Body Shop Headaches

[eleanor_350]

Somebody please tell me you've been in the same boat before!

My car went into the body shop and was supposed to be started on soon after that in early September and be done in 4-6 weeks. My car sat in the back of the shop untouched for over 6 weeks while he moved in all these quick-fix/fast-money cars ahead of mine. Not until I raised a little cain about the issue did anything happen. Once he finally started on the car back in October, it's been one headache after another ever since. Parts that he said he could repair, he's come back and wanted new ones. He's done nothing but gripe about the quality of the new parts I bought. He's drug his feet like crazy getting the thing done. There's been disagreements on what was and wasn't supposed to be repainted. He wants more money even though he quoted me a price in the beginning. Now it's nearing the end of the year and it's still not done. It has taken him over twice as long to do the car as he originally said and that's not counting the 6 weeks it just sat there. It's been absolutely rediculous. One more incident out this guy and I think I'll go get the car whether it's done or not.

Would it have been this way anywhere that I had taken it?

 

[John Z]

Somebody please tell me you've been in the same boat before!
Would it have been this way anywhere that I had taken it?

Probably, you need to understand bodyshop time. The 2 week repaint of my car started in September (or was it August???). It is now ready for me to pick up to put the lights and chrome on! Unfortunaltely, the roads are snow packed so I cannot get it until later. However, I am at a very high state of excitement. Pictures to follow.

 

[RGS0907]

Would it have been this way anywhere that I had taken it?

I've heard this story way too many times. It comes from going to a guy who "thinks" he's doing you a favor. But if you had gone to a restoration shop, it would probably cost much more. I don't think that there is an easy answer.

I usually find that first impressions are everything. Things rarely get better. After the 1st 6 weeks with no activity, it probably would have been best to take it out of there, but hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[dolfan87]

Eleanor,

Bodyshops don't make any money on cars like yours...so they are down on the priority list. Those quick insurance jobs pay them a lot better, and you will get stuck at the back of the line regardless of what he told you.

Another issue is that a lot of these guys don't have a clue about what they are getting into on a resoration paint project, and the quotes they give at first can be way off.

Before you pick up the car and tell this guy to blow off, find a shop that does resto work, and has been down the path before. Get references.

My car was at the paint shop six months, and the body work was done. It took them that long to get around to painting my car.

Just my .02 cents

Gram

 

[eleanor_350]

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like my situation is a common one. I just needed some reassurace that I'm being rational about the whole thing. You know I try to be an easy guy to get along with, give and take, and have patience with people. But I've done nothing but give on this deal and this guy had done nothing but take advantage of my patience.

Oh well, I'll just chalk this one up to experience and learn from it. Next car I do, I'll learn to do the body work and paint myself. You just can't depend on anybody anymore.

 

[TOM B]

Eleanor,

Bodyshops don't make any money on cars like yours...so they are down on the priority list. Those quick insurance jobs pay them a lot better, and you will get stuck at the back of the line regardless of what he told you.



Good point Dolfan and very true. I have been there and done that, waiting, need more cash crap. I pulled my Vette out of a body shop for the same reasons and painted it myself, came out real good too
OOOPS did I say Vette.

 

[65fsbkhipo]

I run a restoration shop in Tampa. The biggest problem I have run into is not the dissatisfied customer regarding the repairs and amount of time it takes, but its the degree of restoration that they expect. I schedule all my jobs so that they know when to drop it off and when they can expect to pick it up. Just last week, I quoted a guy for the structural repair of the quarters, floors, rails and under seat pans for his 65 convertible. When he arrived to pick it up, he complained that it wasn't primed and the underbody's rust removed. He actually expected it to be ready for paint at that point. Some how he got it in his head that was part of the deal. I have learned that no matter what you tell a customer, they will always expect more than they are getting. I've been there too...when I took my first restoration through a body shop before I started doing my own.

