Difficulty finding body shops that do rust repair

[MJN]

Lately I've been calling around to local body shops about getting some rust repair done, rocker panel/rear quarter panel areas. Not rusted through but paint bubbling and surface rust showing through. I'm not a body man so I just want to get it stopped correctly before it turns into a gaping hole. In my small town of about 6,000 people there are 6 or 7 body shops. Only one local shop will touch any type of rust repair, all the others locally only deal with collision and panel replacement/insurance claims. Anyone else experienced this? Its frustrating and hate to let my truck rot away just because its not a bumper, fender or hood that can be sprayed and bolted on.

[Getter-Done]

It's the same way in my area.

All the one's that Owned their own shop have pasted away or retired.

I think there is only 2 around that will do it , But they are always Booked up.

[old Rusty C10]

this is precisely why i found a class at my community college that taught me.. i took a series of classes that allowed me to actually bring my truck to school and work on it. I actually made my own parts out of flat sheet metal and welded them on

[MJN]

Originally Posted by old Rusty C10

this is precisely why i found a class at my community college that taught me.. i took a series of classes that allowed me to actually bring my truck to school and work on it. I actually made my own parts out of flat sheet metal and welded them on

I'm all for learning a new skill and doing things myself but unfortunately taking a course at the closest CC that offers a class like that isn't in the cards at this time. Between working full time, a growing family and keeping up with all the things around home (still cleaning up the yard from our latest storms yet) I barely have time for my current projects let alone taking on new ones. I'm also not going to experiment or learn to do body work on this truck, even if repair panels are readily available. I understand these things sound like excuses but so be it- this is a job best done by the people that do this day in and day out.

[RustyPile]

I live in a very small town (pop.1300) in east Texas.. Nearest sizeable town is over 50 miles away.. Palestine (County Seat), population 16,000 is about 10 miles away.. Only 2 - 3 body shops.. One of them "advertises" restoration services.. Like all body shops, their main source of income is insurance jobs. Based on the amount of work required on any particular job, the insurance company requires the job be finished in a very specific time period.. This particular body shop will take in a restoration job, and when an insurance job comes in, the restoration job gets pushed back in a corner.. There it sits for months and months..

In Palestine, there is a pick-&-pull salvage yard that can source parts for old cars.. The owner also offers transmission rebuilding services.. As part of the business, his son runs a "one man operation" body shop.. Complete with modern paint booth.. He works primarily on "customer pay" projects with insurance jobs taking a back seat.. He is always busy with work that comes from miles around.. If he happens to be contacted about an insurance job, if he's busy at the time, that job is rejected.. He does excellent work and has worked on my stuff a few times and I came away totally satisfied..

My advice to the OP is step outside the box and ask around.. Locate a small one-man operation who's not interested in dealing with insurance companies.. You'll probably find someone..

[HO455]

This trend has been exacerbated by the insurance companies putting pressure on the body shops not to have restoration work in their shop. The pressure is expressed by the insurance companies that they will discourage insurance claims from using the shop. As most collision shops aren't willing to lose their bread and butter insurance claim work the number of available shops for rust repair has dropped to almost zero. And without those shops training the technicians there is no next generation of qualified people for the work. There is a guy local to me who has started a shop that only does sheet metal replacement. No paint or putty work. I'm thinking of using him for my next project. And hopefully I can get a straight forward no metal work paint job from a collision shop.

[LS short box]

I help at a some what local body shop a couple days a week. They do rocker/cab corner replacement on older pickups and SUV's. About $3000-$4000 depending on vehicle and level of rust. The shop owner is in his late 30's and his two shop guys are in the mid 20's. Takes one guy about two days to R and R the rocker/cab corners. Then another 2? days to do body work and paint. Keep in mind on trucks to do cab corners properly the box has to come off to get at the back of the cab. Box bolts can be a real pain since they are always rusted.
Maybe contact a local car club to see if they can recommend someone?

[Ironhorse]

Sadly that is the world we live in now days. Wife drives a '05 Tahoe with some rust coming thru on the left rear wheel well arch. Out little town has three body shops, one does restoration work only, booked well into the future, another only does insurance work, no rust repair of any sort. Last one, same damn thing, insurance work, no rust repair at all. Really frustrating when a person wants to take care of a good vehicle and you run into that situation.

MJN, agree, start asking around, buddies, known car guys, car shows, coffee and cars meets, local Auto Zone/O'reillys, etc, just anywhere. I was lucky and found a retired guy that worked for the same company as I did who LOVES doing that rust repair/restoration but....only works on older vehicles and classics. He did my Chevelle and my '57. He learned it from an old school body guy and now he's retired like myself and runs a shop at home for side money. Keep asking around and good luck. Not much help I know but don't give up the search. Good luck to you.

