Brooklyn 63 AutoBody Experience / New body shop and mechanic recommendation

[Laybaaan]

Hi guys, this just want to share with you my experience with this shop.

Tldr; avoid this shop.

Here's how it went.

Went in initially for a botched repair by another bodyshop. I searched around near home and saw their reviews and had pictures with a lot of expensive cars and a few JDM gems in their booth before. A lot M-series BMWs and Mercedes. I think the owner owns a sick supra.

Anyways, thats how I got drawn to this shop.

I talked to them, more specifically, talked to an insurance agent there and his name is Victor. Seemed knowledgeable and he owned an 86 before. He was nice to me so I was naive to trust him quite more than I should. I didn't have much experience with body shops and mechanics.

First repair went well. Well, I mean how could it go wrong for a fairly simple repair? They could've just sand off and bondo over the 2inch spot and repainted. I won't ever know until I take off the paint.
They don't remove the door panel to paint blend for my car. You can see the oblivious line between new and old paint in the door jam. There were overspray in the wheel well they tried to pass me off saying the other shop did it.
I also witnessed one of their techs dropped a freshly red painted Mercedes c300 bumper right out of the booth.
Err... Okay. I should've stayed away from this shop then but I didn't

Second repair was a full on accident. Someone reversed into me. I was in full traffic stop, waiting for green light.

The car was still perfectly drivable. The bumper, hood, and driver side fender crushed. Driver headlight shattered.

I called 63 AutoBody, and spoke to Victor, whom I was working with. This place was close and convenient so I thought they weren't TOO bad.
Boi, I thought wrong.

Unfortunately for me, I was hit a few days before leaving for school upstate and I couldn't drive up with my car. Asked for an estimated time for repair and gave them more than enough time. Booked a round-trip for a month.

I had to cancel my flight. Twice.

They told me its not ready on my first return trip.
Ok, I cancelled my flight and asked about next week and Victor told me yes it will be ready.
I booked for that day.

Told me again its not ready.
Cancelled, and rebooked. He told me he would reimburse my ticket over and over again.

He never did. Said it to my face with full intention of never doing it.

I gave them over a month to fix the car.
Probably a month and a half.

Got my car back. They didn't replace my fender. They told me they would and then first tried to pass me off they did. It was only repaired it and I can still see crinkle through the lines of the headlight.
The bullshit was: "We couldn't order the VIN sticker for the fender."
Well, how the fuck did you order the VIN sticker for the hood?

Never got my broken headlights back even though I asked for it. But then I forgot to press them for it. They probably repaired and sold it. It still works, the lens shattered and probably only the bracket broke. Dunno.

They blended my car and told me its not finished and needed to leave the paint to cure for a few weeks. Told me to come back to the shop for a polish and detail to get off all the little dust nibs and imperfections.

I had some parts like side markers and taillights ordered. I asked them about it and they said they will also put them in as well for me.
How nice of them.

I had a CF sti kit to install and I was very hesitant to let them install it. He told me he would install it for me free of charge and insisted that the side skirts need to be drilled. I have seen people with the clamp style holding up fine. But I was busy and since they had my car for repair, so I had them install it.

But I specifically told them to test fit first and let me know how the fitment is. They didn't notify me of anything or throughout the repair process. In fact, everything seems like it was rushed.

The sideskirts were never test fitted. They jammed it right up and digged right through the paint. They just eyeballed and drilled holes.
I told them its okay and don't worry about the kit or other minor things to install. I just need the repair done and I know they're not obligated to install anything for me free of charge

Weeks later, when I had time to detail and wash my car, I noticed that bumper didn't line up perfectly and had a little gap like bumper sags. It was on the exact area of impact.
About a 3/4 by 1/4 inch piece of paint flew off near the rear window moulding. Old paint layer still perfect underneath... Bad prep job.

I also noticed that every time I got my car back there is always paint knick somewhere.

I called Victor. He answered all my calls in the beginning. And later never answers me call or text up to days later.

At this point, he was just avoiding me.

For a few reason I can think of:
-I'm young and inexperienced so I ask a lot of questions
-I'm meticulous about my car and down to the very detail
-Avoidding responsibility and know they fucked up
- VERY VERY VERY BUSY.
-Bullshit

I understand that if you don't/can't work with me, or able to meet my expectations which are not of unreasonable, just let me know so I can take my car somewhere else and not let you fuck my shit up.

In conclusion:
Small shop, fits about 3-4 cars at a time in the actual shop.
So I think they prioritize customers with more expensive cars first and of course, friends and family. Then they rush the repair on the lower end cars.
Very shady with such a small shop that they're able to output volumes with repair that are of quality. Who knows. Maybe they're just good.

I know they're capable of doing great repairs.
But they just didn't want to with my car.

The chances are, if you car isn't a M5, don't take your chances.

Tldr; avoid this shop.

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by Laybaaan

Hi guys, this just want to share with you my experience with this shop.

Tldr; avoid this shop.

Here's how it went.

Went in initially for a botched repair by another bodyshop. I searched around near home and saw their reviews and had pictures with a lot of expensive cars and a few JDM gems in their booth before. A lot M-series BMWs and Mercedes. I think the owner owns a sick supra.

Anyways, thats how I got drawn to this shop.