 

[zookeeper]

Unfortunately, for someone who already has his car half disassembled in a bodyshop, there's not much you can do. You could take it out, ship it to another shop and likely get the same treatment. But what could have prevented this in the first place is good communication between the shop and the customer. Do not drop off your car and simply tell them you'd like it painted and give them a phone number to call when it's done. Have the shop explain to you what they plan to do. Does the car need to be stripped? What could they find under 35 years of paint? What parts do they recommend be replaced and why? What's involved as far as disassembly goes? Quality paint jobs demand quality money, period. To do a complete color change, there is an unbelieveable amount of work, glass must come out to avoid the dreaded "DA" marks, all trim needs to come off, the doors need to come off and and will probably need to be gutted to strip and paint the interior panels at the same time and to prep the door jambs, the front fenders should also come off to properly strip the jamb. The trunk needs to be painted at the same time if you want it to look like it did on day one. Now is a good time to yank the motor and detail the inner fenders, since the new paint job will make a grungy motor look even worse. In short, the whole car could need to be stripped to a rolling shell and that is what some shops and some customers need to be made aware of before any work is done. I can really sympathize with your situation and have seen more than my share of profit-driven body shops set aside complete paint jobs just to make a quick buck by hanging a fender on an insurance job, spraying some paint on it and collecting $3,000+ for a couple days work. By contrast they could easily spend several times that long on your car for roughly the same money. But they promised your car would be done in a set amount of time for a set amount of money and now they seem to have forgotten about it. Sorry to hear about your troubles, hopefully things will get done before spring.

 

[Jimmah]

What are you guys getting charged for these jobs?????

 

[colt65]

Your story sounds sort of like mine.

I just got my car back from the shop -- the painter picked it up in MARCH of this year, and I got it back on Dec 22. It took forever - he told me it was going to take about 6-8 weeks! Halfway through the body/paint work, the guys who were doing the work jumped ship and the car sat for a while. Well, when work started up again, I came down to take a look and they had painted the second half of the car in a METALLIC red -- or was it metallic? Interesting! Who has ever seen a bright red paint with a black metal flake? Well, turns out the guys who were working on the car got so miffed with their employer they decided to add a little special something to the remaining cans of red paint. So that had to be redone. During the process, all sorts of expensive parts were lost of couse, which needed to be replaced. Oh, and a bunch of inexpensive parts were lost too, but those were annoying things like the door lock parts (you know the ones that are really hard to replace because they're wedged in the bottom of the door).

So, it's back in my garage, and I'm putting the final touches on the wiring and interior. The fantastic news is that its perfect. Absolutely PERFECT. I can't wait to take it to the first Spring Car show!

So, keep your head up, it's going to get finished, but it takes patience -- these guys doing the custom paintwork don't like to be hurried, and don't piss them off, you could end up with the nicest metallic car in town.

 

[rmrfstar]

What are you guys getting charged for these jobs?????

I have got the same question as Jimmah. I have a meadowlark yellow 68 Mustang, with a dent in the rear quarter and another in the fender. It is original paint, and I want to change the color. Could someone give me a vague idea of what it what it would cost? $2000,$3000,$4000,$5000, more?

 

[eric n]

When I had my bike flamed, (also added some new fenders, tombstone tail light, some Arlen Ness marker lights & a bunch of other crap) I was promised a couple of weeks. Finally after about 3 months, I had a very real sitdown with the painter (great guy) and explained I was going to beat the living xxxx out of him if he didn't START FREAKIN WORK on my bike. He was done in 8 days and it was amazing. We are buddies to this day and he has simply told me that PAINTERS ARE FLAKES!

I have found that to be 100 percent true. Maybe it's the fumes. Even guys I hire to do painting at my business seem to have a distored sense of time and basic communication.

 

[speedy66]

Best advice i can give. My dad is getting his 1960 impala done.. He went to 6 body shops before he found the one he likes. Look for a family owned shop. They seem to have a better rep and work well.

 

[Johninct]

Try a Real Resto Shop

Cobra Automotive in Connecticut did mine. http://www.cobraautomotive.com

Done quick, as promised and done right.

All they do is restore mustangs and fit them for racing. They have no room to keep the car sitting around (would not dream of leaving any car out overnight).

While everyone can not get their car to Connecticut, the advice here is to look for a similar set up - place that does not have a lot of cars backed up.

