Choosing the right collision center can be a stressful experience. If you are either new to the area or have yet to find a reliable center, how can you know what the best collision center is? While pricing is important and we often see estimates range, what is the difference between shop A & shop B?
Word Of Mouth
Any shop can advertise but the true key is to ask your friends and family to see what they recommend. A business that has satisfied customers far and near are the ones that are getting the job done right.
Operations’s Location & Overhead
Where customers get hit by extra charges is labor hours. Large body shops with a lot of front office workers will have to bump up their per hour rates to pay for these workers. Each shop may have their own reason and way for developing this per hour rate.
On the other side of things, high end shops may charge more because they look around for everything in the “gray area”, meaning that those things they “may” have to do in order to fix a problem.
Look Around At Estimates
Bringing your car around the area for multiple estimates is the best way to ensure that you don’t get over charged. While it’s important to make sure that you don’t get over charged, you shouldn’t also just go with the lowest cost. The really cheap guys could sound like a good idea now but they could lead to major problems in the future.
Ask Questions
Don’t go into an auto body and collision center with your pocket book open. Go in and ask important questions, such as: Do you provide a written warranty? If so, how long? What does your warranty cover? Each shop may have a different warranty and that is important.
Also be sure to ask what type of products the shop is using. Are they new, used or aftermarket parts? Obviously new parts are the best but they don’t offer the best savings that people are looking for. Some aftermarket parts based off the damage, can save a lot of money and can be just as good as the manufacturers originals.
Follow Your Gut
Finally, be sure to follow your intuition. If a shop is always empty that may because people have had bad experiences and they are avoiding it. If the shop is filthy, cluttered and all over the place, maybe that reflects on the work they do?
For more information about how ASI Collision Inc can help you, we would be happy to talk. Ask us questions! We can be reached over the phone at (617)364-1722.