Lithia Body and Paint review
 

These people do horrible work and then don't even stand behind it. I made the mistake of taking my wrx there and had to take it back 8 different times for various issues. On the first delivery they tried to return the vehicle with a run in the paint, overspray on the carpet and side of the seat, various trim was scratched, glass in the door had a deep scratch, one end of the door jamb was left sanded and dull and the other end was scratched and painted with touch-up paint (the kind you buy for the do-it-yourself door ding repair). The car only had 600mi. on it so none of those issues existed previously. After countless days of leaving my car there and never getting it fixed properly I finally gave up and traded it in. Oh, I even got cussed out by the painter for bringing my car back, what a great shop!
The second story was not by choice. I purchased a used STi that had a front fender painted from there, which I knew because he gave me the receipt. The paint was starting to chip on the bottom of the fender where normally the factory puts the clear gravel gaurd on. They didn't. When I took it in to have it looked at with the receipt, they admitted it wasn't done properly and said they would fix it. After I made the appointment, they found out I wasn't the original one who had it fixed there and refused to fix it. The work had only been done 10 months prior to me purchasing it.
Their contact info 284-7950

They are the worst. I had the same experience with my Sti there years ago.

Lithia Body and Paint is not the same business at the Lithia Subaru dealership / service dept. And if you think the dealership is bad, just go to the Body and Paint shop. It makes Lithia Subaru look like a bunch of saints.

(also, their parts/service people are actually pretty good if you find the right ones)
(salesmen, notsomuch)

I know all the parts dept. employees and they are all pretty sharp and friendly, especially Don and Gaynelle. I have not been impressed by the body shop at all though. After a break-in, I had to take my car back several times for issues that should have been fixed on the first visit.

My wife hit a deer in her 07 2.5i Impreza on the very first day she bought it.:mad: Fairly minor damage but the body shop at lithia ordered a new hood, both fenders, front bumper and headlight assemblies and all related front end parts.:eek: The cost was astronomical and one of the fenders didn't line up right and the paint job on the hood has what looks like sand under the paint. I took it back a couple times and got a big line of BS from them. The car is a lease so F*** it. I have purchased 5 Subarus over the the years from Lithia and ended up getting a fair shake after several sessions of negotiations on each deal. You really have to hold your ground and be willing to walk away with any dealer. They have a no negotiating pricing system now so you have to work even harder. Bottom line is Lithia Body shop sucks balls and Lithia stealership is about the norm IMO.

Just wanted to bump this up so people that haven't seen it will :) I'm sure there are hundreds of other people that feel the same way we do!!

Ok, now go over to the Lithia body shop and have them paint your car.

Then come back in this thread and bitch and moan like everyone else because the Lithia body shop (which is actually almost totally unrelated to Lithia Subaru except that they're owned by the same parent company and just happen to be next door to each other) does bad work, has incompetent employees, and terrible customer service.

I dunno how this thread got to be a review of Lithia Subaru... :?: I blame Cody. :P

I would never take a thread OT.

I hope you took your pants off before posting that. What with the fire hazard and all.

:huh:

Check.

Seriously...Lithia paint and Lithia Subaru are TWO seperate businesses. You people are hopeless

Yes I bent over and took it dry. I will be writing a letter to Lithia and SOA. There are several ways to get back they won't see coming, I'll get mines. Needless to say Independent auto will be getting my business in the future.

It's that time for bodywork again...just wanted to keep this one at the top so nobody gets burned.

LITHIA RENO SUBARU SERVICE CENTER AND BODY SHOP FTL !!

i hit a deer in my old wagon and took it lithia body shop it was a mistake it took them over 2 moths to finish my car and the bill was huge over 12k (glad ensurance payed for it) the paint did not match the fenders, they put a cheap ass hood on it that almost weight as much as a steel one. they suck never take your car there. they are a bunch of c**k suckers

Note this thread is bagging on Lithia PAINT & BODY, not Subaru Parts & Service. You are not the first tech to join SECCS. Road Kill used to be a tech and a service writer before moving to Toyota and many of us buy parts and appreciate the consideration they give us on them.

We understand the reality of dealer service, dealer profit motives and act accordingly and do not blame the people doing the work for them. :)

I work for lithia and I wont even go to are body shop I took my 02 wrx there and will never go back.

:?:

Okay, I split all the Lithia Subaru Parts/Service stuff into it's own thread. Please keep this one about just the Lithia Body Shop.

Nice, thanks.

[

Wow, nice.

That's impressive.

ok so not to keep bagging on the body shop buy I have seem really nice work come out of there. and you have to remember that they are only aloud to do the work and use the pieces that the POS insurance co. will let them use.

Yeah, I'm sure the insurance companies mandate overspray and drips. :lol:

no but a lot will not use factory parts or new parts. and many take there time getting around to actually having work done on the vehicles.

The suck inherent in Lithia's Body Shop is not the fault of insurance companies.

crap work is of course the fault of quality control, but delayed jobs and crap parts are not always the fault of the shop.
I know most of the shop personally but do not work directly with them, most of them want there work to stand up and be noticed. there will always be hacks at any shop and sadly you only tend to hear about the bad.
I just want to shop to get a fair shake, a lot of what they put out there is fine with no problems and you never hear about that because people are far more willing to criticize than to praise.

The problem is, I have literally never met a single person that didn't have a problem. Everyone that's gone there has been unhappy. So you can say that "the negative voices are louder", but I think in this case, there are *only* negative voices.

If Lithia paint wants to get a fair shake, they're going to have to dig themselves out of the legitimate hole they've put themselves in. I know personally, I'd never take a car there. There are so many body shops to choose from, I've got no reason to take the risk. Now, if they want to paint my racecar for free... then I might give them a shot and let people know how I was treated... but with the overwhelmingly negative experiences I've heard about from people 1st hand, I can't see handing them my money.

I have also gone there. I got t-boned a while ago and that place does crapy work. Not only that but I got my BBS'S stolen and it seemed like it was an inside job. The manager there is a total tool. Dont ever go there!

Go drive by and look at their finished vehicles out front....20 to 1 you will be able to tell which part of the car was repaired.

so where do you guys recomend to go I need a repaint really bad. Any recomendations would be greatly appreciated....

I've personally had good luck with Concours over by the GSR, on telegraph st. I think. I've heard good about Coachcraft as well. I don't know if they do complete cars as far as painting goes though, but you could start with them. I'm sure there are a handful of guys on here that have had good experiences elsewhere too, I would try starting a thread in "off topic chat", seems that section draws a lot of views. Or maybe in general subaru discussion. I have had a bad experience with Diamond auto body on S. Virginia and S. Meadows so I would recommend staying away from them as well.

thx

I took my car in to get a quote on a forearm sized dent in my left front panel near the wheel well and they quoted me $1300 or something like that... I didn't think I could fix it myself but lo and behold, the other day I simply reached in to a spot which I thought was previously inaccessible and popped it out... I'm glad I didn't pay my $500 deductible to get it fixed...

Concours is expensive so I would only go there if the insurance is paying. They do fantastic work though. At least from my experience.

Im paying out of pocket so the word expensive scares me away! Someone at my work told me to go to spray craft....

Kustom Kreations in Carson City ,NV did a fairly good job. B+ (05)

Preffered Auto Body in CArson City , nv Does an awesome job A+. (07)

both time insurance paid for it and i didn't bother to look at the pricing, (sorry)