I got a decent deal by agreeing to do it when they wanted. They said they had time, I got the car there, and it was done when they said, within a couple of days.

By the way, they are terrific mechanics too.

-john

 

[67GTA-FB429]

Make friends with other Classic Car people in your town (even Chevys) and the referals from them. And make sure you name-drop when you go in for the initial estimate..."Jimmy with the 68 Camaro said you do great work and you might be able to help me out...", those guys survive by word of mouth, Maaco and Earl Schive survive by advertising.

Also, try and find a shop that specializes in Mustangs.

 

[mdjay]

Most body shops won't even take restoration work any more. As Gram stated earlier, they make the money on collision/insurance jobs. Restoration takes a ton of labor and they don't like giving up that time.

After all the hurdles with the body (metal), wait 'till he gets to the fiberglass and starts complaining.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

That's why I don't want to buy a Mustang that is in need of lots of restoration and body work. You are better off spending the $15,000 - $30,000 and buying yourself a concours already restored Mustang or an unmolestered mint condition original vintage Mustang rather than giving the theives at the bodyshop an opportunity to screw you over while restoring your rustbucket.

The same exact thing happened to me, but I dealt with the bodyshop owner in person. I wasn't going to let him screw me. I grabbed the bodyshop owner and punched him in the stomach and in the nuts a few times so he could understand who he was dealing with here. Then I pulled out my Colt .45 and placed it in the bodyshop owner's fat face. When I told him that his brains were going to be splattered all over his office and that I wasn't going to hesitate to do this, he changed his tune and told me that he would give me a "substantial discount" for the restoration work that he was going to do on my exotic sportscar. All bodyshops are theives and they will shaft you if they can. I don't trust any of them. They are out to screw people by charging exhorbitant restoration fees. I prevented that from happening to me because I had my gun with me. You will be surprised how these theives turn into honest people when you carry a firearm around with you. Don't let them take advantage of you. I didn't let the bodyshop owner take advantage of me and he did an excellent job restoring my vintage sportscar and it cost me next to nothing and he did it in just 2 months. The guy even gave me a bottle of $200 Dom Perion Champangne when he got thru restoring my car.

 

[347Fastback]

I went through a ordeal with my 66 coupe. It took forever and the guy promised me the world when we first started this project. A year later, I got my car back and sold it within two weeks because I could not stand the car anymore. I went two years without a project but I went to plenty of shows and learned some good info. I just got a 65 fastback in decent shape. The best lesson I learned through all the contacts I made is get the work to be done put down on paper so if things turn ugly you can always use the legal system. The best way to find a good shop is to go to a local car show and find out who does quality work...

 

[mdjay]

That's why I don't want to buy a Mustang that is in need of lots of restoration and body work. You are better off spending the $15,000 - $30,000 and buying yourself a concours already restored Mustang or an unmolestered mint condition original vintage Mustang rather than giving the theives at the bodyshop an opportunity to screw you over while restoring your rustbucket.

The same exact thing happened to me, but I dealt with the bodyshop owner in person. I wasn't going to let him screw me. I grabbed the bodyshop owner and punched him in the stomach and in the nuts a few times so he could understand who he was dealing with here. Then I pulled out my Colt .45 and placed it in the bodyshop owner's fat face. When I told him that his brains were going to be splattered all over his office and that I wasn't going to hesitate to do this, he changed his tune and told me that he would give me a "substantial discount" for the restoration work that he was going to do on my exotic sportscar. All bodyshops are theives and they will shaft you if they can. I don't trust any of them. They are out to screw people by charging exhorbitant restoration fees. I prevented that from happening to me because I had my gun with me. You will be surprised how these theives turn into honest people when you carry a firearm around with you. Don't let them take advantage of you. I didn't let the bodyshop owner take advantage of me and he did an excellent job restoring my vintage sportscar and it cost me next to nothing and he did it in just 2 months. The guy even gave me a bottle of $200 Dom Perion Champangne when he got thru restoring my car.

"and if anyone calls me Francis, I'll kill you!"

 

[Ron Jeremy]

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