thorissr

Hey guys,


About 2 weeks ago my car rolled back and hit a pole which caused damage to my rear end and rear quarter panel. I've already filed a claim and took my car to the repair shop this past Thursday to begin repairs. What started out as the entire bumper assembly needing replaced and a repair job done on the quarter panel to smooth out the crinkles and repaint, has turned into something else.


First off, I was told after the fact that now the rear quarter panel will need replacing because the repair process would not do the job. A supplemental form was submitted on day 2 (Friday) for insurance to improve miscellaneous items like vinyl stripes and rear quarter panel. Keep in mind I didn't find this out until I called the repair shop checking up on their progress (Oh By the Way Moment!!).


Here we are on a Monday and I called repair shop to provide me with a ETA on repairs, which is part of their repair process and marketing point) Now the guy is telling me since we need to match and paint your rear quarter panel we have to disassemble and remove the entire driver door and mirror to match the paint correctly. I'm by no means a repair man guru, but this seems odd that you need to remove the entire door (No damage) to paint the rear quarter panel. Could they not just use the damaged panel they removed or the damaged rear bumper to match the color?


I then proceeded to ask for an ETA and he continue to dodge that question until I reminded him that I was under the impression that this as part of their repair process. BTW, I have yet to receive any communication from this shop from the moment I dropped it off. With no certainty in his voice he told me it should be completed by the end of this week. My question is, does it take literally 8 business days to complete a 100% replace and paint job on estimated $2K worth of rear end damage? Also I paid them a week prior to my appointment so they could proceed to order the parts, hoping that the day I dropped it off they could start the process on day 1. However, I feeling some type of way that this guy makes me feel as though he owns my car and owes me little explanation on the progress and status of it.


I gave them 2 complete days until I decided to give them a call this past Friday to get a status because I was never contacted during that time. Now I feel that they are attempting to justify a ramp up in charges to bill my insurance(labor for removal of driver door).


If anyone has any input, I would greatly appreciate it.


Thanks

Bill Dearborn

First, I would never had paid them $2K upfront. There are just too many ways that can go wrong.

Second, they ordered the quarter panel on Friday and it might take a while to be delivered to them. They can't give you progress unless they actually have the parts in hand. Especially if they ordered the panel on Friday and you are asking for status on Monday. Anything you get from them will be pure guess work as they are dependent on a supplier outside of their control.

As for the door most shops blend the paint to get a match across panels. You start with the original color on one side and end up with the new color on the other side with the color/finish varying across the panel. I don't know if removing the door facilitates the process or not.

Bill

Oakmtnbody

If a new quarter panel is being installed and the vehicle is any other color straight black he will have to not only "teardown" not R&I the door for blending he will also have to blend the rocker panel. So now you are painting the rear cover, quarter panel, rocker panel and blending the door. My guess your shop is working off an insurance estimate that did not address any of this and all of this has to be "approved". I hope you did not fall for the old insurance scam where they give you a list of their "preferred" shops. Questions, vehicle color, Insurer, did you pick the shop and who wrote the initial estimate and are they using a OEM rear bumper cover or a remanufactured cover.

thorissr

You are spot on in regards to the shop's explanation as to why the door is involved in the painting process. I'm by no means an expert is this area and I found this odd. In regards to paying upfront it was a deal that if I paid him for the parts upfront he would order the parts prior to my appointment time...1 week out. My thought process was why bring the car in to be repaired a week later and once they receive my car and had it in their possession they would proceed to order all parts. I figured my car would have less downtime my paying for the parts only minus labor and deductible and the repair process would begin day one. Anywho, after tearing the bumper down they still ended up ordering miscellaneous items like brackets, etc. I did drop in on them this afternoon and everything has been disassembled and ready to be reassembled when the parts come from their paint department. He said that it's just a matter of timing....miscellaneous parts arriving by the time the bumper and 1/4 panel is reassembled.

I just hate accidents!! Thank you all for your input!

funz06

A few years back I had a tree fall on my car while I was stopped at an intersection. Cosmetic damage only-----needed a new rear trunk panel; rear panel; rear passenger side panel; passenger door panel; driver's side rear panel.

Body shop was of my choice, and also on just about every insurance company's approved list----just does great work. Bottom line-----to me it sounds like your shop knows what they are doing-----I only say this because I recall having the similar conversations where my shop explained to me about blending the paint from one undamaged panel to the next, etc. Not all shops do this as it takes more time, etc.---better shops will take this step. My car was Atomic Orange--not an easy paint to match. Maybe taking the door off makes it easier to do the work-----I know my guy had to blend the paint from at least one door, but I never asked how it was done-----don't know if my door was removed or not. My job came out fantastic!

Problem I encountered, and you may as well---so just be prepared------was GM. They were the absolute worst in customer service. 3-4 times they sent out the trunk panel in an extremely thin cardboard box, WITHOUT ANY OTHER PROTECTION FOR THE PART WHATSOEVER. So each time the part came in damaged. The body shop owner and the local Chevy dealer were on the phone with a GM manager in the warehouse in Detroit and the Friggin manager refused to admit their faulty packing and shipping played a role in the part being damaged (he insisted the warehouse worker must have 'picked' a damaged part and he was personally going to see that didn't happen with the next panel (it did); and he absolutely refused to expedite the shipping. In fact, on the call it was about 2:00 PM Detroit time on a Friday, and he said it was too late in the day to get the part out that week---it would have to wait until Monday. We lost about two weeks just waiting for the trunk panel to arrive undamaged.

