Hi guys, my 2006 DC truck was damaged on parking lot. It hurts. The car is not even one month old.
Anyway, insurance company gave me a choice to either find my own body shop or use one of theirs.

I was thinking to take tha car to my dealer since they have collision center right there. I was told to get a couple of estimates.

Would take your car to the dealer or to local shop. What should be looking for and what to avoid? Any input? What would you do?

Thanks Charles

I'm probably going to get some interesting responses to what I'm about to say...

I would avoid Maaco.

I would look for a shop which has a proper paint booth.

If you can, try to look at some of the vehicles they have already done, look for things like overspray.

If you see an older car driving around, like a 60s Mustang, ask the owner where they had it painted.

I would even check the overall look of the shop, if everything is a complete mess, the tools are all over the place, everything looks old and crappy, this might be enough reason to walk the other way. I've heard a lot of people say that you can tell how good the mechanic is by looking at his tool cabinet.

A lot of shops make their money off fixing cars for used car lots, they run them through as quickly as possible to pretty them up, so they might not take the kind of care you are looking for.

A lot of shops I've visited post the diplomas of their employees, along with trophies and other awards. I knew a guy who was a complete pot head, he often looked stoned, but he had a ton of trophies for body work and best of show stuff for his cars. He was a fantastic bodyman, you could eat out of his tool box, always wore a uniform, and knew his stuff.

If you see a mangy dog chained to the shop, looking delirious, walking in circles waiting to die, a guy with no teeth, battered clothes, looks like the term "uncle-dad" is used in his family a lot, you might want to just keep driving.

The first step would be to ask your friends if they know of a good shop, and take it from there.

 

Look for someone with I-CAR Gold Class certification. Gold Class

 

I'm probably going to get some interesting responses to what I'm about to say...

I would avoid Maaco.

I would look for a shop which has a proper paint booth.

If you can, try to look at some of the vehicles they have already done, look for things like overspray.

If you see an older car driving around, like a 60s Mustang, ask the owner where they had it painted.

I would even check the overall look of the shop, if everything is a complete mess, the tools are all over the place, everything looks old and crappy, this might be enough reason to walk the other way. I've heard a lot of people say that you can tell how good the mechanic is by looking at his tool cabinet.

A lot of shops make their money off fixing cars for used car lots, they run them through as quickly as possible to pretty them up, so they might not take the kind of care you are looking for.

A lot of shops I've visited post the diplomas of their employees, along with trophies and other awards. I knew a guy who was a complete pot head, he often looked stoned, but he had a ton of trophies for body work and best of show stuff for his cars. He was a fantastic bodyman, you could eat out of his tool box, always wore a uniform, and knew his stuff.

If you see a mangy dog chained to the shop, looking delirious, walking in circles waiting to die, a guy with no teeth, battered clothes, looks like the term "uncle-dad" is used in his family a lot, you might want to just keep driving.

The first step would be to ask your friends if they know of a good shop, and take it from there.

I would agree with Tundra_Hick on avoiding cheap paint/body places, looking at the work shops are doing, talking to classic car owners, etc.. However, about judging a shop by how clean it is and if they have guard dogs or not, I disagree completely. In an old town like Chiago that you're in, the best shops in town are the ones that have been around for decades, are likely a mess and in older parts of town where guard dogs are needed. I used a shop like this for 15 years when I lived in Vegas. They were the best, super honest, and stood by their work. Even when I moved to central NV, 250 miles away, I still drove/trailered my cars down to that shop in Vegas to have work done that I couldn't perform myself. The owner of that shop died a few years ago though, and I have yet to find a garage locally that I am satisfied with. In the meantime, I'll take it to Toyota (yes, a 500 mile roundtrip to LV) if something major needs done.

Of course by owning a Toyota, it could take me a decade just to try out 3-4 shops

Toyota certainly will do the job right for you. Alternatively, there's a lot of benefits in finding a good family-type shop and sticking with them for several years.

 

Get a list of the shops that the insurance company reccomends and check them out first. I've found that they usually do good work because the ins. cos. put pressure on them to do good work and require them to give you a 100% guarantee.

