Body shops??
 

Was not sure where to put this thread. I am in a bit of trouble with my camaro. I had to drive it the past couple days because my daily driver needs an inspection and hasnt been running Long story short was getting on 95 north in coventry and was speeding up to get even with traffic on highway when i hit a patch of sand on the shoulder and my back end spun out and i hit the center guardrail. Stupid me did not realize i left my traction off and rear tires are pretty bald in back. But my biggest prob is that i have no insurance on the car because i havent driven it since end of november. I do have a card saying i do have insurance on it to may of this year but i really dont. Not sure if im gonna get screwed for that because a state cop saw me and pulled over. Now i gotta fill out an accident form with insurance info. Do i have ti fill out this form because i will pay any bodyshop out of pocket and not go through insurance. I know only a few of you on here might have seen it. Heres what it looks like now. ive only had it a few months so if anybody knows a good a cheap bodyshop. Surprisingly my hood and rear hatch dont even look touch just shifted slightly.

OHH NO!!!! THAT SUCKS!!!! Yeah you have to fill it out. and if you dont they will take you to court. They may take you to court anyway IF there is sufficient damage to the guardrail you hit. Did you get a citation? if not you Dont need to tell your insurance company. And even if you do if your not covered it doesnt go down as an accident. i dont personally know of a "Cheap" body that would do that. and to be honest i wouldnt go to a guy who would do it for less. that car is going to probably need some frame tweaks out back and maybe even a rear quarter. Mine did and it had less damage then yours does. and as far as the front goes. its going to take some GOOD hours into making her line up right again. But i would give L&W Auto Body a call in Randolph, MA there GREATTT guys over there and do AMAZING work. Modern Auto Body in Brockton, MA is also another great body shop in my area. But ive never dealt with them personally

the front looks torqued and the rear is a bad place to be hit, chances are your frame needs to be straighted

No i did not get a citation the cops didnt even look at the guardrail. He just gave me a piece of paper to write my statement down on what happened and also they gave me a motor vehicle accident report. Not sure if i should even tell my insurance agent. I know i def need a rear quarter, bumper tail light, front nose clip, headlight prob a radiator since i was leaking antifreeze. It says if i dont fill out the form if damage to the property of any one person is over $1000 i could get prosecuted and or suspension of license. But since the only property i damaged was my own vehicle i dont see why i cant just take it to a bodyshop and pay out of pocket. yea it looks like it shifted a little bit. i think i might of bent the upper frame arms behind the nose clip.

It's funny this is what happens when u go out and celebrate somethin. The cop knew i was drinkin too and i told him the truth and he didnt even do a breathalyzer or anything. guess i got lucky

yeah man id say you got lucky. BUT go back and loojk at that section of guardrail. if it looks bent enough to were they will change it. its out of your pocket(no insurance) and its about 12-1500 dollars per section including one upright post. i went threw ALL this wen i tagged one going 115 mph a few years back. i did All the work on the car myself. and it cost me over 1000 bux out of pocket for just parts. Good Luck Man!!

i will go back and look at it since the exit is one away from my job. Idk we'll see what happens. there goes 8k down the drain.

Good cheap and body shop done belong in the same sentence together.

That sucks dude, it looks the like frame is probably tweaked though.

oh man that sucks dude hope you can get everything fixed up nice

i honestly dont think its going to cost THAT much. or did you just buy it for $8K? id say it needs minor pulling up front a GOOD body will striaghten your rear quarter. and basically half a new nose. id say your gunna pay 4-4500 out of pocket for the repairs.

Good Luck and let me know what your gunna do? i can try and put in my word at L&W for you if you want, see were it gets you. i used to send them lots of work.

i paid a little less than 8k for it. im gonna bring it to my friends uncle, he actually repaired my other 4th gen a few years ago after some guy ran a red light and i t-boned them. He can prob give me a good price. he gave me a deal last time but i did have insurance on it.

r u from ri? 1 of my friends owns a body shop on rt 44 in chepashet ri. hes done alot of work for me and he is ANAL. if u can pay for the labor cash im sure youll get a much better price.

Man hate to see a fellow 4th gen get whacked like that. To have it done right will cost you some coin, but it will be mint in the end. Most people here have seen my paint job. It wasnt cheep, but looks unbelievable. I went to Rte 28 Collison in West Bridgewater Ma. Good people over there too. Good luck man, hope it works out for ya.

Yea im in RI. I live in warren but the cars in west warwick coventry line. That's what i need because i cant go through insurance and i would pay out of pocket. BTW does anybody know where bodyshops order their parts from because im getting different prices for the body parts i know i need.

i looked through Gm dealership parts and ecklers camaro and they were both outrageously expensive. I hope i dont have to pay that much since i found those same parts on different websites alot cheaper.

look at Keystone or Certifit. but if your bringing it to a shop let him get the parts. there might be alot more shit under there fucked up that you wont get and hes gunna have to get parts for you anyway. in the end you wont save that much by bringing your own shit unless thats what your uncles buddy is telling you to do? your gunna need lower rad support and shit too im guessing sence you sed your rad was leaking? id personally just rather drop it off and he can tell me what it needs wen he ripps it apart.

