New to the forum, back in N. Reno, and in need of body shop opinions..
 

Okay.

Firstly, hi to all - I've already spotted some RS25 members (this is komm.zu.mir).

Secondly, I'm in dire need of a good body shop.

I'll give a quick run down of my situation...

My fiance hit a piece of road debris on 395N, just after the Lemmon Valley exit.

This nice bit of stuff tore through the right front wheel well, through the floor panel, through both inner and outer rocker panels, and out through the sideskirt and part of the door.

It's really, really nasty.

Here's the link to my RS25 post, if anyone's interested. The pics are down at the moment, but I can re-post them here later on (hopefully).

There's a tiny bit of colorful, appropriately censored language, but it's not all that bad..

http://www.rs25.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38707

I just got the car back after a good few weeks (it went in on the 28th, I believe), and I'm not happy.

I don't want to badmouth anyone, but I'm genuinely disappointed in the workmanship that's been performed on my car, not to mention the additional damage done to it..

Short story version
(RS25 follow-up thread is http://www.rs25.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39686);

This car was sent to Pro Body & Frame on Mill & Bible Way, and has just been returned 12/16/05..

Upon getting into the car (as the passenger), I've found..

- a chip in the new door skin's paint (or the old skin's repaint) - rusting.

- there's still a draft coming from the floor - the insulation between the carpet and the floor pan wasn't replaced; neither was the whitish plastic trim

-hence the carpeting and trim underneath/next to the glove box isn't fitted well

- underside/middle of the glove box's door is all scratched up, to the point where it is visible from a normal seated position

- there're two loose, possibly cut bolts in the trim of the door (again, the bit by the side of the glove box), the nice little cosmetic covers for them are also MIA

- none of the fittings underneath the carpet by the bottom of the door frame/floor (rocker panel) have been replaced, just sectioned out, so the trim and carpet doesn't fit, and is loose as hell

- the car makes way more noise than it ever did when the damage had first happened (and the few days driving it afterwards). It sounds awful, like there's crap flapping around and rubbing together all over.

Basically, I feel it's been returned in worse shape than we left it, minus a hole.

I don't think I'm off my rocker when I say I feel it's been returned in a condition that is unacceptable..

In any case, hopefully some things will be resolved on Monday when I talk to Progressive.

I'd appreciate some opinions on good body shops that I can use as an alternative. Whether or not Progressive will accept my choice is unknown as of now..

I have read a few of the body threads (i.e. http://www.seccs.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2483), so I will keep those shops in mind.

JC has cautioned me about possibly going to Lithia for the body work, as some members may have had bad experiences with them.

Can anyone give me a quick elaboration?

Thanks a million in advance (yes, I'm sappy),
Hilary

I've had my car in at Grove Street Auto Body (now on Greg Street near Rock).

The paint was pretty good, except they forgot to put my mudflaps back on after re-attaching my rear bumper. They were nice enough, though to leave them in my trunk along with a dent removal tool.

Other then that, the only other places I've heard of thats still acceptible is Shaber (which will be hard to get your car into) and Concourse Autobody.

Some members have had good luck with Lithia's Body Shop, and some have had horrible experiences with Lithia. Same goes for Gilsons in Carson City.

Personally, after seeing the work come out of Lithia's Body Shop, I'd avoid going there. With one member, new stickers were put on incorrectly, there were massive drips ont he back of the hoodscoop, and obvious overspray issues.

My suggestion is that you just work with your insurance company. Since you went to their recommended shop, they should warranty the work. Since it's clearly no where near acceptable, you'll probably have to send it back to the shop that did the work and give them a chance to make it right. If they can't or won't then you should be able to get the insurance company to pay to have it fixed elsewhere... I'd suggest talking with Shaber in that case... or get the insurance company to total the car or get them to pay you out for reduced value of the car.

Thanks, guys.

I'm hoping I won't have to go this route as it'll be fairly hard to find a replacement that's in as good a shape as this one once was, not to mention around the same cost..

I'd be willing to settle that way if they agreed to hep find one and get financing, as they'd be paying off the loan for the current car.

I already know their payoff will clear over what I owe, but it's not quite enough to replace it, financially, as well as emotionally.

How much leeway will I have if it comes to a total? I've got some parts on the car that they may not have (if I can help it). Nothing that isn't simple (i.e. clear repeaters, radiator shroud, etc..), as I've not had the car for a year yet..

I know what you mean. I spent about $1000 out of pocket on my SVX's sand damage claim to prevent them from totalling it. The car's worth more to me than it's monetary value.

Glad you made it over, hope it all works out and the RS is restored to it's proper glory.

Thanks!

We just re-dropped the car off. The tech took a test drive with us so he could get the gist of everything. And we gave him a list.

Hopefully things'll get straightened out okay. =)

Hope it all turns out to your satisfaction. And if you still need an autobody shop, I can't say enough great things about Concours. They worked with me on the blue rx8 until we were able to prove the replacement & repair exceeded the car's cost & got it totalled; and they did an excellent job on my red rx8.

I guess we'll see.

As we were on the little diagnostic drive, the guy kept saying "I think that rattle and vibration is from the exhaust. It's probably loose somewhere."

To which both of instantly thought "BS, it's not running up this side of the car."

But didn't say anything more.

Well, the car's still there, so I'm sure the guy's changed his mind about the "exhaust" noise.

Carnage!
 

HAH. Damage pics.. I apologize for the scale. I never got to jack the car up (it just wasn't safe) or get to it on the rack for better examples..

The door..

http://ice9gaming.com/uploads/other/RSDoor.jpg

The "gash.."

http://ice9gaming.com/uploads/other/RSSkirt2.jpg

Up close..

http://ice9gaming.com/uploads/other/RSSkirtGash.jpg

Assorted pics of the floor pan..

http://ice9gaming.com/uploads/other/RSUnder1.jpg

http://ice9gaming.com/uploads/other/RSUnder3.jpg

http://ice9gaming.com/uploads/other/RSUnderside2.jpg

Damn you, debris.

I saw that before and when I just looked at it I still cringed.

Ouch. But looks repairable. I also can reccomend Concours.