EVEN MINOR ACCIDENTS CAN CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE TO YOUR CAR!

Car accidents are an unfortunate fact of life. With millions of drivers on the road every day, many of them distracted by phone calls, messy sandwiches, bad weather or lack of sleep, crashes are inevitable. Luckily, most of these accidents are relatively minor and nobody gets injured. We have seen many of these kinds of damages that need car body repair in Peterborough.

But a minor accident can seriously damage the outside your car. Areas like the wings and doors are especially susceptible to damage. You could need bumper repairs, dented repair or scratch repairs.

While it’s generally the insurance company’s job to get your car patched up and back on the road when this happens (providing you are going through the insurance company), there are a few things you should know in order to ensure that your car is properly fixed.

1. YOU CAN CHOOSE THE BODY SHOP

Insurance companies can refer you to shops that they work with, but ultimately you can choose who does the work. Most insurance recommended body shops are reputable and perform high-quality repairs, but there are a few bad eggs out there that cut corners to get the job done faster and cheaper. These shops will entice insurance adjusters with lower repair costs, but that could result in a cheap repair. Before agreeing to get your car fixed at an insurance-recommended shop, Shop around and don’t forget to give us at Peterborough Body Repair a call, we can give you all the best advice and even help pay your excess!

2. AVOID AFTERMARKET PARTS

When you take your car in for repair, you should inquire about the replacement parts that are being used by the body shop but us here at PBR use all parts direct from the vehicle parts department in the dealership. Because aftermarket parts are often cheap imitations with inferior quality. These parts can corrode, rattle and ultimately diminish your car’s value. So don’t cut corners because of price because after all them panels are your safety!

3. CAREFULLY EXAMINE PAINT MATCH

All too often, you see cars on the road with body panels that don’t match in colour. Matching a newly painted body panel to the rest of your car is a difficult challenge, and sometimes there can be a big, obvious difference in shade. When you pick up your car from the body shop, ask which panels are original and which ones were painted. Step back ten feet from the car and see if there’s a difference in colour. If there is, there may be additional paint work necessary to get a better match. With most cases most body shops will have to blend panels, so this could be an extra charge but this will make the car look great and wouldn’t be obvious where the paint work has been done.

4. CHECK WARNING LIGHTS

After an accident, there are a number of warning lights that may turn on in your dashboard. These can include the airbag light, the low coolant light, the check engine light and others. When you pick up your finished car, make sure all of the problems have been corrected and none of the lights are illuminated. Illuminated lights can indicate that your car’s on-board computer may need to be reprogrammed, or that certain electrical components need replacement.

As you can see that there can be quite a few things you need to look out for when either selecting a trust worthy body shop or after the work has been done.

For a peace of mind and knowing that everything will be done to a high standard and with no corners cut, give us at PBR a call, we would happily advice you on any questions you may have.