Keith Newman, the owner of KNS Collision of Carrboro, NC, is an unscrupulous and dishonest man, and I advise you to read this whole review before bringing your car to him for any kind of automotive work.
April 9, 2014 - 3:30 PM
My car had been backed into in a parking lot, which scraped the front bumper in three areas, but the person who had done it was kind enough to leave a note. I brought my car to Keith Newman of KNS Collision, because at the time, his business had only 5-star reviews with nothing but good things to say. After a short wait, I was greeted by Keith, and we went outside to take a look at my car. I described my situation and showed him the three areas that had been scraped. I asked if these scrapes could be buffed out completely, and after telling me that these were light scratches that did not penetrate the clear coat and could be buffed out, I asked again if they could be buffed out 100%, hoping to restore my car to pre-accident condition. Keith re-assured me that he could and that he would do it for $75 and that if it was not back to 100% and I was not satisfied, he would not charge me for his work. This sounded a little expensive just for buffing a few areas, but the promise that, if I was not satisfied, I would not be charged made him seem like a good person, and I would gladly give my business to a person like him. He told me to come by at anytime the next day.
April 10, 2014 - 9:30 AM
I brought my car back to KNS Collision, and one of his employees came into the room to get me, and I showed him the three areas that would need to be buffed. After about 30 minutes, my car was back and ready to go. Keith walked me out to show me my car, and as soon as we exited the front door, he stopped cold in his tracks and took a long, over-dramatic gaze at my car. His employee had washed my car. That was a nice gesture, because my car was filthy from the pollen. He pointed out that it looked like a brand new car.
We walked over to the front of my car where then I take a close inspection of all three of the areas that had been scraped. His employee had done an okay job at buffing, but there were a few scrapes that could not be buffed out despite Keith's claim that they could. One of the three scraped areas even looked untouched. Keith then pointed out that one of his guys did some extra buffing in one area, but there were still scrapes in that area when I looked at it, so he said that instead of $75, I would have to pay $120. He was going to charge me $45 extra even though I was not satisfied that the bumper was not restored to the condition that he promised. I was very skeptical at this point, but I went inside to see what would happen next.
He gave me an estimate for $285.73 and said that I would have to put down a $120 deposit for "Sand + Buff Front Bumper", which was hand-written on the estimate. Something seemed completely off at this point. After reviewing the estimate, he had charged me 3.4 hours of "Paint Labor" at $45/hr. and 3.4 hours of "Paint Supplies" at $30/hr., but I didn't have any paint work done to my car. It was also 10:30 AM, only an hour after I had stepped foot into his business. I pointed this out to him, and he completely avoided the issue and gave me an estimate for $438.73! He had increased the "Body Labor" from 0.5 hours to 3.9 hours! He told me this was the estimate that I should give to the insurance company of the person that bumped into my car. Both of these estimates were completely dishonest, and he was trying to scam me and the other person out of a lot of money. I asked for an estimate with ONLY the work that summed up to $120. He did as I requested, but after looking at that estimate, the $120 was listed as the price for a new bumper and categorized as "Miscellaneous". I told him that I wanted an estimate specifically for the buffing that had been done to my car. He then gave me an estimate for $81.50. He had increased the labor from the initial 0.5 hour to 1 hour, added a $20 "Materials" charge, and added a $15 charge for the car wash that previously had been complementary and had not been on any of the other estimates. I was tired of dealing with his deception and asked him to take off the $15 for the car wash. He gave me another estimate for $66.50. I paid him that amount and walked out with six estimates in hand.
Pictures of estimates:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsk6yNevv
If you choose to deal with KNS Collision, please review everything in detail before handing him any money. read more