I rarely write reviews but feel this a is a case where I should. I recently had a pretty bad one-vehicle accident in my Toyota Yaris that dented the panels and destroyed the front passenger wheel and my suspension making my car undriveable. Worst of all, after changing my credit cards and not getting around to sorting out my direct debits, the month that I did this I was UNINSURED. I am very new to Sydney and don't know many people, so I had nobody who could recommend me a reputable smash repairs company - I wasn't flush with cash at the time so it was a scary place to be!
I read reviews online and got a few quotes, stressing to each of the companies that I didn't care what my car looked like, I just wanted to do the bare minimum of repairs so it was driveable and I could get it back on the road as cheaply as possible. George seemed to understand where I was coming from, so I went with Inner City Smash Repairs - and I'm extremely happy that I did - the whole way through the entire experience George looked after me and had my best interests in mind.
Here are just a few of the great things he did:
* He let me send him some photos and gave me an estimated quote without having seen the car - many others weren't even interested in discussing it and just send 'get the car towed over here and we'll look at it'
* His quote was cheaper than any of the others and he explained how he had worked it out, and the things he would need to determine once he saw the car, and how these could affect the quote.
* He went out of his way to source the cheapest parts for me using a number of different suppliers
* He communicated with me extensively through every stage. There were some extra costs - we didn't know the suspension would have to be replaced, but before ordering parts; he gave me a firm revised quote for the minimum work required to get me on the road - just as I'd asked him to do.
In the end, I paid not a cent more than he quoted and I approved, but he seriously gave me way more than I expected:
1) There was a panel that had some damage but wasn't affecting the drivability and I had instructed him not to worry about it - he fixed that panel for me.
2) I had a flat spare tyre from an unrelated incident a week before - he saw it and got me a new spare tyre.
3) There was a very small dent on the other side of the car from when a cyclist running into me years ago. We hadn't even discussed it but they fixed it for me!
4) When my car was ready, knowing that I was without wheels, he sent one of his colleagues around to pick me up
5) When I saw the car, it was washed and vacuumed, he had sprayed the panel he replaced so it was a perfect colour match with the rest of my car, which I hadn't expected, given me a wheel alignment and seriously - it looked brand new and was driving better than ever.
6) He also showed me all the internal parts they had to replace and explained the whole repair process to me in great detail.
Inner City Smash gave me all of this, plus amazing customer service and open communication, and the final cost was no more expensive than any of the quotes I had received from other suppliers just for the body work, without taking into account any of the repairs to the suspension or other mechanical elements (or the spare tyre, or the painting, or the fix of the additional dents!)
Now don't get me wrong, it still really hurt to have to hand over that cash, and I was still angry that this had happened in the one month out of seven years I wasn't insured, but I drove away with a smile on my face, and felt enormously grateful that I had honest, trustworthy and generous people like this to fix my car - especially when I had no way of knowing who I should go with and was a perfect target for getting screwed by shonky dealers! read more
