$850 repair?!?

[gotchevys?]

It sounds fair to me. Its what I do for a living. People don't understand the cost of "Good" body work these days. I see it all the time when a customer thinks he is gonna bring in a beat up rust bucket and wants body work and basecoat/clear for 5k.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I'm assuming this is going through your insurance company (or whoever hit you). I'd get as high an estimate as possible, use that, buy a solid, rust free bed side, prime and sand it yourself, take it to a bodyshop and let them paint it for a few hundred

[turner15]

I say it is fair. Ask him to spray some left over paint any colour and then you will see the true work of the repair. Or provide some black then respray it later.
It may be hard to match your colour if it has faded at all. Black will show all misstakes. Good bodymen are charging 80+ up per hour here in Canada.

[1LoC10]

Originally Posted by N2TRUX

Take some notes here guys. This man does it for a living...

yeah but he does it for a living in Texas...... around here its more like $80 an hour

[EZ4U2C]

[QUOTE=CG;2099865]Yikes I would get my money back if thats what they did for 850 bucks

[manimal]

[QUOTE=EZ4U2C;2100575]

Originally Posted by CG

Yikes I would get my money back if thats what they did for 850 bucks

Now thats funny!

[6772KEVIN]

I am an adjuster in a high end body shop in the midwest and if that was brought in here you wouldnt be able to touch it for $850.00 even without paint. The way I look at is that you are working on metal that is much thicker guage than what these newer cars have on them. Add that to all of the body lines there are at that point of the bed and that you want the tail light to fit correctly. the goal is to make it look as if it has never been damaged. $850.00 is cheap to do it right anyway. Just my opinion though.

[RACINJASON22]

Looks like area is really comming into play. I agree that most of the shops are so into the going rate for insurance work that it does not pay them to work on other things/projects and complete paint jobs. IMO that is why the labor rate is so high in the first place.

[jimmydean]

Obviously you have never seen either corner of my truck. That is an ugly spot and short of welding in a new piece, there is some serious hammer time involved.

I would say $850 is a steal if the work is good.

[72 cheyenne pdx]

The only advice I can give you is to shop around. I was always taught to find the best for what you can afford. Ask to see there work. Anybody who feels that they are good at what they do when it comes repair/install/rebuild/restore/etc/etc/etc, then they will have before and after pictures of their work. Inspect their work. If they have a current project, ask to see it. We can give you our opinions all day on what we think is too high, fair or a steal, but you are the one that ultimately has to live with the final decision.

Good luck - BTW-It sounds pretty fair in my neighborhood.

[gotchevys?]

We only charge $30 an hour. Check out our site. The site is pretty new and I'm still trying to add all of our gallieries, plus I just had some software issues and there may be a few dead links.

http://fatdaddieshotrods.com/

[72CSTC5]

Well the national average for a collision claim is between 2500.00 to 2800.00dollars. Insurance companies have moved cars around from state to state to see if the higher labor rates affected the repairs......Survey says, it is relative. A ten hour dent in Texas at 40 and hour is the same as a 5 hour dent at 80 dollars in an hour let's say in California. The higher rate areas are just getting closer to real time than flat rate time.

[special-K]

$80 an hour is freakin`rediculous.I`m sorry,that just keeps a shop on insurance work.Maybe that`s all they want is the gravy.But,I don`t want to hear the cryin` about how hard it is to get your money out or the insurance companies.Crooks will alway squabble over the booty.

Heavier sheetmetal is easier to work than the flimsey new stuff.That`s why everything gets tossed and it`s mostly bolt-on these days,other than the area to be mounted to(which is tougher).The newer light stuff "pulls" easier,but dolly work is a pain on the crap used today.Memory is much better with the old stuff.That spot is a tough area,I give you that.But once pulled,it`s got back access and can be worked.I know it`s getting hard to find bodymen that can do good dolly/spoon work,though.

[larry may]

I have been looking and talking to paint shops in this area. The same story everytime. We make way more money doing insurance work than total paint jobs.Providing they may be remotely intrested in my job, it would be fill in. When there is no insurance work, and 25 dollars an hour, Then they talk about well you need to get the whole thing soda blasted then if there is a problem in the metal with these ole trucks will cost more money blah blah . Even when I tell them money is not an object they whine about who is going to put in the doors on, take off the bed . So do not know if this is in lighn with your issue but for the most part its too hard of work for them and time consuming. By the time they fiddle with the damage on your ride they can do 7 or 8 of the throw away cars of to day. In body shops time is money. 850 dollars vrs 28000 dollars is why things are the way they are at so called collision center. my.02%

[tiggerstoy]

well...if the truck came to my shop, for $850.00, that box side would look like new.....but....you would have to suply the bolt-on parts and im sure any good bodyman in canada charges about the same.

[PBFAB.COM]

Originally Posted by 72CSTC5

... and at 40.00 an hour...

I need to start shipping my stuff to Texas to get painted! $40 an hour??? are you serious?