Collision shop for a repaint? Just don't do it.

-
1968FormulaS340

1968FormulaS340

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2005
Messages
11,394
Reaction score
700
Location
St. Helens Oregon
Sadly, we have a nice 1972 Chevelle SS in our shop (real deal, not a clone). It has been in here for 6 months and has little done to it other than our helper stripping all the paint with 40grit and a DA and some minor body work roughed out. This was quoted as a 3 month job. The car hasn't been touched in at least 2 months and I don't see any work being done on it anytime soon.

Hell, the shop manager doesn't even have a real plan. We, the techs, just do as instructed....

So the plan in the beginning was, strip car, epoxy, body work, high build primer, a bunch of blocking and so on...

Then the plan was changed to finish to 180 and use our normal primer. But wait.... The entire car was DAed with 40 grit, what in the hell....

Now we, the techs working (or honestly watching the car sit in the corner) on this thing don't know what's going on so we ignore it completely.

Best part is that the manager doesn't understant the importants of correct hood and decklid dimensions. I told him to get a kit ordered for when we get to that point. He said we don't need a kit and thinks we should go wider than factory to get a bolder look.

So basically I don't see this car getting done this year. I would love to tell the owner all of this but I would get fired and I actually love where I work and what I do for a living.

This is the reality of why your cars take so long when you have restoration work done at a collision shop. It's not being worked on. It's not what we do. We do collision work.

We are a DRP (designated repair facility) for a couple of insurance companies. We can't and wont stop to get your car done.
 
I say keep your mouth shut and let the owner raise hell when he is tired of waiting. Thats why customers need to get everything in writing and stay on the shop. If you get in the middle you will be looking for a job.
 
Yeah insurance companies, medical companies and lawyers have ruined everything.
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
I'm not going to say a thing. I just hope some of the people here read and learn from this.
Click to expand...

I learned that along with all the ones that allow someone else to work on your car at all (not that I need to or want to let someone) but I'm almost at the point of taking the wheels off and hauling them down when I need tires or balancing.
 
How would you suggest finding a shop more suited towards repainting a classic car? I'd be willing to bet that many of us live in communities too small to support a shop that just does restorations, and most of us know better than to go to outfits like Maaco.
 
Oaktree said:
How would you suggest finding a shop more suited towards repainting a classic car? I'd be willing to bet that many of us live in communities too small to support a shop that just does restorations, and most of us know better than to go to outfits like Maaco.
Click to expand...

Good question, thank you.
 
Go to car shows or weekly/monthly diner meets for car people and ask around. I did the body work myself and ask the paint supply guy for a recommendation.
 
Maaco did the repaint on the replacement hood and fender for my wifes LS400 and it was PERFECT down to the matching of the faded pearl white and texture of the paint, GLASS. Dont knock a chain, knock your outlet if they did crap work. Id go back to this one in a heartbeat. Thanks for the frankness of your customers dilema. I DO take my tires down in the back of my truck for balancing! ;-)
 
TrailBeast said:
I learned that along with all the ones that allow someone else to work on your car at all (not that I need to or want to let someone) but I'm almost at the point of taking the wheels off and hauling them down when I need tires or balancing.
Click to expand...

off topic , but this is what I do . BIG-O completely fked up a brand new pair of rims dismounting 2 two tires and mounting 2 new tires on them. I took pictures and raised hell AT THE SHOP when I picked them up. he took ZERO responsibility for his monkey *** amateur over the border illegal tire techs. now, I just have them dismounted somewhere else and mount them at home.
 
i'm sure the number of guys that do resto work NOT insurance work varies in different parts of the country, BUT I can throw a rock and hit at least 6 with in 25 mi of here. inquire to area car guys, i'm sure they are in most everyone's area.

yep, here in the sticks, 25 mi is just around the corner!
 
Thanks guy, now I don't feel so much like a picky ba*tard. :D

The one that did it for me was when I walked around the corner from getting a coffee, they had jacked the right rear corner up so high it buried the left front tire up inside the fender.
I was kinda pissed, but tried not to actually yell at them for it.
I did however mention they should lift one whole end at a time when working on classics so as not to whack out someone's suspension.
 
I took the Dart to a shop i have gone to for years. He does repairs and usually has a project car around. He used it as fill work but charged me less per hour and it took about a year. Periodically I would pay him on the present progress so I did see it was progressing. Paying periodically in smaller amounts I guess is less painfull. People at cruise nights comment how straight it is and the nice paint job. Its not the restoration you would do if you were looking to show it and try to get 100 ponts but i was shooting for something that looked like new and i would drive not trailer.
 
Collision shop for a repaint? Just don't do it.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons my dad and I opened our restoration shop back in the late '90's. I got tired of working at collision shops who said they did "restorations," scratch off the existing paint, fill the rust with bondo, mask even the emblems, and just do a quick squirt of base/clear. And they'd take forever to do it since it was just fill in jobs between the collision work.

Some of the redo's Pop and I did for some of the owners unmasked (forgive the pun) some real bondo kings out there.
 
Quite a nerve touched here,by the O.P. I am lucky enough to have basic bodywork skills,for my own stuff. Having dealt with collision shops (commercial parts sales) on a daily basis,I would see a lot of these older restoration jobs sit for months. One of the older custom body shop guys, actually gets contracted shop by shop just for older restoration projects.
 
