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How to Choose an Auto Body Shop

How to Choose an Auto Body Shop
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So you crashed your car. Or someone else hit you. Either way, there is probably some damage that needs to be repaired. Unfortunately, auto body repair can get expensive, and it’s easy to get tricked into overpaying for a subpar job. So, how can you know who to trust to fix up the body and frame of your car?

When choosing an auto body shop Denver CO, you can do several things to be sure you’ll have the smoothest experience possible.

Word-of-Mouth Recommendations

One of the best ways is to start asking family and friends, your mechanic and even your insurance agent if they know of a good auto body shop. Most of the time, if someone has had a great experience, they’ll be eager to tell you all about it. And the same goes for a terrible one – they’ll let you know where not to go almost right away.

If people you trust have a shop they trust, that may be a good way to go.

Online Reviews

Likewise, heading online to read through some reviews is never a bad idea. Usually, Facebook and Google are great places to start when looking for people’s honest reviews. Of course, there will always be someone not satisfied with any company or service, so as long as reviews are mainly positive, that is a good sign.

Certification

Something else to look for in a shop would be what certifications they have. Certification is a way of ensuring that they work to a high standard. This is important because if your car is repaired haphazardly, it could cause you problems or have safety issues in the long run.

Many car companies provide training and certification aimed explicitly at their car brand. The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence also offers certification. They work to ensure that auto body repair work is quality and will last. There is also a type of training called I-CAR, the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair. They have different levels of certification available to shops, the highest being Gold Class.

Other Clues

While it may be subtle and not directly related to the repairs needed on your vehicle, the overall feeling of a shop is essential. For example, the way they treat the customer, how clean and organized the shop looks, what the work area looks like, etc. If a shop isn’t kind or welcoming to clients, they probably won’t care much better for their vehicles.