Auto Body Repair Advice (Bay Area) needed for new Tacoma

Well my dream Tacoma was too good to be true I guess. When visiting my parents tonight, my old man backed his car straight in to my new Tacoma with only 2k miles on it. Was probably only going a few miles an hour, didn't even look behind him, even though we had both been sitting on the truck two minutes before....

Body damage is fairly minimal. Rear passenger side door is punched in and some scraping into the rear fender. Thought I noticed a little rattling when making right turns in second gear coming from the area of the collision, but could be unrelated...

Obviously I got pretty bent out of shape, but my main concern is getting it fixed right. My parents will process it through their insurance (which is good insurance), so cost shouldn't be an issue... although I do wonder if I go to the most premium (and expensive) auto body repair, will that ding their insurance rates more than a slightly less expensive repair? At the end of the day I will do what needs to be done to have it done right, but they are my parents after all.

Anyway my main questions are for anyone with experience having work done on a new truck and if there's anything I should be looking out for or expecting in particular? I haven't had any body repair done on a car of mine in over 15 years, and it was never anything new or nice like this truck.

Also I reside in Oakland right now and if anyone know an auto body repair shop in the Bay Area that they could recommend that would be great.

Thanks for any info, ideas, support, etc.

 

That really sucks dude. But at least it was a minor accident and not high speed where anyone could have been hurt. As for advice I would say research many different shops to find one that does good work and a great reputation. I'm sure some people in your area will chime in. Only other thing is you said the fender was scratched. Any good body shop will know this but if the flare is scratched (same as I'm the 1/4's), it cannot properly be repaired and painted. Well it can but it'll look like shit. Our flares are paint of textures plastic. If you paint them twice you loose the texture underneath and it looks likeshit cause it doesn't match.just something to keep an eye out for but other than that they will know what there doing. And post up some pics!

HA My bad missed the one at the bottom

And welcome to TW I just notices as well lol. I'm still tired

 

Oh also re read your post and you said rear fender, was thinking front fender. So yeah just check that flare on the quarter/boxside

 

RJ paint shop - pleasanton. the best! they've done work for me for my tacoma, rover and porsche.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/rjs-paint-shop-pleasanton

 

Make sure they take off the door to repair it. The three repairs that shops commonly do are , Body fill (Bondo), Reskin the door and finally replacing the entire door.
The worst is body fill and the best is replacing the entire door but its also the most expensive.

 

Thanks for the suggestions!

What about taking it to a Toyota dealer? I read somewhere for something brand new, that's a good idea... thoughts?

Once again, cost isn't really an issue since I'm handling it through their insurance, and just want to get it done right.

Thanks again for the help.

 

Most definatelythe door will have to come off for painting. You don't really get a choice on how they do the repair. You can exactly request a shell for a little door ding. It needs to be necessary to get approved with insurance, at least around here anyways. That being said it looks like you need a skin IMO. Maybe a shell depending on what it looks like.

 

from the pic - damage seems like it will just get pulled, filled/painted. I can see an insurance company replacing and entire shell/cab...

If you go to RJ - Ryan will discuss the repair and options for you in detail. they do a lot of high end cars there and nothing leaves the shop looking short of showroom finish.

 

So where did you go?

 

Just dropped it off this afternoon at George V. Arth & Son, in downtown Oakland... did a bunch of research (including RJ's) and ultimately went with a shop close to home and that was recommended by friends and others. Insurance approved it being pulled and painted... so my figures are crossed. Will post photos when work is done.

Thanks for all the advice!