Expert Collision Repairs

Say your Mazda car experienced a collision and your Mazda body kits were damaged, what is the remedy that comes to your mind? To look for a collision repair shop, right? But the question is: How do you choose the right collision repair center?

With over 35,000 auto body repair shops all over the United States, choosing the repair shop can make a car owner dizzy.

The Vice President of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB), Steve Cox, agreed that an insurance company may make some recommendations on the right repair shop but he asserted that the ultimate responsibility in selecting a trustworthy and quality-oriented repair shop is in the hands of the drivers themselves. According to him, choosing the right one is a must in order to achieve the desired results.

With the aim of helping the consumers to better manage the collision repair experience, the CBBB and the National Auto Body Council (NABC) have teamed up. Together, they give tips on how to save money on a replacement rental car and on how to arrange any arguments between the shop and the car owner.

The CBBB and the NABC recommend opting for a trustworthy collision repair shop. According to them, a car owner must check out the shop's qualifications. This can be done through asking about advanced technician training from a national organization. It is also a must to look for a shop committed to customer satisfaction.

According to them, everything must be in a black and white form. This means the transaction must be in written form. The car owner must get a written repair and price estimate of the work to be performed. Before the job begins, explanation of why specific recommendations are necessary to fix the collision damage is also important. They further said warranty is another must.

Meanwhile, when buying a brand new car, it will come with an auto insurance policy. Those small prints in that written policy can make a big difference if you need to have collision repairs made to your car. This is especially important if parts need to be substituted.

Trust or Not Trust Your Auto Body Shop?

If you are cool with trusting a collision repair facility, then fine, go find another article to read. But if you are like me, you want to learn how to avoid having to trust a body shop (the concept could apply to doctors and lawyers, too). Try to avoid using a shop if:

1. You were referred to the shop by an insurance company . . . here's why:

a. The shop has an agreement with the insurance company, and if you are able to get a copy of the agreement between the shop and the insurance company, you are impressive.
b. The insurance company has a vested interest in making sure repairs are as cheap as possible.
c. Questions that would normally be directed to the vehicle owner, like "should we fix this wiring while we're at it?", or "hey, did this happen in the accident?" will be directed to the insurance company and not the customer. The owner is left out of the loop.

2. The shop is dirty or unorganized . . . . I know that sounds obvious, but a lot of people just overlook that aspect because they think repairing vehicle damages is a dirty job. It's not, a good shop will be clean and organized. Dirty and unorganized implies to me that the auto repair shop is used to cutting corners to save money.

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Do a Frame Off or a Frame On?

A Frame Off restoration is a full "Factory New" restoration while a Frame On restoration is one that leaves the body on the car and selectively restores the components needed to bring the car into good working conditions. There are benefits and drawbacks to each option.
A Frame Off restoration takes the longest amount of time to do and costs the most. On the other hand, while a Frame On project allows you to take some shortcuts that will save you time and money, you could also end up overlooking areas of the car that need to be repaired and are only discovered after the car has been restored. However, despite this, unless you want a Show Car or want to spend the time doing a complete overhaul, a Frame On restoration will most probably serve you best.

Purity vs Safety

An issue that we have already mentioned a few times is the upgrading of the safety features of a classic car. Driving conditions were much different back when the car was first put on the market and many of the mechanical systems those cars came with cannot adequately cope with today's current driving conditions. However, updating the safety systems in your classic car will detract from its purity. It may seem like something of a conundrum, but in actuality, it is very simple. If you plan on taking the car out on the road, especially a busy city street, then upgrading the car's brakes and adding seat belts will not only keep you safe, but also helps keep others safe.

While brakes are easy to manage, seat belts might be more of a challenge. Up until the sixties, very few cars came equipped with seat belts as standard. Therefore, if your car did not come with seatbelts, you'll need to install them. If you car did come with seatbelts, then it goes without saying that if they're in disrepair you'll need to replace them with an authentic factory original.