1.Take one freshly resurfaced road, add in a crazy Ford Transit driver and this is the result - one nasty chip on my freshly painted front spoiler. Still, Mick reckoned he could make my car beautiful again without a full respray.

2. Here's Mick checking the computer to find out the make up of my Thunder Blue paint, via a Chips Away programme.

3. Here it is; cleverly it also details how much of each separate colour to make a perfect match.

4. Paint for every car Chips Away works on is hand mixed and this is mine in unblended form. The paint is water-based for ease of use.

5. Mick has started the repair here by carefully masking up the affected area and keying the original paint with a small DA sander.

6. Mick has put a smidge of filler in the damaged area; here he's using a heat gun so the filler dries off quickly. 

7. Mick has rubbed back the filler until it is flat and smooth. He is now in the process of curing the water-based primer on the repair, which takes around 10 minutes.

8. Mick has re-masked my car and this is the repair in its unpainted form, after the primer has dried and has been rubbed back smooth.

9. Here is Mick putting the first of six light coats of thunder blue over the repaired area. The water-based paint makes it easier to blend with the rest of the paint.

10. Mick has applied the last of two coats of lacquer to the repair. We're looking good now and all that has got to be done is to dry the water-based paint off, which takes around 45 minutes.

11. After a quick polish, here is the finished repair and doesn't it look good. You'd never know there was ever any damage here and at £84, the cost was far more reasonable than taking my car to an approved bodyshop for repair.