Do Coatings Prevent Repairs?

On a couple of occasions, we've had someone tell us that they have a "body shop friend" that says they shouldn't get a ceramic coating because it supposedly makes a vehicle difficult, or even impossible, to repair or repaint if it got in an accident. Understandably, this raises concern. After all, no one wants to invest in protection that could complicate potential future repairs.

At GreenTree Auto Styling, our goal is to educate and provide clarity regarding our services and products. Let’s take a closer look at the facts.

The Concerns

The two common worries we've heard:

• That a coated vehicle can’t be prepped for repair the same way an uncoated vehicle would be

• That coatings interfere with the color-matching process

  
  

Both concerns sound completely plausible at first but, fortunately, neither are true.

Why Coatings Don’t Interfere with Repairs

Ceramic coatings bond to the surface of your clear coat but do not alter the paint underneath in any way. When a body shop prepares a panel for repainting, they sand the panel to create a surface for new paint to adhere to. Depending on the type of repair, they might go as far as sanding the entire panel down to the bare substrate or they may simply lightly wet-sand a small area. In either case, the coating would be completely removed during this process, without any special extra steps needed. In fact, the person doing this part of the repair likely wouldn’t even know the vehicle had been coated unless he was told. The process is exactly the same as it would be on any other car.

As for color-matching: coatings are optically clear. They don’t change the shade or tone of your paint in any way. If a panel is color-matched correctly, it will blend seamlessly with the surrounding panels, coated or not. The challenges of color-matching come from factors like fading, lighting, and technique - not from coatings themselves. And here’s an important side note: if the shop is using a spectrometer to determine the proper formula for the new paint, the technician should be compounding and polishing the area before taking the scan, anyway. This removes anything that could interfere with the true color of the paint, including waxes, sealant and coatings. So even if Ceramic Coatings did alter the paint color slightly (they don’t), it would be irrelevant because the spectrometer would be scanning clean, uncoated paint when the process is done correctly.

Recognition from Insurance Companies

One more important point: most insurance companies include coverage for reapplying a ceramic coating to repaired panels after an accident. We’ve had many coating clients get into both minor and major accidents, and in every case, insurance has covered the recoating. On rare occasions early on, there were a few brief instances of hesitation, but once we got on the phone with the insurer and they understood what a coating is and why it matters, they approved it without issue.

This recognition from insurance companies shows that coatings are widely accepted as a legitimate, insurable form of protection that is fully compatible with proper refinishing practices.

The Bottom Line

Ceramic Coatings:

✔ Protect your vehicle’s finish and make maintenance easier

✔ Do not interfere with body repairs or repaints

✔ Do not affect color-matching in any way

✔ Are recognized by insurance companies as a real, insurable investment

So if you’ve heard otherwise, rest assured, it’s simply a misunderstanding of how ceramic coatings and refinishing actually work. A reputable body shop can repair and repaint a coated vehicle without issue. And when repairs are complete and the new paint has gone through its off-gassing and curing period, the vehicle can then go back to your coating installer to get the repaired panels recoated, with insurance covering the cost. That means your investment in protecting your ride remains every bit as valuable as the day you made it.

At GreenTree, we’ll always provide honest information so you can make the best decisions for your vehicle.