North Carolina Body Shops

[sgtpeeper]

I hope this is the appropriate place to post this....

Someone rear-ended my XJ and I need to find a good shop to fix it. Anywhere in the greater Raleigh area is good. I also get down through Sanford and Rockingham just about every week, so those areas and points between are good. I just need a really good shop that I can trust to put it back like it was.

Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. I've had one for Bobby King's Body Shop in Rockingham.

thanks,
sgtp

 

[bigalpha]

Have you tried a Jeep/Chrysler dealership? Many have body shops.

 

[sgtpeeper]

No, I had not considered that, but I sure will. Any experience with ones around Raleigh? I've dealt with David O'Neal on Capital Blvd for the occassional part. They still had a body shop the last time I was there.

thanks

 

[bigalpha]

Nope, sorry. Never even been to NC actually.

 

[KPTHEMP]

fyi... i dont know how bad the damage is but just a word of advice, the XJ's dont take well to being rear ended, the unibody frame rails tend to bend and kink like a rubber hose. This is important to know because it can lead to some hard to find driveability problems when the rear spring mounts become displaced. The most common place to bend/kink is in the frame rail at the center of the rear wheel mid arch, and the factor is often compounded by a trailer hitch if equipped.

dont know if this was insurance related or not but you might want to get a few different people to look at the vehicle for "flexed" unibody damage, most of the time these vehicles are considered to be totaled in accidents above 20mph.

i assume this to be your DD if your looking to repair it, im just trying to give you a heads up on common body damage problems.

got any pics of the damage ?

 

[sgtpeeper]

That's exactly the kind of thing I want to know. I'm going to post pics tomorrow evening. There seems to be little damage considering the impact. The car that hit me had to be towed. I just drove away. It caught me on the left rear corner. Busted my taillight, bend the corner of the bumper, the lower corner of the rear door, and bent part of the rear quarter panel. The bumper really saved it. I've looked carefully underneath and there does not *seem* to be any damage. The Hidden Hitch is undamaged as well. It drives fine as far as I can tell. It does seem to have a little lean to the right when I look at the rear. But this is a 97 with the original leaf springs, which I determined to be in good enough shape this summer. The woman's insurance is footing the bill.

Thanks for the info.

 

[KPTHEMP]

ok then definitely have it looked at by atleast 2 different body shops and get quotes, 99% of the time they are free, and with most insurance you are entitled to get it repaired at the shop of your choice, dont let them tell you where you need to get it repaired.

Check the reputation of the local jeep dealer, that would be my first choice for repair with oem parts, but some dealers have a bad rap as far as repairs so go, so do your research.

if you get hassled by the other parties insurance company, you can always report it to your own and they will go after the other company, usually without any consequences to your policy (like jacking up payments).

your XJ sounds like it "could" be slighty flexed, ill keep an eye out for your pics and when i get home tonight i can show you some examples to look for

 

[Cnickgo]

There is a shop right around the corner from my house in Cary that has done good work on a buddy's Tahoe more than once. They get a lot of work from car dealers like Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, etc. They might be a bit on the expensive side though. Let me know if you are interested and I'll get the contact information.

 

[sgtpeeper]

Well, I'm late getting the pics up. Here's a link: http://home.earthlink.net/~barbewl3

This has a before pic with her cleaned up this summer, followed by plenty of damage pics. The adjuster looked at it Friday. Said it will likely be totaled, as the gate is $1000 and the quarter panel is $700, not to mention the other parts and labor. He said it is in awesome shape and put it in as in very good condition, low miles (1997 with 140K), gave me credit as having roof racks (they are removable Yakimas), gave me credit for the hitch and trailer brake controller I put in this summer. I hope they give me a good price for it. I'm contacting my insurance company if they don't. I love this Jeep and I'm not getting rid of it. I've driven it quite a bit since the accident and there are no driving problems at all that I can tell. Oh, and I don't think it has a lean to the right as I said previously. I think that was an illusion caused by my sloping driveway, which you can see in the pics.

