I'm pleased with the work Classic Collision of Marietta (Cobb Parkway) did to my car, but it wasn't without its problems. Classic Collision is an auto body shop chain with about 20 locations in metro Atlanta. I brought my car to this location because it's close to where I work, it has good reviews on Yelp, and I had a previous excellent experience at the company's Buckhead location.
My car sustained minor damage to the rear bumper, molding, and trim after a hit-and-run driver swiped my car while it was parked. My insurance covered the damages less my policy's $250 deductible. The insurance company cut me a check for $547.86 and I paid Classic Collision $797.86 ($547.86 + $250.00). Classic Collision needed a bit more time to work on my car, so they got a supplement of $158.55 directly from my insurance company. In total, the repair work cost $932.33.
Per my insurance company's instructions, I first asked Classic Collision to order the parts necessary for my repair before dropping my car off at the shop. I made an appointment for a Monday morning (making sure I scheduled a Monday after the parts had arrived) and dropped my car off first thing that Monday morning. I had my car back the following Thursday morning, roughly three days later.
My insurance company set me up with a rental car through Enterprise. Conveniently, there's an Enterprise branch just up the street and there's also an Enterprise office inside Classic Collision. I arranged through my insurance company, Travelers, to pick up my rental car at Classic Collision.
The Enterprise rep at Classic Collision and he didn't see my name on his reservation print-out for the day even though I made a reservation days in advance. The rep told me the reason for this was because his list consisted of GEICO customers only. Since I booked through Travelers, he had to manually look up my reservation on his computer. This resulted in about a 20-30 minute delay in getting my rental. Also, the rep had run out of rentals to give away on-site, so we had to wait for my rental to be delivered from the branch.
Classic Collision's Jordan Toro and Tyler Evans worked with me on my car. When I dropped off the car, Tyler checked me in. He took a look at my car, jotted down some notes, had me sign something, and I was off. It was quick.
I opted to receive daily text updates from Classic Collision. I replied to one of the texts with a question and actually received a reply the next morning, so you're not just texting a machine. I received a combination of phone calls and texts from Jordan throughout the entire process so the communication was good.
I did receive some confusing and contradictory texts towards the end of the repair process. Someone texted me telling me that my car would be ready at 6pm (closing time) on Wednesday. That was followed by a text the next morning that said my car was "70% complete" and was "still on target" for Friday at 4pm. I called Jordan to confirm the correct pick-up time and was told Thursday morning.
I met Jordan when I picked up my car. My car had been handwashed and looked fantastic. The body and paint work were terrific. I did notice a couple minor imperfections in the paint right beneath the bumper molding, but I can live with them.
That night, I decided to check to make sure the side marker lamps on my rear bumper were reinstalled correctly. The driver side rear marker wasn't working. The light was out. It was working when I dropped the car off, but it wasn't working after I picked it up.
I took the car back to Classic Collision the next morning (Friday) and showed Jordan. She took the car to the back to have her staff look at it. At first, she told me both my rear side marker bulbs had burned out, but that turned out not to be true. She later returned and told me I had an electrical issue that they could not diagnose because they did not have the proper equipment. It was Jordan's belief that I had a preexisting electrical issue with my rear bumper and that it was not Classic Collision's fault. She said both my left and right markers weren't working when I brought the car in. I disagreed because I knew the lights were working before I took my car in for repairs.
Long story short, I had to schedule a separate appointment with the dealer to diagnose the issue. Jordan agreed that if the issue was Classic Collision's fault, they would take care of it. Otherwise, I would be responsible for the dealer's $135 diagnosis fee and any repair costs if I chose to have the light repaired. I took my car to the dealer the following Monday and they fixed the problem. It turned out there was a loose connection inside my tail light assembly. The dealer worked directly with Classic Collision on any repair costs incurred and I wasn't charged anything. Someone at the dealer told me Classic Collision does good work, but this wasn't the first time they've run into a situation like this where Classic Collision made a mistake they had to fix. read more