Bluechip boasts spray-painting expertise

The passion and the pride on display at Bluechip Spray-Painting in the capital flows from the founder and owner Ruan Visagie, who is always eager to get his hands dirty.

Visagie recently took My.Na Cars passenger princess Diana Master on a personal tour of their facility on the corner of Parsons and Joule streets to show her just how a vehicle can be resurrected after a fender bender and come out of the shop looking as good as new.

According to him, it all started as far back as 2001 when his father let him lend a hand to work on cars. The older man, who always had friends bringing their cars in for repairs, helped Visagie set up shop in 2005. After finishing school in 2006, he took over the business full-time.

“As a small boy, I thought it was awesome how an old car can be made to look brand new. That is where I think I found my passion for fixing cars,” he recalled. “It's like we do plastic surgery, but for cars."

At Bluechip, they do panel beating and spray-painting, but also clearing headlights, applying ceramic coatings, plastic welding to fix damaged bumpers, and welding of headlight brackets to help save on costs.

Master approves of the standard of the work done at Bluechip saying: “You can’t even see the difference on the cars you have worked on”.

“I pride myself on the satisfaction of our clients,” Visage said, adding that he has no intention of expanding the shop any time soon as they already do 20 to 25 vehicles a week.

“I want to keep it like that so that we can continue to concentrate on quality."



Treat clients like family

Although the field is very competitive, with many small shops sprouting throughout the Windhoek urban sprawl, Bluechip’s competitive advantage comes from their effort to keep the client happy. “We try to deliver good quality service and keep our clients happy,” Visagie said.

"We treat our clients like family and build a friendship with them. You are always welcome to come in for a cup of coffee, even if you don’t need to bring a vehicle in to have repair work done."

At Bluechip, they use only Glasurit paint from Hemco Paints, imported from Germany. On paintwork, the company is thus able to offer clients a five-year guarantee, while on electrical stuff, all parts are guaranteed for a year.

“We do take pride in that,” he said regarding the paintwork done at Bluechip.

“We are all people and we all make mistakes, but if you are not happy, don’t hesitate to come and talk to me so that we can fix it."



Exactly the colour you need

In their fully equipped paint room, the variety of toners fill a wall and are always ready for use in recreating exactly the colour your car needs, Visagie explained.

Mixtures of toners allow Bluechip to provide exactly the colour needed. A Spectro machine is used to read the paint on any specific automobile and to provide a base from which to work in mixing the necessary paint colour, he explained. The Colour Profi System adds scientific method to creative madness, delivering beautiful results, time and again.

“We don’t like masking the cars" when taking vehicles into the spray booth, he said. "Masking gives edges and that is where the paint starts to come off,” he elaborated.

Instead, at Bluechip, they strip the body for painting before the vehicle leaves the booth for the wash bay, where it is also polished with 2000 grit sanding paper. Small spot repairs are also on offer, targeting small scratches and cutting down costs for their beloved clients.