Dare I say this place is the best body shop from Portland, ME to Portland, OR? I dare.
While being snubbed at King of the Ding(-a-Lings) down the street, I Yelp-searched other body shops and found this place, so I gave the king a back-ended bow and high-tailed it over to Heritage.
I noticed a Geico office, an Enterprise Rent-a-Car, some nice couches, and two really nice cars (a Corvette and a GTO) on display in the office. This, and the fact that I was immediately greeted with gusto, all gave me a great vibe. I didn't catch the name of the guy I dealt with, so let's just call him Harry... as in Heritage.
I explained to him that I had a really bad habit of pulling too far into parking spaces, and the years of doing it are what likely caused my fender to start separating from the rest of the car on either side. I would hear that terrible scraping sound of the bottom of my fender against the stupid curb, and I'd shudder and then kick my own ass. Driving from place to place, I would have to push both sides of the fender back in after most trips to avoid any super-serious problems.
Well, a couple of nights ago I thought I was okay pulling into a parking spot, but then I heard that infernal noise and realized I'd done it again. And I'd been so good and careful lately, too! I gulped and carefully reversed the car a bit. Got out to find the fender almost completely flipped up, only still attached at the top. I managed to get it put back together, seemingly as strong as before, but I realized I'd finally have to get off my ass and do something about this -- lest my fender finally completely fall off and I run over it -- which led me to this frantic search down Pond Springs the very next day.
So Harry told me they couldn't repair it in the traditional way, since whatever little something-or-other connectors on the sides of the fenders had broken off, but they could -- for lack of better terminology -- jerry-rig it and make it look nice. He warned me in advance to be more careful about those damned parking curbs. Yeah, no kidding!
I was gonna get an estimate for replacement of the fender, but once he quoted $153 for the repair, I immediately settled on that. Hell, my insurance deductible is $1,000, and I didn't wanna have to report the claim and have my rate rise, so I think I done good.
I asked how long the repair would take, and was told 4-5 hours. It was around noon at the time, and they close at 5:30, so I knew we were pushing the clock. I also knew there was a possibility I wouldn't get the car back that day, though Harry never stated that. But, hey, I have a bike. And working legs (for now).
Some other Heritage guy drove me home. I didn't get his name, either, but we'll call him Cosby because he had the comedy radio station on as we were driving, and they were airing an old Bill Cosby act. Cosby was nice and easy to talk to, as well as a great driver. I've gotta mention, too, that both Harry and Cosby were very polite by opening doors for me (including car doors).
I was right in the middle of a fattening lunch at 3:15 when Harry called to tell me my bitch... ahem, my car, was ready. That was sooner than I figgered. I actually wasn't ready to be picked up yet, so I asked for Cosby to come at 4pm, which he did.
No trouble on the bill; the price was exactly as quoted. The work looks great. They even vacuumed my floor mats. They also, for some reason, put everything they found in the floor boards on the back seat of my car. I guess some peeps might be pissed off about that, but I wasn't, as this makes it easier for me to sort the trash and keeps-y items.
So now my car looks slightly better than decent, which means it excels at being it. I'm not nearly as embarrassed by it now as I was before. Heritage asked if I wanted it painted. I said no, but I'm gonna do it next year. Three guesses where I'm taking the car. read more