Last week I contacted a local body shop that shall remain nameless to inquire about an estimate on my Evo, which was dented in the front left quarter panel in a hit and run (thankfully, as many of you know, I got the plate).

They say they could do the work for a bit less than the insurance estimate, so I ask what they would actually do to get my car back to the way it was. They told me they'd put on a new panel and repaint the lower lip.

Today I go to pick it up, and closely examine the area where the dent was. I see a small paint chip, and several scratches. I ask the man if it was a new panel and he said "no, I was able to save you a few bucks."

I reminded him I'm not interested in "saving a few bucks," or should I say, lining his pockets with insurance money. After all, it's NOT MY MONEY. I just want my car to look as good as new.

He could tell I was upset and offered to get the new panel, but that it would be another week. I told him I was fine with that, but that he should have done it right to begin with instead of doing a 50 dollar job and charging 950, thus putting 900 bucks into his pocket, and about 100 into mine.

To top it all off, he had told me that even if I didn't have the insurance check, HE would talk to the insurance company and charge them 50 dollars a day for everyday they didn't get it. Nope. He wanted me to pay out of pocket for the half-assed job he did.

Now I'm normally not picky, but I know when I'm being scammed. I told him I wanted it good as new, and he said he would order a new panel...I didn't get that. So when he comes over and says "better than the day you bought it!" I had to point out that it didn't have paint chips and scratches when I drove off the lot.

Meh...long rant, hopefully you guys understand my frustration. I just want my car back the way it was.

 

I dont park next to anyone ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I feel your pain. Bodyshops like to pull one on unsuspecting owners but dont realize Evo owners are smarter than the average bear. Pm me the name of that body shop if you dont mind. Goodluck

 

so shady.. have to be so careful these days.

good luck man

 

i would have flipped... that bs man.

 

It's always like that. Either dealership is trying to screw you or a body shop. Or some sellers here....Crazy, can't trust anyone these days.

Good luck, and get it all straight.

P.S How's that lady that hit you?

 

Oh she's fine. She got a "failure to drive right" on the accident report, which is probably one step below a slap on the wrist, and has most likely been enjoying her car for the past several weeks.

EDIT:

At least...as much as you can "enjoy" a Civic...

 

I would report him to your insurance company he probably charged them for a new fendor and labor to remove everything(labor) and just filled it with bondo. Report him and you can get it done right at another shop the Insurance company reccomends. I would not stand for such a shoddy repair. You will be able to tell if it has bondo or not by a simple magnet test.

 

Well the other person's insurance company hasn't even sent my check yet...the lady called me and left a voicemail. I called her back and left her my work number in case she couldn't get me at home. The next day she calls my job (when I wasn't in that day) and never bothered to call me at home.

That company is basically holding my check until I talk to this lady, for who knows what reason.

In the end, this guy at the body shop just wasted him time doing a half-assed job. And when I get that new panel on there, it better look as good as new. The dented one didn't look like it fit quite right (possibly due to the huge *** dent that used to be there lol)

 

Best of luck
I know when I had my fender and headlight replaced at a local body shop they did not put all of the bolts back on and the ones the put where not even mine as well as my undertrtay they put cheap plastic clips they did not even fit and my inner liner was missing most of the bolts. So make sure they put the correct plastic snaps as well as all the bolts back in. Also a side note check the rest of the car for damages. My shady body shop stored my front bumper in my back seat which scratched the hel* out of the back of my Recaros. What a headache that was trying to get it fixed.

 

hey now, I love driving my civic. It's a blast. It even seems somewhat quick until you floor it.


I feel for ya man though, hope everything gets fixed right.

 

You should have thought about taking your bodywork over to Ultimate Collison Center.

Evom member: Ultimate CC

 

I understand it, but I don't. Frustration in the bodyshop not doing the job the way they said that they would drives me nuts - but then again, insurance companies like to put aftermarket **** on cars, and they like to repair panels if they can. You're typically very lucky if you can get a insurance company to put a used part on your car - because then you atleast have a chance of it being OE. Problem with used parts, is that alot of times, there's damage on those parts that they have to fix up.

