Body shop choices?

[Treibenschnell]

The Element has to go in for some body work (hail damage and such...) and I have a choice of two places that guarantee their work through my insurer for life.

Service King on Main in Frisco - or - Sterling on K Avenue in Plano.

I'm leaning towards SK due to proximity... any opinions on either?

[altiain]

Can't vouch for the Frisco location, but I had nothing but trouble with the West Plano Service King. Had to take the car back twice to fix their repair work. The second (!!!) time I went to pick the car up, it only had one working brake light.

I won't be going back to Service King.

[CosmosMpower]

I can highly reccomend Trade Secrets in Plano. It's off plano parkway between preston and coit on the side street that the Carmax and huge Mercedes dealer is on. Very professional and quick turnaround. Definitely not TCB prices.

[tailchaser]

I had great luck with Service King in West Plano - but I understand it varies a bunch based on your service advisor and the current workload, so I can't necessarily recommend them. They did a fantastic job on paint on both occasions and handled all the insurance issues.

Good luck!

[Dave04]

I've had 3 good experiences with the SK on Spring Creek and 1 not great. On the last one, I had to really get after them for overspray on the truck's trailer hitch, but the quality of the paint on the truck was great.

[Radio-Active]

My mom had two bad experiences at the Service King on Spring Creek. Both times they promised original equipment parts and both times they tried to get away with after market parts.

[Nails]

Road Runner in Richardson is a family owned shop in biz for years. Has an excellent painter. They guarantee their work for life too.

[sxk122]

I think Andrew Alvarez here on the board had some bad experience with them a few years ago.

[Walsted]

When I worked for an insurance replacement rental company, I learned a few things that may help. In large shops, the quality of the work is dependent upon the person who assesses the damage and negotiates the repair with the insurance company, and the person who is assigned to do the repair. Although there is a manager who is supposed to make sure everything is as it should be, sometimes damage is missed or repaired incorrectly, or something else isn't done right.

In smaller shops where the owner is part of the repair process, responsibility falls on one person. In some cases, that person is a great marketer, and could (and often does) sell dog excrement as quality work. In other cases, the quality surpasses that of most of the chain shop work, since the owner is counting on word-of-mouth advertising and repeat business from the insurance companies.

As an aside - all body shops dealing with insurance have to guaranty their work and materials for the life of the vehicle.

Hope this helps