How to find top quality auto body shop?

[flinter]

Hi,

A few days ago, an F150 truck backed into my 2013 Honda Cvic EX in a parking lot and crushed in my bumper and left taillight assy. I will be going through his insurance since it was his fault.
I am currently looking for a well respected, top quality auto body shop in my area of Central
NJ in the Princeton/Trenton area.
My question is how does one determine the very good shops for the mediocore and poor shops?
What should I be asking or looking for?

Thanks

 

[Donald]

Ask your mechanic or dealer or NAPA.

I would make sure you get new factory parts.

For the bumper they will probably get a bumper cover. I would want to see how the bumper looks without the cover. See if anything else is mashed and needs replacement. Bumpers are not what they use to be.

 

[Ethan1]

Carstar Pennington and Branning's Windsor Auto Body are Honda certified. The Honda cert is no paper tiger. There are training, equipment, quality, and CSI requirements to be Honda certified.

DO NOT go to the bodyshop that the insurance company sendsyou to, no matter what they say. I work in the industry, take my word.

DO be aware that if your car is a lease, your Honda lease agreement requires the use of genuine Honda parts. Since this is a third-party claim, you have no contract with the insurance company and you don't have to accept their knock-off parts.

Check out collision.honda.com for more information and a bodyshop locator

 

[raytseng]

internet is your friend. Not sure how prevalent yelp is in your area but you can use it to narrow down potential places.
Take reviews with grain of salt, plus if yelp has extorted dealers to promote them up or down.

There is also a question of you get what you pay for(or someone else pays for), as this is artwork rather then just a absolute repair.

There's a body shop I went to, and when I said I'd be paying out of pocket, the boss was was straight up with me about what he could do.
He said I can do a A-quality fix for price $A, or do a B-quality job for price $B or do a C-quality job for price $C.

This is reality, and it makes sense to me that a shop should give you more than just 1 option on how you want the repair done, especially if it's just cash and not insurance.
Point is a good shop can still give you "mediocre" work, if you only agreed to pay for "mediocre" work. If you are expecting A-quality but only paid price-C, that's on you.

 

[irad]

If you are near Manville I have had good experience with Foreign Specialties, 439 North Main Street, Manville, New Jersey.

 

[flinter]

Ethan1,

Rico's Auto Body in Robbinsville is a approved NJ Manufacturers repair shop. I just did some internet research on them and I can not find a single negative comment about them. They are all rave, positive reviews. They are been there since 1972 and seem to be very well respected in the Mercer County area. NJ Manufacturers will do OEM parts on all cars 2 years old and newer. Rico's would use Honda OEM parts.

All I need is a new rear bumper and taillight assembly.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: irad
If you are near Manville I have had good experience with Foreign Specialties, 439 North Main Street, Manville, New Jersey.


Does Manville still have lots of asbestos around it from Johns Manville?

(I use to live in Somerville and knew people who worked at Johns Manville. They are probably dead now.)

 

[sasilverbullet]

Originally Posted By: Ethan1
...


hm, by chance do you hang out on Reddit? (noticed the Murica)

 

[flinter]

sasilverbulley,

Are you happy with your 14 Civic EX-L and the CVT??