As for the cost of the job itself:

Repairing a panel isn't a "$50 job". I can vouche for the job costing atleast $250 - and that's in my area where body/paint labor is $40 an hour - sometimes as low as $38 (depending on the ins co.)

That would include: R&I Headlamps (.5), R&I Bumper/Lip (.5), Repair Fender (1), Paint Fender (2.1), Paint Lip (1), Aimheadlamps (.4)

I can see that job - without looking at the Mitch. Guide on times - costing atleast 5 hours of paint/repair time. That would be 5.5x40=$220. Pluss paint/material time (2.5x20=$50). Then, if they charge it, there's a charge on hazardus material and covering the car, that's roughly $7.

I'd say that cost atleast $277, without even seeing the car. That is also without looking at the time guide on the car - because every model has differnt times for things. So it could very well cost $400 to just paint the fender/front lip.

And I can see, for a new fender, that job costing up to 900+. The new fenders for these cars range in the $440 area.


As for the insurance companies... They're always lax on sending the checks. The fact that your bodyshop is *****ing about getting the money from them.... That's bogus. We've had to wait weeks, sometimes months, to get the checks from the insurance companies. I remember one job we had to argue with the insurance company because their adjuster fuc't up and kept having to come out for additionals on the car. It was funny, because after he came out the third time for the additional, the car -should- have been totaled. It was a progressive job, and I don't know how many people have noticed this, but Progressive is just sending kids (re: just out of highschool) to 'learn' to 'write estimates' on cars. Typically it involves brainwashing the kids, because they've never done this type of work, and so we end up in a weeklong battle (on the good jobs) to just get the kid to see that we have to do something a certain way. Like that we can't just cut the fender and reweld it on (actually happened), or that we cannot repair a quater panel that looks like an accordian (also actually happened). That's where it takes so long to do body repair nowadays.

*sigh* I'm going to keep ranting:

I remember as early as 4 years ago, it was a quick thing to do insurance jobs. We would line the job up, adjuster would be out within two days of the job being set, and then we'd have parts two days after that, and then we'd have the car out another two days. Granted, I agree that 6 days is a long time to get a job done, but now adays we are lucky if we can get a job done within the week because of how obnoxious some of these insurance companies are. It's to the point where some of them wont even the time needed to paint a panel properly. They want us to do a repair, and paint it, all within the same panel. Good luck on the color match on that ****.

*end Rant*

Oh, also. When you get the car back, look for these things:

Check the panel's color match. Look at it OUTSIDE from atleast 3 differnt angles (headon, left/right, above/below). Run your hand on adjacent panels to see if there is "overspray" on the panels (from inproper masking). Check your hood/door gaps - I usually use my pinky-finger to make sure they are atleast even. And look under the hood to make sure they didn't put a hard-line on the fender, or overspray into the hood. Also look in your wheel well to see if there is any color/overspray in there. I'd also look there to make sure they inner-apron has been replaced (if it was cracked, and you mentioned a huge dent, so I would almost bet it was). I'd also check for "Dirt Nibs", which are going to look like little pimples in the paint. I'd also run my hand over the glass, to check for overspray. You'll generally see the overspray better from the inside, but sometimes it's eaiser to feel. It basically feels like 2000+gritt sandpaper, and it sounds like you're running a piece of paper over carpet.

 

Who says I want a used part? I want one straight from Mitsubishi made to match my car, similar to what happened with the dent in my last car (same place took care of it no problem).

This guy was simply looking to save himself some money by going lower than what the insurance company was offering to pay. He even said "and you get a few bucks in your pocket."

I just want my car back to the way it was, is that so much to ask?

 

if the damage is not that great, i like them to put the original fender back. it is oem with the vin stickers and it is aluminum-I do not know what aftermarket uses. a repaint to me is better if the damage is not that great

 

yea the body shop is wrong for what they did. next time, ask friends or other members to refer you to a body shop. dont just look one up in the phone book.