 

Go with jhann42 coment, I bought my 02 with three miles on it, driveing back home a nice rock chip in the widshield at about 8 miles, around 150 came out of store, nice dent front drivers side top of fender, Holloween keyed right door, last month bucket loader dropping wood in top left corner of cab dent, all fixed with $100 comprehensive dudct. Went each time with Ins recommende/prefered all guaranteed for life. Truck still looks like it just rolled out of the factory--side note use Zaino polish system for the paint and ya can throw your shirt on the hood, next thing ya know its on the ground. Super slick:tu: :tu:

 

not sure if anyone said so but my dealer was hundreds over another shop in the area that is very well known

 

I would agree with Tundra_Hick on avoiding cheap paint/body places, looking at the work shops are doing, talking to classic car owners, etc.. However, about judging a shop by how clean it is and if they have guard dogs or not, I disagree completely. In an old town like Chiago that you're in, the best shops in town are the ones that have been around for decades, are likely a mess and in older parts of town where guard dogs are needed. I used a shop like this for 15 years when I lived in Vegas. They were the best, super honest, and stood by their work. Even when I moved to central NV, 250 miles away, I still drove/trailered my cars down to that shop in Vegas to have work done that I couldn't perform myself. The owner of that shop died a few years ago though, and I have yet to find a garage locally that I am satisfied with. In the meantime, I'll take it to Toyota (yes, a 500 mile roundtrip to LV) if something major needs done.

Of course by owning a Toyota, it could take me a decade just to try out 3-4 shops

Toyota certainly will do the job right for you. Alternatively, there's a lot of benefits in finding a good family-type shop and sticking with them for several years.

I didn't mean shops with guard dogs, I meant the ones with old mangy dogs that look like a bag of crap, and just because a shop has been around a long time doesn't mean it should be a complete mess.

 

Im was in the same boat as you. I was washing mine and the brush broke and I made a hugh scratch on the door. I went to a local shop and it turned into a nightmare. 3x before it was right. I told them that I was a nut with the truck and I was a painter for 7 years. They f-up the door and had to redo it. Then burnt a whole in the clear in the bed when they polished it . The 2 door moldings got damaged too. I got all new parts from them and installed them myself. Next time ill do it myself. Most people wouldnt see what I look for but im picky. The best thing to do is see some complete jobs and to go with a shop that uses paint like Glasuirt or Diamont. This is the paint that BMW,MB and Feri use in the factory. The american paints just dont hold up. Stay away from PPG and Chromobase. Its more solvents then paint.

 

My local shop has all the I-CAR Gold certifications hanging on display. Shop is not messy tool boxes are neat (but covered in dust, it IS a body shop after all). I had a quarter panel repaired that after 6 years started to look dull/faded/orange peeled. I asked and their answer was "give us 20 minutes to try and polish, if it doesn't work, we'll reshoot it ASAP" No questions, no hassles, just totally stand behind their work. They do body work as well as a seperate part of the building for total mechanical with mechanics that get sent to school for all latest certification classes. They also covered my clutch under warranty twice over the summer. I had clutch replaced from normal wear and they used a Borg Warner clutch. 3 weeks later it started to chatter, they replaced it no questions, 1 month later same thing, replaced again with OEM with $0 additional for the replacements.

 

This much I learned from experience--I won't be going back to any dealer's "Collision Center" or other such dealer affiliated body shop now that I've found a local shop run by a father-son team who are actively involved managing their business and monitoring the work of their employees every moment the doors are open.

It's a business that has been around for several years and has a great reputation with multiple insurers. They pay attention to you as soon as you enter the tidy reception area, aren't "bothered" if you are currently just there for a quote (while you're still shopping around), and aren't necessarily the cheapest quote to be found for the work. They'll answer your questions professionally and courteously, providing additional explanations of details until you're comfortable with everything you wanted to understand. They don't get bent out of shape if you want OEM replacement parts when insurance dictates aftermarket, or if you want to supply certain parts yourself (as long as they're the right parts and no modification needed). They'll discusss options you can perform yourself to keep costs down if you're on a budget. "Extra" work requested (since you've been waiting until a greater need drove you to get it into the shop) is no problem to quote and handle separately from any insurance-related work.

While there (on my initial visit) a few years ago for work on my wife's Caddy, they showed me several areas on my Camry that had been done poorly by my previous Toyota dealer's Collision Center (for example, shortcuts taken--like painting the rear quarter panel area but not the door over the gas cap--a mismatch evident in better light than at the dealer's).

They explained that state law (here, at least) requires dealers to operate service facilities like repair and body shops in conjunction with their new and used car sales operations. Especially with so many big city dealerships being operated by large organizations, the "owners" aren't there, close to the work in progress. Body shops are just another "profit center" for the corporation. Nothing wrong with trying to operate "in the black", but the bigger the business, the more impersonal they are with both employees and customers. Personnel turnover is often high because those who have/develop significant skills find themselves jobs with more rewarding work at better, but independent body shops. Less "motivated" ones do leave too, but not necessarily at their own choosing, more likely landing at those shops you want to avoid.

Referrals from your insurer are probably a good way to start, but initially tend to be unbiased. If you know your agent/adjuster well, press for a recommendation based on their own experience or customer feedback. Then visit a few places and good luck.