I talked to them, more specifically, talked to an insurance agent there and his name is Victor. Seemed knowledgeable and he owned an 86 before. He was nice to me so I was naive to trust him quite more than I should. I didn't have much experience with body shops and mechanics.

First repair went well. Well, I mean how could it go wrong for a fairly simple repair? They could've just sand off and bondo over the 2inch spot and repainted. I won't ever know until I take off the paint.
They don't remove the door panel to paint blend for my car. You can see the oblivious line between new and old paint in the door jam. There were overspray in the wheel well they tried to pass me off saying the other shop did it.
I also witnessed one of their techs dropped a freshly red painted Mercedes c300 bumper right out of the booth.
Err... Okay. I should've stayed away from this shop then but I didn't

Second repair was a full on accident. Someone reversed into me. I was in full traffic stop, waiting for green light.

The car was still perfectly drivable. The bumper, hood, and driver side fender crushed. Driver headlight shattered.

I called 63 AutoBody, and spoke to Victor, whom I was working with. This place was close and convenient so I thought they weren't TOO bad.
Boi, I thought wrong.

Unfortunately for me, I was hit a few days before leaving for school upstate and I couldn't drive up with my car. Asked for an estimated time for repair and gave them more than enough time. Booked a round-trip for a month.

I had to cancel my flight. Twice.

They told me its not ready on my first return trip.
Ok, I cancelled my flight and asked about next week and Victor told me yes it will be ready.
I booked for that day.

Told me again its not ready.
Cancelled, and rebooked. He told me he would reimburse my ticket over and over again.

He never did. Said it to my face with full intention of never doing it.

I gave them over a month to fix the car.
Probably a month and a half.

Got my car back. They didn't replace my fender. They told me they would and then first tried to pass me off they did. It was only repaired it and I can still see crinkle through the lines of the headlight.
The bullshit was: "We couldn't order the VIN sticker for the fender."
Well, how the fuck did you order the VIN sticker for the hood?

Never got my broken headlights back even though I asked for it. But then I forgot to press them for it. They probably repaired and sold it. It still works, the lens shattered and probably only the bracket broke. Dunno.

They blended my car and told me its not finished and needed to leave the paint to cure for a few weeks. Told me to come back to the shop for a polish and detail go get off all the little dust nibs and imperfections.

I had some parts like side markers and taillights ordered. I asked them about it and they said they will also put them in as well for me.
How nice of them.

I had a CF sti kit to install and I was very hesitant to let them install it. He told me he would install it for me free of charge and insisted that the side skirts need to be drilled. I have seen people with the clamp style holding up fine. But I was busy and since they had my car for repair, so I had them install it.

But I specifically told them to test fit first and let me know how the fitment is. They didn't notify me of anything or throughout the repair process. In fact, everything seems like it was rushed.

The sideskirts were never test fitted. They jammed it right up and digged right through the paint. They just eyeballed and drilled holes.
I told them its okay and don't worry about the kit or other minor things to install. I just need the repair done and I know they're not obligated to install anything for me free of charge

Weeks later, when I had time to detail and wash my car, I noticed that bumper didn't line up perfectly and had a little gap like bumper sags. It was on the exact area of impact.
About a 2 by 1 inch piece of paint flew off near the rear window moulding. Old paint layer still perfect underneath... Bad prep job.

I also noticed that every time I got my car back there is always paint knick somewhere.

I called Victor. He answered all my calls in the beginning. And later never answers me call or text up to days later.

At this point, he was just avoiding me.

For a few reason I can think of:
-I'm young and inexperienced so I ask a lot of questions
-I'm meticulous about my car and down to the very detail
-Avoidding responsibility and know they fucked up
- VERY VERY VERY BUSY.
-Bullshit

I understand that if you don't/can't work with me, or able to meet my expectations which are not of unreasonable, just let me know so I can take my car somewhere else and not let you fuck my shit up.

In conclusion:
Small shop, fits about 3-4 cars at a time in the actual shop.
So I think they prioritize customers with more expensive cars first and of course, friends and family. Then they rush the repair on the lower end cars.
Very shady with such a small shop that they're able to output volumes with repair that are of quality. Who knows. Maybe they're just good.

I know they're capable of doing great repairs.
But they just didn't want to with my car.

The chances are, if you car isn't a M5, don't take your chances.

Tldr; avoid this shop.

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

Take em to small claims.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Laybaaan]

Originally Posted by p1l0t

Take em to small claims.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

I would but I'm starting school in a week and don't know how to sort this out.

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

[p1l0t]

Originally Posted by Laybaaan

I would but I'm starting school in a week and don't know how to sort this out.

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

You can either suck it up, or sue, but otherwise it sounds like they are just going shrug it off.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Laybaaan]

Update:

Went back to the shop, spoke with Victor again.

He was very nice still. Addressed some of my problems with him. He said he wanted me to leave happy and some of the shits are messed up. He was very willing to fix things for me.
However, some of the things I said in the OP still remains true.

Do I still recommend this shop?
I'll update after I get everything sorted with them.

Sent from my GM1917 using Tapatalk

[gravitylover]

Even if they fix their fuck ups you still don't recommend them after the shadiness they've shown. I sure wouldn't.