I hate half ass body shops

[Gorilla Unit 33]

Ok so as some of you know, I was involved in a hit an ran the night of thanksgiving coming home in my 2002 altima on 95 for one exit. Some dickbag try to pass me on the shoulder on an on ramp and clipped me sending me in a 720 across all three lanes and into a guardrail. The total costs of the damages was somewhere arround $7200 :( anyway thank god insurance covered it.

....On with the story i go with my father to pick up the car this morning. Get there, the cars right out front so i get out of the car and imeadiately start going over everything, instead of going inside and being bum rushed with papers to sign before even looking at it. (Side note: Total cost on estimate for paint work was $2100, shouldnt that have painted the whole car??) First things first i check the front bumper, supposed to be new, its new no problems there. The fender done nicely, with what looks to be a cheap oem replacement (not from the dealer) with a horrible allignment job. You can actually see the gap between the door and fender get bigger from bottom to top, also it didnt meet the sideskirt right and also sat higher then the hood. Nest I notice then the sideskirt wasnt painted ? WTF ? so you can see its a shade off from the newly painted doors. Next the trunk lid has dirt in the top of it. NEXT the insert or liscense plate surrounding wasnt painted so you can see thats a shade off from the trunk. NEXT (YES another and more...) the bumper is off alignment, one tailight on the side it was hit is fine and matches perfectly but the other side theres a good 1/4 inch over hang of the tailight over the bumper. Also under, where the trunk meets the bumper, it goes from a tight fit to a 1/2 gap. Furthermore a window sil on the passenger rear door was oviously raised above where it should be and once again poorly misaligned. Last but not least i open the doors, because it had new jams put in and i wanted to check the work there, the doors were painted one color silver on the outside and then theres a over hang from where the front covers a peice of the back you can straight up see a .4 of an inch tape line of where another color silver starts. At this time i had already been through the primary body person, the head body mechanic,(who all agreed with me on being wrong on everything i had pointed out) and now i was speaking to the main adjuster (who oviously knows his stuff). He says "well we cut the jams in with the silver and then another silver on the outside..... you know silver and how hard it is to get to match"

Im not happy at all at this point and basically tell him its in too plain view to me and being that this accident is going on my record i want to make sure that everything is done correctly. Further on he agrees with me and tells me they'll take care of everything by the end of the week and have it back to me, they have had the car since the day after thanksgiving a month. Needless to say ending our conversation he ask me who i work for and if i needed a job LOL. I told him what i do and that i know so much about paint because ive been through body shops in and out with previous cars. Ive seen more dirt in paint then the ground you walk on. Im not going to outright say who this place is....

Anyway not sure if you can tell by the crappy cell phone pics but here they are...

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/gorillaunit33/Photo-0073.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/gorillaunit33/Photo-0074.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/gorillaunit33/Photo-0075.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/gorillaunit33/Photo-0076.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k253/gorillaunit33/Photo-0077.jpg

Im not sure if anyone would be available but id like another body shop guru to go along with me possibly when i go to take a look at this again or pick it up, just for a second opinion.

[foss]

Damn...what are you gonna do?

[Gorilla Unit 33]

Damn...what are you gonna do?

keep it there till they fix it correctly and complain to the agent

[97`Rolla]

hey man i know what your going through, i do this every day at work. i need to know a couple of things first and i maybe able to help you out. what insurance company was this taken under? did you pick this body shop for repairs or did your insurance company tell you they were on their on there "preferred" list? Do you have access to a fax machine to send the estimate you got over to me?

[Gorilla Unit 33]

what insurance company was this taken under and did you pick this body shop for repairs or did your insurance company tell you they were on their on there "preferred" list?

like i said im not going to really say but i can say that this is the "preffered list" one because i know they own this body shop. Thats all im saying. They gave the option to let us pick but since the cars in my dads name and he already gave them the go ahead before i had a chance i was screwed. None the less the car wasnt driveable and they had already towed it to philly to the body shop, to get it towed back would cost me some money i didnt have at the time.

