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Getting Your Car Fixed After An Accident

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If your car or truck has been involved in a fender bender or collision of some sort, finding a shop to fix it and make your car look great again is probably high on your list of priorities. The amount of damage incurred to the vehicle can make a difference in where you take your car or truck for repair. If the car has extensive damage, you may need a shop that can handle the bodywork as well as frame damage.

Getting An Estimate For Your Car

Before you can submit a claim to your insurance company, you need to get an estimate for the damage and repair from several body shops. If the car was heavily damaged, you might not be able to get more than one estimate because you can't drive it to the different shops. Some insurance companies may pay for a wrecker to move the car from shop to shop, but this is unlikely. In most cases the price difference between them is not going to be so high that it matters much, and ultimately the insurance adjuster will make the determination on damage.

Getting Your Car Repaired

Once the estimate has been submitted and approved, the shop will start to take your car apart and determine what they need for parts. If there are panels that can be straightened, they will more than likely fix them to save on the cost of repair. Take the time to talk to the shop owner if you want them to use original equipment parts on the car, but understand that if you don't specify it is likely that they will use replacement parts on the car. While those are not bad parts, if you are trying to keep the car all original you will not want the reproduction parts used at all.

Getting The Paint Right

Another critical area that you want to be choosy about is the paint on the car. If the body shop is not stripping and repainting the entire car, they need to fade and blend the paint for the car to look like new. If they don't do a good job of it, the paint will not match and the blend will be very obvious. Talk to the shop about painting the entire car and see if it will affect the price. If you can get them to do it, the car will look much nicer when it is finished. Some shops will work with you on on pricing, but even if the price is a little higher it might be worth adding the additional cost out of pocket to get the best look possible on your car.

For more information about auto body repair for your vehicle, you can contact companies like Sam's Automotive Reconditioning Center.


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