I have some pretty good damage to my 2k2's entire passenger side. I have several choices get my car fixed under insurance. Most of them are private body shops, but there are some Honda and Toyota (somehow there is no Nissan.. ) dealers listed as their approved auto repair facilities. Should I bring my car to the dealer's (Honda or Toyota) body shop or some private shops? Do dealers have better equipments and do a better job? I really have no idea what to do since it's my first accident. Thanx for any input!

 

first find a place that will guarantee their work until YOU are happy.

Ask them how they are planning on fixing the car, replacing panels (with nissan or cheap parts), or just patching existing parts.

Also make sure they use good paint, dupont makes good stuff.

Back to your question, most dealers contract out their paint work. You can go buy where they do their work and look at come of the completed cars to make sure they do good work.

Bottom line, don't accept poor work. I had so send mine back when i had some touchup work iuntil it was done right.

 

I've heard Dupont make good paint. And I also know Nissan OEM paint is POS, that I can clearly tell from my hood that look like it's sparkling from all the small white nasty "fungus" (aka stone chip). Anyway, how do Dupont match the OEM color? I know it sounds dumb, but just wanna make sure before doing any decision. Thanx again for the helpful reply.

 

The most important issue is not whether you go to the dealer or an independant shop. Go and see the work that's being done. go into the Regional Forums on here and ask people where they had work done. I work at a dealership, we have our own body shop but I know people that have left and started their own shop. Which would I go to if I needed the work....the independant because I know his work. Ask around and go see the shops and talk to customer's.

 

Can you tell where I have had paint work? If done right you cant tell. I don't think the color is off the shelf, as they had to mix a batch. They also blended it into the surrounding panels, but dupont is not bulletproof, as i have frontal chips through both dupont and oem paint!

 

ok well, when you talk about "approved" bodyshop, are you referring to AAA?

Either way, you should have a choice of any bodyshop you want to get the work done at. Go around and get printed estimates from places. One place would say they would not need to blend and do an exact paint match... some places say they would paint match... etc etc.

Also, look at the cars they've worked on. That way you can get an idea of how perfect their work quality is.

good luck

 

I think the unfortunate truth is you can always tell where there is body work when the car is totally clean, on a sunny day. When you look closely, the paint should match but the surface of the metal is not the same, there are tiny sanding marks where the bondo is and the paint is blended in. But what can you do? You don't throw a car away because it's been in an accident, that is way too expensive. When the car is dirty body work becomes disguised and it's harder to notice. my .02