Charlotte area body shops

Fabrik8

Fabrik8

Overcomplicator
Joined
May 27, 2015
Location
Huntersville
I did a thread search, and everything was at least 6 years old so I figured a new thread was fine.

The wife got into a minor accident with her Subaru. Wasn't at fault, which is nice. Still drive-able, which is also nice.

Insurance already gave her a place to get an estimate (Gerber Collision and Glass?), but I'm not a big believer in picking whatever shop the insurance company lists as being local. Gerber seems to be a huge chain with multiple locations across NC and 19 other states (I counted) so I'm pretty suspicious...

Any good recommendations for repair body shops in Charlotte/Huntersville area?

So far from the thread search I've got Sudden Impact way up in Salisbury, and MarsFab's inlaws in Indian Trail (no website?), and Import Paint and Body on Independence. Somehow I think Import is going to turn their nose up at a 2006 Subaru.

I'm sure there are lots of shops that would work, I'm just looking for one with a known record of decent work, trustworthy, etc.

Any other suggestions? Don't a few of you work in that industry? @NC-V ?
 
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I own a restoration/custom shop, but I am up in Mooresville. Unfortunately I don't know of anyone that I would recommend down in the Huntersville/Charlotte area, at least not that I have first hand experience with. I try not to get into too much repair/insurance work, but I can work some smaller jobs in once in a while. I would be happy to take a look at it or some pictures, but not sure my timeframe or distance would work out for you. Feel free to shoot me a pm.

Also @broncosbybart may know someone down in that area?
 
NC-V said:
I own a restoration/custom shop, but I am up in Mooresville. Unfortunately I don't know of anyone that I would recommend down in the Huntersville/Charlotte area, at least not that I have first hand experience with. I try not to get into too much repair/insurance work, but I can work some smaller jobs in once in a while. I would be happy to take a look at it or some pictures, but not sure my timeframe or distance would work out for you. Feel free to shoot me a pm.

Also @broncosbybart may know someone down in that area?
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Mooresville is close enough, timeframe would be tight though because it's her commuter car. I just got a recommendation for the Gerber in Mooresville oddly enough, by someone who used to work at the shop before they were bought out by Gerber.
 
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Regardless of where/when you get it done, the other insurance company is obligated to cover a rental car for the time period required for the work to get done. You can take it to any collision center and have the estimate done, send that estimate to insurance, they will either cut you a check or send their own adjuster out to verify (usually only if it is over $1500), then you can use the check to have it repaired wherever you would like. The shop that does the work can supplement from there if the original estimate missed some things.
 
I can think of a few places but have no experience with them first hand. The guy who I use is out near Shelby and it wouldn't be a quick turn around. I don't get into collision work.
 
We have used Gerber(one near the speedway) at work, or at least that's who the insurance choose. From what I can tell they did a good job. Personally I would check out Hall's Body shop in Mt. Pleasant.
 
So Gerber said $1200, so that's not too bad. That's a new bumper cover, reworking the minor fender damage, replacing the headlight. We're going to throw in money for the other new headlight so they match.

I'm not sold on the headlight though; they want $300 for an aftermarket headlight of unknown brand, which is the same price as a complete OEM headlight assembly from my favorite Subaru dealer online. They say they normally don't use OEM because they can't warranty the OEM parts, but I think that's a BS argument when the aftermarket unit is far more likely to fail in my experience. I've seen some pretty crappy quality "OEM-like" replacements.

Plus, the aftermarket unit should price out at less than $200 for that car, so there's some markup involved there. Ohhhhhh, that's probably the real reason; they don't make any money off of the OEM parts (or am I just being cynical?).....

I'd rather plop a set of OEM headlights on the desk and take the very minor gamble that something will happen that won't be warrantied. It's a damn headlight, I can replace it myself but I have to remove the bumper cover to access the lower brackets.
 
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If they are not OEM make sure they are CAPA or NSF certified. CAPA certified are the better ones but are more than the NSF. More than likely it's due to a markup reason like you said.
 
The insurance company will always go to aftermarket over OEM unless there are no aftermarket or "good recycled" parts available. Insurance will pay out for the retail price of the part so the shop gets whatever they get for a discount from their supplier (typically 20-25%) or if it is a used/recycled part they will pay for a 25% markup. I have never had an insurance company try to get me to use anything less than a CAPA certified part, but that is not to say that the shop won't use a lesser part and hope no one catches them. The insurance company has to pay out for at least decent quality stuff because if anything happens they have to warranty it.
 
Insurance is going to cut us a check, and the OEM is the same price as the marked-up aftermarket so its a wash on price. Probably not a big deal either way, I'd just rather have OEM if they're the same price.

Plus, I see no reason that the OEM needs a warranty.
 
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OEM will always be better than aftermarket when it comes to quality/fit/finish. There's a Sorta-fit in charlotte if you want to get stuff cheap:
Certifit Online
 
Is it bad to bring your own parts to a collision repair shop? I guess that's the other thing. I have a feeling if I insist on OEM (without suplying them myself) then I'll get local dealer OEM price plus markup.
 
jeepinmatt said:
OEM will always be better than aftermarket when it comes to quality/fit/finish.
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That's my normal policy on anything related to exterior parts usually, unless it's expensive aftermarket. If it's cheaper than OEM, than you can usually forget about better quality.
 
Certi-Fit is $265 each for the headlights, so again it's only barely less than OEM. That's probably where the repair shop is getting them.

I can get the OEM lens/housing and subharness for $280, or the complete OEM bracketed subassembly with all parts for about $310.
 
BRING YOUR OWN PARTS: Been a long time, but an adjuster surprised me, when he appraised my damaged truck bed side. First thing he did, was call a junkyard hotline, to see if there was a good used bed anyway. When there wasn't one, he cut me a check, to do with as I pleased. Thinking it was State Farm.
 
Fabrik8 said:
So Gerber said $1200, so that's not too bad. That's a new bumper cover, reworking the minor fender damage, replacing the headlight. We're going to throw in money for the other new headlight so they match.

I'm not sold on the headlight though; they want $300 for an aftermarket headlight of unknown brand, which is the same price as a complete OEM headlight assembly from my favorite Subaru dealer online. They say they normally don't use OEM because they can't warranty the OEM parts, but I think that's a BS argument when the aftermarket unit is far more likely to fail in my experience. I've seen some pretty crappy quality "OEM-like" replacements.

Plus, the aftermarket unit should price out at less than $200 for that car, so there's some markup involved there. Ohhhhhh, that's probably the real reason; they don't make any money off of the OEM parts (or am I just being cynical?).....

I'd rather plop a set of OEM headlights on the desk and take the very minor gamble that something will happen that won't be warrantied. It's a damn headlight, I can replace it myself but I have to remove the bumper cover to access the lower brackets.
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How did Gerber end up doing? I need to get my 250 fixed after a buzzer hit it.
 
They did pretty well, customer service was slightly rocky at times and very good during others. The bumper was slightly misaligned on one side, which the wife didn't notice, and I would have taken back for rework if it was my car. The paint and everything else came out fine though. They also discharged the battery pretty badly (they told her that), and I think that was the last straw for a battery that was already a few years old. Why they didn't disconnect it or turn the dome light off or put it on a trickle I don't know. She got stranded at Target about two days after pickup because of that. So I bought her a new battery, after pushing her car across the Target parking lot on a busy Saturday and jumping it to get home.
 
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