Any advice on what to watch for from the insurance company, body shops, etc? I still haven't been to a shop for estimates. I'm figuring on salvage parts at least for everything but the quarter panel. In looking at the quarter panel, I don't know how that can be successfully salvaged.

Thanks for any tips. I think I'm going to post this in another forum hoping to get more looks if that's not against etiquette.

 

[KPTHEMP]

Damn, that sucks, that looks like a really clean XJ. I'm gonna have to side with the adjuster on this one, it looks totaled, not because its all that bad but the cost to repair professionally would be outrageous.

here are 2 options I would consider:

1) take the insurance money and fix it with salvage parts, it most likely wont be pretty but could be salvaged. The down side is that once you take the insurance money you wont be able to drive your jeep anymore until you get it fixed then inspected by the state for "roadworthyness" (check your states salvage vehicle laws for putting the jeep back on the road).

2) find a donor with a bad motor/drivetrain and swap everything over to it, time consuming, but probably most beneficial in the end, depending on your skill level

a 3rd option (not for me) would be to let the insurance co. total the vehicle and take it off your hand and give you a nice check to start over in another XJ

if you have any questions, you know where to find me

Hope this helps,
KP

 

[Jamescad04]

I know a shop that's awesome in concord but dunno if you wanna come all the way down here. They do a great job and wont let you down! Its just a little further from Rockingham. I actually agree with kgp it does look totaled to me but that's because its uni-body dude those rear quater panels would have to be cut out and completely replaced. But like i said i would talk to these guys I know in Concord they actually buy totaled Nissans and make em look beautiful again and they get them there salvage titles the are stand up guys too its a family owned business.

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

Take it to RJ&G on Hillsboro Street Out from the NCSU campus. I used to work with the Advance Auto that delivered to them. Great shop, especially if you are not paying for it. They did thorough work and it looked great.

I had my wifes blazer taken there when a lady wrecked the whole side of it. They pretty much replaced the entire side, and did a really good job blending in the paint across the bumpers.

Good shop if you get the other guys insurance to spring for it.

 

[sgtpeeper]

Thank you for all the info everybody, especially KP. I got a letter from the other driver's insurance company (USAA) yesterday. They want to give me $2750 plus some change for taxes and fees. I paid $3200 for it a little over four years and 30K miles ago. So it's not bad in that respect. Little less than KBB retail value. However, looking on autotrader and other sites, I cannot get another one in this condition for that small of an amount. Not to mention how few and far between they are in NC with the AX15. Any advice on fighting the amount, or should I take it? I'm going out for repair estimates today. I don't know the salvage value yet for buying it back.

On another note, I know many consider 97 and 98 the best years (mine is a 97). Then they changed the head material (aluminum?) in either 99 or 00 and started having problems. Should I be worried about buying one of those? There are some nice looking late model Sports I wouldn't mind having.

Thanks!

 

[bigalpha]

No experience fighting the insurance but talk to your insurance company and see if they can negotiate a higher price.

I think there's a thread in O/T with someone in this same situation.

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

tell them that you are not OK with that settlement. USAA is a pretty reasonable company, one of the reasons I insure with them, so I have a feeling that they will work with you to settle it. Get your insurance company involved as well.

And the head change was more of a casting style. It is still made from cast Iron. They just had a flaw that made them easier to crack.

 

[bigalpha]

I agree that USAA is a very reasonable company. Unless your car gets hit by a touchless carwash.

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

I agree that USAA is a very reasonable company. Unless your car gets hit by a touchless carwash.

Yea, you can't win them all though.

 

[bigalpha]

Sure, if your car is rolling forward through a touchless automatic carwash and the arm hits the rear bumper on your car.

 

[sgtpeeper]

Thanks again for the info. I'll talk to the USAA adjuster Monday. So Wolfpacker, you're not in Raleigh anymore? Funny, I'm originally from near Pensacola myself.

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

Sure, if your car is rolling forward through a touchless automatic carwash and the arm hits the rear bumper on your car.

Did they want you to take it up with the car wash owner or what. I think I kinda remember you talking about it, but I am not sure.