My son is 16 and just got into his second accident with the past 12 months. A minor one as he backed into a lady in a parking lot. Her car is a 2008 Toyota Corolla has dent in the passenger side quarter panel. Our car has a dent the bumper that may or may not be fixed and the lady's car . Thankfully, she agreed not to report it and is willing to bring it to a body shop and my son will pay for. They drove to an auto body shop that I used previously to get an estimate and his price is to repair her car is $450. He said he wouldn't need to replace , just pull the dent, bondo (or other) and sand and paint. He also said he will be using Dupont base and clear coat.

I asked my son to take pics of her car so we can shop the price around if need be. I attached pics of her car, but the glare makes it tough to see.
Is $450 a fair estimate.

 

is he replacing the bumper? the tabs on the bumper looks broken and if they are plastic how are you going to reattach them? I say $450 for bodywork and paint with feathering to blend in with the panels sounds about right. depends on the labor rate around your area as well.

FYI a production bodyshop gave me an estimate of $150 for the rear quarter panel and $90 for the door just for the bodywork.

 

The damage isnt too bad but 450 sounds like a **** repair. To do the bodywork and paint and blending of the quarter panel and fixing what the bumper needs. Depending on the paint price i'd say most places near me would charge anywhere from 600-900 for that repair.

 

In socal, $800-1000 or even more depending on the shops.

 

at an average labor rate of $75/hour

new rear bumper (capa certifited): About $130
body work:
4hr at $75= $300
paint (includes bumper and quarter panel):
4hr at $75= $300
add about 1/2hr if they are blending into door=$37.5
total= about $765, this price does not include tax or cost of paint materials
good luck

 

Thanks for all the replies. I reside in the west-central Florida. The guy I am using is young go-getter trying to grow his new business. I saw pics of his previous work and couple cars he has on his lot that he is prepping and a couple that are finished. He does very good work IMO. I will also make him stick to his estimate by using an addendum to the estimate stating the price includes all labor and materials needed to complete repair are fully covered with the price of estimate of $450. He is licensed, bonded and insured.

As for my car 2007 Mazda 3 (I know it's not a Honda, but the feedback here is great) his estimate to replace the rear bumper and paint it is $180. I asked him for an estimate to paint the whole car and he said $600 total with the bumper repair included in that price. I told him I will want a receipt for the materials (Dupont paint, not the Nason line) that he is using and said that is fine.

 

wow $600 for a whole car repaint! is he using enamel or urethane single stage? I doubt he would give you a Basecoat/ClearCoat job for that price!!

 

He was adamant that it would be base and clear. Again, if I have it done I will want to see the invoice of materials. And the brand, type and color code written on the estimate and final receipt. The man who gave me the estimate bought the auto body shop from the man who repaired and painted my civic in this related thread: https://honda-tech.com/forums/paint-body-84/98-civic-ex-coupe-collision-repair-3123148/ The new owner seems like he is even more detailed and experienced than the prior owner.

 

I just saw your old thread...man your son had a lead foot or just bad spatial awareness? two accidents in 12 months, the first rather major and the second I am guessing occured because he was reversing too fast...a slow bump would not results in that much damage to the toyota. And what the heck is he driving the new mazda for that is way too much car for him!

tell him the next time he gets into an accident he is paying for everything himself!

 

The first accident he hit a person from behind at a stop light and although he wasn't going fast he wasn't paying close enough attention. He paid for the entire repair and repaint.

During the recent accident he said as he was backing out of the parking space onto a one way lane and two cars drove through going the wrong way in the lane. He didn't see the lady's car that was driving through in the correct direction in the same lane her car was blocked from his site by the two cars going the wrong way. The lady he hit told him and me that his view of her car was obstructed due to those two cars. Even so, I agree in both cases he should have been more aware and is going to pay for repairs this time too. At least it won't get reported and add pints to his license and drive our insurance rate up further.

The Mazda is not a Speed3, just a base model 3 with 140 HP. He saving up to buy a 2003 or 2004 Nissan 350Z which may be too much car for him.

 

Thats way to cheap.. Eather he is going to lose his *** and be a horrible shop owner, or something else is up. He should be blending the bumper, 1/4, and door, At his price his supplies should be 100ish for base and atleast 150 for clear atleast. At normal price, just blending and reclearing the bumper should be 500-600 alone labor and materials. An estimate is only a ruff "guess" of how much a repair should be around. If he were to agree to that price dudes an idot and will be out of buisness very quickly.