idk about all places but i know a lot of places get parts from Keystone..im sure if you started collecting some of the parts and bring them to the body shop with the car they wont have much of a problem with that..

i dunno to me thats like bringing a steak to a restaurant and saying cook it. you'll get a better price over all if you have them get the mark up on the parts. Keystone and Certifit charge a shop less and he marks it up to the same or maybe a little more then you going there and buying it. AND the guy cant pull the WELL YOU SUPPLYED THE PARTS bullshit.

yea thats true..if the shop buys everything and it isnt as clean as you want it thats all them rather then if they used parts that are just given to them they may try to blame the parts

yeah thats what im prob gonna do. the tow company is also a bodyshop but i dont know if i trust them. I'll prob bring it to my buddy's uncle. He might hook me up considering he won that million dollar ri lottery last year. lol

yeah. thats one thing i dont fuck with is a body guy. they can cut some serious corners you wont see for years or months and then your pretty much screwed wen your shit starts rotting out. my buddy had a Deal on his rear quarter install. and the guy used trim adhesives to hold all the mounting tabs on for the rear plastic panels and spare tires bracket. YESSS TRIM YELLOW ASSHOLE ADHESIVE haha ever sence then ive never once asked for a price at a body shop just sed do it and ill be back wen its done.

yea i know the only thing he cut off my bill was the paint job. He had to spray the whole front of the car anyway so he sanded the whole car down and just painted the whole thing over. im gonna tow it to him tomorrow.

That sucks to hear! Good luck getting it fixed.

i know theres a couple people around here that use veng out of seekonk but if y really want that car to look right i dont think id go aftermarket for panels. i no there more but sometimes cheaper in the long run because they dont fit quite right or they have a high spot u gotta dolly out and in the end it cost u the same

yeah i dont want aftermarket panels. ill prob know more as the week goes on.

Ouch,that car would probly be considered totalled by insurance. I could see it being 4-6K worth of damage.

that sucks man, good luck with however it turns out.

sorry to hear that def sucks!!!
all parts are considered aftermarket now...thats what body shops order...they say they r factory but those "factory" parts are still aftermarket even when u go thru the dealers. Its the body shop u need to be concerned with they are the ones that will make panels fit correctly etc cause no part is a perfect fit from the get. I went thru "family friends" when i had my accident 2 yrs ago and they did a half ass job and tried to screw me.. so just be careful goin to people u know cause sometimes they are the ones that will screw u over cause u dont expect it. Dont tell ur insurance if u dont have to.. they arent goin to know unless u file a claim. Def do some research on shops, prices, quality etc. Take ur time with it.. Good luck!

[QUOTE=*LS1* Queen;9481] I went thru "family friends" when i had my accident 2 yrs ago and they did a half ass job and tried to screw me.. so just be careful goin to people u know cause sometimes they are the ones that will screw u over cause u dont expect it. [QUOTE]

Not always true. My uncle fixed mine after i plowed it into a guardrail and he did an awesome job!!! But then again everything I get my hands on is awesome!! hahahahaha

thats family its a lil diff than "friends"

I guess so. But a "family friend" should be just as close I would think.

Well the guy i brought it to has done work to my other 4th gen camaros and he doesnt screw me. he wont charge me storage or any stupid bullshit. He said my best bet would be trying to find a car with a blown engine and good body buy it then they would take pieces he needs. Plus the front and rear did shift over at least a quarter inch but he has a brand new frame machine to fix that.

So if anyone has a 98+ camaro with good body panels they need to get rid of let me know. Im about to go craigslist trolling.

You may be better off buying another car for parts and using the parts off that one to make yours good again.

ya mike got his car for less than 3k and it runs shit buy car take parts may be able to sell parts and be out for less than 1/2 of what it was going to run you

yeah i dunno man. i think If your planning that route. get a blown motor LS1 car or a V6 car for under 2500 in Great shape and just swap the drive train over. i got my 1998 Firebird for 2 grand runs and drives. V6 but not for long, and i am gunna end up spending more then you will in the swap. LT1 converted to run the LS1 computer gets pricey. BUT you already have EVERYTHING! in your current car thats needed for any swap. and you'll be in a non wrecked car for less then fixing yours.

I dont think i wanna go that route. I'd rather stick with the SS. Plus i really dont know anybody close by who would want to do a whole drivetrain swap for me. I might be picking up a 99 or 2000 camaro by the end of this week anyway for like 2 grand or so.
plus my bodyshop guy would let me help work on my car to cut down costs.

In the long run it would be cheaper to part your car out and just buy another Camaro.

Yeah i know but it was pretty hard for me to find this one. I have looked at others online and they want alot more than what i paid for mine.

Matter's which way you look at it.

I have a friend who's thinking about selling his 2000 Z28. He wants $15k for it. Sounds like alot till you add up the parts. Brand new 418ci motor,fully built M6 tranny, 9" rear,full suspension,roll bar ect.Easy $20k just in parts and probly $6k for a stock car.You easilly save $11k if you bought a car and built it yourself.

Yeah thats probably not the route im gonna take. Except for an intake and catback exhaust i was not planning on building on the motor and keeping it mostly stock. I Just used it to drive and cruise around in, which sucks because i wasnt even screwing around in it. I was tired and driving home.

How much $$ did you save by taking the insurance off?