Customers first concern about auto body repair is how much is it going to cost? And the second question is how long will it take? I always have to look at the vehicle to determine if parts availability is an issue or can we just put it in the shop and perform our work without having to wait for a delivery.
Parts stocking and delivery is very much improved since computer systems have come into play. We generally can get a new OEM part from the dealer quicker than we can get a used or aftermarket part. I sometimes wonder how insurers save any money by using alternate parts on a repair if it takes 3 or 4 days longer to get a Non Factory part.
We determine how many days it takes to repair a damaged vehicle by the number of hours on the estimate. A week of solid work is generally 40 hours at our shop. If your repair estimate has 8 hours on it for example it will require 2 repair days at least. Sometimes we have to wait for material to dry properly before we can continue. An example would be primer, caulking, paint, undercoating and adhesives. At our repair shop we will not shortcut a repair and cut corners because something will fail later because we did not let it dry before we went forward with the repair.
It is kind of funny that a 4 hour repair could take 2 and 1/2 days to complete. One day for the small body repair and the primer to dry completely. Then the next day we paint the repairs and have to let it dry for at least 8 hours before we can put it out in the weather.And when we get it we have to unmask it and then we have to re-assemble it and clean it up so the customer get's their car back and it is like new again.
I was at a luxury BMW dealership inspecting a car last week and it was so new that some service parts were not even in stock in Germany were the car was built. The dealership said it would be at least a month before Germany could even produce the parts needed to fix that new BMW. This is a rare case but it can happen sometimes.
Ask at the time of your estimate and we can explain how long it will take and what all the variables entail. Check out the website for a link to schedule an appointment.
Marshville Auto Body Shop
