
Accidents happen. It’s a sad fact that auto accidents occur every minute of each day without fail, according to the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA). So if you are one of the unfortunate many that are in one of these accidents, you want to get your car repaired as quickly as possible to get your life back to normal.
More than likely, when your car has a serious body or internal damage that needs to be fixed in order to operate the vehicle again, you are going to take it to an auto body repair shop. If your car is salvageable, you want the shop to be high quality and reliable. Here are some questions you should ask your auto body repair shop before handing over your vehicle for collision repair work.
Question #5: Does Their Work Come With a Warranty?
Sometimes a shop will provide a warranty on the specific parts they replace or repair. You ideally should know how long that warranty is good for and what it covers. This is in case you drive the car off their repair lot and something related to the work breaks down right away. Usually, those warranties are good for at least a year. Keep all the paperwork related to the warranty repair work where you can easily access them if you need to.
Question #4: Do They Provide a Rental or Loaner Vehicle on Site?
You are going to need a vehicle while the auto body shop is repairing yours. For serious body and internal damage, it might be a few days to a week or two, especially if the shop needs to repaint your vehicle after the repairs are made. You’ll need something to drive while they have your car. It’s much easier to go with an auto body repair shop that provides this service for you. That way you won’t have to go to a separate car rental place to get a loaner while yours is in the shop.
Question #3: Will Everything About the Repair be in Writing?
The insurance company in order to pay for the repairs needs everything to be in writing, including the initial estimate. It doesn’t matter whether it’s your insurance company or the “other guy’s” insurance company when you weren’t responsible for the accident. Make sure your auto body shop details the exact cost and what is being worked on to repair the vehicle that was in the collision.
Question #2: Is Their Auto Body Shop Certified?
Many technicians who repair cars go through extra certifications to work on new models of vehicles which have advanced technology, such as hybrids or electric cars. Ask the shop what kind of certifications they have to understand that you are getting experts in this field of collision repair work.
Question #1: How Long Will the Repair Take?
This is easily the most important question to ask. You need to know how long you’ll be without your vehicle. Hopefully, a good auto body shop will be able to give you a pretty close estimate. At least with a leeway of 2-3 days at the most. Very busy shops might take a little bit longer, but at least you know if they have a large clientele, then they probably have a great reputation in the auto repair business.