HELP Body shop referrals PLEASE. (Details inside)

[pontiacgp]

Could be worse. I'm able to walk (slowly and not far) and there's many who cant. Bones didnt break. ER doc was kinda reserved... said the ct scans weren't horrible, but werent clean. Followups with ortho guys. Gonna be lots and lots of nerve and disc issues in my future.

It kills me that, aside from paint, everything this car needs I could've done myself laborwise.

I say couldve.

I've been forewarned that, eventually, after maybe 6mos, a year or two, I'll be a little active again but to expect a short leash before pain interferes. Either going to have immensely slow projects or have to become more of a bought than built guy...

I'm sorry to hear that, it could be a long way back to back and the medical people don't know everything. After years of therapy I was told never to run again due to back injury from a wreck but I'm jogging 2 to 3 miles every morning. Try to keep positive and that will help alot.

 

[melloelky]

How old is this car?how many miles?

 

[ck80]

How old is this car?how many miles?

It's a '14, I wanted the last of the live rear axle models.

It just cracked 20,000 on the odometer this month.

 

[melloelky]

i wouldn't be super concerned about a shop not spraying that three stage color properly,three stages aren't nearly as exotic as they once were.they're more common in production cars than you think so there's no shortage of shops spraying them.any shop that wants to make money and not have color match problems(come backs,re shoots unsatisfied customers etc)is going to write to blend that paint in every direction for a seamless repair.any appraiser worth his or her salt is going to write for the correct number of let down panels to ensure a blend-able color match. what i would be concerned about(&this is why i asked about the year-mileage)is the shop writing for inferior ill fitting aftermarket parts.in this part of the country the threshold for writing for factory parts is 20,000 miles.if it's 20,000 or less they write for factory parts automatically.this is something you should address once you've started taking to shops and see where the service writer stands on all this etc etc.take it easy and please keep us posted.

 

[ck80]

i wouldn't be super concerned about a shop not spraying that three stage color properly,three stages aren't nearly as exotic as they once were.they're more common in production cars than you think so there's no shortage of shops spraying them.any shop that wants to make money and not have color match problems(come backs,re shoots unsatisfied customers etc)is going to write to blend that paint in every direction for a seamless repair.any appraiser worth his or her salt is going to write for the correct number of let down panels to ensure a blend-able color match. what i would be concerned about(&this is why i asked about the year-mileage)is the shop writing for inferior ill fitting aftermarket parts.in this part of the country the threshold for writing for factory parts is 20,000 miles.if it's 20,000 or less they write for factory parts automatically.this is something you should address once you've started taking to shops and see where the service writer stands on all this etc etc.take it easy and please keep us posted.

I'm afraid date of manufacture being just over 4 years ago may initially make oem parts an uphill fight.

Had a talk on the phone for a bit with a shop that is also a go-to that fixes a bunch of much higher end exotics. (Called magnum collision in marietta ga) According to him, their MO is to pretty much insist on oem parts, and if need be, order the aftermarket and have the Adjuster come by and look at how they don't fit together as well. (Hopefully that's the case, he implied that they regularly fight the adjusters on it but that may just be sales pitch.)

Oddly enough, one of the larger dealership chains nearby (Nalley Automotive Group) had a guy from their body shop suggest I reach out to them if I hadn't done so because he didn't have confidence in his guys getting the paint done well. Probably more work to match right than he'd like to tie up in a job??

I priced out the parts list at about $6500 assuming nothing hidden, all hardware to be reusable (which on some may not be the case). No idea on the labor charge or paint time/materials.

One thing there really isn't a way around is, because it's not a what you see is what you get like a gbody, shops have a policy of you need to be signing an authorization to repair so they can do a proper tear down for an estimate. I'll need to see how that works to limit it to the estimate work only incase a problem arises? It doesn't make sense to ok the full job before you even know the detailed writeup on these things.

 

[Clutch]

What your describing is pretty much standard procedure in a shop that's been around the block. When you sine it's an authorization to make repairs and a DOP direction of pay. So the shop has your permission to fight with the Insurance Company for you there's always hidden damage and that's what a supplement is for happens all the time don't sweat it. I've fixed cars at %120 because an adjuster screwed up that's the insurance companies problem not yours and matching the paint that's the body shops problem when you pick up the car if it doesn't look good tell them to do it again simple as that

 

[ck80]

Wanted to give a little bit of an update, and again if I haven't said it in the thread (memory issues) many, many thanks to all those who chimed in here or by pm. Drop in for a drink on me of you find yourselves wandering the atlanta area...

Back to the update. Yesterday the appraiser for Amica visited, documented what could be seen, and "valued" the car. Good news is they designated it as 'repairable', not that that was ever really in doubt. Haven't seen or gotten ahold of his report yet though.

Meantime, spoke to several more shops that were actually interested in doing the work. I *think* I've settled on one. It's family owned & operated, BUT, it's also ford factory certified, i-car gold certified, and has a wall filled with other various certifications.

They:

- lifetime warranty workmanship
- only use oem parts
- have certifications for alum work and keep separate tools for the aluminum panel work
- use water based paint like my oem
- keep the car stored indoors overnight
- use an oven to help cure the paint

After my phone call to them the service advisor talked to their paint guy about the car/color. The paint guy has something like 20 years experience, and back when he worked for a ford dealer for a decade actually used to do warranty and insurance work on the dealerships early 2000s mustangs that came through with that factory purple paint that had the chameleon pearl in them... if he got those to match decent and come out good, he can probably handle mine a-ok. Their plan would be to make ""8 or 10" of the laydown panels trying to get the base coat and pearl density right for matching in the sun. We went over all those things and more for a good 45 minutes this morning over at their shop.

Many pieces on the car are damaged, but in better shape still than many of the parts we put on our gbodies. I asked, and they said everything coming off the car I can keep - they may even be able to help get around a core charge or two.

 

[ck80]

Just a little update for those who helped/advised...

Car is coming along, saw it today with most of the parts on it. Its been taking a while because the insurance wanted to order stock parts based on vin, and I wanted replacements for the smoother "sleeper" look I had transformed it into (hood, badging, etc... all ford parts though).

Still needs stripes and decals back, but otherwise looks pretty nice. They took their time on it, apparently the inner parts of fenders and underside hood are a different base coast mix than the outside surfaces and they did that right.

Brought home all the dinged up parts today - crash bar, absorber, bumper, fenders, hood, lights, baffles, etc... could hang a new front clip on a wrecked car with what I've got here!

 

[melloelky]

that is good news,sounds like you made the rite choice.you must be relieved.they are correct on the different painting on the undersides of things,it's called "under hood formula"it's not the pretest looking thing but it's the correct thing on most cars.glad to see it went well.

 

[fleming442]

That sumbich must handle AWESOME- it hugs the ceiling!😛