This review is not regarding quality of work, but more regarding estimates. I had an incident with…read morea new vehicle. I found Autotech decided to give them a call given that their reviews were outstanding. During the call I explained what had happened and one of the first things that came out of their mouth was "if you are looking for cheap...". Obviously I wanted the a job done the right way and for the vehicle to look new again so still entertained their services.
I explained I planned to pay out of pocket as I thought it wouldn't be out of this world even for decent dent with scratched along the front passenger door. I went through the process of shooting the pictures and submitting them through their platform. I get a call back from them and when they said they needed to replace the whole door, my jaw dropped. The door was fully operational, window came up and down, the sensor for the bling spot came on timely, mirror was intact, the speaker working and spacing between the front panel and the door was not to large nor small. The dent was at the bottom of the door and half of the damage was a part made out of plastic at the bottom of the door.
The gentleman that called me said I was going to "spend well beyond $5,000, more like $8,000 or $9,000 and probably $10,000". My heart dropped and as the conversation previous about it not being cheap put me in doubt about out-of-pocket I engaged the insurance even before getting the "guestimate" of anywhere between $8,000 to $10,000. My insurance quoted the work at $1,500 which usually insurances low ball, but usually there wouldn't be a difference of $8,500 as a max.
I asked what were the next steps to get an official quote since they only had seen pictures and thought they needed to see it in-person. He said I don't give official quotes. You bring it in we disassemble and let the insurance know what the real cost is. I would be out of a car for potentially several months and would use all my rental allowance and more.
As I usually like to keep vendors/contractors honest I always go for several other quotes. To find 2 other places with great reviews and word from a friend who put his more than $100k car in the hands of a specific shop that was incredibly lower than Autotech. I also ran the pictures through several AI models who yielded results with cost very similar to the 2 other shops who quoted me. The one the AI models said that anything above $5,000 should be challenged and that even with a door replacement it should be remotely close to $8,000.
So the 1 start review is for not seeing the car personally to do a better assessment rather than solely pictures, for not offering an actual quote at the best of their abilities as other shops who always give the disclaimer "it may be more once we formally look into it" but at least a ballpark that makes sense. Also, the first appointment to leave the car was weeks after.
In the end I decided to go with a shop that was certified for the make and model of my car and also had a relationship with the dealership I bought my car from. They took my car in the same day I brought it to be assessed. I only used 3 weeks of my rental allowance and costed $4,000 for the full repair. But the best of all, nobody who knew I had an accident but had not seen the car could pinpoint where the car was damaged. It is virtually impossible to identify the damaged areas. The job was a door skin replacement, paint and blend aside from other minor details. No component inside the door was damaged... lastly, the maintenance light turned on a few days before the accident, this other shop took the car to the dealership I bought the car from and had it serviced for me before I picked it up.
My point, I don't doubt Autotech earned their reviews but the estimate process and pricing based on word of mouth will always be suspicious to me. ALWAYS engage other shops for comparison, ask for a written estimate and go for reasonably priced high quality repairs.
I always go for high quality, but there's a difference between the cost of high quality and simply exaggerated.
