Guides for running a South African panel shop.
Straight answers on starting a shop, pricing and quoting your work, getting insurance work and running the paperwork, written for owners and checked against the official sources.
How to start a panel beating business in South Africa
Registrations, premises and by-laws, the equipment and what it costs, staff and MIBCO, and how a new shop finds its first work, step by step.
Read the guidePricing and quoting
What to charge for labour, parts and materials, how to quote so the price holds, what each job really made, and how to get paid.
How to work out your panel beating labour rate in South Africa
Build your hourly rate from MIBCO wages, levies and funds, the hours you can really sell and your overheads, with a worked example in rand, insurer rates and paint by the panel.
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How to quote panel beating work in South Africa
What the Consumer Protection Act asks of every repair quote: what an estimate must say, quote and stripping fees, extra damage, the three-month warranty, old parts and storage.
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How to price parts and materials on a panel beating job
Markups and what insurers allow, original, alternative and used parts, what the Consumer Protection Act asks, consumables and sundries, and keeping up with parts prices.
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Job costing for panel shops: what each job really made
How to cost a finished job against its invoice: the real hours, parts, paint and outwork, the numbers that show whether the shop makes money, and what to change when a job doesn't.
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Getting paid on a repair: the excess, storage and releasing the car
Collecting the excess, when you may keep a car until you're paid, what storage you can charge, insurer payments and cash in lieu, and chasing accounts that run late.
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VAT for panel shops in South Africa
When you have to register, what a tax invoice must show, how to invoice the insurer and the excess, the VAT you can claim back, and the mistakes that cost shops money.
Read the guideInsurance work and assessments
How insurer networks choose shops and what their agreements say, SAMBRA grading, the VDQ qualification, the Competition Commission's rules, and how a claim is assessed.
How to get insurance work as a panel beater in South Africa
How insurer approved-repairer networks work, what SAMBRA grading means, what the Competition Commission's aftermarket rules changed, and what to have ready before you apply.
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Insurer agreements and SLAs: what to check before you sign
What goes into an insurer's service level agreement, the terms to read closely before you sign, what the Competition Commission's rules say, and where you stand when terms change.
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SAMBRA grading explained: NSR, SR and how to prepare
What SAMBRA's grading checks, non-structural versus structural grading, the documents you need before anything else, and how to get your shop ready for the inspection.
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VDQ: the vehicle damage quantifier qualification explained
What a vehicle damage quantifier is, which insurers ask your estimator for the certificate, the qualification and its professional body, and how to get certified.
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Right to repair in South Africa: what it means for panel shops
What the Competition Commission's automotive aftermarket guidelines say about warranties, insurers, parts and repair information, what they don't change, and how to use them.
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Audatex in South Africa: a guide for panel shops
What Audatex is, why South African insurers run assessments through it, and how the workshop side of an insurance job runs alongside it.
Read the guideChanging your shop's software
Honest comparisons with the systems South African shops use most, and what moving your history across really involves.
Free tools
Put a guide into practice
Free to use, no sign-up, nothing to install.
PanelDesk
Run the whole shop in one place
PanelDesk takes every job from quote to job card to final costing and invoice, and keeps your team's hours and your production board alongside it.
- Quotes and job cards
- Final costing with insurer splits
- Invoices and payments
30 days free. No card, nothing to install.