The price of paint and solvent has been on the rise in recent months and bodyshops can expect more increases in the months ahead as manufacturing, distribution and raw material costs increase.

Latest figures from the British Coatings Federation (BCF), the UK Trade Association representing the interests of the decorative, industrial, refinish, powder coatings, printing inks and wallcovering manufacturers, show that the price of many solvents are now 200-250% higher than this time last year. Pigment price increases have been less steep, but are still up 10%-15%.

The price of packaging has also seen a marked increase with 205 litre drums up 20% and 5 litre round tins, as used by most refinish manufacturers, up 15%.

The BCF says that the effect of the pandemic, raw material shortages and rising shipping costs means estimated raw material prices for paints and coatings has increased by 15-35% in the last year. The federation also expect current availability issues to continue throughout the rest of 2021.

All this is now having a direct impact of the price paid by bodyshops for refinish materials, with most producers implementing price increases. Reacting to this the leading computer estimating system, Audatex has confirmed that it has will be updating its paint material tables effective Wednesday 28th July 2021 for online users.

The company says the impact of the detailed data supplied by the paint manufacturers is an indicative average increase of 4.9% on the calculated paint and materials. Actual increase per job, will depend on a number of factors including the specific paint operations (e.g. new part, surface, repair), paint type, and the surface to be prepared/painted (e.g. metal vs. plastic).

The message to bodyshop is therefore to be aware of prices paid and possible price increases and carefully assess the paint and material cost of each job, especially retail work, to ensure appropriate charges are being made.