How to Locate Good Body Shop?

Don't know of any websites but there is a decent body shop in Katy. Give them a call or stop by. Mason Road Collision Center

1277 S Mason Rd, Katy, TX (281) 647-0055

Where are you?

The insurance company's suggestions are probably driven mostly by cost, but should provide a reasonable starting point for assembling a shortlist.

If angieslist.com is active in your area, you will find some good info there. They have "Auto Body Work" as a category, and they post (and vet) reports from actual consumers. I had a new furnace put in recently, and found the $20 to be a good investment -- led me straight to a local company with a solid "A" rating and good reviews, which lived up to it.

Yelp.com is also of some value, though less rigorous.

At the very least, check out your candidates with the local Better Business Bureau -- might also look online to see if you have a state agency that fields consumer complaints.

Finally, a good auto body shop, in the area where they do the actual work, should look organized and clean (it's hard to do good paint, in particular, without that). They'll also be proud to show you some of the "after" examples they've got at the moment. Insurance work that has to move smartly along to get someone's commute car back into service is never going to look like connoisseur car-show work, but it shouldn't be sloppy looking either.

Ask how they check for damage related to the obviously crunched part, and what if it is not immediately apparent, and how they handle the billing for that.

Watch out for 'em deer! They can come out of nowhere, especially in evening and early night, and this is the worst time of year.

--Joe

I'd also add, you migth want to check with a local chapter of a car club, e.g. Porsche, BMW, etc - especially a club catering to a marque that is often used for racing and/or are collectible enough to be restored. Stuff happens, and cars need to be fixed, and the word gets around as to who does a good job and who just does insurance work.

nate

The AAA also has some lists of approved mechanics (not necessarily limited to body shops) which might give you some help.

I recently shopped out a job and the three companies gave vastly different prices. We took the lowest price, and in this case the job was very well done.

Probably in Singapore.

BTW, here (with a tip o' the mouse to fark.com) is my favorite recent example of just how smart a deer is, especially at this time of year:

--Joe

HEY! I know a dude in Singapore that does ACE body work!

Did the OP ever post his location?

"hls" wrote in news:07GdnRmX5b6VJWfXnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

Like so many people, the OP seems to have abandoned this thread after his initial post.

OP appears to be in the Philadelphia area.

He's posting through Google Groups, which gives his originating IP as

4.238.246.242. That's part of Level3's IP block. I don't know who his actual provider is, though. His reported email address is AOL, but that's likely fake.

Thanks. That is a great article!