Paddy Comyn

AS THE FACE of DoneDeal Cars and with 25 years’ experience in the industry, Paddy Comyn is ‘the’ car guy to everyone in his life and is now widening out that role to you, The Journal readers.

In his Car Clinic series, he will answer all your motoring questions and queries. Have one? Send it to with the subject line CAR CLINIC to motoring@thejournal.ie – we will publish all answers on Mondays on The Journal. (Your questions will be anonymised.)

Please let Paddy know what your budget is if you’re asking about your next big purchase. 
Here’s this week’s question:

Hi Paddy. Love your motoring articles – a joy to read from every aspect – expert reviews written with flair, humour and a huge knowledge, experience and affection for cars.

Can I ask your expert advice? I have a 2002 red Toyota Yaris with 99,617 miles on it – it passes the NCT each year (including today for another year) but the paint is badly peeling on the passenger side. 

Garage who services it for me advised me to hold onto it as the engine is running so well and it hasn’t given me any trouble (or my Mum – whose car it was – now sadly passed away when she had it as a run around).

Is it worth getting it resprayed?

Hi there, thank you for the lovely words.

For me this is an emphatic yes.

I love the idea of preserving cars, especially ones that hold significant memories to you, like this one no doubt does. A Toyota Yaris with just under 100,000 miles on the clock is barely run in and with some TLC will keep going for years to come.

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Yes, it won’t be cheap to spray the car and you could probably find a replacement car for not much more, but there are other factors at play here and it’s the chance to give some love to a very important part of your family’s history and if the budget allows then I think you should do it.

Get a few quotes for the job, but if it was me and I had the chance to keep one of my late parents’ cars on the road, I would do it. I have no affiliation with them at all, but Accident Repair Centre in Dublin do excellent work and might be an option for this job.

Paddy Comyn is the head of automotive content and communications with DoneDeal Cars. He has been involved in the Irish motor industry for more than 25 years.

Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with DoneDeal Ltd.