He is missing things like
masking
Removal of trim on door, door handle, tail light, seals and install
Pulling of metal
bondo, glaze
sanding
painting
polishing

 

I went to his shop yesterday before the lady dropped off her car and he said he was is going to use a quart (2 coats) of Dupont Chroma-base basecoat and a quart (2 coats) Chroma clear coat. He said he will be blending into the door and bumper. Dupont Chroma base paint and clear coat are specified by name into the estimate along with a space for the lady to sign that she is completely satisfied with the job and holds no one liable following her signature. The owner of the body shop is very straightforward and a nice guy and has repeated the same price and what it includes since the first day. She brought her car in yesterday afternoon and it will be done in 3 days, so I will know then exactly how it turns out. It's possible that rates in my area are cheaper than elsewhere in the country or that there may be enough competition for some shops to make a marginal profit and be content that some is better than none at all.

 

Update! He finished her car today and it looks great. He showed me the purchase order and Dupont Chroma base and clear in her color code was listed.

He said If I choose to repair the bumper and small dent on the driver's side (lower) door (caused from a previous fast food drive through pole) and full body paint job on my Mazda 3, he will use 3 quarts ( 2 coats) Nason base and 3 quarts ( 2 coats) Chroma clear. He said since the Mazda is black metallic and the entire car will be painted it will be much easier to match than (i.e) a silver or gold metallic car, so Nason is fine for that color/type base coat. He said good quality (Chroma) clear is essential for the clear coat. He again stated and gave me a written estimate of $600 for the labor and materials.

 

finished photo? No because you would have to weld it on and that would damage the paint

 

I forgot to take pics of her car. I am hoping the shop owner did and he can e-mail them to me and if not I will call her tomorrow and ask her if I can get meet her somewhere to take a few pics of it. I must have been editing my post during your reply. I should have noticed beforehand that the quarter panel and roof are one piece. Please read my update I would like to hear your opinion for my car.

 

I live in Florida and there is no way he is correctly fixing the car at that price. That is easily $650-700 minimum to fix correctly but as long as the woman is happy, your good!

That saying about something sounding too good to be true should be going off in your head. I have a buddy that owns a body shop and the best deal I can get to have a entire car repainted is $1200-1500. Without the buddy discount it $2000-2500. The value of your car will go down even with the best paint job so imagine a cheap 600 paint job...

 

A whole car... he is crazy... My clear alone is 300 a gal with my discount. A whole car takes around a gal. Black metalic isnt hard to blend as long as you get the correct color and variance. I dont know, he is starting to throw up some flags for 600..

 

He did it for $450 and that included tax. The lady picked it up yesterday and was completely satisified and signed the (triplicate) reciept stating so. She told the owner she will recommend his shop to her friends. He said he didn't ake any pics, so I will meet her or ask her to e-mail me some and I will post them when I get them.

Please all readers do not take the following the wrong way as I am aware of the rules and I do not intend the following to be bias or racial or hurtful or otherwise. The following is just my opinion of the rate and service I (her car) was provided:
First off I am a cauccasion and in my area, as most areas of Florida there is a substantial hispanic community. The gentleman who owns the body shop and did the repair/pant is hispanic. Hispanics in my area own and are employed at many autmotive related as well as other types of businesses. Hispanics in my area seem
to have lower prices on automotive repairs. They are very hard working people and seem to be especially passionate with automotive services. Maybe for this particular owner it's a labor of love and is not out to gouge his patrons. Maybe he felt empathy for my son knowing that my son used his savings to pay for the full amount of repair cost. In my own experience I have gotten better rates and as good or better service with hispanic automotive services compared to non-hispanic services.

Admin. if you decide to remove this reply I understand and it is not my intention to offend anyone with my opinion stated above.

 

the auto body and paint business is an extremely labor intensive industry, perhaps it is not surprising to see latinos dominate that segment. Here in socal all the labor intensive jobs be it line cook,janitorial, lawn, auto body and detailing are dominated by latinos.

As you know most of the cost in the paintjob is labor time, at the price he is charging you he is basically making less than legal minimum wage for the labor involved to prep the car for the paintjob.

 

All I can say is the owner is a nice guy, stayed true to his word and did an excellent repair/paint. When I bring the Mazda in for repair and full paint job I am confident he will do it right. Hopefully his business will prosper and volume nets him good profit.

 

At that cost, I can tell you he isnt making anything but maybe breaking even.

 

what kind or mazda?