Life is difficult enough without tossing in a car accident. But add on top of that the cost of repairs to your vehicle and you can be left feeling overwhelmed with an enormous headache. You realize that you need professional assistance to get your car back to a presentable state. But how do you go about picking out an auto body shop? What is most important to look for? Here are five things you need to consider when choosing an auto body shop.
1. An Experienced and Established Company
Many shops can claim to be top notch, but they look like chop shops. Or perhaps even worse, they have people doing work there with little to no experience. You want to look around and find a shop that has been around for a long time. You will especially want to search for a shop on Yelp that a lot of people in your community frequent.
2. Shops with Great Word-of-Mouth Ratings
To accompany the idea that you want a shop that is frequented by those in your community, you want a shop with a high approval rating by word-of-mouth. If a shop is talked about a lot, it is either really horrible, or really great. Think about the last time you had an awesome experience somewhere: you probably told all your friends all about it, right? The same can be said for the shop you want to take your car to. Ask around and actually take advice from your friends, family, and neighbors and get to a shop that everyone agrees is a great place to go.
3. Get Multiple Estimates
To help protect against being way overcharged, take your repairs to multiple shops and get several estimates. You probably want to get between three and five different estimates for your vehicle. Having multiple estimates will definitely help you to know for certain the general price range you can expect for your repairs. Some places may even offer to match or beat their competitors’ pricing!
4. Times of Availability
Is the shop open for more than just regular daytime hours, 10-6? Plenty of shops are only open this long, making it extremely difficult to get your vehicle in for repairs in between your busy work schedule. Look for a shop which will work with your schedule.
5. Pay Attention to Your Gut Feeling
Most shops are going to be a little bit dirty; it’s a byproduct of being an auto body shop. However, if it seems that the shop makes no efforts at all to take care of its appearance, then perhaps you should reconsider. Additionally, if it seems as though they actually don’t have that much business, or if you just get a strange vibe, leave. That may sound a little strange, but trust yourself, if a place feels seedy to you, it probably is.
