Short answer
Check the licence first — panel beaters need a licence for some work and not other work. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 2,200 Australian panel beaters in this directory, only 20.7% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 8.3% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Panel Beaters handle accident and hail repairs, panel and paint, dent removal, bumper repairs and insurance work. This is what to check before you let one into your house, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
Panel Beaters are licensed for some work and not others
Motor vehicle repairers are licensed in some states — New South Wales and Western Australia license the business and the tradesperson, and others rely on industry accreditation. For insurance work you usually have the right to choose your repairer, and the questions that matter are the same either way: genuine parts, a written quote, and a warranty on the paint.
There is no national licence register in Australia — each state and territory runs its own. The regulator for your state is listed at the bottom of this guide, and checking a number takes about a minute.
What 2,200 Australian panel beaters actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For panel beaters:
| What we checked | Panel Beaters | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 20.7% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 62.7% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 8.3% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 84.1% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 81.4% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 52 | 39 |
What goes wrong with panel beaters
- Structural repairs done without the measuring equipment or the licence they require
- Non-genuine parts fitted to a repair quoted as genuine
- A paint job with no written warranty against fading or peeling
What to ask before the work starts
- What licence or accreditation do you hold for this work in this state?
- Are the parts genuine, and what is the warranty on the repair and the paint?
- If this is an insurance job, am I free to choose you, and what does the insurer cover?
A panel beater who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median panel beater in this directory has 52 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the panel beaters are
Melbourne (244), Sydney (152), Perth (99), Brisbane (79), Adelaide (49), Hurstville (47). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best panel beater in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do panel beaters need a licence in Australia?
- Sometimes. Motor vehicle repairers are licensed in some states — New South Wales and Western Australia license the business and the tradesperson, and others rely on industry accreditation. For insurance work you usually have the right to choose your repairer, and the questions that matter are the same either way: genuine parts, a written quote, and a warranty on the paint.
- How do I check a panel beater's licence?
- There is no national register. Each state and territory has its own regulator — NSW Fair Trading, the Building and Plumbing Commission and Energy Safe Victoria in Victoria, QBCC in Queensland, Building and Energy in WA, Consumer and Business Services in SA, CBOS in Tasmania, Access Canberra in the ACT, and the NT Government. Search the licence number the business gives you on the regulator for the state the work is happening in.
- What percentage of Australian panel beaters have a verifiable ABN?
- 20.7% of the 2,200 panel beaters in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should a panel beater have?
- The median panel beater here has 52. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare panel beaters near you
2,200 panel beaters, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
Read next
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- When a tradie's phone number doesn't match their own website10,300 Australian trade businesses list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website. Sometimes it is a …