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Two weeks ago, I was parking my car at the Anantara in Abu Dhabi. The guest parking is outdoors and the spots are covered, however there are pillars supporting the roof on all four corners. Without paying a lot of attention, I turned into the parking spot and oversaw that the bottom part of the pillar was thicker than the rest. What I also oversaw, was the metal bolt stick out at the bottom (brilliant design Anantara...). You can guess what happened next: I heard and felt how the car scraped across the pillar and the damage was done.

The result of my oversight:

Naturally, this wasn't a condition I could leave my car in, so I did some research (we're a car magazine after all) and came across Automotive Repair Systems . They told me about their smart repair technology and said they'd be able to make all the scratches disappear, so this morning at 9:30 I was at their garage in Al Quoz to see what they could do.

The ARS team inspected my car and I asked them to also have a look at two small dents on both sides of the car (don't you just love people that open the car door in a parking lot without looking out for other cars?). After a 5 minute look, I was quoted AED 1,550 and told that I could pick up the car in 4 hours.

Impressed with the garage and the timeline, I left and returned at 2pm.

Cleaning the area and fixing the scratches:

ARS's team got straight to work. As a first step the damaged areas were cleaned, sanded and degreased. Secondly a plastic filler was applied, sanded and a plastic primer was applied. After sanding the primer to a smooth finish, the car was masked for the paint process.

Applying the paint:

Determining the right color for the paint is done by identifying the paint code and entering it into the mixing system. The paint was then applied to the primed area, with a priority on keeping the repair as small as possible.

After the paint was applied, a clear coat was applied over the paint, along with a special product to "fade out" the clear coat edges, by melting the new clear coat into the existing clear coat.

Following the full paint application, infrared drying laps were set up to dry the clear coat - this process is a major advantage of ARS's approach, since it dries the paint inside out - the same way the car manufactures do it.

Finishing off:

Lastly the masking was removed and the area polished to leave an invisible repair

The results were amazing. You can see for yourself, but I was really surprised at how ARS had even made the ugly dent the screw had left disappear. I was concerned that the newly painted area would look different than the rest of the cars body, but after taking the car for a wash, I wasn't able to tell the difference.

Summary:

If you're looking to have cosmetic repair done to your car, I would gladly recommend the team of Automotive Repair Services. Aside from the bumper fix, they also removed both dents on the doors completely.

The price point of AED 1,550 seems reasonable, especially considering the fact that it only took them 4 hours to do the job.

Automotive Repair Services is located in Unit 3, Thani Warehouses, 6th Street Al Quoz, and you can reach them on 04 380 7906.

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