Where to have car repaired (insurance, 2012, best, BMW)
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My new 2012 Mustang got hit by flying debris that caused minor damage down to the bare metal of the door.
The insurance co will pay for the repair under the comprehensive coverage I have.
My question is do I take it to a recommended body repair shop or do I take it to the dealers' (where I bought the car) on site body shop? Both shops are modern and both shop managers treated me in a professional manner.
Is there any benefit of using the dealer. The cost will be the same at both shops.
BTW don't suggest I fix it myself. Body and paint are not in my skills category.
I would look at the a few fixed cars. Ask them to show you some of their work and make the decision based on that. I would also ask about warranties. Most good shops will give you a life time warranty on their work. If the paint peels, bubbles, flakes or the filler pops they will fix it for free.
We have a local shop that does all the work for a few high end dealers around here. They always have a couple of MB, BMW's, Lexus's etc in for repairs. If you were local I'd send you there but....
I went to a Ford dealership for some touch up work and found that they were by far cheaper, and in some cases more willing to spray some paint on an older car. The body shops I went to either wanted to repaint the whole side of the car, or said it wouldn't be worth their time to put some paint on an older car.
My new 2012 Mustang got hit by flying debris that caused minor damage down to the bare metal of the door.
The insurance co will pay for the repair under the comprehensive coverage I have.
My question is do I take it to a recommended body repair shop or do I take it to the dealers' (where I bought the car) on site body shop? Both shops are modern and both shop managers treated me in a professional manner.
Is there any benefit of using the dealer. The cost will be the same at both shops.
BTW don't suggest I fix it myself. Body and paint are not in my skills category.
The basic question here is....... "How good is the body man that will work my car at each place."
One place may have a very skilled body and paint man while the other only has an average body and paint man.
Check around to find each places reputation with past customers .
I would focus more on the quality of the shop doing the repair based on reviews and who they are certified and warrantied through than where they happen to be located or affiliated with. There are some dealerships that have fantastic body shops and there are some that are pretty bad. Given how new the car is, if it comes down to the indy and the dealer and both seem equal, I would go to the dealer, especially if that is where you bought the car. If there ultimately ends up being an issue, you have a lot more recourse through the dealer than you do from the indy in terms of making it "right".
I go with the collision shop recommended by my insurance company. Body and paint shops at the dealer are separately owned, they are just located on the dealers lot.
I go with the collision shop recommended by my insurance company. Body and paint shops at the dealer are separately owned, they are just located on the dealers lot.
That depends on the dealer, too. The GM dealer I worked at fully owned the bodyshop and as a service writer, I could get them to do work properly on customer cars.
I go with the collision shop recommended by my insurance company. Body and paint shops at the dealer are separately owned, they are just located on the dealers lot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Merc63
That depends on the dealer, too. The GM dealer I worked at fully owned the bodyshop and as a service writer, I could get them to do work properly on customer cars.
Like Merc said, that is highly dependent on the dealers setup. The dealer chain that is a parent to the company I work for has all inhouse body shops owned and managed by the company, not a third party. A lot of times though, a dealer simply contracts with a third party to do their body repairs. You need to look into that relationship.
As far as going with the folks "recommended" by the insurance company, that can be good or bad. They are recommended because the insurance company has a standing agreement on pricing with them and allows them to write their own estimates skipping sending out an adjustor. However, that shop is also extremely unlikely to argue with the insurance company over the necessity of certain repairs or materials used. They are generally in the business of saving the insurance company money, more than they are fixing your car to anything above acceptable. That doesn't mean they are bad shops, it just means they will default to making the most cost-effective repair possible, not the best repair possible when dealing with claims from their insurance company affiliate.
If we were talking about a 4 year old car, then fine, but a brand new car has different considerations in my book. I want my body shop arguing to make the best repair possible, not just the one that is passable.
I would personally go with a small shop, one where the owner is the main painter, if I could find one like that. The problem with bigger shops is they have several body/paint techs, and truth be told they are never all equally good.
If you get the car serviced at the dealer, that might be a point in favor of the dealer - otherwise to me the dealer is just another big body shop, no better or worse than any other big shop.
Goat makes a good point, as he frequently does, that the shop recommended by your insurance is recommended by them because the shop is easy for the insurance company to work with, which basically means they are cost conscious. That does not mean they are not also quality conscious, but as they say: Good, Fast, Cheap - pick any 2 of the 3. The insurance company will pick fast and cheap every time. Many people who are not enthusiasts are satisfied with mediocre work, I doubt you would be.
What you really want is a guy doing the work who invests a lot of his ego in how good a body man (or woman) he is, IMHO the best way to insure such a wizard is the one fixing your car is the small shop I originally pointed out.
Failing that, if you go to a big shop and make a point to tell the manager that you are much more interested in quality than speed of repair, so you want him to put his best guy on it, and if that guy is busy you are quite OK with waiting till he can get to it - that might help if you go that route.
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