[CarbonIS]

$2100 doesn't even come close to covering the cost of painting the whole car

[Gorilla Unit 33]

$2100 doesn't even come close to covering the cost of painting the whole car

Ok i thought you would know best, i was just going to PM you about this cause i know we had talked before about your fathers shop.

[CarbonIS]

insurance companies will always try to push you toward their "preferred" shops because they own them.
You should always opt to take the car to a body shop that you know and trust. As for the paint matching,
there are many colors that are nearly impossible to match. Most insurance companies also do not pay for
OEM replacement parts, they pay for aftermarket. Aftermarket parts do not have the same genuine fitiment
of OEM parts, and therefore take more time to fit properly. That time is NEVER figured into an estimate, and
therefore a less reputable shop, say one owned by an insurance company, will not put in the extra effort to
make the part fit.

[CleanNeon98]

that sucks man, hope it all gets cleared up soon. defiantely good that you said something to them though

[Gorilla Unit 33]

insurance companies will always try to push you toward their "preferred" shops because they own them.
You should always opt to take the car to a body shop that you know and trust. As for the paint matching,
there are many colors that are nearly impossible to match. Most insurance companies also do not pay for
OEM replacement parts, they pay for aftermarket. Aftermarket parts do not have the same genuine fitiment
of OEM parts, and therefore take more time to fit properly. That time is NEVER figured into an estimate, and
therefore a less reputable shop, say one owned by an insurance company, will not put in the extra effort to
make the part fit.

well said and so true...

[Turbo_CitrusEs]

$2100 doesn't even come close to covering the cost of painting the whole car

Im not to sure what body shop you are using, but depending on the condition of the body, a normal paint job, in a normal factory color shouldnt cost you more then about $2,000. If you are paying more then that then you are getting ripped off. I know a local body shop around me quoted my buddy about $1,900 to repaint his yellow evo to blue by you. Lj, I wouldnt be happy with that at all, and honestly I would tell them for all the money they got for paint, that they should repaint the entire car.

[97`Rolla]

insurance companies will always try to push you toward their "preferred" shops because they own them.
You should always opt to take the car to a body shop that you know and trust. As for the paint matching,
there are many colors that are nearly impossible to match. Most insurance companies also do not pay for
OEM replacement parts, they pay for aftermarket. Aftermarket parts do not have the same genuine fitiment
of OEM parts, and therefore take more time to fit properly. That time is NEVER figured into an estimate, and
therefore a less reputable shop, say one owned by an insurance company, will not put in the extra effort to
make the part fit.


i know what your saying, but not all is true to every drp shop. My shop is a "Preferred" shop for state farm, erie, travelers, and aig and they dont "own" us. we have an agreement with them but we get evey pennie we can out of them to make the repairs for our customers they way it was before the the accident. insurance companys just want to save on anything and everything so as a shop estimator we have to fight to get what we need to make the customer happy.

[97TurboDSM]

'Rolla, would you mind PM'ing me what shop you work for/own. im in lancaster too and i have a few questions, thanks.

[97`Rolla]

Im not to sure what body shop you are using, but depending on the condition of the body, a normal paint job, in a normal factory color shouldnt cost you more then about $2,000. If you are paying more then that then you are getting ripped off. I know a local body shop around me quoted my buddy about $1,900 to repaint his yellow evo to blue by you. Lj, I wouldnt be happy with that at all, and honestly I would tell them for all the money they got for paint, that they should repaint the entire car.


painting a entire car will devalue the vehicle. its not wise to paint a new car unless stripped. When i look at newer used car i aways check the mills of paint with a guage.

[Keeper1343]

i am just going to take a guess and say its Collision Max... They are garbage

[Turbo_CitrusEs]

painting a entire car will devalue the vehicle. its not wise to paint a new car unless stripped. When i look at newer used car i aways check the mills of paint with a guage.

