Not that long ago, my Toyota compact sedan was rear-ended by mid-size sedan driven by a student driver who unlawfully did not ride with a licensed passenger (the officer issued him a court date for that offense) while driving in Chapel Hill. The damage done was superficial on my rear bumper but of course I was concerned about any unseen damage.
I called the Mark Jacobson Toyota dealer, who has been servicing my car since I moved here for school, to ask if they knew of any good body shops in the area and I was told that they had a body shop offsite. My previous Toyota dealer did not have a body shop so I was pleasantly surprised. Thus, I made an appointment with the body shop to get my car fixed.
Getting to the body shop was easy, as it is close to a highway and major road, although it is a little far from their dealership's location. The building itself is a plain industrial looking building with the typical generic reception area with few chairs, a big difference from the more comfortable seating area in the Mark Jacobson dealership.
I was welcomed by the receptionist who took my information and I took a seat for a few minutes until I spoke with an employee to discuss what occurred to the car. Since the damage was covered by the other person's insurance, I did not have to worry about cost, even though their prices seemed reasonable. We set up a time that was mutually convenient.
The new bumper was installed quickly along with the broken clasps from the collision. The car was washed, which was a nice touch especially since I had planned to get it washed the next day. The sky was overcast, but I thought I inspected the work well. About a week later when I took my car in for routine maintenance at the dealership, I noticed that the bumper was not sitting flush with the car, which I figured was just a misaligned clasp, so I asked that to be taken care of. After maintenance, the tech told me that there was no clasp there to get in the way and that it was likely a bent frame. This is why you don't trust a service tech's word on body issues.
I took the car back to the Mark Jacobson Body Shop to have that clasp reseated, and was helped by the same guy as before. Even though I did not have an appointment my car was taken to the back and fixed. I did not even get a chance to finish reading an article as my car was ready in less than 5 minutes. My bumper was as good as new, and perfectly seated. I told the man helping me about what the Mark Jacobson dealership tech said was the problem and we both laughed. This was done at no charge, which you would expect from an honest business. read more