Car body repairs for Forest Hill, 7 minutes away in Lower Sydenham

Getting to us from Forest Hill

Head along Perry Vale and down Perry Rise, the B227, to Bell Green, then follow Southend Lane to the Kangley Bridge Road turning. That's about 1.5 miles, and around 7 minutes if the traffic's kind. From Honor Oak, get down into Forest Hill first and follow the same roads.

The postcode for the sat nav is SE26 5BA. Opening hours and the full address are on our Sydenham branch page.

Living with the South Circular

The South Circular (A205) runs right through Forest Hill, past the Horniman Museum, and the traffic on it often queues. Queues mean low-speed knocks. The driver behind misjudges the gap and nudges your back bumper. A van changing lanes clips a wing. A mirror goes when a bus and a lorry try to pass each other.

A shunt from behind is usually the other driver's fault, which makes it a non-fault claim, though it always depends on what happened. More on that below.

Potholes on the A205 are TfL's problem, not the council's. It's a red route, so a claim for a wheel damaged on the South Circular goes to Transport for London. Hit one on a side street and the claim goes to Lewisham Council instead. Our guide to pothole damage claims explains what evidence to collect.

Parked on a Forest Hill street overnight

Forest Hill is hilly, and plenty of its residential streets are narrow and parked solid on both sides. Cars get clipped by people squeezing past, or by someone rolling back while they find the biting point on a slope. You come out in the morning to a folded mirror, a scuffed bumper corner or a crease along a rear door, and nobody's left a note.

Before you do anything about the repair, read someone hit my parked car: what to do in London. Photos and any doorbell or dashcam footage from the street are much easier to gather on the day than a week later.

What Forest Hill drivers ask us to fix most

• Dents in doors and wings, scuffed bumpers and scrapes along the side: these are usually minor car repairs, often done with smart repair rather than a whole new panel.
• Scratches through the paint, especially on dark metallics where a bad match shows: see car paint repairs. Colour is matched to the paint code, then blended into the neighbouring panels.
• Damage from a proper collision, where the bumper, lights or structure have taken it: that's accident repairs, done through your insurer or the other driver's.

Not your fault? Claim and replacement car

When another driver caused the damage, call us before your insurer. We'll take the claim to their insurer, so you pay no excess and your no claims bonus stays as it is. While yours is in the workshop you'll drive a replacement of a similar type, at no cost to you. Independent engineers inspect the damage and agree the price with the insurer, and if the car isn't worth repairing, they'll give a fair written valuation instead.

The whole process is set out on our non-fault claims page.

Collection from Forest Hill and Honor Oak

Can't get away from work to drop the car off? We can collect it and deliver it back: Forest Hill and Honor Oak are well within the 10 miles we cover from Sydenham. For a price first, send us photos for a repair quote or ask for a mobile estimate.

Reviews

For other people's experience of us, see the Google reviews for our Sydenham site.