Of course I am down the body shop every time the new panel arrived, and saw for myself how at least two panels came in damaged as we opened the box together. The body shop also showed me how the other car manufacturers sent their parts------------all neatly packaged, wrapped, and the box stuffed with extra padding and protection---not GM, just a flimsy, cheap cardboard box with no wrapping or anything---just the part thrown into the box. I was there once when the delivery guy took the box off his truck---dragged it to truck's door, and let the end of the box fall to the ground. Gee, I wonder how the points and ends of the panels got chipped and broken?

Best of luck to you----as I say, my car came out great.....I am sure yours will too (just may take a little longer than you would hope).

Oakmtnbody

What you said about paying in advance so he could order parts is very troubling, any shop that can't afford parts for scheduled vehicles can't in my opinion be trusted. In my shop, and we are 60 cars a month shop, we not only pay for all parts needed for our customers vehicles we do not deposit any funds until the vehicle is delivered to the owner. We are a small independent shop and there are plenty of shops bigger that do business the way your guy does but it's usually a sign of bigger issues. Good luck and demand a proper repair or you'll loose again on resale, pm me if I can help.

funz06

Regarding paying the body shop any money---upfront or otherwise......I did not pay them a cent. They never asked me for any money. The body shop and the insurance company worked together and I was not involved at all. Body shop gave me a copy of bill when they were finished that showed some $6K in work, in which they were paid in full, directly from the insurance company.

Oakmtnbody

Never relinquish control of the repair of any of your property whether it be your home, auto or especially your health, that's how people get taken advantage of and never take advice from anyone who owes you money. Insurers owe you for YOUR loss never let them pay anyone on your behalf, you are always the customer not the insurer. Folks nowadays are all to willing to let people do things they should be handling themselves.

carsnpars

Just a thought, I was a refinish tech for 30yrs and am wondering why you are OOP for 2K to start the process you usually pay AFTER you approve of THIER repair. And insurance takes care of everything minus deductible. At the shop I was at you spray SO many test panels to get the exact match to panel paint. Different pressure, humidity,etc make the same paint look different on different days.after you get the color where you want then we would still blend adjacent panels.SO if you have a new rr facia then you would blend the other quarter as well as door and rocker. Orange peel is the hardest part, getting the peel close to factory requires the same test panels for CLEAR using pressure and solvents to imitate factory peel. I used to get complaints that the new clear was too smith even before buffing... Hope you get yours back to where you can't tell it was fixed...

carsnpars

Shoot forgot the hatch also

Mad Dog 24

^What this guy said^

We find over 95% of our collision repairs the original insurance estimate short by usually half of the true repair cost! Biggest issue, take a look at the labor rate the insurance co wrote to repair your 100k car for. It is most likely half or close to of the average mechanical labor rate of your local area. ITS A POWER SCAM BY MOST INSURANCE CO'S. We have to sue them to get them to pay!!! Ya really.

No the shop is not trying to over charge there most likely simply trying to get paid for a proper repair as it sounds to me. I agree with the process you posted too. We use a text messaging system to alert our customers of every stage of repair. Most shops would do the same if they saw how slick it was.

Good luck with your repair I hope it all works out. We just repaired my Z after I wrecked it myself!

silver74vette

I am not a body guy but my friend is a hot rod painter who does some great work. I asked him about this and he said was that the doors come off for a couple of reasons, easier to mask, and so that they can get the right angle with the spray gun (no contorting).

thorissr

Update-


I'm scheduled to have my vehicle back after a what I would call a lengthy and troublesome repair experience. I was misinformed on many occasions by the guy handling the repair process of my Z. He informed me that all parts to start the replacement job were in, only to find out later key parts weren't in that were key to begin the process. I demanded to meet with Shop Manager who was also nonchalant about his employee giving me false information on this process, and started making up excuses for him such as "He's a young guy and of course he's going to tell the customer what they want to hear." WTH!! I ended up contacting their Corporate Office and filing a complaint on this shop's way of doing business, and that's when things begin to progress.


The Manager took over and began dealing with me personally, calling and texting multiple time each day to give me an update on my repairs. I really didn't want to do it but they left me with no choice. Before contacting corporate, not once was I contacted on the progress of my car and the many supplemental forms they had to submit to my insurance company. The only way I was kept in the loop on their progress was by me initiating contact with them the entire first week my car was with them. Come to find out a bracket that assembles with the rear bumper on my '15 was changed somewhere along each year make (16-17) that they had to drive to a local dealership to obtain that part. In all honesty, I feel that this process has been a piecemeal ordeal. When my adjuster had to come onsite to approve additional parts/repairs he had to inform them that some type of transmission jug of sorts was needed with the rear 1/4 panel. He went ahead and ordered it for me.


When it was all said and done, I started out with a $2K estimate and I'm sitting right a little bit over $5K for the complete job!! So from the point of the initial estimate they found over $3K of additional parts/labor needed to do the job right. My car was suppose to be read this past Friday and 1 hour shy of them closing the Manager contacted me to inform me that the "Stripe Guy" didn't want to stripe my bumper with the paint being so new on the car. He would prefer it sit over the weekend before he stripe it. For this to have been a 100% replacement job I'm simply exhausted from the process and can't wait to get my baby back.


This process is worst than a trip to the dentist to have root canals performed!!!


Thanks guys!

sammy burks

Any body shop that goes 3k over estimate off 2k & ends up 5k is in my view a scamer. They suck you in, gave you a low bid to get the job & start adding cost on after that.