Northern Cal: Peninsula/San Fran Body Shops?

Hey guys,

I live in San Bruno. I have some damage to my bed just behind the passenger access cab door (small dent from a damn post in my blind spot at Hollister....my fault).

It looks like the metal will be easy enough to repair, but it seems like there might have been a very slight shifting of the bed in that section, thus increasing the distance between the cab and front of the bed just a tad. I'm all set with my insurance claim for repair, but I'm not familiar with body shops in this area. The certified Toyota collision center in Berkley has horrible Yelp reviews. There's a place in Burlingame with great reviews...Hansons? Karry's Collision Repair is another (in SF) with great reviews. Ugh. Any recommendations?

Thanks! Sean

 

Grace auto body in south San Francisco used to be bad ass before, not positive about now.

 

Industrial AutoBody in SF. They are across the street from my work. They have worked on a few of our vehicles. Never had a problem and a great owner!

 

Here's a few tips...

Eurocraft Auto Body fixed my wife's Matrix several years ago after she was t-bone'd in a parking lot. We still have that car (it's an '04), and the paint and body work are still in good shape. They had extra paint left over, and instead of just wasting it, they took the front fascia off (wasn't even involved in the accident) and repainted it (chipped from road debris). Their customer service was great, work was great, and they didn't dick us around on the estimate, insurance or anything else.

Cologne Auto Body in Belmont - AVOID. I had my '14 Tacoma in there a few months ago. I did a stupid thing, thought "R" was "1" (6 speed) when I was in a rush, and backed it HARD into my house (house shrugged it off, Tacoma, not so much). A 1 week repair time became 2, which suddenly became 3. I understand they kept finding "issues", but they never communicated anything with me. When I got the truck back, the rear wiring wasn't put back together, they blew my tail light fuse, put the bumper on crooked and left the interior of the truck a complete mess. Oh, they also didn't apply the replacement TRD decal properly (this, after I told them to not put it on, since I wanted to debadge).

If you want to travel a little, check out Marty's Chop Shop down in Campbell (don't let the name fool you). They painted my shell in February, to color match, and did a great job. It's a small shop, the 'waiting area' isn't much of one, but it's a clean shop, organized, and they don't BS you about anything. He does lots of restoration work on old cars (saw a nice '49 Caddy down there last time, as well as some Fords) and puts his reputation out there in the car show circles.

 

Thanks for all the great info!

 

Grace is terrible. I had another car repainted there. They had a lifetime guarantee. Well 3 years later the the clear coat started to peel in one area. The old guy who owns the place started yelling saying I'm trying to defraud him because their paint jobs never peel. He offered to fix it but he said don't come back after that. Their fix was buffing the edges of where it peeled off. It's a hack job but the peeling hasn't spread.

 

Yeah that's sad, cause they were bad ass when Gary used to be the owner.

 

In a previous life I was the wholesale parts manager at a Toyota dealership in The City. I dealt with untold amounts of body shops. A serious auto guy and a lifetime friend works at Cars Dawydiak in The City. Unfortunately they do not work on Toyotas. They do have a sister shop on Bush st called Charles Henry and the shop manager, Vee, is a straight up kinda fella. When my Taco was totaled, I brought it to Don's Auto Body on Bush St. The owner, Don, has always treated me like family and I trust his shops(Bottas Auto Body and both Don's Auto Body locations). The main thing you do not want in a body shop is if they are a "volume" shop or a "production" based type of shop. Most of those types focus only on speed and customer satisfaction surveys(counting on an uninformed and unknowing customer who is only satisfied by the speed of the repair, not the quality).

I say find a smallish shop that focuses only on customer relationships.