Here's a Barracuda being repaired by a local high volume shop on my route. Their work is new car quality or better and this project took 2 weeks. It lost a hood and damaged the hood,both fenders, cowl, windshield, and roof. They did a excellent job with the painted stripe too. Some body shops do good work period.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20140923_083720.jpg
    17.2 KB · Views: 471
  • IMG_20140923_083731.jpg
    14.7 KB · Views: 471
  • IMG_20140923_083801.jpg
    17.5 KB · Views: 476
  • IMG_20140923_083743.jpg
    15.2 KB · Views: 460
Thanks 1968 Formulas340- Im worried now. I took my car to a insurance shop(I assume) but I did not know. The Guy told me he would love to do my car. I took it to him and now it is getting pushed aside. To make matters worse some bare metal areas that were sanded are rusting on a body that was rust free. I'm disappointed. I might go get it tomorrow
 
............We have 2 cars that have been at my work for more than 3 years,not even half done, the customers r a little pissed I would say.......kim.......
 
IM dealing with a similar situation, No action taking place on mine. Promised in 2 weeks, a little over 3 now with nothing happening.
 
I've been in the Auto Body Business for forty years. There are more people with hatchets doing body work than ever before. The WORST thing you can do is give any money up front for body work. If they need your money up front- they shouldn't be in business. When you pay up front the only thing guaranteed is your car gets done last- if ever. If they need actual "parts money" up front, pay the wholesale price- not retail- and order it right then- on your card. Don't let anybody ride on your money.
When looking for a shop, whether it be a family owned, national chain, or sole proprietor shop, check out they're facilities, check out the cars that are being worked on, look through the doors and see which ones have dust piling up on them, are chrome trim parts laying on concrete? are interior parts left out in the open to be covered with shop dust and filth? are tools, supplies, food and drink, being left laying on cars? When you see that- your looking at sloppy bass turds that'll do sloppy work. Look at the finished cars out front. What quality of cars are they working on?
Last but not least- what paint line(s) do they use? Quality or Garbage? Find the local Body Shop Supply House they deal with and get a recommendation. Ask the manager in private- don't go blabbing out bs or anything else for the whole shop to hear.
Any good shop will gladly give you a list of satisfied customers to contact for a reference.
I'll say this again- NEVER give a body shop money up front- their crooks- whether they themselves believe it or not.
thepaintguy
 
I'm going through body shop whoes as we speak. It's not my intent to step on anybodies toes here, but being 60 years old and been hot rodding cars since I was 15, I can tell you that in MY personal experience, paint and body men are the most F*cked up bunch I 've have had to deal with in the hobby. They take to long, do to little and charge more than was agreed on! I know there are honest, fair guys in the business out there, but I've never dealt with one. Ok, rant over.
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
I'm going through body shop whoes as we speak. It's not my intent to step on anybodies toes here, but being 60 years old and been hot rodding cars since I was 15, I can tell you that in MY personal experience, paint and body men are the most F*cked up bunch I 've have had to deal with in the hobby. They take to long, do to little and charge more than was agreed on! I know there are honest, fair guys in the business out there, but I've never dealt with one. Ok, rant over.
Click to expand...

It's not the techs, it's the people in the office that make the promises and schedule in the jobs. I saw that Chevelle come in and all I thought was, why is it here and when in the hell are we going to have time to work on it.

The guys on the floor have zero control over things like this.

On any given day I have 5 cars in various stages of repair that I'm working on. These are rigs that must get done and be repaired correctly so people can go to work, run their kids to school, and get back to a normal life. Telling the insurance company that the car isn't done because the techs were working on an old car that some guy wanted painted will never happen.
 
TrailBeast said:
I'm almost at the point of taking the wheels off and hauling them down when I need tires or balancing.
Click to expand...

That's what I do. I don't need to hand someone the keys to my car, I'll just hand em the wheels. The ONLY person I've let drive my car/work on it is JJ at the muffler shop. I let him drive it up on their four post lift. Even then, I stood around under my car for a few hours while he made my exhaust. I can't think of a good reason to let a shop have my car overnight, and leaving it there for a 6 months is so far out of the question it's not even remotely a consideration.
 
thepaintguy said:
I've been in the Auto Body Business for forty years. There are more people with hatchets doing body work than ever before. The WORST thing you can do is give any money up front for body work. If they need your money up front- they shouldn't be in business. When you pay up front the only thing guaranteed is your car gets done last- if ever. If they need actual "parts money" up front, pay the wholesale price- not retail- and order it right then- on your card. Don't let anybody ride on your money.
When looking for a shop, whether it be a family owned, national chain, or sole proprietor shop, check out they're facilities, check out the cars that are being worked on, look through the doors and see which ones have dust piling up on them, are chrome trim parts laying on concrete? are interior parts left out in the open to be covered with shop dust and filth? are tools, supplies, food and drink, being left laying on cars? When you see that- your looking at sloppy bass turds that'll do sloppy work. Look at the finished cars out front. What quality of cars are they working on?
Last but not least- what paint line(s) do they use? Quality or Garbage? Find the local Body Shop Supply House they deal with and get a recommendation. Ask the manager in private- don't go blabbing out bs or anything else for the whole shop to hear.
Any good shop will gladly give you a list of satisfied customers to contact for a reference.
I'll say this again- NEVER give a body shop money up front- their crooks- whether they themselves believe it or not.
thepaintguy
Click to expand...

Well said!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top