When you get into an accident that damages your car’s exterior, you’ll need to start looking for local auto body shops to hire for the necessary repairs. Considering how important your vehicle is for your daily commute, you want to ensure you hire a trustworthy professional. A great place to start is by seeking recommendations from your neighbors or friends.
If they recently had major collision repair done, they can tell you about their experience and whether they’d use their services again. You should also look at online reviews to gauge the quality of an auto shop’s service. Negative comments aren’t always a bad thing. Pay attention to how they were resolved.
You can also ask your mechanic for recommendations, as they often deal with dent accident and auto body shops. As you search for the best auto body paint shop, you should also look for certified collision centers for individual models and makes. Most shops will be proud to showcase the relevant certifications on their websites.
Always ask whether an auto body shop offers a fix auto warranty before having any work done. With a warranty, you don’t have to worry about the repairs failing, as the shop will cover the cost of addressing them. No matter how small you think, the damage is, always let a professional perform the repairs.
Are you looking for an auto body shop who specializes in fixing damaged cars? If your car sustained an unsightly injury through the course of life, you might feel embarrassed to be seen in it. However, there are many good professionals who have dedicated their careers to fixing damaged cars that can make the damage almost unnoticeable, for a far lower price tag than it would take to buy a new car.
However, if you are looking for auto body repair professionals who specialize in fixing damaged cars, you should know that not all auto body guys are created equal. Some shops will slap some lipstick and rouge on your car, but leave it in just as poor shape as you brought it. Some shops will hand you a car that is worse shape than you gave it to them in, leaving you poorer and without a car. Some auto body shops just farm the work out to other car repair services, and slap a surcharge on it, leaving you with a much larger bill than you should have to pay. To avoid any of these scenarios, make sure to avoid these common mistakes while looking for an auto body service for fixing damaged cars:
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- Mistake: Choosing an auto body service based on price.
Every auto body repair and paint car job is as unique as a snowflake. That makes it difficult to pin down the appropriate price that you should pay for any particular job. It’s a good idea to get estimates from at least three different services before selecting an auto body service to entrust your car to.That being said, the estimate you are given should not be the only determining factor in choosing an auto body service for the job. If an estimate is too good to be true, it probably is. The auto body service wouldn’t stay in business if they didn’t charge enough to stay afloat. Most likely, they’re cutting corners and skimping on things that will come back to haunt you down the road.Meanwhile, just because an auto body service has the highest price tag doesn’t mean that you’ll get the best service there. Sometimes, the higher the price, the better the service, but sometimes the higher price just means the shop wants to rob you of more of your money. Your best bet is keeping the price tag in mind, along with other important factors that we’ll mention below.
- Mistake: Choosing an auto body service based on price.
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- Mistake: Not reading reviews from other customers.
No matter what the auto body service says about themselves, there is no better sign that your car is good hands than if their reputation speaks for itself. Before entrusting your car in the hands of an auto body service, read reviews from other customers on the internet. Some people are impossible to please, and so you probably won’t find an auto body service that has zero negative reviews. However, if you look at the reviews and see a common theme (either negative or positive), it’s a good indication of service you’d get from them.
- Mistake: Not reading reviews from other customers.
- Mistake: Ignoring experience.
No matter how many credentials an auto body shop has, and what they claim about themselves, time is the greatest indicator of quality. Anyone can get through certification classes but still not care whether your car is in pristine shape when it leaves their garage. They might even have a small group of loyal customers (hint: family members) who leave good reviews for them. But the only way an auto body shop can stay in business for years and years is if they regularly take good care of their clients, and their clients keep coming back to them.On the same subject, the longer an auto body shop is in business, the more likely they’ll have picked up a few tricks of the trade for getting your car back to its glory days, no matter what it looks like when you bring it in.
When your car sustains damage, it might hurt you to see it as much as it hurts your car-baby. Before leaving your cars in the hands of an auto body shop, make sure you do your research and find a shop who will get it back in pristine shape.