jjs

With all the talk about people needing body work done, I wanted to find out who would recommend using a dealership as opposed to an outside body shop for work. This is primarily directed to people who have had experiences and would share their opinion.

Thanks!

2K2 BLACK 6 SPD

I have always used the same body shop by my house for the past 10 years and I have never had a problem with the quality of the work that they do. A few monts ago, my driver side mirror and door glass were damaged when a car came on my side of the road and their mirror took mine right off the door. The car was only 5 months old at the time and I needed other service so I made the mistake of using the dealer for the body work. This was a simple fix and they screwed it up. I will not do that again.

Tanman

Vote: other.

I took mine to a dealer to replace\repair\repaint the front bumper, fenders, and hood. The body work is fine, but they used the same cheap paint and it's already chipping.

Good thing about using a dealership is that they can color match the paint. Bad thing is that its cheap paint.

asu174

iTrader: (11)

Dealers generally ***** their body shop work out to the lowest bidding private shop. Most dealers don't have an in-house body shop. Even if they did, it would be comparable to Wal Mart's car stereo section being considered a "car stereo shop".

Go to an independent I-Car Gold Class Certified shop for your work.

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

this is what dealer does....they take ur car and bring it to "their" bodyshop which u have never been there, u dunno who owns it, their quality of work, paint they use, how do they repair, etc etc.

Not too many dealers have body repair equipment and I would suggest u to look for your own bodyshop.

make sure they are williing to show you the work they did....I have seen some bodyshop that did really crappy jobs.


btw, choice of paint : PPG, Spies Hecker (avoid Sherwin Williams)

CHAZMAX

'asu174' is right.

Depending on the dealer, thay may not even paint it themselves. Plus, I'm not convinced that a good, experienced body-shop wouldn't do a better job anyway. I went to Apollo, and they did a PERFECT job on my rear bumper. They used the exact same paint. I was

jjs

Thanks gang. Pretty much what I thought, but was curious if anyone out there actually had good results from a dealership shop.

scmaxima2k

iTrader: (3)

ya man definately go to a good body shop instead of the dealer. When i got rear ended i had my private shop do it and my rear bumper cover is the nicest painted part of my car. They only use Spies Hecker paint which is very good paint. But ya man definately dont use the dealership body shop if u have a choice.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

I keep saying this, take you car to a shop that services Mercedes, Porsche and BMW.

KennyLau

When my Maxima was rear-ended, I made the mistake of going to the dealer to have it fixed up. They didn't have their own body shop (most won't), so they recommended me to the shop they use. BIG mistake.

This place forgot to replace certain things, could not get the color to match right after two attempts, and left some of the painted parts unfinished. I was so upset, I took it up with my insurance company who agreed to pay for everything again. In the end, I took the car to a shop I went to for work done to my Civic, and everything was done much, much better.

Go with a shop you trust, not to some dealer-recommended place. A lot of times, these places might be some "lowest bidder" shop, so do you want your car worked on by that?

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Being that my family is in the business, I can tell you guys that this statement is 100% true. A dealer has no where near the capability of a body shop. Ask any dealer if he's got a spray booth for a dirt free finish. They cost 25 - 50 grand depending on the size. No way a dealer has that kind of equipment or would they even think to put that in. My brothers shop, Proline Body and Chassis already has contracts with the local Toyota Dealer and 2 BMW dealers in our area. Sometimes he gets cars with parts replaced, fenders and such, but the body shop primes, blocks, and sprays and trims the car.

Don't waste your time or $$$ at the dealer. There probably going to mark up the cost anyhow. Go straight to the pro's, the body shop.