Ok CF brethren (ladies too of course ), I need some sound and crucial advice from you all. Here's my dilemma- So I scraped the driver side back panel on my car a few months back leaving the parking garage in my apartments. I took a turn too sharp and scraped a steel beam. I'm an idiot I know. Its not huge, but it encompasses the back panel in front of the rear tire and a small part of the back passenger door. My dilemma is how to go about fixing it. The car is a 2007 Nissan Altima and aside from that its in great shape. I went to one collision repair shop and the guy said he'd fix it for around $700. I think he also said if I don't go through insurance, I could probably get it done for $500 which is my deductible. Today I went to the official Nissan repair shop and they said it would be $1600 there. They also said it would look like new and I wouldn't be able to tell. I could go through my insurance for it, but I don't want my rate going up. So for those of you who know about these things, should I pay a little less or go through the dealership? I know the dealership will charge a lot, but I don't ant to be able to tell it was redone. Do the smaller guys do a pretty good job? Thanks in advance for the help. I'll try to post pictures later for a better idea.
I would think any body shop would want their work to look new after it's done. Otherwise they probably wouldn't be in business. Don't take it to the dealer and don't use insurance. I scraped the roof of my truck a few years back. The garage wasn't up all the way. I went to South Main Paint and Body....half the price of the dealer, half the time, and I couldn't tell anything had happened.
The cost to repair actually cost more if you do not go through insurance versus if you do. Body shops all have different labor rates, some as high as 44/46 dollars/hr an hour. Most major insurance companies pay 40/hr, which the body shops abide by. In addition, if you pay out of pocket, most body shops will figure some "extras" that aren't normally covered by insurance company, or, they will bump up normal labor operations to a higher amount if you pay out of pocket (i.e. insurance companies know how much something should cost, the average vehicle owner doesn't, and the shops know this). Whatever shop you use, get good references and make sure they give you a lifetime warranty. If a shop has neither, then I would move along/