Yeah I understand that, Im just saying that if I would have to get a car repainted I would want it stripped down and the entire thing repainted. I have seen cases where the car has had just certain area painted and the paint doesnt blend as well and it obvious that the car has been repainted or damaged in some way. Im sure thats not always the case.

[SoStock92]

is this at Ro*'s Automotive?

[Gorilla Unit 33]

Lj, I wouldnt be happy with that at all, and honestly I would tell them for all the money they got for paint, that they should repaint the entire car.
ill take what i can get, but im to the point where im about to sic my mom on these fools LOL j/p
i am just going to take a guess and say its Collision Max... They are garbage
no..
is this at Ro*'s Automotive?
....and no

[240_fun]

that sucks Lj
Stupid ****ers
My boy is 17 and he works at a VOTECH body shop and does better work than that.

[james_ls]

That really blows.

I think the kids from my local tech-school do higher quality work than that.

Doesn't the body shop NOT get paid until YOU approve the car and pick it up?

[CarbonIS]

Yeah I understand that, Im just saying that if I would have to get a car repainted I would want it stripped down and the entire thing repainted. I have seen cases where the car has had just certain area painted and the paint doesnt blend as well and it obvious that the car has been repainted or damaged in some way. Im sure thats not always the case.

stripping down a car and doing it right costs at least $3000 depending on the cost of the materials.
"Doing it right" means doing all the jams, engine bay, and in the trunk. Where ur buddy got quoted
$1900 for a repaint of an evo is actually where he'd be getting ripped off, not by someone charging
more to do it right.

[Gorilla Unit 33]

Doesn't the body shop NOT get paid until YOU approve the car and pick it up?

correct.

[james_ls]

correct.
So then a pain in the ass this is, sure.

But eff it.

[Gorilla Unit 33]

ok so get this....

Body shop calls today and says while trying to fix what they had done wrong, they scrated the door, so now they have to repaint it AGAIN. Leaving me without the car for yet another weekend...

i just want to break something right about now....

[Turbo_CitrusEs]

stripping down a car and doing it right costs at least $3000 depending on the cost of the materials.
"Doing it right" means doing all the jams, engine bay, and in the trunk. Where ur buddy got quoted
$1900 for a repaint of an evo is actually where he'd be getting ripped off, not by someone charging
more to do it right.

I really dont see how he would be getting ripped off, as this $1,900 would be the engine bay, jams, entire car, and the trunk. I think most people are getting ripped off. When i had my car painted in House of Kolor. I had everything done and it only cost me about $3,400!!

[Honest_Bob]

Its things like this that tempt me to trade in my nice car for some pos beater that I wouldnt give two ****s about. If the bumper gets ripped off it who cares. As long as it drives straight. You cant trust anybody to do anything right anymore, and it sickens me.

[GyrlSpeedRT]

...Most insurance companies also do not pay for
OEM replacement parts, they pay for aftermarket. Aftermarket parts do not have the same genuine fitiment
of OEM parts, and therefore take more time to fit properly...
Is this really true? I would think it was the other way around? Thankfully, I have never been in an accident but I always thought they would replace OEM parts since they are "readily" available and ARE a direct fit...i.e. less time in the shop.

[CarbonIS]

Is this really true? I would think it was the other way around? Thankfully, I have never been in an accident but I always thought they would replace OEM parts since they are "readily" available and ARE a direct fit...i.e. less time in the shop.


this is true, due to the cost of OEM parts. For example, an OEM jeep fender shop cost is around $80 and aftermarket for the same fender is $30

[gpzjack]

Not to mention the car is silver...give it a year...it will be painfully obvious where it was painted.

[Jeffros Spec V]

Err I had a big reply typed out but my computer lagged.

I write estimates for an insurance company. I'll cheap out any way I can and shops won't do what they don't get paid to do.

After market parts are cheaper and unless they are capa certified usually don't fit well. No extra time is giving to fit these pieces correctly so a shop won't do it. :)

But since you didn't write the estimate and you didn't do the repair I completely agree that you should not accept the car until it is done to your satisfaction.