Has rust become irrelevant?
Design influencing repair
FUTUREPROOFING BODY REPAIR
Many South African vehicles are also underinsured or uninsured, creating another challenge for the aftermarket body repair industry, which must handle everything from minibus taxis with body designs dating back decades to the latest Chinese vehicles with complex body panels.
For body repair businesses in South Africa, the challenge is investing in the right tooling and skills upgrades to ensure they have the capability and capacity to handle the huge diversity of body repair jobs generated by the local market.
Has rust become irrelevant?
The time of body repair workshops dealing with daily corrosion issues has passed. Modern welding techniques, primers, and paint processes used when building vehicles mean the issue of moisture migration into the vehicle’ s structure, and resulting rust, has effectively been solved.
On some vehicle types, like body-on-frame commercial-grade bakkies, minibus taxis, and light-commercial vehicles, there is a slight corrosion risk. Body-on-frame vehicles operated in corrosion-triggering zones like
South Africa’ s high-risk driving environment creates a high risk of body damage. From stone chips for adventure SUV and bakkie drivers who cover long distances on dirty roads, to the risk of animal strikes and conventional vehicle collisions.
the Namaqualand coast, which is globally notorious for its extreme climate conditions and ability to create corrosion, can create some rust issues. But this is a tiny percentage of the overall South African vehicle fleet.
Design influencing repair
If corrosion is no longer the issue, what do body repair shops and technicians need to be upskilled and tooled to deal with? It’ s mostly dealing with the complexity of modern vehicle design, material types and the engineering outcome of evolving crash safety regulations.
Decisions made at global automotive design studios and in engineering meetings at automotive OEMs have the biggest influence on aftermarket repair workshops.
Designers want to create the most striking designs, and to differentiate themselves in a crowded new-vehicle market, they often choose to create outlandish designs. They incorporate complex body panel shapes with creases, character lines, and curves. These body panel features make repair much more technically challenging.
Engineering material choices and how engineering leads choose to package and assemble vehicles also deeply influence the complexity of body repair.
WORDS IN ACTION 16 OCTOBER 2026