BLOG – UNDER THE HOOD

In the event of a collision, no matter how small, the experience can bring a lot of stress along with it. In more serious cases your vehicle may become a total write off, which means the cost to replace it is more than the value of the car. But in many other cases, some quality body work will have your vehicle back to it’s good ol’ self and be ready to hit the road again. When it comes to needing auto body repairs, no matter the cause of the damage, you need to choose a shop that meets your needs and standards for quality of work.

With so many auto body shops though, how do you choose the right one for the job? How can you ensure a proper repair with as little headache as possible? Let’s walk through some of the key things you should consider before choosing a shop to repair your vehicle. 

Reviews

It’s 2020 and the digital age. There isn’t really anything you can’t find on the world wide web with a few clicks, and this includes reviews on just about any business. Locate the review section of the shop’s social media accounts or Google page and have a quick read. What is their overall star rating? Do they have more good than bad reviews? How were the bad reviews handled? You can tell a lot about a business by their reviews and their response to them. Even the best businesses can make mistakes, but if they take action to correct them it gives you some piece of mind. If they have turned off the ability for the public to leave a review, this could be a red flag and you should keep looking elsewhere. 

Initial Interaction

You’ve just been in a fender bender, you’ve finished talking to police and the other driver and you’re still a little shaken up. When you phone the collision repair shop, you are looking for a calm, empathetic individual who is more than happy to walk you through the repair process. A great first experience says a lot about the rest of the service you’ll receive. 

Experience

When it comes to choosing the best auto body shop for your repair, you’ll want to look for a place that not only has several years in business, but also has the most up to date training. Just like most industries, auto body repairs will be forever changing as cars change and evolve. Is the shop of your choice staying on top of those changes? Are they keeping their team of technicians trained and certified along with automotive advances? 

Equipment and Services

Another important factor to consider when looking for the best auto body shop is their equipment and services. This is often information you can inquire about over the phone, or find out about on their website. You’ll want to choose a “one-stop-shop”…shop. Not all collision repair centres will offer everything. Look for a shop that can do the repairs and paint your vehicle to perfection afterwards too. Save yourself the need to visit more than one place to get the same results. A few other things to look for; how many bays do they have? (This can determine the length of repair time). Is their equipment up to date? How many technicians do they have working? 

Warranty

Once you’ve sent in your ride for repairs and the process is complete, what sort of warranty does the shop you’re considering offer? A limited warranty is something you want to watch out for because it means they aren’t going to take responsibility for the entire repair and you could be left needing to pay out of pocket for more repairs down the road. 

You want to find an auto body repair shop that offers a lifetime warranty of their work. At CSN JD Collision for example, our lifetime warranty means that we back up ANY of our work for as long as you own the vehicle. But the CSN warranty doesn’t stop there. If you find yourself out of town after repairs and something happens, your warranty is still valid at any other CSN Collision Centre location across the country! 

In Conclusion…

To sum it all up, the best auto body shop is going to be the one that provides you with great customer service from the first interaction to picking up your vehicle. You want a shop with up to date training and equipment and a good warranty to back it up. 

At CSN JD Collision, we pride ourselves on our customer service. Each and every person through our doors are treated like members of our own families. We offer years of experience in the industry (over 40 to be exact) and we bring some of the newest and most innovative repair technologies to our repair process. We are proud members of the CSN Collision Centre family and love that we can back every repair with a full lifetime warranty. 

We are a locally owned and family run business in the Cold Lake and Bonnyville Alberta areas and we cut stress, not corners. If you’ve recently been in an accident or got a little too close to that big yellow pole at the drive through, we’re here to straighten it out.