Calder Coachworks · Wilmslow · Established 1998
The repair you cannot find afterwards.
Accident repair, refinishing and restoration for prestige and classic cars, in one Cheshire workshop since 1998. We are approved by insurers and owned by none of them, which means the assessment you get is ours rather than theirs.
Request an assessmentSee what a finish is made of
- 28 yrs
- Under one roof
- ΔE ≤ 0.4
- Measured colour match
- Lifetime
- Paint guarantee
What comes through the door
Accident repair
Structural and cosmetic, for every insurer and for private clients. Jig-checked, measured against manufacturer data, and certified on completion. We will tell you when a car is worth repairing and when, honestly, it is not.
Refinishing & correction
Colour mixed on site and read off your panel rather than off a code. Machine correction and coating for cars that were never damaged, only dulled — the most-requested work we do that no insurer ever pays for.
Restoration paintwork
Bare-metal respraying for classics, with the panel gaps set before a drop of colour is mixed. Long jobs, quoted per car after inspection, and photographed weekly so you can watch it happen.
What a finish is actually made of
A repainted panel is four layers and about a tenth of a millimetre. Nearly all the difference between a good one and a poor one is in the two you will never see. Take each in turn.
Total build ≈ 120 µm
Figures are this workshop’s own build specification, gauge-checked on the panel before the car is handed back and recorded on the job card.
One workshop, four people, no subcontracting
Ian Calder opened the unit at Alderley Works in 1998 with a compressor, a secondhand booth and a rule he has not broken since: the person who mixes the colour is the person who sprays it. Twenty-eight years and something over nineteen thousand cars later there are four of us, two booths and the same rule. Nothing is sent out — not the paint, not the structural work, not the polishing.
The fan deck, the swirl, the shut line
What things cost
Published, because a price you have to ring for is a price that moves depending on the car outside.
Assessment and estimateNo chargeAn hour with the car, photographed and itemised, valid for sixty days. Yours to take elsewhere.
Refinishing, per panelfrom £480Colour measured on your car, blended into adjacent panels where the finish requires it.
Structural and aluminiumfrom £1,150Jig-checked against manufacturer data and certified in writing on completion.
Correction and protectionfrom £890Two-stage machine correction, then a ceramic coating with a written life of five years.
Restoration paintworkfrom £6,500Bare metal upward, gaps set first. Quoted per car after an inspection on the ramp.
Insurance work is billed to the insurer at the rates agreed with them, and you are never asked to make up a difference. The figures above are for private instruction.
“I took the car to two other body shops first. Ian was the only one who put a gauge on the paint before quoting.”
Marina Petrou, Porsche 911, insurance repair, 2025Asked at the ramp
- Yes, always. Your insurer may recommend one of their approved network, but the choice of repairer is legally yours and we deal with the insurer directly on your behalf.
By appointment01625 447 380
Bring it in. We will tell you the truth about it.
Assessments are free, unhurried and photographed. You will be told what needs doing, what does not, and what we would leave alone — including, twice a month or so, that the honest answer is to do nothing at all.
Request an assessment
Mon–Fri 7:30–18:00 · Sat 8:00–13:00 · Collection within thirty miles