[raggedjim]

When a friend of my son's backed into my blazer I went to at least 10 shops in the area before I found a guy who would repair the fender. All the other shops refuse to do any rust work at all.

Now that I'm retired I'm working on my own stuff, but you couldn't pay me to work on anyone else's trucks ( believe me, I have had people beg me to but I ain't doing it). I can barely please myself let alone anyone else! I'm willing to offer advice if they want it, and I'll help as long as they are working with me but I have my own junk that needs work.

[dmjlambert]

Time for a vacation trip to Texas and drop that truck off with the son at pick-n-pull.

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by HO455

This trend has been exacerbated by the insurance companies putting pressure on the body shops not to have restoration work in their shop. The pressure is expressed by the insurance companies that they will discourage insurance claims from using the shop. As most collision shops aren't willing to lose their bread and butter insurance claim work the number of available shops for rust repair has dropped to almost zero. And without those shops training the technicians there is no next generation of qualified people for the work. There is a guy local to me who has started a shop that only does sheet metal replacement. No paint or putty work. I'm thinking of using him for my next project. And hopefully I can get a straight forward no metal work paint job from a collision shop.

Totally illegal for an ins company to that . If a shop calls the state ins dept they will go after the insurance company .

We had a sign in the shop stating that under NY State insurance law you have the right to have your car repaired at the shop of your choice .

[HO455]

That's correct. Same law here in Oregon. But when I was working at the body shop at l heard at least a dozen long time customers relate to us how an insurance company adjuster would make comments that were degrading about shop after the customer expressed a desire to have our shop do the work. Like "Oh the last vehicle they did for us took way too long to finish" or "Their paint work always seems to need to be re-painted before the paint is right".

Adjusters denigrate shops in way that discourages as many people as possible to go to their approved shops. It's all hearsay and very hard to prove in court. And many times it's not the whole story. Like the "Oh the last vehicle they did for us took way too long to finish". The real reason the car took extra time was the vehicle's owner demanded only new OE parts to repair the vehicle, which is their right. The adjuster hated that we respected the owners desires and waited to receive new factory suspension parts instead installing the wrecking yard parts the adjuster brought us. They only relate the negative parts of the repairs, (Negative from their point of view) and not the whole story of the repair process.

[72c20customcamper]

Originally Posted by HO455

That's correct. Same law here in Oregon. But when I was working at the body shop at l heard at least a dozen long time customers relate to us how an insurance company adjuster would make comments that were degrading about shop after the customer expressed a desire to have our shop do the work. Like "Oh the last vehicle they did for us took way too long to finish" or "Their paint work always seems to need to be re-painted before the paint is right".

Adjusters denigrate shops in way that discourages as many people as possible to go to their approved shops. It's all hearsay and very hard to prove in court. And many times it's not the whole story. Like the "Oh the last vehicle they did for us took way too long to finish". The real reason the car took extra time was the vehicle's owner demanded only new OE parts to repair the vehicle, which is their right. The adjuster hated that we respected the owners desires and waited to receive new factory suspension parts instead installing the wrecking yard parts the adjuster brought us. They only relate the negative parts of the repairs, (Negative from their point of view) and not the whole story of the repair process.

The adjuster brought you parts ? Never seen that they can write it for used and that’s within the law in an older vehicle . But the owner can decide on new but the insurance company doesn’t pay the difference. If an adjuster said something disparaging about our shop the customer wouldn’t even listen as 99% of our customers were repeat customers. We had several restorations in the shop at all times

[raggedjim]

Most of the shops in my area only do insurance work. They wouldn't even look at my blazer because I had cash in hand to have it repaired.

[LS short box]

That has been a issue in regards to OEM parts.
Last Jan a guy center punched a big whitetail at 70 mph with 2022 3500 Silverado Duramax. Took over 6 weeks to get a new intercooler. The insurance company bugged the snot of the shop owner to use used parts. The truck owner would have no part of the used part thing.

[RustyPile]

I may be wrong, or it may be only a Texas law/regulation.. Replacement parts for a wrecked vehicle that is still under a factory warranty must be OEM, not used nor repops..

[Grounded63]

Usually the choice between re-pop or factory replacement parts. Is dictated by your insurance carrier and your exact policy.

[MJN]

I've asked around to co-workers, friends, neighbors, thats how I ended up calling the shops I did call who all referred me to the one local shop. My neighbor is president of the local car club and he gave me a few to call but again they don't do rust repair work. I was hoping to keep it local just so it was closer to home and not 40 miles away. One shop I'll be stopping at this week after work told me if it was rusted through they wouldn't touch it but would look at it if it wasn't rusted through. At least I found someone willing to look at it.