Cars aren't my thing, so I was glad to be provided with a list of preferred repair shops by my auto insurance company after another vehicle happened to have had a close encounter with mine.
Clay Auto Body was highlighted on the list as a guaranteed shop and had 4.5 stars out of 8 on Yelp, so I thought I'd give them a chance.
It is located on Route 16 across from an auto dealership. They are set pretty close to the sidewalk, so there isn't a whole lot of space to pull into. Fortunately, however, on each of my visits, a prime parking spot was waiting for me right out front on the street.
One convenience I'd like to highlight is that they offer their own car rental on site, care of Clay Nissan of Newton out on Washington Street - only about 7 min away - so they'll bring the car to you right at the shop. They'll also deal with the insurance company to try to get the rental paid directly if that's your wish.
The initial appraisal was based on visible damage alone. The convenience of selecting an approved shop was that when they discovered additional damage beneath the surface they were able to write out the supplement themselves, instead of waiting for an adjuster to visit and to write one up.
+ Someone answered nearly every time I called.
- They don't pre-order parts.
++ They could have ordered an after market bumper cover, but had instead ordered a factory Toyota bumper cover (according to my insurance)
- They don't actually work on cars on Saturdays even though they list their hours on their website as:
Monday - Friday 7AM to 6PM
Saturday 8 AM to Noon (Except June-September)
When I called them on Friday, they weren't sure if they would get the car done that day or Monday. I expressed my preference for that day if at all possible, and they were able to call me shortly after 4pm to let me know it was done. So I was really happy when I picked it up that evening, where it was parked just outside the shop.
But that was night, and then it was day, and with daylight, I could see. I could see the sand and pebbles on the floor of my car and the dust settled on my dashboard. I guess they didn't clean the inside of my car like Matthew S. had mentioned in his review. I felt rather unspecial. But eh, as long as they did a good job on the bumper.
But then I had the chance to crouch down and check out said bumper in the light, and I noticed rough edges (like the edges of a cheap plastic toy where you have to pull off the excess plastic bits that weren't smoothed off) and the odd lines along the corner edges. Is this normal for a paint job that wasn't a factory original? One friend suggested that perhaps they neglected to polish it.
Since Clay was a guaranteed shop, I contacted my insurance and sent them some photos to see what they thought of it.
An appraiser arranged the very next day to meet us at the shop where he could have them take care of it immediately if it was indeed deemed to be a polishing issue.
Between the shop and the appraiser, they realized it wasn't a paint issue, but that instead the ragged edges were characteristic of the bumper cover manufactured by Toyota. The shop could smooth the plastic out, but that would increase the space between the panels and it would then require repainting. As long as it wasn't a shop issue, I figured I could live with it.
As for the cleaning and detailing of the car which was a line item on the supplement, they said that they had washed it, but had omitted vacuuming since I had been in a hurry to pick up that day. But they were willing to take care of that now, if we were willing to wait. To make it worth the trip - let's! Good thing there's a Dunkin Donuts nearby.
It would have saved us all some time and confusion if they had only thought to point these two things out to me when I picked the car up. Communication is key, you know.
Website: http://www.clayautobody.com/
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