairs that enable the car to be used safely, we haven’t cut any corners. But there is a limit when it comes to aesthetics, especially on a vehicle that has been driven for the equivalent of six times around the world.