How do you find a good body shop?

[mcpp66]

If your car needs some body work and you don't want any ol' hack to be working on it, how do you go about finding a quality body shop? I wouldn't know a good body shop if the owner came out and smacked me in the face. The same goes for all the people I know, so asking around really isn't going to be a good option for me. Aside from word of mouth, what other criteria do you research?

[Irish]

Never hurts to drive over and as to take a look around. Even if you're not all that knowledgeable about auto body, common sense goes a long, long way. You shouldn't walk in and see someone painting outside a booth for example.

As far as asking around, you don't know of any local clubs/forums? No drag strips nearby? AutoX? Solo2 events?

[Harleyguy]

You can also check with the better business bureau.

[mcpp66]

As far as asking around, you don't know of any local clubs/forums? No drag strips nearby? AutoX? Solo2 events?

No, I don't. I just recently became a "car guy", so I'm starting from scratch. This is the only forum I know about. What's AutoX, solo2?

[Mike Phillips]

Go to some local car shows, especially if the theme is muscle cars and street rods, walk around and try to find local guys and ask them for recommendations.

Local car shows will bring out your local hardcore car guys, the kind of "Car Guys" that actually turn wrenches and build cars. They might not paint cars but they'll build the car all the way up to the painting process and when it comes to getting their project painted you can bet they know who's who in the local painting world.

You should be able to see some examples at the show by asking these same guys if there are any cars at the show painted by the body shops they're recommending.

You need to make sure their local guys though because car shows will bring in car guys from miles around.

You can also look for "Cars & Coffee" type events that usually take place on Saturday mornings or Weekday nights at local establishments. These events will be filled with car guys that know who's who in the local painting world.

Another way would be to go to your local PBE store and ask the "Paint Mixer" who does good custom paint work, they'll know all the locals that have good reputations.

Remember, it's not the painter that determines the end-results but the person that does the wet-sanding, cutting and buffing that makes or breaks a new paint job.

(Just to note, sometimes the painter is the person that does the sanding and buffing)


:)

[mcpp66]

Another way would be to go to your local PBE store and ask the "Paint Mixer" who does good custom paint work, they'll know all the locals that have good reputations.


:)

What's PBE?

[LincolnZephyr2006]

What's PBE?

Paint, Body, & Equipment Supply Store.

[DLB]

Start asking people. Ask the people you work with, go to church with, friends, family members in the area...
Eventually you are going to fins someone who has had an experience at a shop and they can give you their take on it. Even people who aren't car people know a good experience from a bad one. Now, whether or not their car was repaired to Autogeek status or not is a different story, but you have to start somewhere.

DLB

[Mike Phillips]

What's PBE?

Looks like LincolnZephyr2006 answered that for you, I have an article on the difference between a PBE Store and a Hard Parts store but it's buried inside another article, I've been meaning to break it out and create a dedicated thread, I'll try to get to that this week.


Also have a new article on what to look for or talk to a painter about when getting a custom paint job.

Couldn't finish today, should have it done this week though...


:)